IIIT-A at threshold of vital researches

IF ALL goes according to plan, Allahabad's Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT-A) could soon become a focal centre of vital researches in core sectors like Robotics and Artificial Intelligence at the international arena.

In a significant development, the Executive Director of Indo-US Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF) Arvind Mitra has arrived at IIIT-A to explore the possibilities of collaborative researches between IIIT-A and various US-based universities.

Mitra, who is at the IIIT-A premises for last two days, has discussed various issues concerning collaborative research works. He has held a series of meetings with the Director of IIIT-A Dr MD Tiwari and also discussed the modalities of joint research projects that can be undertaken by IIIT-A and various US varsities.

"The visit of the Executive Director of the Indo-US Forum will pave way for research of excellence in the field of robotics, artificial intelligence and above all open avenues through which our researchers could exchange and tap into the expertise of their counterparts in US. Our researchers could also learn the advances made in the technology concerned and findings of US based researchers," informed IIIT-A Director Dr Murli Dhar Tiwari.

He said that this will be a two-way process and will be undertaken through continuous interactions between researchers and faculty of members of IIIT-A and researchers of US-based universities.

It may be mentioned that IIIT-A has already signed a number of Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) for research work with various universities like the Buffalo University for carrying out advance researches.

During his three-day visit, Mitra interacted with faculty members in order to chalk out blue-prints of research projects too.

"A brain storming-cum-interactive session between Mitra and faculty members was held on Thursday in which researchers and faculty members apprised him of the core competency of IIIT-A in the field of robotics and artificial intelligence," said Prof GC Nandi, IIIT-A's Dean (Academics), who is also supervising the research activities at IIIT-A.

Mitra visited various departments of IIIT-A and inspected the existing infrastructure. He talked to various researchers and learnt about the ongoing research activities at the institute.

It is worth mentioning that norms and standards set by the Indo-US Forum are the deciding factors for the clearance of research proposals and the aim of the current visit of the director of the Forum is to ascertain the calibre of the researchers here as well as gauge the infrastructure available for such projects at IIIT-A in accordance with international standards. The current deadline of submission of proposals for the collaborative researches is June 2006, though the proposals can be submitted thrice in a year, added Prof GC Nandi.

Prof Nandi said that Indo-US Science and Technology Forum is also a funding agency and could also play the role of catalyst for the promotion of advance researches in India.