Semisesquicentennial is a mouthful word. It is easy to say it if we break it up into three parts, semi-sesqui-centenntial, i.e., half of one and half of a centenary. Thus, it means the 75th anniversary. Mechanical Engineering department in the Indian Institute of Science (lovably called mecheng@iisc) completed its 75 years in 2020, having established in 1945 as Internal Combustion Engineering department. For the obvious reason, we are celebrating our semisesquicentennial a year later in 2021, just like Olympics 2020.
A celebration for an academic department is all about seminars, workshops, conferences that revolve around research and teaching. So, we have a distinguished seminar series. We plan to have some workshops on teaching and research to explore the prospects for mechanical engineering be it new research areas, new educational programmes, and new ways for reaching out to the industry and society. And if all goes well, we might even have a conference by the end of 2021 so that we can meet face to face, most likely with masks still on our faces.
It is a time to reflect and contemplate. We have a heritage committee set up with the help of the Office of Communications at IISc, to write a brief history of the department. The committee is now working hard poring over archives, interviewing people, and hunting for hidden treasures in the department and the Institute.
We plan to have a design contest for students on a grand challenge problem that encourages them develop the engineering temper.
Most importantly, we want to connect with our alumni and learn about their experiences here and wherever they have gone on and seek their guidance for shaping the future of our department. So, there is a Google form to "Share your story".
Join us in this celebration. Together we can go farther and do so happily.
The Heritage Committee of mecheng@IISc
Prof. M. L. Munjal (Chair)
Prof. Yogendra Simha
Mr. C. Dharuman
Ms. Deepika Sarma (Office of Communications)
Ms. C. Vaishali (Office of Communication)
Ms. Mangala R (Mechanical Engineering)
Prof. Kaushal Verma (ex officio, Chair, Office of Communications)
Prof. G. K. Ananthasuresh (ex officio, Chair of Mechanical Engineering)
Student volunteers of the Heritage Committee
Mr. Adarsh D
Mr. Anshul Shrivastava
Mr. Ashish Kumar
Mr. Avaneesh Athreya V
Mr. Bal Krishan
Mr. Chetan Teki
Mr. Chiraprabha Bhattacharyya
Mr. Gannena K. S.
Mr. Raghuram
Mr. Gautham Vadlamudi
Mr. Kartik Jain
Mr. Nikhil Verma
Mr. Thota Srinivas
Mr. Vageesh Singh Baghel
Mr. Venu Madhav
Mr. Visakh M. G.
System administrator for the website
Mr. Srinivasa. C
