On 4th March 2022, during the visit of Dr. S. Chandrasekhar, FNA, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India at Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), an autonomous institution under DST and an institution Deemed-to-be-University, a ceremony has been organised for the unveiling of the Foundation Stone of the proposed School of Advanced Materials (SAMat) building at the Jakkur campus. Dr. S. Chandrasekhar unveiled the Foundation Stone of SAMat building in the august presence of Bharat Ratna Prof C. N. R. Rao, FRS and Prof G. U. Kulkarni, FNA, President, JNCASR. The ceremony was attended by Directors of Raman Research Institute (RRI), Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences (CeNS), and Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIAP), along with Deans, Chairs of the Units, Faculty Members and Officers of the Centre.
The ceremony began with welcome address by Prof. G. U. Kulkarni, FNA, President, JNCASR followed by a glimpse about SAMat by Prof. A. Sundaresan, FASc, Chair, CPMU & SAMat Coordinator. A walk-through video of the proposed building of SAMat was also screened followed by the inauguration of the Foundation Stone of SAMat by Dr Chandrashekhar. He also addressed the gathering on this occasion. Mr. Joydeep Deb, Administrative Officer proposed the Word of Thanks.
About SAMat
Over the last 30 years, JNCASR has emerged as one of the leading research institutes in frontier areas of materials research in the country and worldwide. In view of the number of faculty members involved in a broad spectrum of materials research, encompassing nanomaterials, energy materials, soft materials, biomaterials and theory, an idea was conceptualized to have an umbrella structure under which to bring all the materials research activity together at the Centre. This idea was realized with the creation of the School of Advanced Materials (SAMat) in 2018. It comprises of 28 faculty members from the International Centre for Materials Science (ICMS), Chemistry and Physics of Materials Unit (CPMU), New Chemistry Unit (NCU), and the Theoretical Sciences Unit (TSU), with Prof. C.N.R Rao as the Chairperson.
