The newly appointed Director aims to improve research and innovation at the Institute to make NIT Rourkela the first-choice campus.
Professor K. Umamaheshwar Rao took over as the new director of NIT Rourkela on 18 February 2022. He will replace Professor Simanchal Panigrahi, who was appointed interim director in October 2021.
Professor K. Umamaheshwar Rao was formerly the director of the National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK), also known as NIT Surathakal. Before joining here, he was a teacher at IIT Kharagpur for almost three decades. His important portfolios include the Chairman (Estate), and the Vice Chairman of the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE). He was the head of the Mining Engineering Department in 2006-08 and 2010-14.
Highlighting his priorities for the Institute, Prof. K. Umamaheshwar Rao, Director, NIT Rourkela, said, “NIT Rourkela is a proud entity in Orissa. The Institute’s ranking in the NIRF rankings is important today. The time has come to redefine our objectives for the Institute’s index growth and to work towards them with determination, the necessary skills and strategies. Our achievement towards the goal begins now. ”
According to various national and international ranking agencies, NIT Rourkela is the top NIT in the country in terms of research profile. Professor K. Umamaheshwar Rao aims to bring NIT Rourkela into the top 10 of the NIRF rankings by focusing on various parameters such as number and quality of publications, financial resources and use of facilities for students, including laboratories, libraries. Etc., and the faculty-student ratio.
The goal of the newly appointed director is to develop research and innovative infrastructure with the help of faculty and students to make NIT Rourkela a first-choice campus. He will also work towards increasing the multidisciplinary quotient of the curriculum with special emphasis on environmental and value based education.
Professor K. Umamaheshwar Rao specializes in experimental rock mechanics and has been working in this field since 1989. He has done six PhDs. Candidates for their doctoral degree with 12 more research scholars at advanced stages of research under his supervision.
He has published over 30 research articles in international journals and presented an equal number of research papers at international seminars and conferences. The milestone of his research was the publication of the book Principles of Rock Drilling, published in 1999 by AABalkema, Rotterdam, Netherlands. The book was later published by India Book House, New Delhi. This book has given international recognition to Professor Rao in the field of Mining Engineering.
In the previous year, NIT Rourkela added four new research centers, including the Center for Poverty Alleviation and Research, the Center for Excellence in Public Health Nutrition, the Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (CBCB) and the Space Technology Incubation Center, and now the Initiative. There is also a Center for IoT and Embedded Technologies (CIET).
Professor K Umamaheshwar Rao graduated in Mining Engineering from Osmania University, Hyderabad. After working in various mining industries for almost three years, he joined the Indian Institute of Technology Benares Hindu University (IT-BHU) to pursue a master’s degree in engineering. He received his MTech degree in Mining Engineering in 1987. He holds a PhD. In case of Rock Mechanics from IIT Kharagpur.
Former full-time director, Professor Animesh Biswas joined in 2016. His first imitation for the betterment of the Institute began with maintaining student-specific growth and keeping in mind the mental growth care and growth of students for the same Institute Counseling Services. .
With over 20 academic disciplines, NIT Rourkela offers state-of-the-art undergraduate, postgraduate, doctoral, and modular programs in multi-disciplinary and emerging areas. NIT Rourkela is one of the few institutes with departments like Food Process Engineering, Ceramic Engineering, Earth and Atmospheric Science, Industrial Design, Life Science and Management. In addition, there are six academic centers and nine research centers, two of which are recognized as centers of excellence by foreign government agencies.
With ongoing projects, the NIT Rourkela Sports and Cultural Complex will facilitate a variety of indoor sports on campus and host national / international tournaments. With a seating capacity of 1000 in the complex, the open-air theater will nurture students and regional artists to showcase their culture and art. However, the Institute for Technology and Business Incubation (FTBI) has 54 incubated start-ups, 30+ pre-incubation teams.
NIT Rourkela is also part of the pilot program ‘Gender Advancement for Transforming Institutions’ (GATI) launched by the government’s science and technology department. India and working for gender equality in science and technology. It has set up a Space Technology Incubation Center (STIC) in collaboration with ISRO which will cover five states including Orissa, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Andaman and Nicobar.