Alumni’s gifts help IIEST set up two research centres
Times of India | 28 March 2025
12 Kolkata: IIEST, Shibpur, one of the oldest engineering colleges in the country, on Thursday gave itself two interdisciplinary centres, where research will be carried out on the most contemporary issues of sustainable infrastructure, water and environment.
The centres have been set up with grants contributed by Sudhangsu Sekhar Chakraborty (88) and Arun Deb (88), 1957 civil engineering batchmates. Rs 10 crore from Chakraborty helped set up Centre of Sustainable Infrastructure Development (CSID), named after his wife, Chirasree. Deb's gift of Rs 8.7 crore has been used to form Centre of Water and Environmental Studies (CWES), named after him and his wife, Dhriti.
"Such contributions by the alumni will motivate not only IIEST but also other institutes," said BoG chairperson Tejaswi Ananthkumar.
"The BoG meeting on Thursday approved the proposals for the two research centres. The process to appoint directors, chair professors, adjunct faculty, scientific officers and lab assistants will begin shortly. We aim to make the centres functional in six months," said IIEST director VMSR Murthy on Thursday.
Deb feels the CWES should focus on water and environment issues to benefit local communities. Chakraborty said, "CSID's focus will be research on energy in transition, smart tech, green buildings and sustainable transportation. It should offer internship and skill development to students."
CSID will have a director, to be designated as Pramathanath Bisi Chair Professor, Bisi being Chakraborty's father-in-law. CWES director's position will be designated as Arun Deb Chair Professor. Civil engineering professor Anirban Gupta added, "Two other CWES chair professors have been named after faculty members Kalyan Kumar Bhar and Amal Kumar Datta." MoS for education and development of NE region Sukanta Majumdar will inaugurate the centres on Saturday.
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