Students explore new avenues

BANGALORE: Research and development centre Synopsys India in association with Agastya International Foundation, an education trust that provides science education programmes for disadvantaged children and teachers, held ‘Anveshana 2012’, a science fair which aimed at bridging the gap between schools and engineering colleges at Shikshakara Sadana on February 9. Over 36 schools and engineering colleges across Karnataka participated in the event.The exhibition ‘Anveshana 2012’ aimed at developing innovation and creativity among students from engineering colleges and schools in Karnataka. Participating school children were teamed with college students to develop projects that addressed a given problem.Teams underwent training in model-making, conceptualisation and leadership skills. Each team presented its research project during the fair.During the presentations, the school children explained the working of the models and presented their findings. Projects were judged on the based on concepts, methodology, findings and presentation by the students. Examples of some of the projects include, induction of systemic resistance and management of okra wilt with biocides, effective disposal of waste using minimum resources, and portable spectrophotometer for analysing the purity of drinking water.Speaking on the occasion, Dr Pradip K Dutta, corporate vice-president and managing director for Synopsys said, “Anveshana will help in the cross-pollination of ideas between school children and college students. We hope it will inspire school children to continue their studies, thus reducing the school dropout rates.”He added,  “Participating in Anveshana can also link engineering colleges with corporations. Such cooperation can lead to innovative product development, incubation and seed funding. We plan to expand this project to Hyderabad and Delhi, and later pan-India.”Ramji Raghavan, chairman of Agastya International Foundation added, “Our aim is to infuse and propagate a creative spirit among disadvantaged rural students. Anveshna plants the seed of scientific thinking and can build a foundation for future research avenues.”The fair provided an opportunity for high school and engineering students to collaborate on projects that addressed the real-life problems.