CSIR to spur school students to take up research and development

Catch them young is the mission, which the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has embarked on in a bid to ignite interest among young students in research and development (R&D).

CSIR has begun offering technical and academic resource support to young scientists to undertake quality research in various disciplines of science and technology at its 39 state-of-the-art laboratories, according to T K Chandrashekar, director of the Regional Research Laboratory (RRL), CSIR, Thiruvananthapuram.

Dispelling the misconception that CSIR is open to post-graduates and PhD students alone, he said, "There are exciting and rewarding research opportunities for budding scientists too."

"The council also offers fellowships and scholarship schemes to best students from the secondary school level itself," the RRL director said while delivering the keynote address during the seminar on research facilities in CSIR, organised by the Public Relations Society of India (PRSI), Thiruvananthapuram chapter, in association with the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) here.

"CSIR's aim is to make students feel the thrill and excitement of science by working on projects requiring application and critical appreciation of scientific principles; to have active participation in the learning process through experimentation and putting into practice the knowledge acquired in the classrooms. And also to motivate talented young people to take science as a career," Chandrashekar said.

He added that "top 50 students at the secondary school level from CBSE, ICSE and various state boards in the country will be invited to visit the nearest CSIR laboratory, along with their parents or teacher, to expose the young minds to the exciting world of science, to help in building up a scientific temper at an early age and to instill a sense of pride in the achievements of Indian science. These students will be exposed to "popular science lectures by eminent science and technology experts".

"With a view to motivating talented students to take up science as a career, the CSIR offers research facilities to various groups from top ranking college and school students and science teachers", he said.

The ministry for science and technology, and various academic institutions of repute like the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, Pondicherry University, Ratan Tata Trust Mumbai, Jawahar Lal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research and Hyderabad University have been associating with CSIR for their various research projects. Research opportunities in science, engineering, medicine, veterinary science and pharmacy are also available at CSIR, according to Chandrashekhar. The programmes now being offered include the CSIR Programme on Youth for Leadership in Science (CPYLS), Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana (K VPY), Young Science Fellowship Programme and Young Engineering Fellowship Programme, Summer Programmes and Integrated Programmes conducted by the IIT, Kanpur, Hyderabad Central University and Pondicherry University.

B C Pai, deputy director, RRL, Thiruvananthapuram, made a presentation on research facilities in CSIR at the seminar, which was inaugurated by Rajan T Joseph, executive director, C-DAC.