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Indian Institute of Technology - Kanpur

भारतीय प्रौद्योगिकी संस्थान कानपुर
Type	Public
Established	1959
Endowment	[1]
Director	Dr. Indranil Manna
Undergraduates	3938[2]
Postgraduates	2540[2]
Location	Kalyanpur, Kanpur , Uttar Pradesh , India
Campus	1055 Acres[3]
Website	http://www.iitk.ac.in/

The Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (commonly known as IIT Kanpur or IITK) is a public research college located in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. It was declared to be Institute of National Importance by Government of India under IIT Act.

Established in 1959 as one of the first Indian Institutes of Technology, the institute was created with the assistance of a consortium of nine leading US research universities as part of the Kanpur Indo-American Programme (KIAP).^[5]

IIT Kanpur was established by an Act of Parliament in 1959. The institute was started in December 1959 in a room in the canteen building of the Harcourt Butler Technological Institute at Agricultural Gardens in Kanpur. In 1963, the institute moved to its present location, on the Grand Trunk Road near the village of Kalyanpur in Kanpur district.

During the first ten years of its existence, IIT Kanpur benefited from the Kanpur Indo-American Programme (KIAP), where a consortium of nine US universities (namely M.I.T, University of California, Berkeley, California Institute of Technology, Princeton University, Carnegie Institute of Technology, University of Michigan, Ohio State University, Case Institute of Technology and Purdue University) helped set up the research laboratories and academic programmes.^[6] The first Director of the Institute was P. K. Kelkar (after whom the Central Library was renamed in 2002).

Under the guidance of economist John Kenneth Galbraith, IIT Kanpur was the first institute in India to offer Computer Science education.^[7] The earliest computer courses were started at IIT Kanpur in August 1963 on an IBM 1620 system. The initiative for computer education came from the Electrical Engineering department, then under the chairmanship of Prof. H.K. Kesavan, who was concurrently the chairman of Electrical Engineering and head of the Computer Centre. Prof. Harry Huskey of the University of California, Berkeley, who preceded Kesavan, was instrumental in providing the impetus for the computer activity at IIT-Kanpur. In 1971, the institute initiated an independent academic program in Computer Science and Engineering, leading to M.Tech. and Ph.D. degrees.

In 1972 the KIAP program ended, in part because of tensions due to the U.S. support of Pakistan. Government funding was also reduced as a reaction to the sentiment that the IIT's were contributing to the brain drain. Since then IIT Kanpur has increased collaboration with industry and has achieved a reasonable level of stability.

IIT Kanpur panorama from Hall 7

IIT Kanpur is located on the Grand Trunk Road, 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) west of Kanpur City and measures close to 420 hectares (1,000 acres). This land was donated by the Government of Uttar Pradesh in 1960 and by March 1963 the Institute had moved to its current location.

The institute has around 6478 students with 3938 undergraduate students and 2540 postgraduate students and about 500 research associates.

IIT Kanpur is to open an extension centre in Noida with the plan of making a small convention centre there for supporting outreach activities. Its foundation was laid on 4 December 2012 on 5 acres of land allocated by Uttar Pradesh state government in the sector-62 of Noida city, which is less than an hour travel from the National Capital and also the Indira Gandhi International Airport. The cost of construction is estimated to be about 25 crores. The new campus will have an auditorium, seminar halls for organising national and international conferences and an International Relations Office along with a 7-storey guest house. Several short-term management courses and refresher courses meant for distance learning will also be offered at extension center.^[8]

Institute's Academic Area comprises academic buildings and facilities including the PK Kelkar Library, Computer Centre, National Wind Tunnel Facility and SIDBI Innovation and Incubation Centre. It also houses faculty offices, laboratories and administrative buildings. The academic area is connected by a long corridor which links all the major buildings.

IIT Kanpur has 12 boys' hostels, 2 girls' hostels and one girls' residence tower all together called the 'Halls of Residence'.^[9]

SAC is the hub for most of the major extra-curricular activities. There are two SAC buildings, the older building(Old-SAC) and the other (New-SAC), which was recently built. New-SAC also has an open air theatre (OAT) with capacity of over 1400 people. The SAC is maintained and managed by the Students' Gymkhana at IIT Kanpur.

On 1 June 2013, a helicopter ferry service was started at IIT Kanpur run by Pawan Hans Helicopters Limited. In its initial run the service connects IIT Kanpur to Lucknow, but it is planned to later extend it to New Delhi. Currently there are two flights daily to-and-fro to Lucknow Airport with a travel time of 25 minutes. The service provides access to Lucknow Airport, which operates both international and domestic flights to major cities. IIT Kanpur is the first academic institution in the country to provide such a facility.^[10][11]

Undergraduate admissions until 2012 were being done through the national-level Indian Institute of Technology Joint Entrance Examination (IIT-JEE). Following the Ministry of Human Resource Development's decision to replace IIT-JEE with a common engineering entrance examination, IIT Kanpur's admissions are now based on JEE-Advanced level(Joint Entrance Examination)along with other IITs.

Postgraduate admissions are made through the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering.^[12]

• Antaragni: Antaragni is a non-profit organisation run completely by students of IIT Kanpur. It started off small, funded entirely by the Student Gymkhana of IIT Kanpur. Today the budget is almost Rs 1 crore, raised through sponsorship. It began as an inter-collegiate cultural event in 1964, and now draws in over 30,000 visitors from 300 colleges in India Annual cultural festival held over 4 days in October. The festival includes music, drama, literary games and quizzing.

• Techkriti: It was started in 1995 with an aim to encourage interest and innovation in technology among students and to provide a platform for industry and academia to interact. Megabucks (a business and entrepreneurship festival) used to be held independently for some time but was later merged with Techkriti in 2010. notable speakers at Techkriti have included APJ Abdul Kalam, Vladimir Voevodsky, Douglas Osheroff, Oliver Smithies, Rakesh Sharma, David Griffiths and Richard Stallman.

• Udghosh: Udghosh is annual inter-college sports meet held in September. UDGHOSH offers a platform for students from all over India to showcase their sport talent in a highly charged and competitive ambiance with highly equipped sports facilities. The festival comprises a plethora of events from Motivational Talks, Mini Marathon, Gymnastic Shows and Sport Quizzes to various sports events like Athletics, Cricket, Football, Hockey, Volleyball, Basketball, Badminton, Tennis, Table Tennis and Weightlifting.
• Inter IIT Sports Meet : is the annual sports meet conducted at one of the seven old IITs and IIT Kanpur has participated every year since its inception.
• Vivekananda Youth Leadership Convention: Vivekananda Samiti, under Students Gymkhana, on behalf of the IIT Kanpur, has undertaken the celebration of 150th Birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda from 2011-2015. The convention marks the presence of Kiran Bedi, Bana Singh, Yogendra Singh Yadav, Raju Narayana Swamy, Arunima Sinha, Rajendra Singh and other personalities from different fields in previous years.
• E-summit: It started in 2013. First E-Summit, scheduled for 16-18 Aug, 2013, unleashed a basket of opportunities to empower and celebrate the spirit of entrepreneurship. These three day festival by Entrepreneurship Cell, IIT Kanpur on the theme Emerge on the Radar encompasses exhilarating events like inspiring talks by eminent personalities, enriching workshops and thought-provoking competitions.

The Students' Gymkhana is the students' government organization of IIT Kanpur, established in 1962.^[13]

The Students' Gymkhana functions mainly through the Students' Senate, an elected student representative body composed of Senators elected from each batch and the five elected executives:

• President, Students' Gymkhana.
• General Secretary Cultural Council.
• General Secretary Films and Media Council.
• General Secretary Games and Sports Council.
• General Secretary Science and Technology Council.

The number of Senators in the Students' Senate is around 50-55. A senator is elected for every 100 students of IIT Kanpur.

The meetings of the Students' Senate are chaired by the Convener, Students' Senate, who is elected by the Senate. The Senate lays down the guidelines for the functions of the executives, their associated councils, the Gymkhana Festivals and other matters pertaining to the Student body at large.

The Students' Senate has a say in the policy and decision making bodies of the institute. The President, Students' Gymkhana and the Convener, Students' Senate are special Invitees to the Institute Academic Senate. The President is usually invited to the meetings of the Board of Governors when matters affecting students are being discussed. Nominees of the Students' Senate are also members of the various standing Committees of the Institute Senate including the disciplinary committee, the Undergraduate and Postgraduate committee, the scholarship committee etc. All academic departments have Departmental Undergraduate and Post Graduate Committees consisting of members of the faculty and nominees of the Students' Gymkhana.

The students bring out a student magazine 'The Campus Magazine',a monthly newspaper, Vox Populi and NERD, Scientia a science and technology magazine.

The students participate voluntarily in social services and organisations, "Prayas" being one of them, where they involve local underprivileged children in educational activities during their free time, conduct awareness programs and provide for campus visits.Another one is Vivekananda Samiti, being one of the oldest clubs under the Students' Gymkhana functioning for over 40 years, thus spreading the message of Swami Vivekananda among the campus residents.

Every year convocation is held in the month of June, where degrees are awarded to graduating students.The latest was held on 18 June 2014.

Internationally, IIT Kanpur has been ranked 295th in the QS World University Rankings of 2013,^[14] and 51st in the QS Asian University Rankings of 2013.^[15] In India rankings, among engineering colleges, it was ranked second by India Today in 2013^[16] and fourth by Outlook India in 2012.^[17] In the Mint Government Colleges survey of 2009 it ranked second.^[18]

IIT Kanpur is one of India's premier Technical Institutions. But, in addition to the technical courses, IIT Kanpur offers various courses on management and social sciences as well.

IIT Kanpur offers four-year B.Tech programs in Aerospace Engineering, Biological Sciences and Bio-engineering, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. The admission to these programs is procured through Joint Entrance Examination. IITK offers admission only to Bachelors degree now (discontinuing the integrated course programs), but it can be extended by 1 year to make it integrated, depending on the choice of student and based on his/her performance there at undergraduate level. IIT Kanpur also offers four-year B.S. Programs in Pure and Applied Sciences (Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry in particular) and in Economics.^[19]

From 2011, IIT Kanpur has started offering a four-year BS program in sciences and has kept its B.Tech Program intact. Entry to the five-year M.Tech/MBA programs and Dual degree programme will be done based on the CPI of students instead of JEE rank.^[20] In order to relieve students from high number of exams, IIT Kanpur has also abolished the earlier system of conducting two mid-term examinations. Instead, only two examinations (plus two quizzes in most courses depending on the instructor-in-charge, one before mid-semesters and the other after the mid-semesters and before the end-semesters examination), one between the semester and other towards the end of it would be held from the academic session starting July 2011 onward as per Academic Review Committee's recommendations.

Postgraduate courses in Engineering offer Master of Technology (M.Tech) and Ph.D. degrees. The institute also offers two tear M.Sc. courses in areas of basic sciences in which students are admitted through JAM exam. The institute also offers M.Des. (2 years), M.B.A. (2 years) and M.Sc. (2 years) degrees. Admissions to M. Tech is made once a year through Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering.Admissions to M. Des is made once a year through both Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering(GATE) and Common Entrance Exam for Design(CEED). Until 2011, admissions to the M.B.A. program are accomplished through the Joint Management Entrance Test (JMET), held yearly, and followed by a Group Discussion/Personal Interview process. In 2011 JMET was replaced by Common Admission Test (CAT).^[21][22]

The academic departments at IIT Kanpur are:

• Chemistry
• Physics
• Mathematics
• Biological Sciences and Bio-engineering
• Chemical Engineering
• Civil Engineering

The campus is spread over an area of 4.3 square kilometres (1,100 acres). Institute facilities include the National Wind Tunnel Facility. Other large research centres include the Advanced Centre for Material Science, a Bio-technology centre, the Advanced Centre for Electronic Systems, and the Samtel Centre for Display Technology, Centre for Mechatronics, Centre for Laser Technology, Prabhu Goel Research Centre for Computer and Internet Security, Facility for Ecological and Analytical Testing. The departments have their own libraries.

The institute has its own airfield, for flight testing and gliding.

PK Kelkar Library (formerly Central Library) is an academic library of the institute with a collection of more than 300000 volumes, and subscriptions to more than 1000 periodicals. The library was renamed to its present name in 2003 after Dr. P K Kelkar, the first director of the institute. It is housed in a three-story building, with a total floor area of 6973 square metres floor area. The Abstracting and Indexing periodicals, Microform and CD-ROM databases. technical reports, Standards and thesis are part of the collection. Each year, about 4500 books and journal volumes are added to the collection.

The Computer Centre has about 200-300 Linux terminals and more than 100 Windows-NT terminals supported by the PARAM 10000 supercomputer, and is continuously available to the students for academic work and recreation. It hosts about 50 SUN workstations. The IITs (and especially IIT Kanpur) and BITS Pilani are among the first large academic institutions in India to be networked ^{[citation needed]}, with an institute-wide LAN and Ethernet access to every student room in the residence halls.

IIT Kanpur has set up the SIDBI Innovation and Incubation Centre(SIIC) in collaboration with the Small Industries development Bank of India (SIDBI) to foster innovation, research, and entrepreneurial activities in technology-based areas. SIIC provides a platform to business Start-ups to develop their ideas into commercially viable products. SIIC conducted the Nettech Summer Program 2007 for engineering students from all over India at IIT Kanpur Campus.^[24]

A team of students, working under the guidance of faculty members of the institute and scientists of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) have designed and built India's first nano satellite Jugnu, which was successfully launched in orbit on 12 Oct 2011 by ISRO's PSLV-C18.^[25]

Research is controlled by the Office of the Dean of Research and Development. Under the aegis of the Office the students publish the quarterly NERD Magazine (Notes on Engineering Research and Development) which publishes scientific and technical content created by students. Articles may be original work done by students in the form of hobby projects, term projects, internships, or theses. Articles of general interest which are informative but do not reflect original work are also accepted.

Along with the magazine a student research platform PoWER (Promotion of Work Experience and Research) has been started. Under it several independent student groups are working on projects like the Lunar Rover for ISRO, alternate energy solutions under the Group for Environment and Energy Engineering, ICT solutions through a group Young Engineers, solution for diabetes, green community solutions through ideas like zero water and zero waste quality air approach. Through BRaIN(Biological Research and Innovation Network) students interested in solving biological problems get involved in research projects like Genetically modifying fruit flies to study molecular systems, Developing bio-sensor to detect alcohol levels,etc.A budget of Rs 1.5 to 2 crore has been envisaged to support student projects that demonstrate technology.

• Jugnu (satellite)

The students of IIT Kanpur made a nano satellite called Jugnu, This small satellite was given by president Pratibha Patil to ISRO for launch. Jugnu is an Indian technology demonstration and remote sensing satellite which will be operated by the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. It is a nanosatellite which will be used to provide data for agriculture and disaster monitoring. It is a 3-kilogram (6.6 lb) spacecraft, which measures 34 centimetres (13 in) in length by 10 centimetres (3.9 in) in height and width. Its development programme cost around 25 million rupee. It has a design life of one year. Jugnu's primary instrument is the Micro Imaging System, a near infrared camera which will be used to observe vegetation. It also carries a GPS receiver to aid tracking, and is intended to demonstrate a microelectromechanical inertial measurement unit.

• IITK Motorsports

IITK motorsports is the biggest and most comprehensive student initiative of IIT Kanpur, founded in January 2011. It is a group of self-motivated students from varied disciplines who aim at designing and fabricating a Formula-style race car for international Formula SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) events. The event encompasses all aspects of any real world engineering project including research, design, manufacturing, testing, developing, marketing, management, and fund raising. Most of the components of the car, except the engine, tyres and wheel rims, are designed and manufactured to precision by the team members themselves, implementing their theoretical knowledge to practical aspects of engineering. The car is designed to provide maximum performance under the constraints of the event, while ensuring driveability, reliability, driver safety and aesthetics of the car are not compromised.^[26]

The institute is part of the European Research and Education Collaboration with Asia (EURECA) programme since 2008.^[27]

• Center for Clean Water and Clean Energy
• Center for Education Research and Development
• Center for Environmental Research
• Center for Industrial Research and Development
• Center for IT and Software Research
• Center for Integrated Science
• Center for Nuclear Engineering
• Center for Research and Innovation
• Center for Technological Innovation
• Center for Urban Research and Planning
• Center for Ocean Engineering
• Center for Laser Technology

Shiksha Sopan^[28] is a registered Non-governmental organization (NGO) whose purpose is to impart value- based education to economically weaker section of the society. Its various activities are spreaded in and around the lush-green campus of IIT Kanpur. It is run by IIT Kanpur students, faculty members, employees and local young enthusiastic people for the upliftment of underdeveloped sections of the society through meaningful education.

It was started by Dr. HC Verma and a group of IIT Kanpur students together with some socially active persons from the locality in 2001-02 with a primary aim to establish an educational institution in underdeveloped localities close to IIT Kanpur that will build knowledgeable, self-dependent, confident, socially conscious beings who would be responsible and sensitive to society.

Present education system lacks the basic elements of practical knowledge, ethical and virtuous value system. This kind of educational system is not of much use in the life of a common villager nor does it help making him self-sustained or self-dependent. Inspired by such rational thoughts, a group of IIT Kanpur students together with some socially active persons from the locality decided to overcome this bottleneck by setting up an educational system that would go beyond the narrow bookish education and link the education to requirements of everyday life of students. These concepts led to the establishment of Shiksha Sopan, literally meaning a ladder to education.

The school has a Nutrition programme under which some nutritious breakfast is given to all students. The management for preparing and distributing the items is largely done by the students themselves. They also participate in other management activities.

The school is running in a small rental house. Though the school timing is generally for 5 hr in the morning, teachers and students are seen in the school almost every hour of the day. Informal activities such as games, music, story telling etc. keep on going. During vacations, special classes are held to develop the professional skills as well as personality development.

It has conducted classes for tailoring, embroidery, candle making, register binding, painting etc.

It runs various activities in and around IITK campus. The daily activities include evening learning centers and an informal education center. Currently, there are two evening learning centers. One center runs at old SAC in IITK campus, and another one in a nearby village, Barasirohi. The informal education center, which is called Sopan Anaupchaarik Shikshan Kendra (SASK), also runs in Barasirohi village in the normal school hours in morning. The details of each activity are give below.

• Sopan Anaupcharik Shikshan Kendra
• Evening Learning Centers
• Sopan Science Cell
• Pratibha Poshan Yojana (PPY)
• Dr. V. N. Kulkarni Merit Scholarship Examination

The Executive Committee looks upon all the matters of the Organisation. It has a very well balanced hierarchy which has got people involved from all sections i.e. faculty, local residents and students of IITK.

The money needed to run Shiksha Sopan activities comes only through individual donations from its members and well wishers. So far, the organisation has not accepted any grants from any funding agencies.

Apart from the above schemes, any open donation of any amount is gratefully accepted. These are used for cultural functions, special training classes, audit fee etc. Office maintenance expense is almost zero.

• Anand Kumar., Chairman & CEO of Cilicom.
• Lalit Jalan, CEO of Reliance Infrastructure Limited is a winner of Directors Honours and Deans List at Wharton. He was also showcased as one of the 15 achievers from the IIT system at the 1st PAN IIT meet in California in January 2003.
• Rakesh Agrawal, National Medal of Technology and Innovation Laureate and Professor of Chemical Engineering at Purdue University
• N.R. Narayana Murthy, known as the Bill Gates of India is the Founder & Chairman Emeritus of Infosys
• Satyendra Dubey, an honest Project Director in National Highways Authority of India who was assassinated for exposing corruption in Golden Quadrilateral highway project.
• Jitendra Malik, Arthur J. Chick Professor of EECS University of California at Berkeley
• Ashok Jhunjhunwala, Padma Shri and Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Madras
• Amitabh Thakur, an officer of the Indian Police Service, social activist, writer
• Anil K. Rajvanshi, Director, Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute and winner of Jamnalal Bajaj Award 2001,^[29] FICCI award 2002,^[30] Globe Award 2009.,^[31] 2014 University of Florida Distinguished Alumnus Award winner.^[32]
• Ashoke Sen, FRS, Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan, string theorist
• Ayyalusamy Ramamoorthy, scientist in the area of NMR and biological membranes
• Chandra Kintala, Professor and Director of Software Engineering at New Jersey Institute of Technology; Director(Retd.), Bell Labs, USA
• Duvvuri Subbarao, 22nd Governor of Reserve Bank of India^[33]
• Jainendra K. Jain, condensed matter theorist
• K. VijayRaghavan (Director of National Centre for Biological Sciences), Padma Shri - 2003 IITK Distinguished Alumnus Award Winner
• Manindra Agrawal, Nitin Saxena, and Neeraj Kayal (proved with their AKS primality test that primality testing has a polynomial time algorithm, a major result in theoretical computer science). Clay Research Award, 2002, Godel Prize, 2006^[34][35][36]
• Mriganka Sur, neuroscientist, Sherman Fairchild Professor of Neuroscience, Head, Dept of Brain and Cognitive Science MIT, Fellow of Royal Society
• Rajeev Motwani, computer scientist, Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University. Helped back companies such as PayPal and Google
• Som Mittal, President of NASSCOM
• Sumit Chowdhury, President at Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd.
• Shiraz Minwalla, a string theorist at TIFR who was awarded ICTP Prize for his contribution to theoretical physics
• Umang Gupta, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Keynote Systems, Inc.^[37]
• Ved Arya, Chief Executive Officer of Srijan .^[38]
• Dr. Rajit Gadh, Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles
• Prem Das Rai, the first IIT and IIM educated member of Parliament Lok Sabha.
• Rajesh Gopakumar, a string theorist at Harish-Chandra Research Institute
• Sandip Trivedi, a theoretical physicist at TIFR
• Mahan Mj, mathematician and a recipient of the 2011 Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award
• Spenta R. Wadia, theoretical physicist working in string theory and quantum field theory
• Rakesh Jain, tumor researcher at Harvard Medical School.
• Jagjeet (Jeet) S. Bindra, director at Edison International
• Sirshendu De, a recipient of 2011 Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award
• Dr. P. Balram, Director of IISC Bangalore.
• Pradeep Sindhu, co-founder and Chief Technical Officer/Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Juniper Networks Inc.
• Naveen Tewari, founder and CEO of InMobi.
• Muktesh Pant, CEO of KFC.

• Indian Institute of Technology (BHU) Varanasi
• List of Indian engineering college rankings
• IITs
• IIT-JEE
• Institutes of National Importance

Wikimedia Commons has media related to IIT Kanpur.

• Official website
• Admission to IITK

26°30′41″N 80°14′06″E / 26.511383°N 80.23493°E / 26.511383; 80.23493