Report of the Review Committee
For
Department of Applied Mechanics
Indian Institute of Technology, Madras,
Chennai – 600 036
MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE:
Dr M. S. Valiathan
:
Chairman
:
Member
:
Member
National Research Professor, Manipal University
Professor S. Gopalakrishnan
Department of Aerospace Engineering, IISc, Bangalore
Dr N. Adinarayana
Principal Engineer Oil and Gas, JFWTC, GE Bangalore
17
TERMS OF REFERENCE
I.
1. Department is full of energy with young faculty wanting to get into various
new fields. Over the years, faculty have gotten into many new areas and new
fields of research. Applied Mechanics is probably the only department wherein
the faculty are drawn from various disciplines and are well placed to do
interdisciplinary research. Having said this, and looking at the current areas of
interest of the faculty, following new areas of research is quite important that
are current and are also in the cutting edge fields.
a) Biomedical : Bio MEMS and NEMS
b) Fluid Mechanics: Hypersonic and shock wave research
c) Solid Mechanics: Nanotechnology, advanced materials,
computational material science, nanocomposites etc.
integrated
Each group (Biomedical, fluid mechanics and solid mechanics) is working in isolation
and there is hardly any technical interaction between groups. New programmes and
projects involving multiple groups should be conceived and executed.
2. Application of Engineering Mechanics to generate cutting edge technologies
require interactions with industry and so areas like “Sensors & Actuators”,
“Energy Engineering”, “Distributed Power” etc.
which target specific
industries or industry segments may be pursued by pooling expertise of the
faculty.
3. Biomedical Engineering is being pursued in Applied Mechanics: but also in
Electrical Engineering, Engineering Design, Biotechnology and Department of
Physics. There are a number of projects relating to instrumentation, devices
including prostheses, hospital beds etc., and biotech products such as stem
cell derived red cells. The Department of Physics has an innovative project
on lung support based on oxygen released from hydrolysis of the water
content of blood to oxygenate Hb directly. While “hundred flowers” blooming
is a good idea, an interdepartmental mechanism needs to be created to avoid
duplication of efforts; secondly, if and when major facilities are to be created
18
for stem cell research, tissue engineering etc., the laboratories should be
centralised with access to all interested groups.
II.
4. Bulk of teaching from the department is going to the four undergraduate
courses that the department owns, that is, Engineering Mechanics, Fluid
Mechanics and Strength materials. In addition, department faculty offers a
variety of electives needed for the research of the students. However, to
assess the significance of course curriculum (for B.Tech, Duel Degree and
M.Tech programmes) to the current needs of the industry, it may be
worthwhile to have a review of these from relevant industry stalwarts
periodically.
5. The question of “relevance for research and/or employment” in BME is
complicated by the fact that industry for medical instrumentation and devices
is poorly developed in India and employment opportunities are not plentiful.
The growing trend is that MNCs are setting up R&D labs and industry in India
and their needs and priorities would be determined by their global strategy.
They could become a significant source of employment, but predictions are
difficult. As an academic exercise, the present course programme in BME is
adequate in so far as it produces good teachers, scholars and professionals.
The overall picture of BME is that of talented individuals pursuing small
projects of interest to them: transfer of technology, industrial interaction, IP
and the possible impact of their work on the India’s health sector are not in
their mental horizon.
The picture is what one would expect to see in a
University – not in an IIT.
III.
6. The quality of research as evidenced by the journal publication has improved
since last review. More faculty have been publishing in the better quality
journal. However, it is still on the lower side compared to other institutes in
India and more importantly from similar departments abroad. The impact of
19
the research as evidenced by publications is certainly low. In this area, the
faculty have to certainly rise their levels. Considering that the average age of
faculty is just 39 years, and many of them have very good pedigree, they can
certainly improve in the years to come. The experimental facility is certainly
not at the levels of institutes such as Indian Institute of Science and in this
area, faculty have write for bigger grants to equip themselves adequately to
stay up front in the cutting edge research in the years to come.
7. The areas chosen for research are diverse eg. brain image analysis,
biomedical imaging, signal analysis, non-destructive imaging of tissue, optical
spectroscopy, motor learning, etc. They are interesting and contemporary,
but one is not sure whether the size of the faculty and quantum of research in
pursuing these questions are adequate to “compare with global benchmarks”.
The present approach in research is similar to that of the past when the
previous review was carried out.
Each project is regarded as a scientific
pursuit, publishable in a good journal, and facilitating continuing support for
research.
This may have to do with the policy of the IIT to prioritise
academic performance and assign a secondary position to the development of
technology. If the same problems are pursued vigorously with a sharp eye on
the possibility of product development, and industry is inducted as soon as a
prototype appears in the laboratory, BME would become a beehive with a
new species of enthusiasm. It should be kept in mind that with the possible
exception of the “diabetic foot”, no instruments or devices developed by the
department have been productionised or marketed successfully in India since
the inception of BME in the IIT. A reorientation of biomedical engineering on
these lines would invigorate the MS/M.Tech programmes, improve job
prospects and become transformational for technical education in India.
Learning, teaching, innovation and technology development are not mutually
exclusive as MIT has shown over the years.
The quantity of research measured by the number of Journal Publications
appears to be on par with other departments though higher number is
expected because of the absence of UG programs. The quality of research
20
needs improvement by getting better involved with industry and generating
IP for cutting edge technologies. The reported citation index for published
Journal papers of AM is lower than some other departments contributing
similar number of Journal papers indicating a lower quality.
IV.
8. From the teaching evaluation reports, most of the faculty are emerging as
out-standing teachers and the level of satisfaction among students is quite
high. This is indeed something that everyone should compliment the faculty
of the department. This is inspite of the fact that some of the class sizes are
very high. Many laboratories are cramped. These are main impediments that
both faculty as well as the student face. Hence, it is recommended that better
class rooms and bigger laboratories are built.
9. The MS/Ph.D students face difficulties in fabrication and the use of workshop
facilities, which is an old and frustrating problem. This needs correction. The
laboratory space is cramped and, in the absence of a/c, becomes a “furnace”
for several months. This too calls for immediate attention.
Computerized “Stores & Purchase” system with proper work-flows for placing
requests, tracking and audits may be helpful.
V.
10. There has been a significant increase in the amount of sponsored research
performed by the faculty since last review.
However, in today world of
research this is not sufficient. Faculty of the department have not bid for any
major multi-departmental or multi institute projects. Such projects are not
only required to build the institute infrastructure, but also help in getting
significant visibility both to the department as well as to the faculty. The
number of international projects is almost absent. This is required to get
global visibility to the department.
21
VI.
11. Although good amount of IP is generated from the projects, these are neither
protected nor exploited. The number of consulting projects performed by the
faculty is minimum and as a result, students complain that many industries
are not aware of the department,
which they claim is affecting their
placement prospects. This is one of the weak areas of the department which
requires improvement.
12. There is no special focus to investigate the needs of a specific industry or
segments. A formal analysis of past interactions with industries will help to
assess the requirements of those industries and plan for technology
development activities. A structured approach like creation of a data base of
contacts including those from industry attending seminars and conferences
and periodic reviews may help the faculty for better industry engagement.
13. “Sponsored projects” in BME are too few to comment on “depth and breadth”.
This is mainly because product/process oriented research in BME is too small
and insignificant in India; nor it is encouraged in academic institutions
including IITs.
The question of “IP being generated and protected” is
premature.
VII.
14. International collaboration with other institutes are minimal and the
department faculty have to strive to strengthen it to get visibility. It is also
found that the faculty’s interaction with other peers in the country is
minimum. Such interactions will help the peers know the kind of research
being done in the department, which will help in getting more sponsored
grants to the department. As mentioned earlier, Applied Mechanics
department is well placed to perform multi-disciplinary research as it has
faculty from multiple disciplines. However, the three groups within the
department work in isolation. In its current structure, each group can
independently function as independent departments. However, in order to be
globally competent and to bring in synergy in their research, it is necessary
22
that faculty conceive a big joint proposals in cutting area of research and seek
funding from both national and international organizations.
15. International collaborations are not significant in BME.
Scope for
collaboration with other Departments in the IIT and other institutions and
industry in India does exist and needs to be pursued actively.
16. As BME is offered in several departments and they are largely unaware of ongoing work except their own, it would be desirable to organise a discussion
meeting every six months when each group would present their work and
promote an informal exchange of views. This would be beneficial in so far as
it would promote cross-fertilisation of ideas and avoid duplication of effort.
VIII.
17. The infrastructure in its current state is highly inadequate. Due to increase in
the student intake, the class rooms have to be big and size of undergraduate
Laboratories have to increase significantly. Many small laboratories can be
merged and a separate large laboratory space can be identified. Such an
exercise, will not only solve the space problem, but also bring in more
synergy among faculty research. This will significantly improve the research
atmosphere. Some of the office spaces for research scholars are cramped and
the lack of air conditioners especially in summers months is causing
significant hardships to the research scholars.
IX.
18. The spirit of research scholars is very good and most of them seems to be
highly motivated inspite of cramped office spaces and laboratories. It is time
that some of the infrastructural issues are sorted out before they loose
motivation.
23
X.
19. The striking strength of the department is the highly qualified, extremely
motivated faculty, who are young and are wanting to do better.
The
atmosphere in the department is extremely cordial. These young faculty
require good mentorship to guide them through their academic career at least
in their initial years. The senior faculty are helping them well to settle down.
One of the glaring weakness is that, except for one, none of them are Fellows
of any national science or engineering academies nor have any foreign
awards or in the major national committees. These metrics are essential for
both the faculty and the department getting visibility and also to increase the
department rankings.
20. The intellectual potential of the BME section is high. It is not fully expressed
because the present policy has encouraged the advancement of projects
based on student requirements. While this is necessary and desirable up to a
point, the BME section should have collective projects too which emphasise
group endeavour.
There could be many such projects eg. industry-linked
development of a class of instruments which Indian hospitals need; nondestructive imaging of tissues for developing pathology informatics etc.
These group projects should involve scientists/engineers from other
departments who are currently working on BME if they share the interest.
21. Faculty has good strength in teaching which may be utilized to establish
connections with industry by developing some NPTEL lectures on topics of
interest to young technical leaders in Industry and asking them to contact the
relevant team/ faculty for assistance.
Dr M. S. Valiathan
Chairman
Dr N. Adinarayana
Member
Professor S. Gopalakrishnan
Member
24
Biomedical Engineering (BME)
Indian Institute of Technology, Madras
Some Personal reflections:
Dr M. S. Valiathan:
1. I had the privilege to serve as a Visiting Professor for a year in the Division of
Biomedical Engineering from 1973-74.
It was a turning point in my
professional career and I have always been grateful to the IIT for that
enjoyable and instructive experience.
The present review of the BME
programme is the second that I have been associated with.
2. Since our last review in 2005, the BME programme has expanded laterally and
in different directions. It is being pursued actively in Electrical Engineering,
Design Engineering, Physics Department, and Department of Biotechnology in
addition to what goes in Applied Mechanics. Each Department looks at BME
from its own perspective by and large – but there are exceptions such as
Electrical Engineering developing mechanical prostheses. There are overlaps in
several areas such as biomaterials, devices design etc. These are inevitable in
a context where many BME projects are essentially projects for students at
MS/M.Tech levels.
The human body is the ultimate machine which offers
problems of interest to many branches of science and technology. The natural
curiosity and urge to investigate should be nurtured by the IIT which is a
national Institute of academic excellence.
The only caution is that all the
projects being carried out in BME in several departments should not end up in
conference/journal publications and Class I devices, which would be a
disservice to technology development in India. This needs to be kept in mind
because, with the possible exception of the “diabetic foot”, no instrument or
device developed by the IIT, Madras has gone into successful commercial
production or made a difference to health care in India in the last 40 years.
25
3. While encouraging curiosity - driven individual projects, BME programme in the
IIT should also take up a limited number of major programmes for R&D which
would make a significant impact on health care industry and make a dent on
the pathetic situation when India is obliged to import 90% of its requirements
for high tech instruments and devices.
The major programmes should of
course be chosen by the IIT based on the most important causes of mortality
and disability in India; data on the import trends for instruments/devices; and
the scientific interests and competence of the IIT faculty. In this context, I
would make a suggestion on the lines what the Review Committee had written
in 2005. The IIT should consider putting up a proposal to DST to develop a
national mission for medical instrumentation development involving a network
of industry, academia, medical institutes and National laboratories.
A good
model which may attract Government support would be the “National Centre
for Combustion Research and Development”.
The Mission should aim to
develop innovative instruments and devices for health care, which would claim
a market share of Rs. 5000 crores in five years. To my mind, this is achievable.
4. While I enjoyed the visits to several laboratories and interaction with young
scientists and engineers, two observations struck me especially
i.
The Haptic lab has developed a laparoscopic simulator hardware for Haptic
Feedback and Dr Manivannan has been permitted by the IIT to locate his
rudimentary company in his lab.
I would congratulate the IIT on this
imaginative step. What the scientist has done is the development of Virtual
Reality (VR) which has enormous potential in the training of doctors, nurses
and allied health professionals; its export potential will also be very large.
Is there any possibility that Dr Manivannan’s laudable work could be developed
into an Indian version of the famed “Mittelstands” of Germany? The industry
would involve only 25-30 individuals; but products would be of the highest
quality, constantly innovative, and commanding a large market.
If a
“Mittelstands” emerges successfully in Chennai in association with the IIT, it
26
would become the immediate forerunner of a major trend in medical
instrumentation industry in India.
ii.
Dr Sujatha has an interesting project on non-destructive imaging of tissue
using laser speckle techniques.
This is being used for tissue hemoglobin
assessment. In view of this background, I suggested that she should take a
look at “pathology informatics (PI)” developed in the University of Pittsburgh.
PI is a powerful method to take thousands of tomographic pictures of
pathology specimens obtained during biopsy and surgery.
Currently these
specimens slumber in paraffin blocks by the hundreds of thousands in hospitals
all over India as pathologists can look at no more than 10-15 “cuts” from a
specimen. The PI approach would enable thousands of images to be scanned
and ensure that nothing abnormal is missed; it would enable the transmission
of images for consultation worldwide instantly; as new reagents become
available, images from old specimens could be reviewed, new sections made
and reanalysed so that what was not capable of tissue diagnosis in the past
becomes capable of diagnosis later. If PI is set up in collaboration with the
Cancer Institute, it is a question of time before it becomes the node of a
national grid of PI, which would be transformational for health care and
medical education in India.
Professor S. Gopalakrishnan:
At the outset, I would like thank you for nominating me as a member of the review
committee for the evaluation of the Applied Mechanics department of your institute.
The two days I spent along with Prof. Valiathan and Dr Adhinarayana was a
wonderful learning experience for me. I would like to thank you, Applied Mechanics
department head, the faculty and students for extending us a wonderful hospitality.
The joint committee report is been collectively prepared by three of us and will be
submitted by Prof. Valiathan, the Chairman of the Review Committee. Most of the
points (strengths, weakness etc.) are included in this report. However, there are a
few points which I would like to personally express as regards the current state of
the Applied Mechanics Department.
27
You may be aware that I was a student of the department between 1985-87 and I
was also a faculty in your institute in the Department of Civil Engineering between
1995-97. Over these years, I have been following the growth of this department. I
had the benefit of learning the subject from some of the great teachers and
researchers such as Prof. R.S. Alwar, Prof. R.S. Srinivasan, Prof. V. Ramamurthy and
Prof. B.V.A.Rao to name a few. These were great leaders, teachers who have helped
many including myself in shaping up their careers. The department today does not
have leaders like these. In addition, the erstwhile Machine Dynamics lab, is no
longer the part of the department and this Lab had in recent past had produced
stalwarts like Prof. S. Narayanan and Prof. N Ganesan. This department has
undergone many changes since the retirement of many of these stalwarts and today
we see a very young department bubbling with enthusiasm and hope of making it
visible in the national and international forums. They have to perform under these
circumstances and my comments, which are summarized below, are based after
taking into account the above factors. I have a great interest in seeing this
department grow as on one of the best departments in IIT and probably the best
Applied Mechanics Department in India. In the next few paragraphs, I would like to
summarize the current strengths, weakness, major impediments for growth and of
some of my recommendations to make the department one of the forefront
departments in research and development.
Strengths of the Department:
The major strength of the department is that it is probably one of the few
departments in IITs that is well placed to undertake interdisciplinary research since
the department has faculty drawn from various disciplines. It has three major groups
namely the Bio-Medical Engineering, The Solid Mechanics and the Fluid Mechanics
groups within the department. The department is very young with the average age
of faculty being 39 years. Through our interaction we found that department faculty
is highly motivated, eager to do high-end research and wanting to get into new
areas and are highly dedicated to teaching. From their teaching evaluation, we have
found most of them to be excellent teachers. It was also found the senior faculty
members are highly co-operative and understanding to the needs of the junior
members and they are helping them in a number of ways in their academic activity.
28
Many faculty are undertaking good number of sponsored projects from the
government agencies and we see a reasonable increase in the sponsored research
funding since the last review.
Weakness of the Department:
Being an interdisciplinary department having three distinct groups, each of them
works in isolation and there is hardly any communication among the groups. In
addition the interaction of the faculty among other departments within IIT or any
other groups within India is minimum. There is hardly any international collaboration
that we found and there are very few projects funded from international agencies.
We also found that faculties are not performing industrial centric research. These
have resulted in very less visibility to the faculty as well as the department, which
has resulted in many industries not knowing the department and as a result of the
student placement prospects are getting affected. I particularly found that the
faculty are working mostly in their comfort zones and does not seem to have any
high desire to get into cutting edge areas and these are necessary for the faculty to
gain visibility within the country or abroad. It was also found that enough efforts are
not made by the faculty to obtain any major funding to replenish the sagging
infrastructure in the department; this will have cascading effect in terms of research
in the years to come.
Major Impediments:
By looking at the number of laboratories and also talking to undergraduates,
graduate students and research scholars it is found that the major impediment to
research is the lack of infrastructure in the department in terms of space, available
technical staff and permanent office staff. We found that many laboratories are
cramped (some to them are operative in less than 100 sqft. space), the research
scholar’s offices are very small and dingy and the indifference of the permanent staff
especially as regards processing the purchase orders for equipments and supplies. In
addition, with the absence of any stalwarts in the department, junior faculty
members lack proper direction and mentoring for their growth in the institute. We
were told that the institute uses Applied Mechanics department more like a service
institute and this aspect, the faculty say, is hampering their own reputation within
29
the faculty community. The newly joined Assistant Professors from the department
expressed the view that the allocation of research scholars, although is transparent,
is not implemented in full letter and spirit i.e., although newly joined faculty are
supposed to get preferences during allocation, however, student’s option always
gets preference over this rule and as a result many of them are not able to get any
student in their initial years since no new student wants to join entry-level faculty.
Solution to the problems:
Although the issues highlighted above are very complicated and some of them may
not have immediate solutions, following guidelines can if implemented, may solve
some of the problems:
1) It is necessary to improve the infrastructure to get tangible research output in
the years to come, which include bigger classrooms, larger laboratories and
good office space for research scholars that also include centralized A/c. for
buildings. This I believe will see increase of research in the years to come.
2) The New faculty should be mentored by very senior faculty and advise them
on their growth path.
3) The department currently has only one Fellow of National Academy of
Engineering and no science academy fellows. These are necessary for not
only for the faculty visibility, but also for the visibility of department and the
Institute. The senior faculty within and outside the department should identify
some of the performing faculty and have them nominated to many of
fellowships to the engineering and science academy.
4) The department head and seniors should initiate a mechanism for interaction
among the three different faculty groups within and outside the department
and conceive bigger inter disciplinary projects to replenish the sagging
infrastructure within the department.
5) It is found that the department faculty especially the junior ones are heavily
burdened with lot of course work and some of these courses are also taught
in other departments such as Aerospace, Civil Engineering, Mechanical
Engineering and Bio-Technology departments The Department head can talk
to the heads of these departments and see that the faculty over load with can
be minimized by having course teaching on rotation basis.
30
6) The department head can call all the major national government funding
agencies such as DRDO, MIT, ISRO AERB etc and introduce the faculty and
their research to these organization so that both the department as well as
faculty get the necessary funding for their research and infrastructure needs.
7) The department with the help of the institute should bring in some
multinational companies such as Boeing Aircraft Company, Pratt & Whitney
etc. to the department and expose department research to these
organizations so that they get their necessary visibility and funding.
In summary I see a department of very high potential with very talented faculty
having very high pedigree with a potential to grow both nationally and
internationally. I would like to see some seminal contributions in the respective areas
of research to come out in the years to come. I would also like to see persons like
Prof. C N R Rao, Prof. R Narasimha, Prof. G.N.Ramachandran, Prof. Ashok
Junjunwala etc emerging from this department in the years to come. I am sure we
will see this happen. I once again thank you for the opportunity given to me to share
my thoughts. If you need my services in any of the aspects concerning the
department, I will be most happy to be part of it.
Dr N. Adinarayana:
1. I had the privilege to study for M.S. & Ph.D. programs under the guidance of
Prof. R.S. Alwar while working in BHEL, Hyderabad under external registration
scheme. I had also the privilege of working from BHEL side on many sponsored
research/consultancy projects on the AM department during that 15 year period. I
am very happy to be associated with the present review committee and two days
of working along with distinguished people like Prof. Valiathan and Prof.
Gopalakrishnan and the opportunity to provide some service to IITM and the AM
department.
2. The most important things I gained as a young engineer in industry (where
know-why was lacking from collaborators) were solid background on Engineering
Mechanics and the support from Prof. Alwar in design reviews and providing
31
confidence to implement new ideas on several product development programs I
was working during the period.
3. I expected to see lot more support to industry from AM department over the last
20 years since I left IITM but as a member of the review committee my
observation is the earlier foundations were not utilized to build a strong
organization to support industry. There may be many reasons because I find the
circumstances have changed but the faculty outlook is more or less old.

PSU/Industry approached IITM in olden days and there were few
committed Professors who supported them. Strength in core academic
areas was sufficient for the faculty. Scene of foreign collaborations has
changed and Indian Industry is currently challenged to develop world class
products in-house. With globalization challenges, there is a large increase
in the requirements for academic support, some of which Indian Industry
itself may not be aware.

Nationalistic pride in building Indian Institutions is replaced by more global
outlook. Industry may support whoever is providing research into cutting
edge technologies.

Continuing focus on the usage of slow work methods like photo elasticity,
mechanical simulators etc. compared to the current industry requirements
of Fast Track Product Development will require change.

Areas like Product Life Cycle management and System level support with
problem solving skills required for industry currently are not nurtured. AM
Department Mission & Strategic Goals support development of such areas
but focussed approach is lacking.

There is a need for the faculty first to understand industry requirements by
studying the work/engagement of counterparts in the foreign universities
who are providing support to industry.
4. First idea I suggest to build strong industry interactions and help young technical
leaders of Indian industry (many of who came out of myriad engineering colleges
without proper learning infrastructure) is to work towards developing an
32
Executive M.Tech. Program for practicing engineers of Engineering and
Manufacturing industries in India.

The strength in teaching of Engineering Mechanics and other core subjects
of engineering makes the AM Department ideally suited to meet various
needs of the engineering & manufacturing industry.

The course should focus on studies for new technology developments
rather on hands on working on engineering tools. Technical Leaders in
industry should get benefit by developing skills to formulate their own
approaches for product development, cost reduction etc. and sponsor
projects on academic institutions like IITM when necessary.

Suitable NPTEL courses may be developed by the faculty after
understanding the industry requirements.

A study may be made on how to offer the course (Contact, web based
etc.) in say 10 cities which have considerable strength of engineers in
Engineering/Manufacturing industries.
5. My second idea is on building ties with industries, which will enable in due course
developing cutting edge technologies for the industry and also scope to
participate in large scale projects of national importance. The idea is to form
some core teams, say with two faculty members each, in the AM Department and
provide them time and resources to interact with specific industries. Steps below
are my immediate thoughts and have to be modified suitable to the needs.

Industries may be willing to interact if the first step is defined as exploring
support required in areas like Systems Studies, Risk Analysis, Raw material
productivity, Automation tools development, Technical Regulations of
different countries etc. The support may include high level studies in cost
reduction areas by reviewing the products, processes and technologies to
create immediate interest in the top management.

Software suitable to the needs of various industries may be put at IITM
and made available at the preliminary phase on nominal charges.
33

After the first phase, one M.S. or Ph.D. student may be placed in the
industry willing to partner further and guided by the faculty members, who
continue to interact with the industry managers to monitor progress and
provide design review support etc..
6. I am sure the faculty is capable to work for the industry benefit because,

The faculty is highly talented, young, many studied abroad and can
understand the Globalization challenges of the industry.

Extremely good research orientation with a constant supply of quality
research scholars.

Teaching capabilities are very good as evident from the excellent feedback
from students and the faculty can well articulate new subjects.

Provide direction to industry in working on socially relevant and India
centred research.
34