SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, July 14: Altogether 56 students of class IX to XII of Kendriya Vidyalaya Maithon and DAV Public School Koylanagar today visited the Geological Museum of IIT (ISM) and learnt about the tinkering, innovation and research activities being carried out in the institution.
Lab visits of the school students was organized by the Media & Branding department of IIT ISM under the K-12 outreach programme to inspire young minds to explore careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and the environment at IIT (ISM).
The tour, which is the third of its kind began at around 10 a.m. in the morning. The students clubbed into three groups visited over a dozen laboratories including Naresh Vashisht Centre Tinkering and Innovation (NVCTI), the innovation hub of undergraduate students; TEXMiN, the coal technology innovation hub and Atal Community Innovation Centre (ACIC).
The students, accompanied by their teachers during their session at NVCTI, explored the state-of-the-art equipment in its different laboratories.
During their visit to the TEXMiN, the students got a first-hand account of the research being carried out to ensure safe, smart and sustainable mining and automation in mines with the usage of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML).
An IIT ISM official said students also took a keen interest in the different centres of excellence, including Dassault, Sandvik and ESRI besides the Centre of Excellence (COE) of Coal India Limited (CIL) operational at IIT (ISM)
They also visited the Atal Community Innovation Centre (ACIC), where they learnt the training as well as research activities meant to solve to day to day issues of the local community being carried out under the guidance of experts.
During the last leg of the visit to the Geological Museum, they explored the rich and varied collection of over 12,000 typical as well as rare specimens of minerals, rocks and fossils and snakes preserved in alcohol.
Sampa Dey, a teacher accompanying the students of Kendriya Vidyalaya Maithon said, “Unique initiative of IIT ISM to let the school students explore the state of art laboratories and cutting-edge equipment will motivate the students to make a career in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)”
Tuhin Bhattacharjee, a student of DAV Public School, Koylanagar, said, “The experience was quite interesting as they got to learn about a lot of technologies and the best part of the tour was the visit to TEXMiN”.
