It is only befitting that the most loved teachers of the institute be thanked for their service to education on the birth anniversary of the most distinguished teacher in the history of India. On the occasion of Teachers’ Day, the Gopal Das Bhandari Memorial and the Distinguished Faculty Awards will be conferred upon the faculty members. In addition to these awards, the institute will convey its gratitude to professors who have dedicated twenty five years of their lives to teaching on campus.
The Gopal Das Bhandari Memorial Outstanding Teacher Award was instituted by Mr. Anil Bhandari to honour his father. Mr. Bhandari was a student of the Mechanical Engineering department of the 1969 batch. In addition to a citation, the award includes a cash award of Rs. 50,000.
Till last year, the graduating batch of undergraduate students voted for this award but the new SSPC manual mandates that the Students’ Senate nominate the faculty member for it. By the time the new manual was approved, the first round of voting had already been conducted. In light of this, an ad-hoc committee consisting of one graduating student from each department was constituted which completed this task. The Students’ Senate will soon prepare a proposal for the procedure to be followed in the future.
This year, the award will be bestowed upon Prof. Sumit Ganguly of the Computer Science and Engineering department. He completed his B.Tech from IIT Kanpur in 1987 and went on to do M.S. and PhD from the University of Texas, Austin. His interests lie in the fields of databases and data stream processing. He has taught courses like Data Streaming : Algorithms and Systems and Principles of Data Systems, which have endeared him to students and no doubt inspired many to join his fields of interest.
For the Distinguished Faculty Award, nominations are invited from the students, alumni and faculty. Each year a call for nominations is circulated and the name, along with the reason the said person is nominating the professor have to sent via mail or in a sealed envelope to the DOFA office. Then a committee consisting of the Director, DOFA, three other professors and the President, Students’ Gymkhana or his nominee selects two to four professors for the honour. This year, Prof. Prakash M. Dixit and Prof. Jitendra Kumar are the recipients of the award.
Prof. Prakash M. Dixit of the Mechanical Engineering department completed his B.Tech in Aeronautical Engineering from IIT Kharagpur in 1974 going on to finish his Ph.D. from University of Minnesota, Minneapolis in 1979. His interests are focused on Metal Forming, Large Deformation Elasto-Plastic Impact/Contact Problems, Ductile Fracture and Finite Element Method.
Prof. Jitendra Kumar is part of the Materials Science Program and his fascination is with Nano electronic and magnetic recording, hydrogen energy storage materials and electron microscopy. Having taught courses like Characterisation of Materials and Structural and Magnetic Properties of Materials, he has left a profound impact on many students.
The following professors are being felicitated for their service exceeding twenty five years.
Our institute is truly privileged to have professors who are embodiments of the concept of ‘guru’ and it is because of them that IIT Kanpur has achieved the stature it holds today. Vox Populi thanks them for their tireless service to IIT Kanpur and wishes that they continue to carry the torch of education and knowledge for many more years to come.
Correction : The name of Professor Sumit Ganguly had been nominated by the Students’ Senate for The Gopal Das Bhandari Memorial Award but since the Academic Senate had not considered this agenda, it couldn’t be awarded on the occasion of Teachers’ Day.
Written by Simrat Singh
