CSIR-Structural Engineering Research Centre (CSIR-SERC), Chennai, organised “One Week, One Lab” campaign during 5-9 June 2023.
On 5 June 2023, the first day of this campaign, the Society Connect event was organised at CSIR-SERC, with the aim of providing a platform for knowledge sharing, technical demonstrations and identifying the gaps between research outcomes and societal needs through focused discussions. The event had participation from diverse departments/areas such as public works, rural development, roads & highways, railways, Research Designs & Standards Organisation (RDSO), Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL), Chennai metro, Chennai Corporation, power infrastructure, port & coastal management, etc.
The Chief Guest, Mr Desh Ratan Gupta, Principal Chief Engineer, Southern Railway, in his address, mentioned that CSIR-SERC’s services are being widely used by the Indian Railways and various public & private sector organisations for decades. He also stressed the vital role played by CSIR-SERC in the structural health monitoring and assessment of old railway bridges, load testing of the Pamban railway-bridge, etc. during the last few decades.
The Guest of Honour, Mr Yadav, Deputy Director General (Southern Region), Bureau of Indian Standards emphasised the importance of giving back to society without which any organisation cannot sustain. He mentioned that CSIR-SERC contributes to almost 70-80% of the structural engineering Standards brought out by BIS and is the major contributor to the National Building Code. Chief Guest flagged off the mobile campaign and the Guest of Honour inaugurated the exhibition stalls on CSIR-SERC technologies at the campus.
Stakeholder’s connect was organised on 6 June 2023 with the purpose to connect with the stakeholder and to lay down a future roadmap. There were around 180 participants with a balanced representation from public and private sector industries, MSMEs and start-ups. Chief Guest Shri UK Bhattacharya, Director (Projects), NTPC, applauded CSIR and CSIR-SERC for this campaign and said that NTPC Ltd, India’s largest power generator, is attending this event to connect with the innovation engine of India — CSIR. He said that CSIR-SERC is involved in the inspection of structures of almost all NTPC plants and pointed out that with the timely intervention of CSIR-SERC, NTPC was able to solve critical issues within a short span of time.
Guest of Honour Dr V Govindaraj, Head-R&D, Larsen & Toubro, mentioned that there is a strong need to focus on the massive requirements of these ongoing/upcoming projects, forecasting the nature of requirements, leveraging all available technologies, identifying the grey areas and to prepare ourselves with feasible solutions. Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) between CSIR-SERC and Construction Industry Development Council (CIDC), New Delhi, for carrying out performance appraisal and certificate of competency for the construction chemical and waterproofing applicators and Memorandum of Understanding between CSIR-SERC and Larsen & Toubro Limited (L&T), Mumbai, for the industrial partnership to facilitate deployment of the technology/knowhow being developed for Precast textile reinforced concrete U-drains for stormwater infrastructure (TRC U-drain) were exchanged.
Student Connect event was organised on 7 June 2023 to connect with the school students with the aim to inculcate the scientific temper in students. About 48 students and 20 teachers from 17 government schools in Tamil Nadu participated in the event. Apart from them, 8 schools (32 students & 11 teachers) who were the prize winners of Technovation 2022-23 (JIGYASA Competition) also participated in the event to give their presentations.
Chief Guest, Prof. Usha Natesan, Director, National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research (NITTTR), Chennai, in her address referred to Benjamin Frankin’s quote — An investment in knowledge pays the best interest, she said that investing in knowledge will give everything to students. Presentations were made by Technovation prize winners followed by a talk by Dr Anandavalli, Director, CSIR-SERC, on World Environment Day and its significance, consequences of plastic pollution, urgent need to reduce plastic usage, and practising zero waste.
The talk was followed by video presentations of finalists of the Students as Scientists for Budding Scientist award, a competition announced as a part of the Student Connect event. Build the Right (Smart Bridges & Smart Buildings) — wherein each student team carried out a demonstration and evaluation of two structural models: Building & Bridge structural system.
Future Entrepreneur Connect was organised on 8 June 2023 to connect with young people and college students to motivate them to take up entrepreneurship and also to provide a platform for them to know about the research activities at CSIR-SERC and discuss their ideas with the scientific community at the campus. About 35 final year B.E./B.Tech. (Civil Engineering) students from 6 colleges from across Tamil Nadu and neighbouring states participated in the event. Shri Suresh Krishn, Managing Director, Isha Homes (India) Pvt. Ltd, Chennai, and Shri J Udayanand, Managing Director, Niketa Constructions, Coimbatore, were the Chief Guests of the function. Students Innovative/Start-up Competition was organised as a part of this event.
The Public Connect event was organised from 5 to 9 June 2023 with a road show & exhibition with a team from CSIR-SERC travelling about 1500 km over 5 days to 6 cities (Chennai, Tiruchirappalli, Madurai, Coimbatore, Salem, and Vellore) across Tamil Nadu to share the contributions of CSIR-SERC with the public through interactions at public places and educational institutions.
CSIR-SERC’s Foundation Day was celebrated on 10 June 2023. Prof. V Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, was the Chief Guest. Dr Nagesh R Iyer, former Director, CSIR-SERC and Dr N Gopalakrishnan, former Director, CSIR-CBRI were Guests of Honour. Prof. V Kamakoti, in his address, spoke on the old paradigms vis-a-vis trends and growing demands in the construction industry and digital technologies relevant to structural engineering. Dr Nagesh R Iyer mentioned the glorious contributions of Prof. GS Ramasamy, Founder Director of CSIR-SERC. Dr Gopalakrishnan delivered a lecture on his journey as a scientist in CSIR-CBRI.
