Science & Technology should be used to bridge the gap in society

Kattankulathur: As many as 146 researchers were presented with medals at the Research Day held at SRM Institute of Science and Technology (SRMIST), Kattankulathur. Chief guest at the event Dr Nandini Kannan, executive director, Indo-US Science and Technology Forum, honoured the researchers and released the CD of abstract on the occasion.

Present on the occasion were SRMIST Vice-Chancellor Dr C. Muthamizhchelvan, Pro VC (Medical) Dr. Lt. Col A. Ravikumar, registrar Dr S Ponnusamy, COE Dr K Gunasekaran, other directors and deans.

Among those honoured was Dr. Satyajit Mohapatra from SRM Medical College Hospital and Research Centre (SRM MCH&RC) who brought in funding of 1.6 crore. Dr Satyajit was also the principle investigator of the Covaxin trial held at SRM MCH&RC. The hospital has recently opened a 5,000 square feet hitech research faculty called the 'SRM Centre for Clinical trials & Research'.

In her speech, Dr. Nandini Kannan said, "Science and technology should be used to bridge the gap in the society, including climate change." She encouraged students to take up international collaborations. "Global challenges call for global collaborations and partnerships, bringing together the best and brightest scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs to work together."

Vice Chancellor Dr C Muthamizhchelvan in his presidential address said, "At SRMIST, Research Day was celebrated to promote interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary learning among research scholars." Presenting the research statistics, he said that at SRMIST a lot of collaborative research is encouraged among faculty. He also urged students to submit quality papers. "SRMIST has a huge infrastructure and labs and these need to be used efficiently. We have several centres of excellence. This year we opened two such centres one for energy and the other for the environment," he added.