The Hindu : Front Page : BU ties up with Arkansas university to set up nano-facility centre

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Monday, Jan 08, 2007
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BU ties up with Arkansas university to set up nano-facility centre

Staff Reporter

The agreement will also facilitate exchange of knowledge

COIMBATORE: Bharathiar University inked a memorandum of understanding on Sunday with the Institute for Nano-, Micro and Neuro Electronics, Sensors and Systems, University of Arkansas, for establishing a nano-facility centre on the university premises, besides exchange of knowledge, technology, expertise and faculty.

The five-year agreement — signed here by Vice-Chancellor G. Thiruvasagam and Director of the Institute Vijay K. Varadan — is aimed at borrowing the cost-effective technologies from the University of Arkansas that have been successful in developing various techniques , especially the preventive medicine for Parkinson's disease, advance indication of heart attacks and a chip that will help the visually challenged read from a book.

The nano-facility centre will start offering graduate, postgraduate, M. Phil and Ph. D courses from the coming academic year.

The agreement will facilitate "exchange of faculty, students, researchers and tutorials, sponsorship of international workshops, symposia, seminars of mutual interest and co-operation in jointly assisted technology-related research and infrastructure activities". The derived technologies will be put to practical use by students and scholars in the local milieu, said Vice-Chancellor G. Thiruvasagam. Dr. Varadan made a presentation on the role of nano-technology and wireless sensors in monitoring and control of cardiovascular and neurological diseases.

He explained how the production of polymer-based wireless nano-sensors and systems that he was producing under the Defence and Research Development Organisation would help students of Bharathiar University take up research and become entrepreneurs.

The MoU would not only be for transfer of technology, but also for developing "a technology of our own." We will also have regular on-going programmes with Arkansas University," said Prof. Thiruvasagam.

LANDMARK TIE-UP: G. Thiruvasagam, Vice-Chancellor of Bharathiar University (left), exchanging a memorandum of understanding with Vijay K. Varadan, Director, Institute for Nano-, Micro and Neuro Electronics, Sensors and Systems, University of Arkansas (right), in Coimbatore on Sunday.

— PHOTO: S. SIVA SARAVANAN

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