SRM University
The British Council – SRM Lecture series saw yet another prominent scientist deliver the Great Talks lecture at SRM IST, on the relationship between Anthropology and Archaeology. Taking cross-disciplinarity to a new high, Professor Turi King, Professor of Public Engagement and Reader in Genetics and Archaeology, University of Leicester, spoke about her work that connected Anthropology, the study of humans, early hominids and primates, such as chimpanzees and Archaeology, the study of the ancient and recent human past through material remains. Her riveting talk to undergraduate students at the School of Biotechnology at SRM IST gave a fascinating oversight of the myriad applications of DNA fingerprinting. Professor Turi King, a Geneticist of repute, started her academic career reading Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Cambridge. It was here, that she became interested in how genetics could be used to answer archaeological and historical questions. She then went on to write an award-winning Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics examining the link between 'British hereditary surnames and the Y chromosome'. Since then, all of her work has combined genetics with history, archaeology, geography, forensics, and epidemiology. “DNA fingerprinting has been used as a way to trace surnames down through the generations, to prove links between families who didn’t know they were related or to show that a particular surname may have more than one origin”, she said. She spoke about how Genetic Genealogy is now a booming business and traced some famous cases she’s been involved in like on Sir David Attenborough’s family and that of Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States. She also spoke about her pathbreaking work on genetic analysis which led to the identification of the skeletal remains of King Richard III. Dr. Turi’s intrepid journey into
research in two unconnected fields was an inspiration for the budding geneticists to view the field of genetics in a wider dimension. It’s not just about research in Genomics or Gene manipulation the one could hope in excel in, the boundaries are broader and interdisciplinarity offers new horizons for professional and career advancement for the genetic scientist.
Best Hotel Management Institute Award - 4th Time In A Row
Dr. D. Antony Ashok Kumar, Director, SRM Institute of Hotel Management receiving the award at 11th National Higher Education Summit & Excellence Awards from Dr. Satyapal Singh, Honorable Minister of State for Human Resource Development (Higher Education) Govt. of India. SRM Institute of Hotel Management has received “Best Hotel Management Institute “. The award was conferred by Dr. Satyapal Singh, Honourable Minister of State for Human Resource Development (H igher Education) Govt. of India during 11th National Higher Education Summit & Excellence Awards on 17TH February 2018 at New Delhi. We have been receiving this award 4th time in a row. This Education Summit was organized to honour those who have contributed significantly in the field of improving the quality of Education, delivery mechanism with emphasis on worldclass research and innovations. It will be worthy of mentioning here that SRM IHM is the only institute to have received this award in the Hospitality sector.
SRMIST Student Shares Semester Abroad Experience At Tokai University, Japan
Final year Mechatronics engineering student at SRM IST Rahul R Ramakrishnan is truly excited about his semester abroad experience at Tokai University, Japan. With a sparkle in his eye and a penchant for Robotics, Rahul has developed a flexible backbone model for a continuum robot inspired by the elephant’s ubiquitous trunk. Researching at the Yamamoto Laboratory along with a fellow Ph.D. student at Tokai University, under the supervision of Dr. Yoshio Yamamoto, Executive Director of International Education Center and Professor Department of Precision Engineering, the study has provided new insights into human-machine interaction, with improved flexibility, safety and a greater degree of freedom. Rahul’s one semester visit was facilitated by the MoU between the two institutions. “Tokai University is one of the popular private Universities in Japan well known for its large international community with amazing campus facilities; they even have a building named Techno Tower with MIT standard facilities. It is truly a dream come true for me”, said Rahul, soon after returning to SRM to complete the rest of his course. “My program at Tokai was designed for research in Robotics. I loved every minute of my stay there. The big take away is that I improved my self-confidence and got the once in a lifetime opportunity to experience a cross-cultural environment first hand. I made lots of new friends. I also got to learn more about the Japanese culture, food and to understand Japanese people better”, he went on to add. The Semester Abroad Programme is part of SRM’s flagship international mobility programme in which several hundred students go abroad each year to study in over 100 partner universities across the globe, to earn credits for courses taken or for research internships.