Director of National Institute of Technology - Tiruchi (NIT-T) Mini Shaji Thomas received the IEEE Kerala Section 2019 Best Teacher Award in a ceremony at NIT-Kozhikode on Saturday. It was here that she began her teaching career three decades back.
Sameer, Chair, IEEE Kerala Section, handed over the award to the NIT-T Director in the presence of Kris Gopalakrishnan, Chairman of Axilor Ventures, a company supporting and funding startups and former executive vice chairman of Infosys; Satish Babu, Chairperson of the Awards Committee; and Sivaji Chakraborti, director of NIT Calicut.
Prof. Mini Thomas in her acceptance speech, said she chose the teaching profession out of love for imparting knowledge to others, as a service to society.
She encouraged the younger generation to take to teaching; appointing quality teachers is the need of the hour for all educational institutions, she said.
The NIT-T had, in deference to a request made by IEEE Kerala Section in the wake of the floods that ravaged large parts of the State and caused a massive power shut down, responded by providing 500 low cost electric distribution boards as minimum power outlet, created by students and faculties.
An electrical engineer from IIT Delhi, Prof. Mini Thomas who is internationally recognized for her work in the areas of Power System Automation and SCADA, headed the electrical engineering department at Jamia Milia Islamia before assuming charge as Director of NIT-T. Prof. Mini Thomas has seen through various improvement in NIT-T's national and international rankings. A ₹ 180-crore Centre of Excellence in Manufacturing was set up in partnership with Siemens. The institute signed MoUs with Tata Motors for an augmented engineering program. BHEL, Trichy, is developing the prototype of an electrical vehicle at NIT Trichy. The Institute developed the five-year strategic plan last year and is on an implementation path now. The campus won two green awards last year and efforts are on towards a more green and sustainable campus, according to the NIT-T's media team.