Department of Biotechnology, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University (SMVDU) today organized expert lecture of Dr. Shashi Kumar, Group Leader at ICGEB, New Delhi. The title of the lecture was “Synthetic biology for artemisinin biosynthesis and oral delivery of antimlarial drug”. The lecture focused on the mechanism of drug development through synthetic biology techniques using artemisinin, Artemisinin is naturally isolated compound from leaves of Chinese herb Artemisia annua and have the fastest parasite clearance times of all current antimalarial drugs along with their role as an anticancer agent. Dr.Kumar shared his research experience wherein they used intact plant cells for encapsulation of artemisinin so as to protect the drug from rapid degradation by the intestinal and hepatic enzymes and allowing the release of drug into the blood stream by gut microbes. Their research also included the use of tobacco plants for bio encapsulation with no noticeable toxicity in murine models. Dr. Shashi also emphasized on the futuristic approach of metabolic engineering and encouraged young researchers to explore the opportunities. The lecture ended with the vote of thanks by Dr. Narendra K. Bairwa, Assistant Professor, DoBT who had organized the lecture in the department. The lecture was attended by students and faculty members from the Department of Biotechnology.

SMVDU Katra: Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University Technology Business Incubation Center Society (SMVDU-TBIC) conducted the 7th Managing Committee SMVDU-TBIC meeting under the chairmanship of Dr. Sanjeev Jain, Vice Chancellor, SMVDU. The committee is comprised of Dr. Anil Wali, M.D. FITT, IIT Delhi, New Delhi, Dr. Apoorv Ranjan Sharma, Mumbai, Sh. Yashwant Dev Panwar, Head PFC, TIFAC, MoS&T, New Delhi, Prof. V. Verma, Dean FoE, Prof. V. K. Bhat, Registrar & Dean FoS, Sh. Romesh Singh, Finance Officer, Dr. Ashutosh Vashishtha, Coordinator and Dr. Swarkar Sharma, Interim-CEO SMVDU-TBIC. The meeting was to comprehend the updates and progress made by SMVDU-TBIC. Dr. Swarkar Sharma informed all the members that SMVDU-TBIC has been successful to secure additional seed support grant of Rs. 2.1 crore from NSTEDB-DST, GoI under NIDHI Seed Support System to facilitate startups with financial assistance. The committee also evaluated the progress of various Startups registered as SMVDU-TBIC incubated companies with MCA, GoI and been facilitated with initial financial seed support from SMVDU and other legal services. As part of the program, TBIC also conducted its incubatee meet “Incubatee Connect 2017” where all the directors of the SMVDU-TBIC incubated companies met and shared their achievements and concerns with each other and SMVDU-TBIC team. The startups: HASTRIX, ALO AUTOWORKS, SPUR D SHELTERS, CLEUB AUTOMATIONS, ESMART SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS, KUNJA TECHNO, FLYDEX AUTOMOBILES, REPORT CARD PLUS and GURAH GAIYA MANAGERS participated in the event. Ms. Nikita Jain Manager, Mr. Vickey Kaw, Sectretary and Mr. Munish, Facilitator SMVDU-TBIC coordinated the events successfully.

SMVDU-Technology Business Incubation Center Society (SMVDU TBIC) is established at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Kakryal, Katra with the Grant-in-aid jointly from NSTEDB, DST, MoST, Government of India with an objective to identify potential innovative Technology based ideas and facilitate these into independent self-sustaining businesses. For the benefit of all, SMVDU-TBIC has kept its online application portal open 24x7 at www.smvdutbic.org for preliminary applications and every month preliminary screening is done. In addition, SMVDU-TBIC has launched “Innovation Challenge 2017” where Entrepreneurs from all across the country are welcome to participate and last date of the submission of the idea online is October 5, 2017.

The role of bamboo in sustainable practices in Architecture has been identified all across the globe in contemporary era. Accordingly, to enrich such knowledge among budding Architects of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra, a The workshop is organized particularly for the students and shall consist of two modules, the second module being a hands on workshop in which a suitable bamboo structure (pavilion or parking shed) shall be fabricated by the students in SMVDU campus. The structural and Architectural design, fundamentals of using bamboo and exemplary works of bamboo shall be covered in on going module-1 from 27th September to 30th Sep.’ 2017. Prof. Pravinsinh Solanki, Head- Centre of Bamboo Initiatives, NID Ahmedabad is invited as the resource person of the two module workshop. The workshop was inaugurated by Dean of Students, Dr.Yougal Khajuria and Prof. Solanki along with student coordinator of the workshop Ms. Shradha Gupta and Mr. Rituraj Sarma. Inaugural ceremony started with the introduction by the student anchors Ms. Rashi Jain & Ms. Shradha Gupta followed by lamp lighting ceremony. Formal introduction of the workshop along with the profile of resource person was introduced by anchors to all the attendants. Speaking on the occasion Prof. Solanki introduced bamboo benefits and the need to adopt this material in different capacities in Architecture and design . The ceremony was attended by all the faculty and staff members of the department. Around 100 students of the department are attending this workshop. The opening ceremony concluded with the felicitation of the resource person by student coordinators. Hon’ble Vice Chancellor, Dean Faculty of Engineering and faculty members of the department extended their best wishes to the students for enriching their knowledge with this workshop.

SMVDU Katra: The 8th meeting of Board of Academic, Research and Consultancy (BARC) was held at SMVDU under the chairmanship of Vice Chancellor Prof. Sanjeev Jain. BARC is a statutory body that deliberates upon all academic issues of various departments and proposals recommended by the Board of Studies of various departments. The agenda items of the meeting were presented by Dr. Sumeet Gupta Dean Academic Affairs. The main issues under highlight were the review of eligibility criteria of some academic programs, students’ placements, new parameters of faculty appraisals, consultancy rules, guest lectures by resource persons from industry and corporate etc. The meeting held as a preparatory exercise for the awaited Academic Council meeting to be held on 16th September. Prof. V. Varma Dean Faculty of Engineering, Prof. D. Mukhopadhyaya Dean Faculty of Management, Dr. Hari Govind Mishra Director Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC), Dr. Suparn Sharma faculty In-Charge Central Library, all Heads of the Departments, Dr. Shaila Canni Principal Shri Mata Vaishno Devi College of Nursing and Mr. Samir Vohra AR Academic Affairs attended the meeting.

Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much. – Helen Keller

Volunteers registered for VIKALP – a students’ initiative at SMVDU have been doing a substantial job since the onset of these initiatives in the university. These students realize their social responsibility and try their best to offer it to the destitute and needy. Despite hectic academic schedule, volunteers at Vikalp reach to fulfil their duties towards the society. They are the real life heroes in the lives of those they have helped and still helping. Their efforts cannot be paid in pennies and pounds but have already gathered a lot of love and goodwill. They realize that every drop of their sweat will go towards the nation building as they are engaged in giving basic education to the under-privileged children of nearby places.

This is to acknowledge the unstinting efforts put forward by Ms. PURVA SHARMA (17BCS043), pursuing B.Tech in Computer Science and Engineering along with Mr. MOHAMMAD WAQAS WANI (17BEC033) pursuing B.Tech. Electronics and Communication Engineering as the best volunteers of Vikalp for the month of August 2017. They were responsible, rendering overall counselling, lessons on general health and hygiene, and imparting basic education to the children. As freshers they participated in every initiative taken forward and are still offering commendable services. Vikalp family extends their cordial gratitude towards these volunteers and wish them the very best for all future endeavours. We also wish that they can inspire other students and take this altruistic effort to the next level.

SMVDU Katra: A two day ‘Joint Studio’ workshop (Time-problem design competition) was organised by Department of Architecture & Landscape Design (DALD), SMVDU on Conceptual Architectural Design for “My Place to Work, Play and Sleep in the Himalayas”. The studio was the joint collaboration on academic exchange between SMVDU and School of Planning & Architecture (SPA), New Delhi - An Institute of National Importance. A total of 60 students of B.Arch. 3rd year 5th semester & 7 faculty members participated in the studio which included 24 students and 4 faculty members of DALD and 36 students and 3 faculty members of SPA respectively. The students worked in 12 mixed groups of 5 students, 3 from SPA and 2 from DALD each under the mentorship of Ar. Aditya Kumar Singh, Head of Department of Architecture & Landscape Design, Ar. Dinesh Nanda Visiting Faculty DALD, Ar. Abhimanyu Sharma, Asst. Professor DALD, Ar. Vinod Kumar, Asst. Professor DALD, Ar. (Dr.) Ranjana Mital, Professor SPA, Ar. Vijay Garg, Visiting Professor SPA and Ar. Amit Babbar, Visiting Professor SPA.

The studio was successfully concluded with outcome in terms of design directives, design priorities, spatial experiences and formal expression. The competition was won by the group consisting of Mr. Yagvinder Kumar Memoria (DALD), Mr. Hemant Jindal (DALD), Mr. Abhinav Sujit (SPA), Mr. Yatharth Gupta (SPA) and Mr. Migom Doley (SPA). Vice Chancellor Prof. Sanjeev Jain and Dean Faculty of Engineering Dr. V. Verma congratulated the winners and assured more collaborative academic exchange in future for mutual advantage of participating institutes.

A Training Workshop for Faculty-Mentors on Induction Programme for New Students was conducted by National Project Implementation Unit (NPIU) under MHRD New Delhi at PEC University of Technology, Chandigarh. Dr. Sachin Kumar Gupta from the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Dr. Abhishek Gupta from Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Mr. Amit Kumar Sinha from Department of Mechanical Engineering and Mr. Sumanta Sarathi Sharma from Department of Philosophy and Culture attended the workshop from SMVD University. In which around 100 faculty members from various other universities across India also participated who were trained on various aspects of education - its expectations and outcome. Along with this, relation between success in life and education with human values were also explored. An appraisal of physical needs, meaning of prosperity, harmony in self and human relationships were also explained. The meaning of natural acceptance and harmonious living at four levels i.e, self, family, society and nature were explained and discussed.

SMVDU Katra: SMVDU organized prize distribution ceremony of 1st open state inter-university chess championship. It was a three day event and total 6 teams participated. Dean of Students Dr. Yugal Khajuria was the chief guest for the ceremony and Sh. Ashok Kumar Director Sports, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board was the guest of honour. SMVDU team led by Srikrishna won gold medal and remain the single undefeated team of the championship. Abhishek Bundela, Lavee Singh, Ankur and Sameer Sengar were the other team players of SMVDU. The Team-A of University of Jammu led by Sahil Mahajan won silver medal and University of Kashmir led by Mushtaq won bronze medal. Officials from various universities including Mr. Harbinder Singh from University of Kashmir, Mr. Padam Dev Singh and Ms. Suman Sharma from University of Jammu were also present in the event. Mr. Rajiv Kumar, Faculty In-Charge of Sports of SMVDU gave vote of thanks. Vice Chancellor Prof. Sanjeev Jain congratulated all winning teams.

Department of Biotechnology (DoBT), Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra organized an Invited Lecture on 12th September, 2017; wherein Eminent Professor (Dr.) Umesh Desai, Director, Institute of Structural Biology, Drug Discovery and Development, Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, USA, spoke on the topic “Biotechnological Approaches in the Synthesis of Glycosaminoglycans”. At the outset, Dr. Indu Bhushan, Assistant Professor, DoBT extended a warm welcome with a brief introduction of Prof. Desia highlighting his academic and research achievements. He recollected his lab experiences where he recently completed his Post-Doctoral training under the UGC-Raman Fellowship granted in 2016-17 with the able guidance of Prof. Desai.

Dr. Desai is a renowned Scientist in the area of Drug Discovery and has to his credit many International publications in journals of high repute, awards and patents. He is nationally and internationally known for his work in developing a new line of anticoagulant agents expected to alleviate adverse affects seen in current thrombotic therapy used with heart attacks and strokes. The Lecture was attended by the Faculty members, research scholars and UG/PG students of the Department and was very interactive and interesting. Dr. Desai in his lecture talked about “Heparin” on which he and his research group is working to design a synthetic mimetic of heparin, a commonly used, animal-derived anticoagulant agent. The research has been a key factor in launching a new field of medicinal chemistry - nonsaccharide glycosaminoglycan mimetics - and the molecules being developed might also prove to be of use in treating cancer, HSV, HIV and chronic wounds. He has also visited all the labs of the Department accompanied by Dr. Sharada M. Potukuchi, Associate Prof. and Academic Coordinator, DoBT and Dr. Indu Bhushan. He interacted with the scholars and students and was interested in their research areas. Prof. V. Verma, Head, Department of Biotechnology & Dean, Faculty of Engineering extended a vote of thanks to Prof. Desai for taking time out to visit SMVDU and deliver such an exciting and interactive Lecture.

SMVDU Katra: Swachhata Pakhwada concluded at SMVD University on 17-09-2017 with Clean Campus Day under the guidance of Dr. Varun K. Tripathi Nodal Officer, Swachha Bharat Abhiyaan and Mr. Sumanta S. Sharma Program Coordinator NSS. In the last two weeks, more than ten events were organized by NSS wing. Swachhata Pakhwada 2017, which is a Government of India initiative for spreading the message of cleanliness and working for it was scheduled from 01-09-2017 to 15-09-2017. However, due to minor examinations going on in the University, it was rescheduled up to 17-09-2017. A briefing session was organized on 04-09-2017 to introduce and explain the meaning of Swachhata Pakhwada to NSS coordinators and volunteers. Thereafter, an Essay Competition on “Innovative ways for spreading the message of hygiene” was organized. Around 50 students participated in it. Furthermore, Clean Surroundings Day event (Road leading to the Institution) was conducted, where more than 50 students participated in cleaning various roads just outside the university. In the next part, under the head of Care for Surroundings Day which included Study of garbage cleaning systems in public spaces and Visit to markets nearby to study the system of cleaning, a survey was conducted. In this, more than 150 students participated and used survey sheets and questionnaires for collecting data and also explained the notion of cleanliness to the villagers.

On the penultimate day, NSS coordinated three events simultaneously, namely Clean Mess Day, Clean Hostel Day and Cleanest Hostel Room Contest. Students cleaned the common areas of Hostel and Mess in their respective hostels for Clean Hostel and Mess Day events. In addition to this, some of them participated in Cleanest Hostel Room contest where they showcased their own rooms to the coordinators of the event for judgment. The mega episode of the fortnight series of event was Clean Campus Day scheduled on 17-09-2017. Students assembled at the common place at 10 am where they were divided into several groups. Each group was assigned an area to clean under the supervision of a student NSS coordinator. They were provided with gloves, masks, brooms, mops, etc. for cleaning. Students actively participated showing immense zeal and dedication for the event which went on for more than two hours. In the end, they were provided with refreshments. Along with this, another parallel event took place wherein a group of students visited a nearby Orphanage DISHA located in Katra. Here, they interacted with more than 30 students and distributed copies, pencils, pens and erasers to each of them. They were also encouraged to keep their vicinity clean. The bi-weekly event closed with a vote of thanks proposed by Mr. Sumanta S. Sharma (Faculty Coordinator of NSS SMVD University) to more than 300 students who participated as volunteers and coordinators for various events. The student coordinators of the events were, Mr. Ajit Kumar, Mr. Akhil Kalsi, Mr. Dhanraj Singh, Mr. Aman Agrawal, Ms. Neha Sharma, Ms. Medha, Ms. Shubhangi Suri, Ms. MaihakPandita, Ms. SimranChoudhary, Ms. Mansi Mattoo, Ms. Guneet Kour, Mr. Anand Bharti, Mr. Raju Kumar, Ms. Mithali Bhat and Ms. Shreya Pandita. Vice Chancellor Prof. Sanjeev Jain has expressed his happiness and satisfaction over the conduct of Swachhata Pakhwada and desired that more initiatives amalgamating health, hygiene and cleanliness must be taken in the campus.

SMVDU Katra: Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University organizes 3 days Open State Inter-University Chess Championship and the opening ceremony held on on 8th Sept. 2017. Dr. V. K. Bhat Registrar, was the chief guest for the ceremony. National Arbiter of Indian Chess Association, Mr. Minahj-ul-Haq is the chief arbiter during the 3 day tournament. Teams from Jammu University, Kashmir University, Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan and Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University are participating in the tournament. Rajiv Kumar, President Board of Sports Activities welcomed all the dignitaries and the teams. Dr. Sandeep Bhogal, Vice President Board of Sports Activities gave vote of thanks. Dean of Students Dr.Yugal Khajuria, Dr. V.K. Tripathi, President BCA, Prof. I.K. Pandita and other faculty and staff members were present during the ceremony. Vice Chancellor Prof. Sanjeev Jain gave his best wishes to all the participating teams. Mr. paras Dubey presented a classical Indian dance form during the opening ceremony. The championship will continue till 10 th Aug.

SMVDU Katra: The 29th meeting of the Academic Council of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University held on 16th September in the Chairmanship of the Vice Chancellor Prof. Sanjeev Jain. Prof. Jain impressed upon that the entire teaching has to be student centric, i.e., the courses should be designed and implemented keeping in mind the employability of students. The Action Taken Report (ATR) and the agenda items were presented by Dr. Sumeet Gupta, Dean Academic Affairs. ATR included issues like inclusion MOOC courses in curricula, eligibility criteria of admissions in certain programs, fee waivers for the wards of faculty and staff members, review of proportion of theory and practical in examinations, reservation of seats for persons with disability. Discussion on the agenda items included rationalization of seats in various programs, introduction of M.Sc. Genetics course in the Dept. of Biotechnology from next academic year, modification in students’ merit-cum-means fellowship scheme, recommendations of the Board of Studies of Departments of Energy Management, Physics, Mechanical Engineering, Economics, Computer Science, Electronics and Communication Engineering, School of Business and College of Nursing. Revised Intellectual Property Rights bye-laws, award of degrees to the graduated students across disciplines, proposal for the creation of the post of Examination Controller and new faculty appraisal parameters were also discussed.

It was observed that the departments are very much focused on making their curricula relevant to the industry and corporate requirements and have been able to instill among students the sense of elevation and pride that they learn the latest and updated things. The external expert members commended the initiatives and the best practices of the University. Among the external experts Prof. Sunil Pandey from IIT Delhi, Prof. Rajesh Srivastav from IIT Roorkee and Prof. K. K. Biswas Emeritus Professor IIT Delhi participated. Registrar Prof. V.K. Bhat, Prof. D. Mukhopadhyaya Dean Faculty of Management, Prof. V. Varma Dean Faculty of Engineering, all the Heads of the Departments such as Prof. B. Kamaiah, Prof. I. K. Pandita, Dr. S. Mehta, Dr. K.R. Jha, Dr. V.K. Tripathi, Dr. Amitabh Dwivedi, Dr. B. Kaushik, Ar. Aditya Singh, Dr. S. Anand, Dr. A. K. Das, Dr. Y. Khajuria Dean of Students and Head of Dept. Physics, Dr. Suparn Sharma faculty In-Charge Central Library, Dr. Shailla Cannie Principal SMVD College of Nursing and Dean Faculty of Nursing attended the meeting. Sh. Vinod Sharma Administrative Officer, Samir Vohra AR Academic Affairs and Amit Gupta SO Academic Affairs were also present in the meeting.

SMVDU Katra: Taking over charge from Mr. S. L. Pandita the outgoing Finance Officer, Mr. Romesh Singh KAS, has joined as new Finance Officer of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University. Mr. Singh is a senior KAS officer from 1999 batch, and has served in different capacities such as Treasury Officer Ramnagar, District fund Officer Udhampur, Chief Pay and Accounts Officer Bhaglihar Hydro-Electric Project Chauderkot, Financial Advisor/CAO and State Accountability Commissioner of J&K, Financial Advisor/CAO Housing and Urban Development Dept. Civil Secretariat J&K, Financial Advisor/CAO BOPEE, Financial Advisor/CAO State Vigilance Commission J&K, Dy. Finance Officer SMVDU, District Treasury Officer Udhampur. He has now joined as Finance Officer of SMVDU last week.

The celebration of Hindi Pakhwada is inaugurated at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra, in the evening of Hindi Diwas, 14th Sept. 2017 in the Matrika Auditorium. A cultural program was organized on this occasion. Prof. D. Mukhopadhyay, Dean, Faculty of Management was the Chief Guest on the occasion. He along with Dr. Yugal Khajuria, Dean of Students, inaugurated the event by lighting the ceremonial lamp. Dr. Anil K. Tiwari, Nodal Officer, Hindi Cell formally welcomed the guests and students. He also highlighted the significance of the celebration and informed the audience about the events to be organized during the fortnight. A video clip of the last year celebration was also presented. It was followed by cultural performances by the students in terms of Hindi songs, poetry and dances based on Hindi lyrics. The performers included Shreya Anand, Tofiq, Vansh, Akshma, Kanika, Vivek Shrivastav, Nikhil, and Ananya Arora. They mesmerized the audience by their performance. The other dignitaries present the audience were Dr. Varun Kumar Tripathi, HoD, Department of Philosophy and Culture, Dr. Amitabh Kumar Dewedi and Dr. Madhu Mangal Chturvedi. The event concluded with a vote of thanks by Paras Dubey.