GUWAHATI: The Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati is launching a new B.Tech. programme in Energy Engineering. It will be offered by the School of Energy Science and Engineering, IIT Guwahati from the academic year 2022-2023, stated a press release.
This B. Tech. programme is aimed at training young minds to adopt a holistic approach while assessing the potential, the need, and the necessities for extending technological interventions towards sustainable energy development. The programme is also intended to bridge gaps between academia, humanities, science, engineering, economics, management, and policy-making by incorporating Energy Management, Societal & Environmental Impact Studies, Policy-Making, Economics, and other allied programmes in addition to the core engineering subjects.
Speaking about the programme, Prof TG Sitharam, Director of IIT Guwahati, said, "This new B. Tech programme in Energy Engineering being offered by IIT Guwahati will be very beneficial as it will provide a fundamental understanding of renewable energy infrastructure, system development for sustainable carbon-neutral growth, energy storage, distribution and much more. There has been a substantial increase in funding from the government and private firms for renewable energy, which substantially will result in the creation of ample job opportunities in the green energy sector and companies. This programme will serve as a visible initiative aimed at meeting the demand for skilled human resources capable of implementing practical technological interventions in the areas of energy generation, storage, and distribution."
Prof K Mohanty, Head of the School, outlined some of the new and interesting courses of the programme such as Energy Innovation & Design Thinking, Community Engagement & Entrepreneurship programme, Energy Materials & Device Fabrication Laboratory, etc. Students will have a choice to continue the Entrepreneurship programme in the last two semesters in lieu of two elective courses.
Currently, the School of Energy Science and Engineering is successfully running two academic programmes - PhD since 2005 and MS by Research since 2015 - with the support of experienced faculty members from various disciplines of Science and Engineering. So far, research has been the School's primary focus, and various teams of students and faculty have successfully contributed to research areas such as energy generation via thermochemical and biochemical routes; biofuel, fuel cell, solar energy, catalyst development, solar-wind hybrid, research on Li-ion batteries, compressed air, metal hydride, nano-fluid, metamaterials, and integrated systems and innovative products.
The School has the vision to promote cutting-edge research and technology development along with translational programmes to enhance innovative solutions for economically viable, environmentally responsible, and sustainable energy needs. It is already underway to expand its existing infrastructure to support extended activities in the areas of biomass conversion and biorefinery, energy simulation, solar device fabrication, emerging energy storage, energy transmission, distribution, and grid integration. With the introduction of this new programme, combined with the innovative, analytical, and out-of-the-box thinking abilities of the young minds, the school foresees achieving its vision collaboratively.
The first batch of 20 students will be admitted to IIT Guwahati through the JEE Advanced 2022 counselling process, and the institute looks forward to welcoming them along with all the other new batches of students to other undergraduate programme of the institute.
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