A scientist and Advisor, Dr.G.J.Samathanam, Dept. of S&T, Government of India, visited the college for a special faculty interaction meet. Dr.G.J.Samathanam elaborated on the funding agencies in India and enlightened the faculty on the various sources available for funds for projects, etc.

In the present scenario, I feel that the visit was timely and necessary. Time has come when government funding will soon dry up, leaving institutions to generate funds for their academic activities. Young teachers should learn to tap sources for research and projects. There are talks about six new technical affiliating universites and everything is in a state of flux in the six government colleges. Young teachers must be ready for every eventuality and be prepared to face academic reforms and challenges. They will have to shoulder the responsibility of identifying funding agencies and partners.

The Principal must be lauded for his foresight and vision in inviting Dr.G.J.Samathanam, even as he is preparing to lay down his mantle as principal this year. His dynamism is good for technical education.

Reproduced below is the report found in The Hindu Online of Dr.Samathanam's visit.

Online edition of India's National NewspaperMonday, Mar 03, 2008ePaper Mobile/PDA Version

Tamil Nadu Come up with cutting edge, competitive research proposals, academics told
Staff Reporter
Union Government keen on encouraging students with exceptional talent
Photo: E. Lakshmi Narayanan Sharing his views: Department of Science and Technology Advisor G.J. Samathanam addressing the faculty members of Government College of Engineering in Salem on Saturday. —
SALEM: Department of Science and Technology (DST) Advisor G.J. Samathanam called upon the academic community to come up with cutting edge and competitive research proposals.
Interacting with the faculty members of Government College of Engineering here on Saturday, Mr. Samathanam expressed serious concern over the lack of high-profile research proposals from the universities and colleges.
The academicians should have the vision to come up with proposals of great scientific importance, which would ensure knowledge addition.
Many academicians, he said, still approached DST just to seek travel grant for attending seminars abroad. We had a number of programmes to support them to carry out research. They should make full use of these programmes, he said.
Mr. Samathanam regretted that a majority of the projects submitted by the PhD and M. Tech students did not carry any significant value.
Faculty members should encourage PhD students with an orientation for research to do good projects and apply for funding to DST or other agencies.
Explaining various funding programmes of DST, Mr. Samathanam said the Union Government was very keen on catching students with exceptional talents at the young age and extending scholarships to them.
This would enable the country to get leaders to implement large research and development projects in the future.
Even PhD holders in chemical engineering from premier institutions too were going for jobs in software engineering. This would give a huge setback to core engineering fields in the near future. The department was hardly receiving research proposals in the field of mathematics.
While other countries were appreciating the mathematical knowledge of Indians, people here seemed to show very little interest in carrying out research in that field, he said.
College Principal A. Ebenezer Jeyakumar highlighted the achievements of the college in academic and research activities.