March 9, 2009
School of Engineering, Coimbatore
The School of Engineering at Coimbatore predates Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. It was started in Ettimadai, a beautiful but obscure village in Tamil Nadu, on 27th October, 1994. Known then as the Amrita Institute of Technology and Science (AITEC), it had a total of 13 faculty members and 120 students in the first year after its inception. Today, 14 years later, there are over 300 faculty members and 3500 students.
Continuing an established tradition, the School of Engineering recently celebrated its 14th Annual Day, otherwise also known as Institution Day. Two full days of annual intra-mural competitions in cultural and literary activities — Amritotsavam 09 — preceded the grand evening proceedings at the open-air auditorium. “We were happy to note that students from the School of Communication and the Department of Social Work on this campus also participated in large numbers,” stated Prof Chinnaswami, faculty-in-charge of Student Affairs and the event convener.
Guests of honor for the evening celebrations included Dr. T.T. Narendran, Dean of Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research from IIT Madras; Dr. G. Venkatesh, CTO, Sasken Communications and Dr. K.R. Sridhara Murthy, CEO, Antrix Corporation, the commercial wing of the Indian Space Research Organization. “This coming together of distinguished persons representing academia, industry and government is indicative of the collaboration that Amrita strives for, at all levels and in all initiatives,” stated Dr. Venkat Rangan, Vice-Chancellor of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham.
The three guests of honor lauded the giant strides made by Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham in matching and even exceeding global standards of quality education. “The great achievements of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham and the beauty of its campuses are all manifestations of Amma’s immense power and grace,” remarked Dr. K.R. Sridhara Murthy. As CEO of Antrix, Dr. Murthy has worked with Amrita. Antrix is one of the Indian partners working in close collaboration with Amrita on the high-profile research project WINSOC funded by the European Commission.
The guests of honor distributed awards to over 250 students for academic and cultural distinctions. Dr. M.P. Chandrasekharan, Dean-Engineering, presented the Annual Report. Editors of the award-winning college magazine Amritadhwani were also honored. Prize-winning individual and team performances in song and dance were showcased. The evening ended on a note of gaiety and cheer as the 14th Institution Day celebrations of the Amrita School of Engineering at Coimbatore drew to a close.
