President Droupadi Murmu inaugurates supercomputer, laboratory at IIT Guwahati

NEW DELHI: President Droupadi Murmu visited the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati on October 13, 2022 during her visit two-day visit to Assam. The president inaugurated ‘Param Kamrupa', a supercomputer facility and a high power active and passive component laboratory 'Sameer' at IIT Guwahati.

838 Teraflops Param Kamrupa is a supercomputer facility at IIT Guwahati set up under National Supercomputing Mission (NSM), a joint initiative of the ministry of electronics and information technology and the department of science and technology. With the inauguration of the facility, the Institute will be able to carry multiple research activities in areas including computational chemistry, molecular dynamics, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, and data science to name a few.

Sameer is a laboratory built for design and development of high-power microwave passive and active components and located within IIT Guwahati. The lab will scientists a platform to conduct research and development activities in different domains of high power microwave engineering. Currently, the Institute is focusing on indigenously developing active and passive components for accelerators that are used in the medical sciences for treatment of cancer and industry for non-destructive testing.

At present, a design of pulse and CW magnetrons is under process which are also used for development of high-quality diamond. These newly set up facilities aim to provide a major boost to the research and development activities in the entire region.

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Speaking about the inaugurated facilities, President of India, Droupadi Murmu said: “I am confident that the supercomputer Param-Kamrupa facility inaugurated at IIT Guwahati will be put to use in the best possible manner to broaden our understanding and knowledge on various technological topics. The Sameer laboratory will enable R and D assisted critical applications in defense sector and other industries. The massive effort by the State government to establish multiple medical colleges across Assam will ensure that the gap in the doctor-population ratio will be bridged significantly and it will open doors for medical research, especially for the treatment of cancer as well as other non-destructive testing.”

The president of India was accompanied by several officials including chief minister of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma; cabinet minister for health and family welfare, Bharati Pravin Pawar; Indian Council of Medical Research, director general, Rajiv Bahl among other dignitaries.

President Murmu laid the foundation stone for Zonal Institutes of National Institute of Virology at Dibrugarh, Assam and Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh and virtually inaugurated a Medical College and Hospital in Dhubri, Assam.