Category Archives: Education

Guinness record for SDMIT’s Rubik’s Cube mosaic builders

Amazing Feats, Education, Records, All, Sports, World Opinion
The team of students from SDM Institute of Technology, Ujire, receiving the Guinness certificate at Dharmasthala recently.
The team of students from SDM Institute of Technology, Ujire, receiving the Guinness certificate at Dharmasthala recently.

SDMIT Cubers, a team of students from SDM Institute of Technology, Ujire, recently entered the Guinness Book of World Records for creating the ‘Largest Dual-sided Rubik’s Cube Mosaic’, measuring 14,981 sq m and involving 4,500 Rubik’s Cubes.

Led by Prithveesh K., a final-year engineering student, the team attempted the record on October 2 last year at the Indraprastha Indoor Stadium, Ujire. Mr. Prithveesh said the mosaic was constructed vertically, depicting images — of Charlie Chaplin and Mr. Bean — on both the sides using 3x3x3 Rubik’s Cubes. The team began working at 7.30 a.m. and completed the 15-foot mosaic around 2.30 p.m.

Mr. Prithveesh said Dharmasthala Dharmadhikari D. Veerendra Heggade had offered financial support for their effort, which was also backed by SDM Society secretary B. Yashovarma and SDMIT principal K. Suresh. The certificate from the Guinness Book of World Records was received on February 15 and handed over to the team members by Mr. Heggade recently.

The team also included Sharathkrishna K., Viresh Baragi, Shantinath Bharatesh Khurd, Shivakumar T., Prajwal Patil, Vinay T., Swapnil A. Arali, Prahlad M.M., Harikrishna V., Shayeel S. Naik, Sathwik S. Paranjape, Stephen K.A., Madhur G., Karthik M., Mallanagouda Meti, Sujay Suresh, Sanjaya Holla, Rohan R. Gumathanavar and Shiva H..

Mr. Prithveesh said he has been promoting ‘cubing’ through various workshops and he entered the India Book of Records for training 500 students in solving different kinds of Rubik’s Cubes in 2015. He hails from Cherkady village in Udupi district and is the son of agriculturist Shyam Prasad.

He said, “I want to make Rubik’s Cube more popular in India and hope to create another Guinness record at my home town Udupi.”

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by Special Correpondent / Mangaluru – February 23rd, 2017

ICAI-Bengaluru gets first woman chairperson

Amazing Feats, Business & Economy, Education, Leaders, Records, All

Geetha A.B. has been elected Chairperson of the Bengaluru branch of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) for 2017-18.

She is the first woman head of the professional body. She has over 13 years of professional experience and is specialised in direct taxation and auditing. Her contributions to the CA professional community as Secretary, Treasurer and CA Students’ Head have been noteworthy, said an official press note.

The Bengaluru branch caters to the needs of nearly 13,500 CAs and 30,000 students on its rolls. Ms. Geetha has also been an active member of Karnataka State Chartered Accountants Association and AWAKE, women entrepreneurs association of Karnataka.

Other office-bearers are Shravan Guduthur (Vice-Chairman) Bhat Shivaram Shankar (Secretary), Raveendra S. Kore (Treasurer), and Bhojaraj T. Shetty (nominated-Chairman).

The ICAI, a statutory body, has a Council comprising 40 members, with 32 elected and the rest nominated by the Central government.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bengaluru / by Special Correspondent / Bengaluru – February 18th, 2017

Bengaluru students win National Finance Olympiad

Education, Records, All

Bengaluru :

Four students from Bengaluru’s National Academy for Learning  (NAFL) came first in the National Finance Olympiad, the finals of which were held in Delhi in the first week of February.
Shivani Gowda  and Sanyukta Kamath, both from Class 8, Rakshashri Nataraja (class 11) and Siddarth Vinay (Class 12), cleared the school and regional rounds to reach the finals. “We were tested on current affairs, general knowledge, the financial world, terminology and stock markets,” said Rakshashri.

“The team from our school won the Olympiad last year, so there was quite a bit of pressure on us to win it again,” said Shivani. ” We are very glad that this is the second team from our school to win the Olympiad,” said NAFL principal Indira Jayakrishnan.

The team received a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh.

The Finance Olympiad is an initiative to familiarize young people with managing money and inculcating the habit of analyzing finances in their daily life.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Bangalore  News / by TNN / February 17th, 2017

Chemistry prof aka karate trainer

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Sports

KarateBF13feb2017

 

Bengaluru :

An assistant professor who doubles as a Karate trainer is teaching women self-defence on the campus, has been recognised by the Karate Association of India for promoting the martial art.

MathewsBF13feb2017

Mathews P Raj, 29, an assistant professor of the department of Life Sciences at Jain University, Bengaluru has been conducting self-defence classes for the university’s students, as well as staff on the JC Road campus since 2012.

While a few students are trained only for competitive karate to participate in tournaments, many girls and women are trained in self-defence, which includes a lot of mental training too. “The course lasts from six months to an year. Basically we train their minds and teach them how to act and behave in critical situations. They are even taught to defend themselves while wearing a saree,” says Mathews, who himself began learning Karate in 1992, when he was in class II.

At the university, about 15 girls, 10 boys, five staff members and 10 sports students attend the training every day from 3.30 pm to 5 pm. The girls are also taught gymnastics. Regarding the mental training, Mathews says, “Everyone has this thing that once you join karate you can defend yourself. But in training, they are taught the concept of fighting without a fight. Even calling out for help is a part of self-defence.”
In 2015, Jain University signed an MoU with the Karate Association of India, by which the varsity’s team gets direct entry in national karate competitions and competes as a special team. As of now, Jain is the only Indian varsity to promote Karate and self-defence.
Mathews’ organisation – Wakayama Karate Do India, has conducted corporate training programmes, self-defence camps on the occasions of women’s day, one-off workshops lasting three to four hour in corporate sectors and schools.

A CD of a video demo for women was made by the TCS group and the CDs were distributed to all women employees of TCS in India.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Tushar Kaushik / by Express News Service / February 12th, 2017

A bus takes space dreams to rural pupils

Education, Records, All, Science & Technology

It will traverse 11 States over the next 12 months and interact with children in rural and semi-urban schools

Bengaluru:

As many as 36,000 students of government schools will get to see, feel and learn all about space expeditions, including the upcoming Indian private lunar mission of TeamIndus. Thanks to Moonshot Wheels, which is a snazzy looking bus carrying spacecraft models and 16 experiments.

It was flagged off by Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of Tata Sons Ltd, on Tuesday.

Space startup TeamIndus is sending a lander and rover to Moon towards the end of this year on an Indian PSLV rocket. It is one of the five teams contesting in a $ 2-million global race called the Google Lunar X Prize.

The bus, of TeamIndus Foundation, will traverse 11 States and 12,500 km over the next 12 months and interact with children in rural and semi-urban schools along the route.

They will be encouraged to imagine what they would like to send to space and present the concepts to the expedition team. These ideas and dreams will be sent up in a concrete form on TeamIndus’s actual Moon capsule.

A few scientists will also travel on the bus. It will carry a model of the Moonshot capsule which, according to TeamIndus, “will be filled with the aspirations of the children whom the bus meets on its journey. These aspirations will then fly aboard the spacecraft to Moon.”

The foundation said Moonshot Wheels will excite the next generation and inspire it about science and technology. TeamIndus has tied up with Agastya International Foundation for the venture.

The bus will educate the children about space through immersive technologies, live satellite tracking, the Moon rover, a spacecraft model and an experience zone.

Each child will get an opportunity to experience and understand the making of a space mission and its technologies. They can interact with rocket scientists and the team behind India’s first private Moon mission, Rahul Narayan of TeamIndus and Ramji Raghavan of Agastya Foundation said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bengaluru / by Special Correspondent / February 08th, 2017

Manish, Vineet emerge as YW Quiz winners

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Records, All

Students hail from Chinamaya Vidyalaya, Hubballi

Manish H. Bhojedar and Vineet S. Hiremani of Chinmaya Vidyala, Hubballi, emerged as winners of the 17th edition of The Hindu Young World Quiz regional finals held here on Wednesday.

In the annual event held at Samskrutika Bhavan located at New Cotton Market, the team secured 51 points. They picked up after the first round, and increased it in the final round to bag the winners’ trophy and BSA Ladybird and Hercules bicycles.

Sutej R.T. and Saloni S.P. of SBI Officers Association Education Society’s English Medium School too started slow, faltered once, but managed to beat others to secure the second position to clinch the first runner-up trophy.

Siddharth Bhatt and J. Manoj of The Jindal Vidyamandir, Ballari, came next to them to bag the second runner-up trophy.

Last year’s champions from Lion’s English Medium School, Sirsi, Chinmay V. Hegde and Prajwal M. Yaji started off well to take lead in the first round, subsequently faltered twice with the buzzer to lose points and ended in the fourth position. Preetish and Shreesh of Chetan Public School, Hubballi, and Srujan S. K. and Shekhar Suman of Sainik School, Vijayapura, ended up in the fifth and sixth positions.

Commissioner of Hubballi Dharwad Municipal Corporation (HDMC) Major Siddhalingaih Hiremath, gave away trophies and gift hampers to the winners and finalists.

Lauding the efforts of The Hindu in organising the event, he said such programmes would help in instilling competitive spirit among the children.

Major Hiremath called upon the students to develop love for reading. “During the school days we have to read the maximum. Read newspapers, comics and read whatever interests you to develop reading habit”, he told the students.

A total of 230 teams of schools of north Karnataka participated in this programme, which is an integral part of The Hindu in School (THiS) initiative. After the preliminary round of written test, six teams made it to the final and played the quiz. Conducting the quiz in his typical style with peppy interventions, quizmaster V.V. Ramanan engaged the children throughout the event and gave away prizes to those among the audience who answered the questions correctly.

Sponsors

BSA Ladybird and Hercules is the national gift sponsor. This event was supported by KLE Technological University of Hubballi and BASE Educational Services Pvt.Ltd. was the regional sponsor. Other sponsors of the event were Swarna Groups of Hotels (food sponsor) and JBM Industries, Hubballi (gift sponsor) and Srikrishna Milks Pvt. Ltd(gift and beverages sponsor).

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by Staff Reporter / Hubballi – February 01st, 2017

‘Guerillas’, ‘bombers’ march into Bengaluru

Amazing Feats, Education
Corporate executives making seedballs using native seeds and cow dung
Corporate executives making seedballs using native seeds and cow dung

Bengaluru :

Students, corporates and NGOs have turned ‘bombers’ to save the city from becoming a concrete jungle. There is no cause for worry though, the ‘bombs’ aren’t explosives but mud balls that hold seeds.

If they come to pass any degraded land, they make a seedball and hurl it over the fencing or wall.
Some NGOs say that they have thrown over lakhs of seedballs in and around the city. Students and corporates say they have shot about thousands. The idea is to green the city once more.

One-foot Tall Forests
Uttishta Bharata, a Bengaluru-based NGO, took to seed-balling in 2015. In their first outing, the seedballs were scattered in the foothills of the Madhugiri mountains in Tumkuru. “The plants are now about one foot tall,” says Neeraj Kamath, co-ordinator with the NGO.

Citizens turn ‘bombers’ to save the city from becoming a concrete jungle
Citizens turn ‘bombers’ to save the city from
becoming a concrete jungle

The same NGO, last year, tossed 3.5 lakh seedballs with the help of school students. “Some primary school students and those in Classes 8 to 10 participated in the seedball fest last June and they thoroughly enjoyed it,” says Asha, school teacher of Agara School.

Children Are Best Recruits

Hundreds of seedballs were distributed that were tossed along a 5 km stretch of Kanakapura Road, says Asha. “Children are the best people to do this,” says Neeraj. “They are enthusiastic and love throwing these balls.”  The appeal lies in the simplicity of throwing the seedballs instead of the elaborate digging.
The seedballs are thrown in common land areas on the side of the streets or the land surrounding the lakes.

Terra Taala, a social enterprise and a subsidiary of Art Plantz, a plant incubating platform, also started seed-balling (or seed bombing, as it is also known) in 2015. They conduct workshops for students and corporates and usually prefer scattering the seeds in the outskirts of the city such as Tumakuru, Kolar and villages beyond Bengaluru.

‘Green Terrorists are a Must’

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Regina Gurung / Express News Service / January 31st, 2017

Manipal institute’s diamond jubilee celebrations to begin on Friday

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Records, All

The Manipal Institute of Technology (MIT) celebrates its diamond jubilee this year and different programmes have been chalked up for the celebrations to be held throughout the year.

Addressing presspersons here on Wednesday, G.K. Prabhu, institute director, said that Subramanian Swamy, Rajya Sabha member, will deliver a lecture on “The impact of Demonetization on Indian Economy” here on January 28.

Anant Talaulicar, managing director, Cummins India Ltd., will formally launch the celebrations here on January 27. Established as Manipal Engineering College in 1957, the college had maintained a long-standing relationship with quality technical education and student diversity. In 1974, it was renamed as Manipal Institute of Technology. It is now the largest constitute institution of Manipal University.

A key feature of the celebrations is the extramural lectures. A number of prominent persons would visit the campus for the lecture and interact with the students. Ashwani Gujral, Technical Analyst, Investment and Portfolio Management, Baijayant ‘Jay’ Panda, MP, are among them.

Other programmes planned for the year include, a series of workshops to hone skills in engineering, basic sciences, management, and humanities. A number of national and international conferences on contemporary themes, by various departments of engineering and other disciplines would be held.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Mangaluru / by Special Correspondent / Manipal – January 26th, 2017

NRI scientist on a mission to find the next Ramanujan

Education, Leaders, Science & Technology, World Opinion

Bengaluru :

A city-based computer scientist who spent over four decades in the US and racked up an outstanding body of work is starting a first-of-its-kind talent search programme in the state. For this initiative, he has had inputs and backing from another titan in the field of science — Prof C N R Rao, who will inaugurate the programme’s award function in Indian Institute of Science on Friday.

The programme, called NIAS-Maiya Prodigy, involves 10 meritorious students from various parts of the state — some from rural areas — who will receive a scholarship of `50,000. The students can be from any field. The USP of the programme is that the 10 students will have a mentor assigned to them who will guide them in their studies and careers and monitor them over five years. This programme is a joint initiative by the food brand Maiya, National College and the Iyengar Medical Foundation.

Prof Sundaraja Sitharama Iyengar
Prof Sundaraja Sitharama Iyengar

“Nobody else in the world is doing this, not even in the US,” says Prof Sundaraja Sitharama Iyengar, who conceived the project and had it executed over the past 18 months.

Prof Iyengar is currently the Ryder Professor and Director of Computer Science at Florida International University, Miami, USA. During his career, he has received many prestigious awards including the NRI Mahatma Gandhi Pradvasi Medal at the House of Lords in London on October 2013.

When asked about his biggest accomplishment, he says, “It was mentoring younger minds. Even now, what I want is to discover the next Ramanujan or C N R Rao.” It was this thought, along with the urge to give back to his country that made him come up with the programme.

The seeds of the idea were sown two years ago when he spoke to Prof Rao about his idea, and the latter liked it. Iyengar then set about an exhaustive selection process. After multiple selection rounds, 10 students were chosen for the scholarship, and their names will be announced at 3.30 pm on Friday at NIAS Auditorium, IISC.

Describing the students, Iyengar says, “I came across some bright students with lofty ambitions, and they are all technically good. One of them wants to win a Nobel Prize. Another wants to find a cure for blindness. We have so much potential, but there are problems like inability to articulate well and lack of confidence. Their mentors will work with them and teach them how to ask questions.”

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Karnataka / by Tushar Kaushik / Express News Service / January 06th, 2017

Five VTU students chosen for Stanford University’s fellowship programme

Education, Records, All, World Opinion
Students selected for the fellowship with VTU Vice- Chancellor Karisiddappa in Belagavi.
Students selected for the fellowship with VTU Vice- Chancellor Karisiddappa in Belagavi.

Five students of Visvesvaraya Technological University have been selected for University Innovation Fellows (UIF) programme of the Stanford University, U.S.A.

According to a VTU release, the programme has been designed to empower the students’ knowledge, skills and attitude and make a positive impact on the world economy.

As many as 169 students from four countries participated in the selection process. Samanth Mendke and Shriya Hukkeri from Gogte Institute of Technology, Belagavi; and Abhay Rangan V., Priyanka Srivastava, and Asher John Sathya from CMR Institute of Technology, Bengaluru, excelled through the selection process.

The fellows will be provided online training for six weeks on development and innovative projects aimed at bringing in a change in the university system. After the training, the fellows will attend the annual UIF Silicon Valley Meet scheduled in U.S.A. in March. They will also participate in workshops and exercises focused on topics such as movement building, innovation spaces, design of learning experiences, and new models for change in higher education.

VTU Vice-Chancellor Karisiddappa said the varsity had been encouraging international collaborations and interacting with globally reputed universities and organisations for collaborative research, exchange of faculty members and students to make value addition to their teaching and learning abilities.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka  / by Special Correspondent / Belagavi – January 02nd, 2016