A student team comprising of Nallam Prem Kishan, Mylavarapu Sripritham, and Biyyapu Vishnu Vardhan Reddy from the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, School of Engineering, Amrita Vishwa Viydapeetham, Chennai campus, secured first prize at the Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE) Youth Conclave 2021.

Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE) Youth Conclave 2021 was organized jointly by INAE, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mumbai, National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), Mumbai, and Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT), Mumbai, on September 24, 2021, as a virtual event. Dr. Pawan Kumar Goenka (Former Executive Director, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.), was the Chief Guest of the event.

INAE Youth Conclave provided a platform for engineering students to deliberate on the future of engineering, shouldering the responsibility to encourage the engineering youth of the country so as to enhance engineering excellence, youth leadership, and encourage nation building. In the competition, participants have to submit Engineering models, concepts and prototypes on the five themes namely, Waste to Wealth, Digitization and Revolution in Logistics, Engineering Intervention to Fight Against COVID-19 and Healthcare Management, Teaching and Learning in Pandemic and Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.

Based on the above themes, a total of 130 teams (3 students per team) applied for the competition nationally. The Amrita team proposed the concept on the topic “Smart-sensing System for Detecting the SARS-COV-2 Virus” under the theme, “Engineering Intervention to Fight Against COVID-19 and Healthcare Management”. The team secured the first prize under the theme with a cash award of Rs 30,000/-. The team was mentored by Dr. S. Parthasarathy (Assistant Professor, Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, School of Engineering, Amrita Vishwa Viydapeetham, Chennai campus).