National Technology Day

IIT Jodhpur celebrated National Technology Day on May 11, 2020 with a Webinar Panel on Technological Innovations at IIT Jodhpur in the fight against Covid-19 Pandemic. National Technology Day marks the anniversary of this day in 1998 when India achieved a major technological breakthrough by successfully carrying out nuclear tests at Pokhran, Rajasthan. In today’s difficult times, this day has a special significance as it celebrates everyone who is leveraging technology to bring a positive difference in the lives of others. The fraternity of IIT Jodhpur has taken remarkable initiatives during these trying times of the Covid-19 global pandemic. IIT Jodhpur applauds all the teams such as those of Prof. Nirmal Rana and Prof. Kaushal Desai), who have successfully delivered hand sanitisers and face shields. Many other teams had been working tirelessly on developing systems to decontaminate N95 masks, (iii) AI-driven diagnostics using X-ray and CT-images of lungs, and (iii) a Hindi chatbot to provide diagnostic guidance.

The webinar included talks by four faculty members who presented the contributions made by their respective teams, and was live-streamed on Google Meet for the students at home. The panelists included Prof. P. K. Tewari (Visiting Professor and Head of Department of Chemical Engineering) who talked about the water-related issues during and after COVID-19 pandemic, particularly the challenges and opportunities; Prof. Ram Prakash (Department of Physics) who presented his team’s work on Photocatalytic Oxidation Sterilization System for treating the N95 Facemask Respirators used by healthcare workers so that they may be reused. Dr. Sumit Kalra (Department of Computer Science and Engineering) presented NextGen Smart Telemedicine Portal for scalable and contactless healthcare services, and Prof. Mayank Vatsa (Department of Computer Science and Engineering) talked about the AI-based technology intervention from his team during this pandemic. The webinars were followed by remarks by the Director, Prof. Santanu Chaudhury, who highlighted the value of science and technology being realized around the world during this pandemic, and congratulated all the students who worked remotely and contributed to the innovations despite the lockdown. The event concluded with a vote of thanks by Prof. Kamaljit Rangra, Chairperson, CCCD.