The National Institute of Technology, Tiruchi (NIT-T), will be part of two major national technology missions — National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber Physical Systems (NM-ICPS) and National Supercomputing Mission — launched by the Union government.
Disclosing this in her Independence Day address on the campus on Saturday, NIT-T Director Mini Shaji Thomas said the institution will work on modelling and simulation systems with Indian Institute of Technology, Indore, and Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, as part of the NM-ICPS.
“Our contributions will be in modelling and simulation in areas of Defence, agriculture, cyber security, artificial intelligence, data management, smart manufacturing and biomechanical engineering that benefit mankind. Most of our departments will be involved in the mission,” Dr.Thomas said.
According to the National Science and Engineering Research Board website, Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) are a new class of engineered systems that integrate computation and physical processes in a dynamic environment. CPS encompasses technology areas of cybernetics, mechatronics, design and embedded systems, Internet of Things (IoT), big data and artificial intelligence (AI) and is heralded as the next paradigm shift in technology that can exponentially spur growth and development.
To harness the potential of this new wave of technology and make India a leading player in CPS, the Union Cabinet approved the launch of the NM-ICPS to be implemented by the Department of Science & Technology (DST) at a total outlay of ₹3660 crore over a period of five years. The mission will be implemented through a network of 15 technology innovation hubs (TIHs), six sectoral application hubs (SAHs) and four technology translation research parks (TTRPs).
“We are also part of the National Supercomputing mission and a 650 TF supercomputer will be installed at NIT-T soon,” Dr.Thomas said.
Pointing out that the institute has moved one notch up to the 9th position in engineering category in the NIRF India Rankings 2020, Dr.Thomas said NIT-T was also a Prime Minister’s Research Fellowship (PMRF) granting institution, being in the top 25 rank in the Overall NIRF ranking 2020
A National Research Development Corporation- Innovation Facilitation Centre (NRDC-IFC) will soon be set up in the institute.
The institute has also been made national coordinator for Massive Open Online courses (MOOCs) to develop under graduate and post graduate engineering courses.
NIT-T has successfully conducted board and Senate meetings and student council elections online. The Ph.D process is completely online.
“We have completed all examinations online. With uncertainty about the return of normalcy, the Senate of NIT-T has decided to go online in the forthcoming semester and classes will go live from August 25,” she said.
Earlier, Dr. Thomas hoisted the national flag on the campus, a NIT-T release said.