Intersections provide opportunities for cross-fertilization of ideas and innovation. The author discusses experiences that demonstrate this, such as seeing floating lamps converge on the Ganges River, bringing new perspectives together in research. The document advocates for creating environments that foster open-minded exploration and out-of-the-box thinking, such as a "Black Swan Seminar Series" to identify transformational ideas. It concludes by hoping creativity will blossom from strengthening connections across disciplines.

1. Intersections—Incubators for Innovation
Intersections are generally very exciting places—be they the intersections on the roads we travel, the
cross-roads of civilizations or the coffee shop where researchers from different disciplines meet to
brainstorm solutions to vexing problems. At these cross-roads, cross-fertilization of ideas takes place.
Both the expected and the unexpected can arise, and seeds of innovation planted.

2. My first exposure to the power of intersections is from an unlikely source—my visit to Haridwar in my
early youth. Standing on the bank of the Ganges on a dark, moonless night, I suddenly saw a small lamp
on a lotus leaf that a pilgrim had just floated on the river. It looked lonely and yet, beautiful; a few minutes
later, another lamp from the opposite bank came into view. Soon, there were many. The mighty currents
took these lamps away from their points of origin, tossed and scattered them randomly. Some of them
submerged and did not stay afloat. But the end result was a bridge of small lamps between the two
banks. I stayed there mesmerized by the reflections of the floating lights. Stored in the streams of my
consciousness, I access this enchanting scene from time to time and relive that magical moment,
reflecting and seeking motivation from it. In my professional life, I have sometimes thought of these lamps
as intersecting islands of knowledge that converge collectively to light the path to new and creative ideas
and possibilities.
There is a body of research that has shown conclusively a strong positive correlation between innovation
and intersections. According to Kafatos and Eisener (Science, 303, February 27, 2004), “…the new
frontier is the interface, wherever it remains unexplored…”. I resonate with this and believe that
interfaces/intersections provide an effective format for conversations and connections that lead to new
knowledge. In my professional life extending over four decades in academia and at Bell Laboratory—a
world-renowned telecommunication research organization for path-breaking innovations—, I have
experienced, first-hand, the incredible power of bringing engineers, scientists, and humanists together to
move beyond the predictable and incremental advances to the transformative science and technology of
the future. Multiple perspectives and free exchange of ideas create an environment for out-of-the-box
thinking and novel approaches and solutions. For example, during my tenure as Executive Director of a
large interdisciplinary research institute called ICTAS (Institute for Critical Technology and Applied
Science) from 2006-2016, I launched a new seminar series entitled "The Black Swan Seminar Series “.
For those unfamiliar with the term Black Swan, in his book, "The Black Swan", the New York Times best-
selling author, Nassim Nicholas Taleb defines a Black Swan as an event that has three characteristics: it
is an outlier; it carries an extreme impact; and it has retrospective predictability. He cites the example of
the three technologies that most impact our world today—the Internet, the computer, and the laser—, and
notes that all three were unplanned, and unpredicted, and remained surprisingly unappreciated well after
their discovery, before taking the world by storm. The next Black Swan, at least as defined by the author,
may not be predictable, but it is my belief that we can create an environment and become a breeding
ground for future Black Swans. To this end, the Black Swan Seminar Series, I mentioned above, was held
in ICTAS’ Café X where a free-flowing and unencumbered exploration of the “X -- the unknown” was the
expectation. Facilitated by a researcher, a seminar generally focused on a broad field of inquiry and was
triggered by the question, “What technology/innovation/idea will transform your field in seven years? Or
by a more-in- your face question, “What advances in your field will make you unemployable/irrelevant in
seven years?”
We learnt from these seminars that there is much to be gained in forging and strengthening the current
weak and somewhat tenuous bonds among seemingly disparate disciplines. This kind of query can take
us from “juggad” or “gambiarria”—nimble and frugal thinking—to high-impact, disruptive innovation, and a
capacity to adapt and respond expeditiously to Black Swans in science, finance, and technology.
At the newly established Center of Excellence in Emerging Materials (CEEMS), a collaborative effort
between TIET and VT (Virginia Tech, USA), we are planning to devote a part of our effort on the
development of disruptive technologies. To that end, in not-so-distant future, we will be launching a Black
Swan Seminars Series to be held in the new CEEMS home (under construction) in a seminar room to be
dubbed as Café-X or perhaps Chai-X! Faculty, students, alumni of TIET and interested citizens from
Patiala and surroundings will be welcome to join in these thought-provoking seminars. It is my fervent
hope that my favorite quote, “Buds of creativity blossom at the intersections” will come to life.

3. Thapar Institute organised the 34th Convocation
for its UG/PG/PhD programme graduates (face-to-
face mode).
TI student Alisha Malhotra was awarded the
prestigious President Medal for being the topper
among all branches of engineering. Heartiest
congratulations to her and kudos to the
Department of Electrical & Instrumentation
Engineering for their remarkable efforts.
Mr. Gautam Thapar, President, Thapar Institute of
Engineering & Technology, bid a heartfelt farewell
to the young graduates at the ongoing 34th
Convocation and wished them success in their
chosen career paths. Congratulations to the
degree holders, prize winners and medal winners
on joining Thapar Institute's league of 35,000
alumni making a mark for themselves in diverse
fields.
Mr. Rajeev Vederah, Chairman Board of
Governors, Thapar Institute of Engineering &
Technology, wished graduating students a great
future ahead. He told them that the world awaits
their talent and exhorted them to be adventurous,
to be spontaneous, and to dare to be different and
follow their hearts as they set out to discover their
life’s destiny.
Proud moment for TI as Dr. Amit Mishra (TI
alumnus, PhD - School of Chemistry and
Biochemistry, 2019) got selected for the Marie
Curie Fellowship 2021. Heartiest congratulations
to him!
University of New South Wales
Agreement for the articulation of programs
between The University of New South Wales and
Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology
was signed. The pathway is expected to involve
students studying a total of two (2) years/ four (4)
semesters full time at TI and a minimum of six (6)
terms full time at UNSW (subject to progression
requirements at all stages).
University of La Rochelle, France
Thapar Institute signed an MoU with the University
of La Rochelle, France to undertake joint research
projects, promote the exchange of scholarly
publications, conduct joint symposia, facilitate

4. student exchange and partake in faculty
development.
New Patent
An improved process for external prestressing of Fibre Reinforced Polymer (FRP) sheets (Patent number:
359576) Applicants: 1. Dr. Shweta Goyal, Associate Professor, Thapar Institute 2. Abhijeet Mukherjee; 3.
TIET
It involves an improved process of strengthening of target structure using CFRP sheet. The steps
comprised of:
• Preparation of target structure to receive the sheet
• Anchoring the fibre sheet to dead end of the structure
• Prestressing the fibre sheet at live end of the structure
The primary objective of the present invention is to provide an improved and novel technique for
strengthening RC structures with pre-stressed Fibre Reinforced Polymer (FRP) sheets. The pre-stress is
achieved by direct pre-stressing method. The device used for pre-stressing is directly mounted on the
structure. The FRP sheet is anchored to the device itself and the pre-stressing force is applied with the
help of hydraulic jacks. The details of the device are shown in Fig. 1. A beam was retrofitted by using the
same assembly after loading till failure. The prestressing achieved by the device could improve the load
carrying capacity and stiffness of the beam, as shown in Fig. 2.
Evaluation of antioxidant and antimicrobial potential of Mango Seed Kernel
Upinder Rajan Sharma, B.Tech. (Biotechnology), batch 2016-2020, published the findings of his project
work in the form of a research article entitled "Evaluation of antioxidant and antimicrobial potential of
Mango Seed Kernel" in "International Journal of Chemical Studies" This project work was successfully
completed under the valuable guidance of Dr. Poonam Choudhary (Scientist), Ms. Surya and Tushir
(Scientist) and Dr. Manju Bala (P. Scientist) ICAR - Central Institute of Post-Harvest Engineering &
Technology, Ludhiana, Punjab, India.
The results of this study revealed that among the three studied solvents, the methanolic extract of mango
seed kernel showed good antioxidant and antimicrobial activity. Therefore, methanolic extract could find
applications in food industry as natural antioxidant and antibiotic source to address the challenge of
infections caused by pathogenic microbes. The mango seed kernel is discarded as waste, the availability
and cost factor will be negligible in generating cheap and effective plant-based natural antioxidants. It will
also play a major role in utilization of mango seed waste generated worldwide.
4th-year students (BE-MBA) are granted innvotation patent

5. Vybhav Chaturvedi, Armanbeer Kaur, and Vedansh Varshney, 4th-year students (BE-MBA), successfully
published an article in Multimedia Systems, Springer. The published article titled “Music Mood and
Human Emotion Recognition Based on Physiological Signals: A Systematic Review” attempts to
understand the current research work done in the field of Real-time emotion detection using physiological
signals with music as the stimuli. Under the guidance of Dr. Anupam Garg and Dr. Gurpal Singh Chhabra,
the team covered 134 articles on related domains to determine the possible correlations and research
gaps.
Building upon their previous work, an Australian Patent (Application Number: 2021101097) was granted
to the team, titled: “A System and Method for Automatic Playlist Generation by Analysing Human
Emotions Through Physiological Signals.” Using a combination of Electroencephalogram,
Electrocardiogram, and Electromyogram, physiological signals like the power spectrum of different brain
waves and cardiac voltage were determined. Using these features, emotions induced in a person while
listening to music were deduced. A separate classification model was also used to classify musical pieces
based on their emotional content. Various features were extracted from audio signals, classified and then
mapped with human emotions to generate a user-centric playlist.
Oorja Team brought laurels
Oorja Team, TI won big at the Quad Torc Concept
2021, adding another laurel in their name.
Congratulations to the whole team and the captain
in command Mr. Shivam Panwar along with faculty
advisor- Dr. Gagandeep Kaur, who’s led the way
for many wins.
Smart India Hackathon 2020 Hardware Edition
A team of COE-MBA students won 1st position at the Grand Finale of the Smart India Hackathon 2020
Hardware edition.
The team members were -
1. Shiva Thavani [COE-MBA 4th Year] {Team Leader}
2. Saksham Gupta [COE-MBA 4th Year]
3. Kritika Ahuja [ COE-MBA 4th Year]
4. Jiya Midha [COE-MBA 4th Year]
5. Jatin Kundra [ COE-MBA 3rd Year]
6. Raghav Wadhwa [COE-MBA 3rd Year]
Problem Statement Code - IC489
Project- ROBOCOP - Autonomous Target detection and shooting Robocar.
National Civil Award Competition 2019-20

6. A team of BE Civil Engineering students won National Civil Award Competition 2019-20 (A competition
organized by the Institute of Steel Development & Growth) a INSDAG, Kolkata. The team comprised of
four students:
i) Neeraj Kumar, ii) Aarjav Arora, iii) Abhijeet Singh Jamwal and iv) Shubham Madheshiya The team
bagged second position along with a cash prize of Rs. 30,000, against the best teams in the country. The
team had designed and presented the 'Best Innovative Structural Steel Design' of Quarantine Centre
Building for COVID-19, with the capability of fast construction & installation in urban as well as rural
areas, under the guidance of Dr. Himanshu Chawla.
Team Fateh ace the race at formula
Bharat 2021
Three cheers for Team Fateh!
We congratulate you for pacing ahead of 77 teams
and ranking high in the Formula Bharat 2021 race.
Your strategy, your will to win and your spirit to
learn from your past errors, has finally paid off.
Well done.
Challenge4ClimateAction
In a true sense of fostering international
partnerships with @trinitycollegedublin our team of
5 students participated in the
"Challenge4ClimateAction" organized by the
Convergence Tech Datathon. Their cost-effective
solution for the issue of ever-increasing plastic
pollution won them the first prize amongst 200
teams across 58 countries along with a whopping
winning amount of 2.5 lakhs.
Their team will further be mentored by United
Nations to implement the project.
ANALYTICWARE- a startup by TIET
students
Paras Madan (ENC, 3rd year) and his team
(Yashwant & Sanya) developed a Chatbot for
Thapar Institute's website under their own startup
named AnalyticWare and CruXe (@cruxe_in ) that
got selected for the Round Table organised by the
Ministry of Electronics & IT (MeitY), Indian
Government. The startup is now a part of the
National Language Mission launched by the GOI.
The team was mentored by Dr. Harpreet Singh
and Dr. Maninder Singh. Kudos to them for such
noteworthy achievements!
Paper presented at the IEEE
ICCCNT’2020
Harsh Pallav Govind Rao, student of the third year
BE Electronics and Communication Engineering
presented the paper titled “Logical Unit Design
using Reversible HSG1 Gate and Its Application in
ALU Design” at the IEEE 11th International
Conference on Computing, Communication and
Networking Technologies (ICCCNT’2020)
organized by IIT Kharagpur. A novel 16x16
reversible logic gate has been proposed in the
paper that can be used as a logical unit in the
designing of ALU.
COE 3rd year students ranked in Google
Hash Code Online Qualifications Round
A team of COE third year students “risingRivals”
secured 483rd globally and 1st rank from Thapar
in the Google Hash Code Online Qualifications

7. Round, with a final score of 9.5 million in which
over 50000 brilliant minds participated from all
over the world.
The team members were Parth Verma, Manav
Bansal, Shubham Sharma and Tanmay Agarwal.
Ritwik Mehta (3rd Year - Electrical Branch)
a) Published - What it Means for India and Way Forward
Link 1:
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/readersblog/policysolutions/quad-
summit-what-it-means-for-india-and-way-forward-30557/
Link 2:
https://myvoice.opindia.com/2021/03/quad-summit-what-it-means-for-
india-and-way-forward/
b) Featured in URBAN MÉLANGE magazine: Ritwik Mehta along with
Anushri Jain (2nd Year, COE) worked for social welfare and their work got
featured in a magazine.
Dr. Rajeev Mehta awarded with DRDO
Jodhpur Consultancy project
We congratulate Dr. Rajeev Mehta, Faculty,
Thapar Institute, Patiala for being awarded the
prestigious DRDO CARS Consultancy project.
The project entails the development of carbon
foams and the sanction of the project is a
reflection of the good work done by Dr. Mehta in
this field.
Dr. N.Tejo Prakash awarded an Indo-
Japanese project
A big round of applause for our outstanding
faculty!
We would like to congratulate Dr. N.Tejo Prakash,
School Of Energy & Environment for completing
the DST-JSPS (India-Japan) project, in
collaboration with Dr. Hisaaki Mihara, Ritsumeikan
University. This project explores the bioactivity of
the microbially synthesized and stabilized
selenium nanoparticles.
Dr. Parteek Bhatia publishes an article
on Hacking Human
Education should not be limited to the boundaries
of an institute.
The world-class faculty at TIET is expanding the
horizon of success for students through example.
Dr. Parteek Bhatia, Associate Professor,
Department of Computer Engineering adds
another feather to his cap with his latest article in
electronicsforu magazine.
Poems by Parmeet Singh, SHSS
Soulful writing that will tug on your heart!
Here’s a glimpse of the thoughtful poems written
by our multi talented faculty member - Parmeet
Singh, SHSS.
Read and unwind.

8. Bharat Goel and Raghav Rahlan
TIET alumni upholding our flag of fame higher
than ever with remarkable achievements across
fields...
Proud to have served as the alma mater for such
socially responsible and professionally successful
engineers!
Civil Engineering department organised
an online seminar
An insightful webinar was organised by the
Department of Civil Engineering for students and
parents highlighting how Civil Engineering serves
as a promising career option for a modern,
competitive economy.
TEDx organized The Dawn of Edifice
Numerous TEDx talks at Thapar Institute give
students first-hand interactive experiences to
explore, learn and create path breaking trends in
design, research and innovation.
The Allegory Club presented The Literati
Festival
The Allegory Club, TIET organized “The Literati
Festival”, an inter-college competition with more
than 40 colleges, NGOs, and digital magazines
participating. The 14-day fest covered literary,
open MIC, artist based events worth more than Rs
5,000, goodies, and vouchers.
International Women's Day Celebration

9. “Feminism isn’t about making women strong. Women are already strong. It’s about changing the way the
world perceives that strength.” –G.D. Anderson
With International Women's Day being celebrated all across the globe, a splendid fiesta was conducted in
Thapar University to celebrate womanhood, honor women and salute their courage. Consequently, we
bring to you the Women's Week Edition which will provide an insight into these engaging events.
International Women’s Day being celebrated in multiple ways across the world. Adding to the celebration,
EDC (Entrepreneurship Development Cell, TIET) celebrated Women's Day on 8th March, 2021. This
women's day, they celebrated with some of the women who make their campus feel like home away from
home. They dedicated this video to every woman who has made it possible for students to grow and
prosper. For all the hard work and support, they salute them. All the faculty and staff members have been
a true inspiration to all the student community. Here are powerful videos, each bringing out a different
perspective on the occasion and the way it is being commemorated. They celebrated with respected
Dean, Student Affairs, Dr. Inderveer Chana, Dr. Sonam Dullat (Professional Student Counsellor, Thapar
Institute Counselling Cell), Ms. Neha Singh (Assistant Manager, Centre for Training and Development)
along with hostel and mess staff members.
RAD@Home workshop
Recently, Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT), Pune was bestowed with the Institute of Electrical
and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) milestone recognition. This is only the third time an Indian facility has
received this milestone, after J C Bose's demonstration of generation and reception of radio waves in
1895 and the discovery of the Raman Effect by C V Raman in 1928.
In line with this Thapar Amateur Astronomers Society (TAAS) organized a workshop with RAD@Home on
11th April 2021, Sunday. The workshop was based on using various online tools in scientific astronomical
discoveries and hence contributing as a citizen scientist. Participants first generated and analyzed various
pictures of galaxies, clusters, supernovae, and other sources from the GMRT telescope using RGB
maker. Before the workshop, three mini-lectures by renowned professors were also held. E-Certificates
were provided to attendees.
Apart from this, a few side events were also held. These included a Quiz (in collaboration with tQc) based
on science and technology. The-O-Rise, in which participants submitted their out of the box theories. A
discord based space game, Goldilocks Gamble, was also held.
Mock IPL Auction
To reach the final round, students fought their way
through the first 2 rounds, on 21st and 23rd April.
The finalists then battled it out at the Main Round
on 25th April, to form their ideal IPL Dream Team.

10. EDC presented E-Summit 2021
An insightful orientation, the e-way!
Organised by the Entrepreneurship Development
Cell, TI for educating young minds about work
culture at EDC, glimpse of past events and
upcoming recruitment process.
Mr. Krishna Gopal shared his experiences & tips
on startups, industry challenges, revolutionary
technologies and job prospects for engineers in
the post-COVID scenario.
Thapar Institute Counselling Cell (TICC) believes that Mental Health services are not an accessory to a
healthy lifestyle, but they form the foundation for leading a wholesome way of life. Founded in 2016,
Thapar Institute Counselling Cell (TICC) in accordance with the UGC norms continues to deliver quality
mental health services to its students. However, being a student has its own set of challenges that can be
understood by no one better than a student himself. Keeping in mind the inherent bonhomie that students
share among them, TICC launched its Mental Health Student Ambassador Program in May, 2020.
Akarsh Munshi (Mechanical - 3rd Year) served as Lead Ambassador for 2020-2021 passed the baton to
Bhavya Girdhar (B.Tech Biotechnology - 3rd Year) as being the next Lead Ambassador of Mental Health
Student Ambassador Program, 2021 along with Deepanshi Srivastava (BEMBA- COE - 2nd Year) and
Akanksha Takkar (COSE - 2nd Year) both appointed as Vice-Lead Ambassadors.
Dr. Sonam Dullat, Professional Student
Counsellor of Thapar Institute Counselling Cell
(TICC) conducted a session on ‘Mann ka
karwann’ for the women staff of TIET who
registered for this session from 1-8th March, 2021
which helped them to discover themselves by
creating and developing personalised internal self-
care strategy that contributes to positive change in
their lifestyle. At her session, she talked about
equality in society and how very few changes are
required to achieve it. Furthermore, she spoke
about self-dependency and how one shouldn’t rely
on anyone for mental peace.
Centre for Training & Development (CTD) took the following initiatives under its
various categories of programs:
1. Corporate Readiness Training Programs (CRTP):
Corporate Readiness Training Programs (CRTP): To enhance Centre’s efforts to make students ‘more
employable’, it created its own social media handle @Instagram. Currently it has approximately 1700

11. followers based on the content posted on regular basis. Till now the Instagram page has 155 posts; these
posts have been created with a lot of research/feedback to address the challenges related to
employability. Following are the key deliverables:
2. Career Support Programs (CSP): The Centre launched:
Online coaching for GRE/GMAT for the students targeting higher study programs abroad. Coaching
caters to fundamental concepts that are a must know for tackling the GRE/GMAT questions.
Online SSB coaching, coaching covers group tasks, role plays & personality drills as per SSB selection
process.
3. Customized Training Programs (CTP):
The Centre introduced ‘Smart Skills Development Program’ for IEP students, to help them acclimatise
culturally and professionally to the host country’s environment and the university life there. Modular
sessions, as described below, aim to sensitize students w.r.t soft skills required for successfully
transforming into global engineering professionals.
4. Certificate Programs (CP):
The Centre introduced an online course for UG third year students, ‘Business Analysis Edge’. The course
has been designed keeping in mind 'Data Driven Decision Making' assessment during the placement
process. Students received the course with bubbling excitement.
Centre for Training & Development (CTD) rolled out the third edition (Feb-Mar, 2021)
of its bi-monthly e-magazine, 'COACH'.
The contents of the magazine have been created with a lot of research/feedback, to address the
numerous challenges related to employability skills. Each part/feature of the content addresses a specific
skill need, as explained in the opening leaf of the e-magazine.
Following is the link to the magazine:
https://online.fliphtml5.com/ikqlt/sxfx/#p=1
Editorial Co-ordinator:
Dr. Sheena Chhabra
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