My Experience in SURGE 2008, IIT Kanpur

This article was written by Jyoti Kumar (Civil Engineering, Class of 2009). He was among the two students selected from all branches of NIT Silchar for the prestigious SURGE Programme (2008) of IIT Kanpur. Other being Jyoti Chaubey (Civil Engineering, Class of 2009). This is his personal side of the story, how he overcame all the odds in his life to reach this height of success. Currently, he is working in Mecon Limited ( A public sector undertaking). CES hopes 2nd/3rd year students will be inspired by this story and would take an active interest in UG Research/Industry Exposure and make NIT Silchar and our Dept.’s name  shine nationally and internationally. He can be reached here and details of SURGE Programme are here.

It was 17^th of March 2008 when I came to know that I had got selected for SURGE programme, 2008 at IIT Kanpur. I was among the 26 NITians who were selected for the programme. The feeling that I was going to stay in IITK (which was my dream campus since my school days) for 10 weeks was thrilling from top to bottom for me.

SURGE programme is a 10-week research-oriented programme for 2^nd and 3^rd year students of NITs (Since 2010, it has been opened up to non-NITs too) and IITK. I joined the programme on 15^th may,2008 though it had begun on 5^th of May. I missed the inaugural function which was attended by the Director and other biggies of IIT Kanpur. We were allotted hall 8 for our stay. Next day I started working on my project. I got a PC, complete access to library and computer centre and all the equipments of the lab. A lot of M. Tech students working in the different fields of transportation engineering in the same lab later became very good friends, guided me a lot and helped me throughout my project work. The interest shown by my mentor was very inspiring and forced me to work more than 12 hrs a day to achieve desired results.

The work environment in IITK was so encouraging and perfect that one cannot even think about cheating himself. I can recall one incident when I asked one of the M. Tech students to teach me application of ABAQUAS. She didn’t only teach me basics of ABAQUAS but sometimes stayed up with me till 2:00 of night when an advanced application of it was required. This incident only throws light on the environment of learning in the IITK campus. The ‘Happy Hours’ arranged every Wednesday was one of the most fruitful events of SURGE programme, where we got the chance to hear from the best faculties of IITK about the fields of their specialisation. It was also the time to interact with the students of other NITs and IITK, who were supposedly the best students in their branch in their respective institute and also learn about their campus and academic life.

SURGE Programme was not only about studying and doing project work all the time. There were  a lot of things to do like swimming, participating in almost all the indoor and outdoor games, gliding, learning photography – just to name a few. At first glance, SURGE Programme was a life transforming experience for me and I am still in touch with most of the participants whom I met there. The transformation is in terms of getting a vision and keen interest towards research work and applied civil engineering rather than attending a series of lecture classes and solving numerical problems of subject just to get a good SPI and CPI and a job or two from the institute. The programme provides a wonderful opportunity to peers towards the possible career options through the lecture series given by esteemed faculty of IITK during ‘Happy Hours’ and also from students of IITK. Personally, I acknowledge that this programme has boosted my confidence level both in terms of technical and personal up to the extent that an ordinary village guy like me who has done his 12 years of schooling in a government school in a Hindi medium school of Bihar and also a five pointer at one point of time has started dreaming about doing higher studies from one of the best universities of world. In fact I never wanted to be a civil engineer, but only after staying for 10 weeks in IITK I came to know that still there are a lot of things to be done in the field of civil engineering and now learning basics of civil engineering has become my hobby.

Finally, I conclude with the remark that the prior mentioned ingredients to develop ones interpersonal skills were well included in various activities of SURGE Programme. Only two students from my batch from NITS got chance to be a part of 2008 SURGE Programme at IITK , but with the number of meritorious and talented students increasing year after year in NITS I am pretty sure that this number will increase in near future.

 

Email Etiquettes for NIT Silchar Intern & GradSchool Applicants

In the world of Facebook and SMSes, the greatest casualty of the Tech revolution has been proper functional English. This INSPIREmini Online presentation has been organised by CES to make sure all students are conversant with the basic rules and etiquettes of Email correspondence, something that will become more and more pervasive in our daily life as a corporate/academic career beckons us soon. CES hopes that it will be specially helpful for students who are applying for Internships, Projects and Graduate School. While most students may already be aware of these fundas, this short presentation is to make sure each and every student of NIT Silchar develops at an early stage the soft skills necessary for success in career and life. The best way to view it is in full screen mode.

 

 

This Presentation was designed by Manabendra Saharia and Amartya Dey (Dept. of Civil Engineering, Class of 2011). Please share the guide with whoever you think will benefit from it.

 

 

Management Studies and CAT Preparation

SPEAKER: Mr. Nabanshu Bhattacharjee (NIT Silchar, ECE Class of 2008).

Total Attendees: 230 students, 20th September 2010.

Presently: Pursuing MBA in IIM Lucknow.

Mission 2015 is a comprehensive 5 year initiative by Civil Engineering Society(CES) with innovative programs like INSPIRE Lecture Series in Civil Engineering, INSPIREmini, INSPIRING INTERNS, Koffee with CES.

As a part of our INSPIREmini Series programme CES cordially invited Nabhanshu Bhattacharjee, from IIM Lucknow (NIT Silchar, ECE Class of 2008). He belled the CAT with a score of 99.6 percentile.  Prior to his IIM life, he worked in IBM Bangalore, as an application developer.

The session was organised on 20^th September 2010 in CET hall.  It was expected to be a 1-hr session but was prolonged due to an overwhelming response wherein around 200 students took part.  The session was kick started with a brief introduction of the day’s guest by chief coordinator, Manabendra Saharia.  The General Secretary of the Gymkhana, Sourav Dhal, took the opportunity to acknowledge the civil engineering society for being vibrant and active and wished all the success in its endeavours.  The General Secretary of CES, Amartya Dey, felicitated the guest and extended a hearty welcome on our campus.  The photography secy, Debankur Jana, helped in capturing the moments of the seminar.

The guest chose not to be monotonic, but was keen in having an interactive session.  He first gathered the queries which ranged from preparation perspective of entrances to the life beyond.  Most of the questions seemed to be clustered around the preparation of CAT, as it is of prime importance for 4^th year and 3^rd year students.  The questions also hovered around the necessity of further studies after a Bachelor’s degree.  Though time was a constraint the session was highly productive to the gathering as the guest tried to clear the general cobwebs which a student in a professional college encounters.  He was also generous to offer another visit for an exclusive CAT seminar as he felt that it should be dealt with in depth analysis.

The session was concluded with a memento presentation to Nabanshu Bhattacharjya by general secretary of CES on behalf of the gathering.

This news report was prepared by an enthusiastic first-year student of the Dept. of Civil Engg., NIT Silchar – Praveen Kumar (Civil Engineering, Class of 2014). CES wishes him lots of luck for his career and hopes that more young students will take an interest in the activities of CES.