Tamil Nadu - Chennai   

Engineers urged to offer innovative solutions

CHENNAI: The core engineering disciplines should adopt a multi-disciplinary approach to resolving contemporary problems, ranging from water, energy and food security to transport and environment protection, Arcot Ramachandran, former Under Secretary General, United Nations (HABITAT), said on Sunday.

In his Alumni Day address, hosted by the Alumni Association College of Engineering Guindy (AACEG) of Anna University Chennai, Dr. Ramachandran said civil, mechanical and electrical engineering disciplines had to collaborate in common space for creating innovative solutions that would lead the nation to the stature of a world leader in a knowledge era.

If agricultural scientists could revolutionise water conservation efforts by developing technology that would effect even a 5 per cent reduction in usage of the resource for farming activity, traffic engineering graduates could evolve an intelligent system to redress vexatious transportation issues, Dr. Ramachandran said.

In fact, engineers could also get engaged in resolving housing issues of the poor by innovating on low cost building technology or contribute to the global efforts on tackling climate change, he added.

Dr. Ramachandran called for the replication of Anna University’s model of focusing on research to the other 354 engineering colleges that came under its administering domain.

He urged the engineering fraternity to visualise what the future scenarios were likely to be in three or four decades in order to come up with sustainable solutions. The fourth revolution that would follow the agricultural, industrial and informatics revolutions would involve environmental sustainability, he said.

Stating that while he held nothing against bureaucrats, Dr. Ramachandran said technology research institutions should be headed by engineers for enabling the development of creative solutions to contemporary challenges. Though the engineering community may not enjoy the reverence that it once commanded, the time had come for engineering experts sitting on important Government-designated panels to stand up and veto proposals that risked being detrimental to the larger common good.

He gave away about 60 endowments to meritorious students.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Facelift for branch libraries
Appeal to government
Charge must be concise to convey substance of allegation: High Court
TNGDA condemns newly formed federation
Insurance employees seek wage revision
Engineers urged to offer innovative solutions
Colposcopy workshop gets under way
Muscular pathology laboratory inaugurated
Scheme to donate new clothes launched
Now blogs cook round the clock
Railway honours women employees
Take a tour for stress-free life: Irai Anbu
From varsity to MIT, it’s a memory lane
Gold rush on at city post offices
Flush with funds; yet want of funds continues city pulse
More turn to private financiers
Number of home loan seekers continues to be less, of late
Special rebate
Two die as motorcycle collides with lorry
3 held for cheating
Two men arrested for murder
Five held under Goondas Act
Businessman’s house burgled
1,000 surgeries performed at Stanley hospital in 2008
BSNL launches trial run for new billing software
Wildlife numbers up in Srivilliputhur sanctuary
Women should be made aware of laws of land, says Purandeswari
‘Sadhana Samman’ to be conferred on Vairamuthu
Jayalalithaa condemns Sri Lanka’s move
Two villages put on TTDC map
“Indo-Czech trade up”
Consider demands of SIPMA: CPI (M)
In Chennai Today
Rain-damaged road

Copyright © 2009, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu