UDL #17: Dr Girish Sahni to Expound on Tech-Market Progression
2024-01-25 15:00 - 17:00 (Asia/Kolkata) | APJ Abdul Kalam Auditorium
SRM University-AP is organising its 17th University Distinguished Lecture (UDL) on January 25, 2024. The university places great emphasis on research as a fundamental aspect of its academic pursuits and holds such events regularly. The varsity’s 17th UDL will host Dr Girish Sahni, former Director General of CSIR and Former Secretary – Government of India, as its guest speaker. Dr Sahni will address the audience on the topic “Scientific Progress to Grand Progression: Opportunities and Challenges in Science-to-technology-to-market Paradigms”.
Dr Sahni is an exceptional scientist with a specialisation in Protein Engineering, Molecular Biology, and Biotechnology. His contributions in the field of protein cardiovascular drugs, particularly in the area of ‘clot busters’ and their mode of action in the human body, are truly inspiring. Dr Sahni has authored several papers in high-impact scientific journals and has several national and international patents to his credit.
Abstract
As India prepares to be one of the top-ranking economies in the world, we need to ponder the pathways that require strengthening for the future, in science education, innovation and investment strategies leading to useful products and services at a world-class level. The challenge involves the many impressive achievements of the past in various science and technology sectors that can be galvanised to catapult us to newer heights of ambitions. The lecture will discuss some of the well-known achievements from the past as well as the speaker’s personal experiences, to enable us to move forward with optimism.
Join the talk for an insightful session!

Stanford Professor Thomas Blom Hansen to Deliver UDL #18
2024-04-04 11:00 - 12:30 | Mini Auditorium
The quest for knowledge can only lead to unparalleled success when the journey is guided by ethical morality and societal understanding. To achieve this, a sound liberal arts education proves imperative to nurture a young generation of ethically, morally and socially sensitive individuals. SRM University-AP is set to host the 18th edition of the University Distinguished Lecture on April 04, 2024. Prof. Thomas Blom Hansen, Reliance-Dhirubhai Ambani Professor & Department Chair, Department of Anthropology, from Stanford University, USA, will deliver the session on “Interiority Design: Liberal Arts Education in India”.
Join the talk to hear our distinguished speaker, Prof. Hansen deliberate and explore the complexities of liberal arts education in India!
About the Speaker
Prof. Thomas Hansen is a renowned anthropologist of political life, ethno-religious identities, violence and urban life in South Asia and Southern Africa. He is a leading academician exploring the religious and political violence in India. He has conducted extensive research in India focusing on Hindu nationalism, religious identities, religious revival and the everyday meanings of freedom.
He has written various books such as The Saffron Wave, Democracy and Hindu Nationalism in Modern India (Princeton 1999), and Wages of Violence: Naming and Identity in Postcolonial Bombay (Princeton 2001).
Abstract
In the past decade and a half, the liberal arts model of undergraduate education has become all the rage across India and other parts of Asia. In this lecture, Prof. Hansen will explore the origin of the liberal arts model in Enlightenment Europe, how it travelled to America, and how it became inextricably tied to an idea of the cultivation of a modern self, capable of autonomous, individual interior reflexivity and judgment, while framed as an invitation to join a larger national community. In this lecture, he will question: How does this model of education and self-formation sit with inherited traditions of education in India? How does its implied model of interiority and individuality sit alongside hierarchical ideas of the self and personhood structured by caste hierarchies in India? Does the idea of liberal arts education pave the way for a different and more capacious vision of what modern India might become?
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UDL#19: Explore the World of Nanomaterials with Prof. Ajayan – A Pioneer of Nanotechnology
2025-01-07 11:00 - 13:00 | Mini Auditorium
The 19th edition of the University Distinguished Lecture is scheduled to be held on January 07, 2025. The distinguished lecture will be delivered by the esteemed academician and renowned researcher in the field of nanotechnology, Prof. Pulickel M. Ajayan, Benjamin M. and Mary Greenwood Anderson Professor of Engineering at Rice University, Texas, USA on the topic “Nano-Engineered Materials”.
Abstract
The last two decades in materials science have been dominated by spectacular discoveries in nanotechnology. This talk will focus on some of these developments, particularly in relation to the challenges in designing and controllably synthesizing functional nano-engineered materials. The lecture will elaborate on several classes of materials, for example, carbon-based and boron-nitrogen-carbon-based materials, two-dimensional materials such as transition metal di-chalcogenides and their hybrids, defect-engineered materials and single-atom catalysts, and interface-controlled nanocomposites. We will also consider the impact of bottom-up engineering on the design of material systems relevant to many areas of applications. Several aspects, including synthesis, chemical manipulation and hybridization, will be discussed to address the opportunities that are available in creating novel nanoengineered materials.
About the Speaker
Prof. Pulickel M Ajayan has worked in nanotechnology for nearly three decades. He has published more than 1300 journal papers, earning more than 225,000 citations and an h-index of 230 (by Google Scholar). His work covers diverse areas of nanomaterials including nanoparticles, nanotubes, diamond, 2D materials, nanocomposite, energy storage materials and 3D printing. He is the Benjamin M. and Mary Greenwood Anderson professor of Engineering at Rice University and the Founding Chair of the Department of Materials Science and NanoEngineering. He is a recipient of several awards, such as the Spiers Memorial Award, the MRS medal, the Alexander von Humboldt-Helmoltz Senior Award, and the Lifetime Nanotechnology Award from the Houston Technology Center. He received Docteur Honoris Causa from the Universite Catholique de of Louvain and distinguished alumni recognition from his Alma Mater, Banaras Hindu University, and the Materials Science department at Northwestern University.
Join the insightful session and hear from the expert!

Padma Shri Prof. Shanta Sinha to Deliver UDL#20
2025-02-21 14:00 - 16:30 | Mini Auditorium
The 20th University Distinguished Lecture, scheduled to be held on February 21, 2025, invites Padma Shri Prof. Shanta Sinha, Anti-Child Labour Activist, Ramon Magsaysay Awardee, Former Chairperson of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), and professor (Retd.) Dept. of Political Science, Hyderabad Central University, as its keynote speaker. Prof. Sinha’s contributions towards children’s education and child rights have left an indelible mark on Indian society.
The esteemed session will be on the topic “Making Education a Reality and Ending Child Labour: Experience of M.V. Foundation.”
Participate and hear from the honourable personality. Prof. Sinha’s relentless dedication and inspiring journey will ignite all to strive towards a just and inclusive humankind!
Abstract
The lecture gives an overview of the work of M.V. Foundations in the field of child rights in India. Believing in the principle that ‘no child must work and every child must attend full-time formal day school’ as a non-negotiable, the M V Foundation (a Charitable Trust) has worked towards withdrawing over 10 lakh children in the 5-14 years age group from child labour; stopping over 20,000 child marriages and ensuring they finish 10th grade. The Foundation pioneered the program for mainstreaming children to schools through residential bridge courses. 1500 villages where MVF has intervened have achieved retention of 99% of all children in schools up to 10th class. The lecture would highlight the journey of the foundations, its experiences and achievements.
The lecture will further discuss the foundation and subsequent Journey of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), which Prof. Shantha Sinha headed as its first Chairperson and led for two consecutive terms from 2007-2013. The lecture will highlight the issues addressed by NCPCR, ranging from violation of children’s rights in relation to child labour and child trafficking, rights of children in areas of civil unrest, children’s right to education, the juvenile justice system, corporal punishment, child abuse and violence on children; child malnutrition.
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UDL#21: Prof. Pramod K. Varshney to Speak On Distributed Inference
2025-04-07 11:00 - 12:30 | APJ Abdul Kalam Auditorium
The 21st University Distinguished Lecture on the topic “Six Blind Men of Indostan: Theory and Applications of Distributed Inference” is scheduled to be held on April 07, 2025. The distinguished lecture will be delivered by Prof. Pramod K. Varshney, esteemed professor, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, College of Engineering & Science, Syracuse University.
Hear from the seasoned academician on the mesmerizing phenomenon of distributed inference.
Abstract
Distributed inference refers to the synergistic combination of information gathered by various knowledge sources and sensors to provide inference regarding a phenomenon of interest. This fascinating field has evolved over the past four decades and is being applied to a wide variety of fields, such as military command and control, robotics, image processing, air traffic control, medical diagnostics, pattern recognition, environmental monitoring, IoT and smart cities.
This talk will present an overview of the field, present some recent research results, illustrate its utility by means of some examples and conclude with some open problems. Towards the end of the technical talk, some information about Syracuse University’s MS programs in EE/CE/CS will be provided.
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