IIT Madras

The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) is an engineering and technology school in Chennai (formerly Madras) in southern India. Recognized as an Institute of National Importance by the Government of India, it is regarded as one of the finest engineering institutions in India. Founded in 1959 with technical and financial assistance from the Government of the erstwhile West Germany, IIT Madras is third among currently fifteen Indian Institutes of Technology (including 6 new IITs started in 2008 and 2 more in 2009) established by the Government of India through an Act of Parliament, to provide education and research facilities in engineering and technology.

General information

File:Iitm.maingate.logo.jpg

The entrance to the campus, showing the logo (a stylized lamp) and the motto "Siddhirbhavati Karmaja" (taken from the Bhagavad Gita, meaning "It is inherent to human nature that success comes through hard work").

IIT Madras is a residential institute that occupies a 2.5 km² (620 acres) campus that was formerly part of the adjoining Guindy National Park. The institute has nearly 360 faculty, 6,000 students and 1,250 administrative and supporting staff. Growing ever since it obtained its charter from the Indian Parliament in 1961, IIT Madras has established itself as a premier centre for teaching, research and industrial consultancy in the country.

The Institute has 15 academic departments and advanced research centres across various disciplines of engineering and pure sciences, with nearly 100 laboratories. The IITs are rated among the best educational institutions in the world as ranked by their peers . Much of the spectacular campus is a protected forest, carved out of the Guindy National Park, and still remains home to chital (spotted deer), black buck, and other wildlife. A natural lake, deepened in 2003, drains most of its rainwater.

History

In 1956, the German Government offered technical assistance for establishing an institute of higher education in engineering in India. The first Indo-German agreement was signed in Bonn, West Germany in 1959 for the establishment of the Indian Institute of Technology at Madras. IIT Madras was started with technical, academic and financial assistance from the Government of West Germany and was at the time the largest educational project sponsored by the West German Government outside their country. This has led to several collaborative research efforts with universities and institutions in Germany over the years. Although official support from the German government has ended, several research efforts involving the DAAD program and Humboldt Fellowships exist.

The Institute was inaugurated in 1959 by Prof. Humayun Kabir, the Union Minister for Scientific Research and Cultural Affairs. In 1961, the IITs were declared to be Institutions of National Importance that include the seven Institutes of Technology located at Kharagpur (estb. 1951), Mumbai (estb. 1958), Chennai (estb. 1959), Kanpur (estb. 1959), Delhi (estb. 1961), Guwahati (estb. 1994) and Roorkee (estb. 1847, upgraded to an IIT in 2001). IIT Madras celebrates its Golden Jubilee in 2009.

Campus

File:Iitmgc.jpg

The Gajendra Circle is the first landmark one sees after the main entrance. It shows two painted elephants standing back to back on either side of a fountain inside a traffic circle.

The main entrance of IIT Madras, located on Chennai's Sardar Patel Road, flanked by the residential districts of Adyar and Velachery. The campus is close to the Raj Bhavan, the official seat of the Governor of Tamilnadu. Other entrances are located in Velachery (near Anna Garden MTC bus stop, Velachery Main Road), Gandhi Road (known as Krishna Hostel gate or Toll Gate) and Taramani gate(behind Ascendas Tech Park).

The campus is located about 10 km from the Chennai Airport, 12 km from the Chennai Central Railway station, and is well connected by buses.

File:Iitm.chemplast.pavilion.jpg

The pavilion of the Chemplast Cricket Ground.

Two parallel roads, Bonn Avenue and Delhi Avenue, cut through the faculty residential area shrouded under a canopy of green, before they meet at the Gajendra Circle (GC), near the Administrative Block. Buses and electric mini buses ply between the gate, GC, the academic zone, and the hostels.

Organization

Administration

File:Iitmadblock.jpg

Administrative Block.

The Indian Institute of Technology, Madras is an autonomous statutory organization functioning within the Institute of Technology Act. The seven IITs are administered centrally by the IIT Council, an apex body established by the Government of India. The Minister of Human Resource & Development, Government of India, is the Chairman of the Council. Each Institute has a Board of Governors responsible for its administration and control.

The Senate comprises all professors of the Institute and decides its academic policy. It controls and approves the curriculum, courses, examinations, and results. It appoints committees to examine specific academic matters. Teaching, training and research activities of the various departments are periodically reviewed to improve facilities and standards. The Director of the Institute serves as the Chairman of the Senate.

Three Senate Sub-Committees - The Board of Academic Research, The Board of Academic Courses and The Board of Students - help in academic administration and in the efficient operations of the Institute. The Finance Committee advises on matters of financial policy, while the Building and Works Committee advises on buildings and infrastructure. The Board of Industrial Consultancy & Sponsored Research addresses industrial consultancy and the Library Advisory Committee oversees library matters.

Departments

IIT Madras has 11 engineering departments:

• Aerospace Engineering
• Applied Mechanics
• Biotechnology
• Chemical Engineering
• Civil Engineering
• Computer Science and Engineering
• Electrical Engineering
• Engineering Design
• Mechanical Engineering
• Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
• Ocean Engineering

Five other departments offer studies in:

1. Chemistry
2. Mathematics
3. Physics
4. Humanities & Social Sciences
5. Management Studies

Academics

IIT Madras offers undergraduate, postgraduate and research degrees across 15 disciplines in Engineering, Sciences, Humanities and Management. About 360 faculty belonging to various science and engineering departments and centres of the Institute are engaged in teaching, research and industrial consultancy.

The academic calendar is organized around the semester. Each semester provides a minimum of seventy days of instruction, in English. Students are evaluated on a continuous basis throughout the semester. Evaluation is done by the faculty, a consequence of the autonomous status granted to the Institute. Research work is evaluated on the basis of the review thesis by peer examiners both from within the country and abroad. Ordinances that govern the academic program of study are prepared by the Senate, the highest academic body within the Institute.

Undergraduate academics

• Admission to Undergraduate Curriculum

JEE: The Joint Entrance Examination to the IITs is conducted every year and forms the basis of admission to the undergraduate programs. It is considered an extremely competitive exam.

[HSEE]: The Humanities and Social Sciences entrance Exam is conducted by IIT Madras for admission to the unique and innovative Five Year Integrated Masters Programme, leading to M.A. degrees in any of the 3 disciplines: Development Studies, Economics, and English Studies. Only 39 students are selected for this course at IIT-Madras. The syllabus for this exam is as follows: 25% English and Comprehension, 25% Quantitative Ability and Analytical Ability, 50% General Stuudies (divided into four components - Indian Economics, Indian Society, Contemporary World Affairs, Environment and Ecology).

Graduate academics

• Admission to Graduate Curriculum

GATE: The Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering is the entrance exam used to govern admission to post graduate engineering programs at the IITs.

JAM: The Joint Admission to M.Sc. is the entrance exam used to govern admission to post graduate science programs at the IITs.

Management programme

• Admission to MBA Curriculum

JMET: The Joint Management Entrance Test is the entrance exam used to govern admission to the MBA programme at the IITs. It is followed by a group task exercise and a personal interview.

Credit system

Like other IITs, IIT Madras follows a credit system for evaluating academic performance. The GPA ranges on a scale from 0 to 10. Each course carries a certain number of credits (usually 1 to 4). The student has to secure a minimum number of credits over the duration of the degree, that depends on the program, the department, and specialization. The following letter grades are awarded for each course:

Letter Grade	S	A	B	C	D	E	U	W
Grade Points	10	9	8	7	6	4	0	0

The U grade is failure in the course, and W is the failure to satisfy attendance requirements; in either case, the course is considered failed. The GPA is computed as the cumulative credit-weighted average of the grade points:

$CGPA\,\!={\sum _{i=1}^{N}C_{i}.{GP}_{i} \over \sum _{i=1}^{N}C_{i}}$

where:

• $N$ is the number of courses,
• $C_{i}$ is credits for the $i^{th}$ course,
• ${GP}_{i}$ is grade points for the $i^{th}$ course, and,
• $CGPA$ is the cumulative grade point average.

Presently, whenever a fail grade is followed by a subsequent pass grade, the fail grade is not used in computation of $CGPA$; these fail grades are also removed from the transcript and replaced by a footnote indicating the number of attempts made to obtain the pass grade. Some courses are considered pass-fail courses which, if a requirement to a student, has to be passed by the student; however, the marks/grade obtained in that course is not considered in the calculation of the CGPA.

Other academic activities

Academic research programs

The Institute has several departments and advanced research centres across the disciplines of engineering and the pure sciences, and nearly 100 laboratories. A faculty of international repute, a brilliant student community, excellent technical and supporting staff, an effective administration, and its successful and global alumni have all contributed to the preeminent status of the institution.

Research programs concern work undertaken by faculty members or specific research groups within departments that award an MS or PhD degree. Research is carried out by scholars admitted into these departmental programmes, under the guidance of their respective faculty. Each department makes known its areas of interest to the academic community through handbooks, brochures and bulletins. Topics of interest may be theoretical or experimental. IIT Madras has initiated 16 inter-disciplinary research projects against identified focus areas.

The rigors of academic study at each level are balanced with a number of other related co-curricular activities. Special lectures on diverse topics of academic relevance are held under the Extramural Lecture Series. A number of conferences, symposiums and workshops are organized by the faculty, attracting scholarly participation from around the world.

Partnership with other universities

The Institute maintains academic friendship with several other educational institutes around the world through faculty exchange programs. The Institute has signed Memoranda Of Understanding (MOUs) with several foreign universities, resulting in cooperative projects and assignments of mutual benefit.

The faculty of the Institute have distinguished themselves through academic awards from national and international organizations.

Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research

File:Iitm.icsr.jpg

The Industrial Consultancy And Sponsored Research building.

IIT Madras has set a fine example in the country for institutional interaction with industry, through consultancy services offered by the faculty. Innovative ideas are put to practice in many projects sponsored by other institutions in India.

Through industrial consultancy, faculty and staff undertake specific assignments for industry that may include project design, testing and evaluation, or training in new areas of industrial development. Interested industries and organisations request IIT faculty to undertake specific assignments channeled through the Center For Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research (ICSR).

National organisations sponsor specific programs of research by funding projects undertaken by the faculty. Such research is time bound and allows project participants to register for a degree. Project proposals are usually prepared by IIT faculty and forwarded to interested organisations, based on the nature of their research and their interest to fund such projects.

Sponsored projects are often vehicles for new resources within departments, and often permit their project staff to register for academic degrees in the institute. All sponsored research activities at the institute are coordinated by ICSR.

Student activities

Shaastra

Shaastra is the annual technical festival of IIT Madras. It is typically held in the first week of October and is the first ISO 9001:2000 certified student festival in Chennai. It is known for its exceptional organization, stunning range of activities, and a growing legacy for honing the engineering talent in India. Forums include workshops, video conferences, lectures, demonstrations, and technical exhibitions. Competitive activities cover design events, programming, simulations, quizzes, applied engineering, robotics, junkyard wars and contraptions.

Department festivals

Several departments organize department festivals. ExeBit, Wavez, Mechanica, CEA, Chemclave, Amalgam and Forays are some of the festivals organized by the Computer Science and Engineering, Ocean Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering and Maths departments respectively.

Fest Name	Department
Exebit	Computer Science and Engineering
Amalgam	Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
CEA	Civil Engineering
Chemclave	Chemical Engineering
Forays	Mathematics
Mechanica	Mechanical Engineering
Wavez	Ocean Engineering

Hostels

Most students at IIT Madras reside in the hostels, where a large number of extracurricular activities complement the hectic academic routine. The campus has 17 hostels, of which two, Sharavati and Sarayu, are exclusively for women. In earlier times, each hostel had attached dining facilities, that have since been closed down. Sharavati and the four seven-storeyed men's hostels do not have mess halls. Dining facilities are now provided in two large centralized halls dubbed 'Vindhya' and 'Himalaya'. The hostels may accommodate undergraduate and graduate students, though they tend to keep the two apart. Students are assigned to hostels at the time of admission, where they usually spend their entire stay at the Institute.

The hostels are named after the principal rivers of India and the campus buses used to be named after mountains, resulting in an epigram about IIT Madras that it is the only place where the mountains move and the rivers remain still.

The hostels of IITM currently are:

1. Saraswati (Saras)
2. Krishna
3. Cauvery
4. Brahmaputra (Brahms)
5. Tapti
6. Godavari (Godav)
7. Alaknanda (Alak)
8. Jamuna (Jam)
9. Ganga
10. Narmada (Narmad)
11. Mandakini (Mandak)
12. Sharavati (Sharav)
13. Sarayu
14. Sindhu
15. Pampa
16. Tamraparani (Tambi)
17. Mahanadi (MAHAN)

Sindhu, Pampa, Mahanadi and Tamraparani are seven-storeyed whereas all the other (older classic) hostels are three- or four-storeyed (the older hostels were all three-storeyed till the early 2000s when extra rooms in the form of an extra floor and rooms above the common room were added). These four hostels can accommodate more than 1,500 students.

Extracurricular activities

File:Iitm.oat.scrn.jpg

The Open Air Theater is used to screen movies and host rock shows and Carnatic music concerts.

Saarang, the annual cultural festival, is held in winter. The technical festival of the institute is known as Shaastra. The Open Air Theatre hosts the weekly movie, a Saturday night tradition, besides other activities. It seats over 7,000 and usually plays to packed capacity. The annual inter-hostel sports event is known as the Schroeter.

There are several hobby clubs that include the speaking club, the astro club, and dramatics. Music and robotics are more recent and popular clubs.

Two student bodies, the Vivekananda Study Circle (VSC) and Reflections focus on spiritual discussions.

File:Iitm.oat.pit.jpg

The Open Air Theater screens movies and hosts rock shows and Carnatic music concerts.

The campus has evolved a distinct and colourful slang that almost acts as a dialect, attracting a published Master's thesis at a German University. An eclectic mix of English, Hindi, Telugu and Tamil, aspects of the campus slang have been adopted by some other Chennai colleges.

Unlike its sister institutions, IIT Madras lacks a single uniting Indian language among its students: Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi all flourish. Consequently, all student participatory activities like debating, dramatics, short-film making, and others are held in English. This is even reflected in the slang that use more of English than Hindi, as might be customary in IITM's northern counterparts.

Facilities

IIT Madras provides residential accommodation for its students, faculty, administrative and supporting staff, and their families. The residential houses employ private caterers to meet the needs of a burgeoning student population. The self-contained campus includes two schools (Vanavani and Kendriya Vidyalaya), three temples (Jalakanteshwara, Durga Peliamman and Ganapathi temple), three bank branchs,(SBI, ICICI, Canara Bank), a hospital, shopping centers, food joints, a gym, a swimming pool, cricket, football, hockey and badminton stadiums. High speed internet is available in the academic zone and the faculty and staff residential zone. Internet is available in the hostel zone from 2pm till midnight.

Food

There are a several food joints within the campus which provide respite from the monotony of the messes.

Basera, opposite Saraswathi Hostel, operates from 6pm to 2am, serving mainly North Indian cuisine.

The Gurunath Patisserie in the Students Facilities Center (SFC, more often called Guru or Gurunath) is open until midnight on all days. It has a bakery and also serves fruit juices, chats and other snacks.

Tiffanys, located close to the Central Library and set between Sarayu and Sharavati (the two girls' hostels on campus), is open from breakfast until 2 am. It serves a mixed cuisine and hosts a sweet shop run by Chennai's famous Archana Sweets.

A Cafe Coffee Day outlet was opened adjacent to the Department of Management Studies (DoMS) in the year 2006. It remains open till 2am.

The Campus Cafe serves as a staff canteen and is located in the academic zone near the bus shelter. It is open on all weekdays, including Saturdays from 8am to 8pm.

Basera and Gurunath are set in the hostel zone, while Tiffany's and Cafe Coffee Day are closest to the Library. The closest food outlet in the academic zone is the Campus Cafe.

Schools

The IIT Madras campus has two schools that cater not only to the children of faculty and staff but also to children from neighbouring Velachery and Adyar.

The Kendriya Vidyalaya or Central School is located close to the Gajendra Circle and is affiliated to the Central Board for Secondary Education, New Delhi. KV has a vast playground that plays host to Shaastra every year.

The Vanavani Matriculation Higher Secondary School is located on the Bonn Avenue in the faculty housing zone. It follows the Tamil Nadu Matriculation syallbus.

Banks

The State Bank of India operates from its premises near the Gajendra Circle. It has 2 ATMs - one at the branch itself and another in the hostel zone in Taramani House.

The Canara Bank branch is located in the Shopping Center in the faculty housing zone. It has 2 ATMs - one at the branch and another in the hostel zone behind Gurunath.

In addition, ICICI has an ATM in the hostel zone in the Hostel Management Building and Indian Bank has an ATM close to the Ladies Club.

Shops

Tata Book House is located near the Gajendra Circle in the first floor of the building that houses Cafe Coffee Day next to the Department of Management Studies. It stocks mostly engineering related course books and also some light reading, fiction etc.

The Students Facilities Center (SFC) in the hostel zone has a general store run by Gurunath in which is the basic lifeline for every IITian. It stocks everything from stationery, toiletries, mattresses and pillows, plastic mugs, buckets, T-shirts, computer accessories and so on. A separate shop Gurunath Gifts & Gems stocks IIT memorabilia (mugs, keychains, pen stands, ties, sweatshirts with the IIT tag), greeting cards, gift items, books, CDs etc.In addition, the Alumni Association Office opposite Godavari Hostel also stocks IIT memorabilia.

The SFC, usually referred to a Gurunath also houses a branch of the All India Travel Agents which provides travel and passport assistance.

The Shopping Center in the faculty zone has various shops like a grocery, vegetable shop, laundry etc. Another laundry operates from the basement of Brahmaputra Hostel for the students.

Temples

There are three old temples on campus, dating from its days as a reserve forest.

The Jalakanteshwarar Temple (Sivan Temple) is close to the Main Gate on Delhi Avenue, in the faculty zone. The Durga Peeliamman Temple is roughly midway between the Main Gate and Gajendra Circle, on Delhi Avenue. An old Vinayaka Temple, behind Taramani House in the hostel zone, hosts a special evening program each Saturday.

Notable alumni

Academics

• K. R. Rajagopal, University Distinguished Professor and Forsyth Chair in Engineering at Texas A&M University
• Marti G. Subrahmanyam, Charles E. Merrill Professor of Finance, New York University, Stern School of Business
• Sanat K. Kumar, Professor of Chemical Engineering at Columbia University
• K. Sudhir, Professor of Marketing at Yale School of Management
• K. Ravi Kumar, Professor of Information & Operaations Mangament, Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California
• Ananth Raman, UPS Foundation Professor of Business Logistics at Harvard Business School
• V. Kasturi Rangan, Malcolm P. McNair Professor of Marketing at Harvard Business School
• Ramesh Govindan, Professor of Computer Science at University of Southern California
• G. K. Surya Prakash, George A. and Judith A. Olah Nobel Laureate Chair of Chemistry at University of Southern California
• Ramchandran Jaikumar, late Daewoo Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School
• Subra Suresh, Ford Professor of Engineering, Dean of the School of Engineering, MIT
• Anand Rajaraman, Founder of Junglee; Currently Heading Kosmix.com with Venky Harinarayan
• Venkatesan Guruswami, Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University
• R. Shankar, J. R. Huffman Professor of Physics and Applied Physics, Yale University
• Narasimhan Jegadeesh, Dean's Distinguished University Chair in Finance at the Goizueta Business School
• Sankaran Sundaresan, Professor of Chemical Engineering, Princeton University
• Arun Sundararajan, Professor at Stern School of Business, New York University
• Hari Balakrishnan, Professor of Computer Science at MIT
• L. Mahadevan, Professor at Harvard ,MacArthur Fellow 2009

Industry

• B. N. Suresh. (Director of Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram) [1969 MTME]
• Asit K Barma (Vice President, Marketing & Strategy, Satyam Computers, Chennai)
• Gopalkrishnan S. (Co-Founder, Managing Director and CEO of Infosys) [MS77 PH] [MT79 CS]
• Gururaj Deshpande (Founder of Sycamore Networks) [BT73 EE]
• B Muthuraman. (Managing Director of Tata Steel) [BT66 MT]
• Satish Pai (Vice President, Schlumberger Oilfield Technologies)
• Dr C. Mohan (IBM Fellow & IBM India Chief Scientist) [BT77 ChE]
• Dr Mannige Vikram Rao (Chief Technology Officer of Halliburton)
• B Santhanam (CEO Saint-Gobain India) [BT78 CV]
• Kalidas Madhavpeddi, President, Phelps Dodge Wire & Cable and Senior Vice President, Phelps Dodge Corporation
• Dr Krishna Bharat (Creator of Google News, Principal Scientist, Google)
• Phaneesh Murthy (CEO of iGate; Prior Worldwide Head of Sales and Marketing, & Board Member, Infosys)
• Sunil Wadhwani (Founder, iGate) [BT74 ME]
• Sreehari Narasipur (Program Director, Rational Software, IBM India) [MT83 ME]
• Shivakumar D. (Vice-President and Country General Manager for Customer and Market operations, Nokia India) [BT82 AE]
• Hari T. N. (Managing Director and Global Head of Human Resources, Amba Research) [BT86 ME]
• Dr. Jalaiah Unnam (Natl. Prime Contractor of the Year award by US Small Business Administration) [BT70 MT]
• K.N. Radhakrishnan (President, TVS Motor Company) [BT86 MT]
• Yogesh Kumar (Director of Light Combat Aircraft (LCA-Tejas) project, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited) [MT81 ME]
• Partha De Sarkar (CEO-IT and ITES, Hinduja TMT Ltd.) [BT88 MT]
• Sudarsun. S (Director R & D, Checktronix India Pvt Ltd.) [MT99 CS]
• Yogesh Gupta (President & CEO, FatWire Software) [BT81 EE]
• Krishna Kolluri (Board of Directors, Nevis Networks; Executive VP at Juniper Networks) [BT86 ME]
• Srini Chari (President & CEO of TurboWorx) [BT81 ME]
• B.N Narasimha Murthy (Senior VP, Business Transition & Domestic Markets, of Hinduja TMT) [BT79 ME]
• Raj Srikanth (Managing Director, Deutsche Bank Alex Brown, New York, USA)
• Kalpathi S. Suresh (Chairman and CEO, SSi Ltd) [BT86 EE]
• Arvind Raghunathan (Managing Director, Deutsche Bank)
• Ramanathan V. Guha (Inventor of RSS feed technology)
• C.V. Avadhani (Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General of India) [BT69 ME] [MS73 ME]
• Venky Harinarayan (Kosmix cofounder) [BT88]
• Vish Tadimety (Founder of Corliant and Chairman & CEO of CyberTech) [MT86 EE]
• Dr. P. Chellapandi, Director, Safety Group, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, India.
• P. Anandan (Managing Director, Microsoft Research India)]]

Others

• Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj (Noted spiritual leader and winner of Colombia's highest award medal of golden cross, various U.N. awards and speaker in World Parliament of Religions, retired from Bell Labs in 1989) [BT67].

References

• http://www.iitm.ac.in/institute/
• http://www.hindu.com/2007/11/06/stories/2007110660000200.htm

External links

• Official website

• "Office of Alumni Affairs - IIT Madras, Website".

• "Vivekananda Study Circle, IITM".