DST Secretary Prof. Abhay Karandikar inaugurates DST’s flagship programme SATHI at IIT Kharagpur
April 12, 2024, West Bengal, India: Prof. Abhay Karandikar, Secretary, Department of Science & Technology (DST) visited Sophisticated Analytical & Technical Help Institute (SATHI) facility, a flagship programme of DST, GOI, hosted at IIT Kharagpur and inaugurated the highly sophisticated R&D infrastructure: Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) and High-Resolution Aberration Corrected Transmission Electron Micron (HRTEM) on 12th April, 2024 in the presence of Prof. V K Tewari, Director; Prof. Amit Patra, Deputy Director; Prof. Rintu Banerjee, Dean, R&D; Prof. Rabibrata Mukherjee, Chairman, SATHI of IIT Kharagpur along with the students, faculty and staff members of the institute and other officials of DST.
During his opening remarks, Prof. Abhay Karandikar, Secretary, DST emphasized about the strategy entails of SATHI establishment, which sustains with shared equipment within a collaborative framework and netwo
rking with near-by MSMEs, start-ups, industries & academic organizations, guided by a self-sustaining roadmap. Spearheading the establishment of the SATHI facility, emphasizing its pivotal role in propelling the development of new materials, innovative products, and cutting-edge technologies in advanced materials characterization. By adopting this approach, DST strives to foster the convergence of diverse expertise, regional vigor, and institutional eminence to lead the vibrant scientific eco-system.
He remarked,” It is a delight to visit the first and the largest IIT of the country which shares a profound historical significance and laid the foundation for the technical studies in India. IIT Kharagpur has always stood at the helm of transforming technologies and sustainable reforms of technical prowess. This initiative extends a warm invitation for active engagement to various entities within the region, including Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), industries, and start-ups and scientist to hand hold to gain better societal outreach. With such compelling proposition, the SATHI program has the potential to fortify the R&D infrastructure landscape of the nation.”
Prof. V K Tewari, Director, IIT Kharagpur elaborated the various initiatives the institute is taking in making its Central Research Facility available to masses. He said that one of the instruments HRTEM, is only of its kind in the country and 14th in the world and added, ”SATHI is a flagship programme of DST, GOI to promote the culture of deep technology based cutting-edge research not only within academia but also involving industry particularly MSME & start-ups. As a part of the SATHI Facility at IIT KGP, two world class instruments: High Resolution Aberration Corrected Transmission Electron Microscope (HRTEM) & a Time of Flight – Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometer (ToF_SIMS) was inaugurated today. I am grateful to Prof. Karandikar that he came to IIT Kharagpur and inspired us with his presence.”
Prof. Rintu Banerjee, Dean (R&D) highlighted the need for government funded projects for industry interactions. Prof. Amit Patra, Deputy Director expressed that SATHI like facility will ignite the spark in the young minds.
Prof. Rabibrata Mukherjee, Chairman, SATHI stated, “The HRTEM allows clear direct visualization of atom & molecules and will be extremely useful for many factories on advanced material based industries. On the other hand, the ToF_SIMs allows determination of self-composition and defects and is vital for the semi-conductor industry.”
Faculties and students of the institute explored the immense possibilities of SATHI facility for extensive usage. Prof. Karandikar announced that three new SATHI centres are coming up in the country. He stated that efforts are being made to simplify the fund utilization and other administrative procedures to support ease of doing scientific & technological research. He also delivered an institute lecture on “Connecting the Unconnected in 5G and a Vision for 6G Architecture, a session on future communication system of 6G and beyond in the Netaji Auditorium of the institute.
About SATHI, IIT Kharagpur:
- Sophisticated Analytical and Technical Help Institute (SATHI) center at IIT Kharagpur would be offering services such as Characterization, Testing, Fabrication, Scientific analysis/interpretation, generation of data & knowledge dissemination and so on to various external users including start-ups, MSMEs, large scale industry and academia.
- The National Centre will give access to unique instruments and facilities to various types of users, which are not readily accessible or available in the country, to inculcate the culture of high-end science-based research, product development and innovation
- The key theme of the SATHI center at IIT Kharagpur, which will be managed by SATHI Foundation at IIT Kharagpur (a section 8 company) is Advanced Materials
- Currently, SATHI facility at IIT Kharagpur is hosting state of the art High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscope (HRTEM) and Time of Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometer (ToF-SIMS) instruments. Very soon, a high temperature Universal Testing machine will also be installed.
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