IIT Guwahati 2022: Report on research, placements, rankings, collaborations, new courses launched

NEW DELHI: According to a report by The Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, the institute has had multi-fold growth in 2022. IIT Guwahati has achieved multidirectional progress throughout the year from its placements, installation of PARAM KAMRUPA super computer facility, setting up a medical school to improve the healthcare infrastructure of the North East region to supporting startups and holding ranks among world’s top 2% scientists list.

IIT Guwahati placements 2022

Students from IIT Guwahati received record of 218 pre-placement offers (PPOs) during the IIT Guwahati placements 2022, phase 1. This record became the highest in the last four years with highest PPO received at Rs 1.2 crore. In addition to this, IIT Guwahati set a new record of an all-time high in all fronts of placement. The phase 1 of placements recorded 919 offers with highest offer at Rs 2.4 crore, as compare to 2021 where a total of 843 students were placed.

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IIT Guwahati rankings in 2022

IIT Guwahati retained its position in National Institutional Rankings Framework (NIRF) with the 7th Rank in the ‘engineering’ category this year while ranking 8th in India in the ‘overall’ category in NIRF 2022. On the other hand, IIT Guwahati climbed up 11 places in the QS World University Rankings (WUR) 2023 to 384th place in the overall ranking in the world, as compared to last year’s 395th rank. The institute secures the 37th place globally in citations per faculty with a score of 96.3 per cent.

IIT Guwahati's new programme launches

In January 2022, the institute announced the launch of post graduate certificate programmes in cybersecurity, artificial intelligence (AL) and deep learning with the aim to provide career enhancement and skill upgradation for working professionals in the industry and corporate world.

In February 2022, IIT Guwahati announced the launch of a new bachelor of technology (BTech) programme in energy engineering offered by IIT Guwahati, school of energy science and engineering from the academic year 2022-2023. In the same month, the Institute launched a master's programme in liberal arts offered by the department of humanities and social sciences and commenced from the academic year 2022-2023.

IIT Guwahati technology transfers

In October 2022, IIT Guwahati made a 3D-printed sentry post to the Indian Army as part of the indigenous research and development programme under an agreement signed between the astern Army Command and IIT Guwahati for developing cost-effective and sustainable defence infrastructure for the Army.

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IIT Guwahati research and innovation

Researchers at IIT Guwahati developed multiple devices and methods in areas such as health, agriculture, computing, prosthetics, and artificial intelligence.

• A low-cost improved natural draft charcoal retort (INDCR) that aimed to address the technological and capital investment challenges of Indian charcoal makers.
• 3D printed urban furniture using local industrial waste to make construction materials. IIT Guwahati researchers also developed cementitious mix compositions, amenable for 3D printing. The innovation is able to cut down concrete use by 75 percent. The work has been published in the leading international journal, Physical Review Letters.
• Self-healable amphiphobic solid slippery coating that showed self-healing of repetitive physical damage of up to 50 times in less than one minute, with the embedded slippery property remaining intact. The coating has been successfully developed on various substrates such as glass, aluminium foil, printed paper, plastic, etc.
• Integrated circuits (ICs) for faster and efficient computing focused on hardware acceleration specifications written in C and C++ and are converted to hardware code.
• An affordable prosthetic leg suitable for the Indian population to use on uneven terrain, and allows one to deep squat or sit cross-legged adjustable for the different age groups and multiple stages of prosthesis use.
• An electricity-free and affordable 'radiative cooler' coating material, which is an alternative to the air conditioning system.
• Ultrasound-assisted fermentation method to produce a safe sugar substitute, 'Xylitol' from bagasse. The new method solved operational limitations of chemical methods and time delays associated with conventional fermentation.
• Non-toxic edible coating that was found to extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables during laboratory tests.
• New strategy to deliver chemotherapeutic drugs directly to the infected cells of a cancer patient, thereby significantly reducing side effects.
• AI-assisted model to predict bone repair outcomes for fracture-treatment methods. The AI-based simulation model can potentially help a surgeon choose the right implant or technique before a fracture-treatment surgery.

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IIT Guwahati Infrastructure growth

In October 2022, the president of India, Droupadi Murmu visited IIT Guwahati and inaugurated ‘PARAM KAMRUPA’ Supercomputer facility and a high power component laboratory, 'SAMEER'. In May 2022, IIT Guwahati signed an agreement with Mehta Family Foundation (MFF), Houston, Texas, USA, to establish the ‘Jyoti and Bhupat Mehta School of Health Sciences and Technology.’

In May 2022, IIT Guwahati and the government of Assam signed an agreement to establish 'The Assam Advanced Health Innovation Institute (AAHII). This collaboration involves establishing a Research Institute and Post Graduate Medical College offering advanced medical degrees, 350-bedded 'connected' multi-specialty hospital spread over 50,000 square meter at the IIT, Guwahati campus. In August 2022, the institute established the ICMR-DHR centre of excellence for biomedical device and diagnostics innovation and commercialisation.

IIT Guwahati signed an agreement with Karkinos Healthcare Private Limited (KHPL) on its 29th foundation day, for research collaboration on cancer diagnostics. Under this agreement, a centre of advanced research on diagnostics in cancer (C-CARD) was established with an aim to work on research related to advanced and affordable diagnostics solutions for non-communicable diseases, primarily cancer for patients.

IIT Guwahati's faculty recognition

In May 2022, Rakhi Chaturvedi from the department of biosciences and bioengineering at IIT Guwahati, received recognition by the office of the principal scientific advisor and the British high commission, New Delhi as among the top 75 Indian women in STEAM (fields of science, technology, engineering, applied arts and mathematics).

In October 2022, 21 researchers from IIT Guwahati were selected among world’s top 2% scientists list created by Stanford University. Led by IIT Guwahati, director, T G Sitharam, the faculty members from various fields including civil engineering, mechanical engineering, physics, chemical engineering, biosciences and bioengineering, chemistry, electrical and electronics were ranked for their research publications citations and lifetime contribution to their specific fields.

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IIT Guwahati Indian and international collaborations

IIT Guwahati signed a agreement with South Dakota Mines, Indian Register of Shipping (IRS), Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), Keio University, Japan to further researches.

The Institute collaborated with Assam Survey and Settlement Training Centre, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and Australian Delegation led by High Commissioner for multidorectional collaboartions on projects and activities in various areas.

IIT Guwahati hosted the National Conclave on ‘science and technology empowerment of tribal community’ organised in collaboration with by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), and ministry of tribal affairs (MoTA). The event showcased various initiatives of DST in empowerment of Tribal Communities through Science, Technology and Innovation whilst deliberating on the challenges and opportunities for empowering their lives and livelihoods.

Speaking about the progress IIT Guwahati has made in the year 2022, IIT Guwahati, director, T G Sitharam, said: “The institute has demonstrated overall progress in every possible areas of academic and research growth while also ensuring that our outreach with the GoI and GoA institutions, industries, PSUs, academia and organizations such as Army, Railways, Telecommunications, ICMR, Water Resources, Disaster Management, International agencies, etc. are significantly enhanced and the institute contributes to nation building.”