Dedicated to MNNIT?s development

THIS GOLD medal winning engineer from the Bengal Engineering and Science University has a dream.

As its new director, Prof Arun Baran Samaddar, desires to see Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology (MNNIT) emerge on par with the IITs in the field of research and academic activities in the years to come.

"It's not the mere tag of IIT that I want for MNNIT. It is the respect for the institute in people's heart and their acknowledgment of the prowess of its students and faculty members that I crave for," confesses Prof Samaddar, who took over as MNNIT Director only on November 7, 2005.

Born in 1953, Prof Samaddar is an MTech from the Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad and a PhD from the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London University.

"Development of MNNIT and providing an impetus to research activities on the campus are topics close to my heart. Since joining MNNIT, I have become confident that my dream for MNNIT can become a reality thanks to the sheer calibre of our faculty members and the co-operation that I have received from them," says the former advisor (networking) of AICTE and professor and chairperson (IT) of IIM-Kozhikode.

Prof Samaddar shared the research target he has set for the MNNIT teachers.

"I have asked the MNNIT faculty members to submit research proposals for at least Rs 10 crore to the Union HRD Ministry and other funding bodies by July 2006.

They are also being encouraged to take up research proposals with various mega companies to foster industry-institute partnership that is the need of the hour.

Though burdened with administrative responsibilities besides the teaching work, I am sure that they will easily attain the target," he said confidently.

And Prof Samaddar should know. For he himself has developed several laboratories in computer applications at ISM, Dhanbad under various schemes of UGC and AICTE, planned IT infrastructure at IIM-K besides being involved with a number of R&D and consultancy projects including those from the World Bank, European Commission (now EU), AICTE and MHRD.

At Bengal Engineering and Science University, where he served as a Professor and at Pailan College of Management and Technology, of which he was the director before joining MNNIT, Prof Samaddar established Educational Technology Cell and Intergraph Registered Research Lab to rub shoulders with IITs and the Harvard University.

About his efforts to free MNNIT from power problems, Prof Samaddar said that work on getting a 33 KV sub-station installed on the Deemed University's campus was already under way. "We are confident that by December 2006, things will greatly improve," he said.

Known for his habit of freely interacting with students and teachers in informal settings, Prof Samaddar is a keen sportsman who played cricket, volleyball, table tennis and lawn tennis while in college and even now plays TT and badminton to stay fit.

He said that with a new campus being planned, new courses including BTech in chemical engineering, bio-technology and some others on the cards, future seems bright for the MNNIT.