Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. Readers will be able to edit existing articles and post new articles directly |
Contents |
Ranking in the world, year-wise
2013: IISc among world’s Top 400
IISc only Indian institute in top 500 global ranking
Seethalakshmi S | TNN
Bangalore: Bangalore-headquartered Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has once again made the country proud. It is the only Indian institute that has made it to the top 500 in the 2013 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) which was released by the Center for World-Class Universities at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The 104-year-old entity is ranked in the 301-400 category.
IISc, which was ranked 45 in the world ranking for Chemistry last year, is on 43rd spot this time. The premier institute has shown a dramatic improvement in Computer Science as well. From 101-150 in 2012, it is now listed in the 51-75 bracket. In Math, however, it retained last year’s ranking in the 151-200 slot. Harvard tops the global ranking, followed by Stanford and University of California, Berkeley. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Cambridge University are in fourth and fifth position respectively, in the ARWU rankings.
2017: 8th in small universities' ranking
IISc listed among world’s best small universities, Mar 07, 2017: The Hindustan Times
The Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, is in the eighth place in the list of top ten small universities in the world, according to an assessment that has three institutions each from France and Italy in the list.
CalTech is placed at the top of the Times Higher Education’s Best Small Universities in the World 2017, a release said.
The three French universities in the top 10 are École Normale Supérieure (second), followed by École Polytechnique (fourth) and École Normale Supérieure de Lyon (seventh).
Italy’s three in the top 10 are Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa in fifth place, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in sixth and Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, tenth.
Small universities are defined by the publication as having fewer than 5,000 students and teach and research across more than four disciplines.
Seeta Bhardwa of Times Higher Education said: “The Best Small Universities in the World for 2017 highlights that small universities provide high student satisfaction and good working relationships between students and their professors”.
“Many students are drawn to smaller class sizes, higher teacher to student ratios and the community-like feel that a small university can provide”.
Collaboration with Rolls-Royce: low-noise technology for aircraft engines
IISc makes jet engines quieter
Rajiv Kalkod, TNN | Jul 14, 2013
Bangalore:Scientists at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore and IITBombay have helped Rolls-Royce develop low-noise technology for aircraft engines that are fitted in longhaul planes such as Boeing 747s and Dreamliners.
An 11-member team led by U Ramamurthy of IISc’s department of materials engineering began research in 2006 in collaboration with the UK-based company and recently delivered the technology.
Developed using ‘shape memory’ alloys, the technology brings down engine noise during landing and take-off. Defeaning noise levels of aircraft have triggered global protests from many residents staying near airports and forced adoption of rules such as a blanket ban on nighttime landings.
Partners: Rolls-Royce, IIT-Bombay, Imperial College, London
Rolls-Royce was involved in a tripartite research agreement with research groups in IISc and IIT-Bombay as well as Imperial College, London.
CUTTING EDGE
IISc & IIT-B develop low-noise technology to minimize engine sound while planes take off & land Tech involves silencer vanes that can operate at temperatures of 200 degrees Celsius and more IISc and IIT-Bombay collaborate with Imperial College, London, to make Rolls-Royce engines
Discovery goes beyond jet engines
The objective was to discover high-temperature shape memory alloy compositions with a new technique which could be adapted for engines,” IISc’s U Ramamurthy said.
The professor and his student Vyasa Shastri explained that a chamber in the engine is fitted with silencer vanes. “When the plane takes off or lands, the silencers become operational. This reduces engine noise,” Ramamurthy said. The vanes were capable of operating at temperatures of 200 degrees Celsius and higher.
“It’s been a great collaboration, developing a method to screen a large number of alloys. This has applications beyond the current material that could develop into actuators for more aircraft, into a general tool for developing alloys. It’s been very high-profile within Rolls-Royce, and very exciting for the group,” said David Dye of the department of materials, Imperial College, London.
Shape memory alloys
T hey are materials capable of remembering their original shape (hence called “smart materials”). The trigger for memory is usually temperature. For nickel-titanium (the leading shape memory alloy), the temperature range is minus100 degrees celsius to 80 degrees celcius
IISc slides 130 rungs in global varsity rankings
Chethan Kumar,TNN | Aug 26, 2014 The Times of India
BANGALORE: On an average, at least 10 institutions have overtaken Indian Institute of Science (IISc) every year in the global ratings since 2003, even though it continues to be the only one from India in the top 500. It has dropped 130 ranks in 11 years.
IISc, just like in 2013, continues to be ranked among the top 500 institutes in the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) 2014 done by the Center for World-Class Universities at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
However, in 2013, it was close to 300, while its ranking is near 400 now, with over 50 institutes having overtaken it.
ARWU ranks universities on the basis of academic and research performance, including highly cited researchers, papers published, indexed in major citation indices, and per capita academic performance.
When IISc first made it to ARWU's list of top 500 institutes in 2003, it was in the 270-275 range. A decade later, it's near the 400 mark, dropping 130 ranks.
ARWU attributes this to the consistent drop in performance in subject-wise ranking. In 2013, IISc ranked 43 in Chemistry, while the ranking dropped to the 51-75 group this year. In 2009 (Chemistry), it ranked in the group of 76-101, retained the same position in 2010, jumped to 49th rank in 2011, 45th in 2012 and 43rd in 2013. But dropped to the 51-75 range this year.
In Computer Science, from the 51-75 group in 2013, IISc dropped to 101-150 this year. In English, where it had been in the 76-100 group since 2009, it dropped to the 101-150 group in 2014.
In natural sciences, the institute has stayed in the 151-200 group, the same as last year.
Sources in IISc credit other institutions of having performed well and feel the quality at the institute hasn't really dropped. IISc director Prof Anurag Kumar argues that the results of the efforts put in the past decade will yield results in a couple of years.
Research projects
2016: Ashwagandha offers hope for Alzheimer's
The Times of India, Jan 28 2016
Seethalakshmi S & Sunita Rao
IISc research offers hope to those with Alzheimer's
Ashwagandha May Reverse Memory Loss
The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is in the midst of a path-breaking research using ashwagandha that offers a hope for people suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Dr Vijayalakshmi Ravindranath, chairperson at Centre for Neuro Sciences at IISc, is using an extract of the ashwagandha root (an ayurvedic plant) on mice with Alzheimer's disease. Her preliminary finding is that it can reverse memory loss.
The Tatas have pledged Rs 75 crore grant for the research being done on the IISc campus.
“Research worldwide both in pharmaceutical companies and academia have failed to find a cure for Alzheimer's disease. There is far less optimism as most drugs have failed in clinical trials We need to leverage the knowledge base of the tradi tional system of medicine such as ayurveda, which has been practised for more than 2,000 years. Understanding the knowledge base of these systems of medicine and using it effectively in the mo dern context is essential as we are set to see a large increase in cases of disorders of the ageing brain,“ Ravindranath told TOI.
“We are now purifying the mixture and reducing the effective dose. What is interesting is the way the ashwagandha worked in the mice. The extract did not work directly on the brain. Instead it enhanced a protein in the liver that is broken down and released into the blood to act as a sink for the amyloid and helps pull out the amyloid from the brain,“ she added.
The 2015 Nobel Prize for medicine was won by Chinese scientist Tu Youyou's for her discovery of artemisinin, a drug based on traditional Chinese herbal medicine. The drug is now part of standard anti-malarial regimens.
