Report on the Twenty Second AGM of ISAMPE

The Twenty second AGM of Indian Society for Advancement of Materials and Process Engineering (ISAMPE) was held at NAL on 20.6.08. The AGM programme (Annexure-I) consisted of the following sessions:

• Inaugural session in the morning which consisted of Keynote address by Chief Guest, Prof. P. Ramachandra Rao, Conferment of Honorary Membership on Dr. BR Somashekhar and presentation of ISAMPE Awards.
• Technical session consisting of Vijay Zaveri memorial lecture and two invited lectures
• Business session in the afternoon (for ISAMPE Members only).

1. Inaugural Session

Dr S Sankaran, Vice President, ISAMPE welcomed all the members and delegates to the AGM. The AGM function started with a melodious invocation by Mr. Gunakar. Mr TM Naidu, President, ISAMPE welcomed the chief guest, Prof. P. Ramachandra Rao, Raja Ramanna Fellow, ARCI, Hyderabad, invitees and members of the Society to the 22nd AGM. He gave a brief history of ISAMPE and its achievements, and also on the future aspirations of the Society.

Prof. P. Ramachandra Rao, in his key note address gave a scintillating talk on bio mimetics. He brought out that scientists are trying to learn a lot from nature and mimic their behavior in devices developed. He felt that the scientific community could learn a great deal from nature, as nature is the ultimate teacher.

1. “Vijay Zaveri Award for Excellence in Technical Support in the Field of Composites- 2008”
This was jointly shared by

1. Mr HV Ramachandra, Technical Officer Group III (6), Advanced Composite Division, National Aerospace Laboratories, Bangalore-560 017, for his vital contributions towards “Implementation of Testing and NDE methodologies for certification of various aerospace structural components.”
2. Mr Raja, Senior Master Technician, ALH Composite Shop, Composite Manufacturing Division, HAL, Bangalore-560 037 for “Indigenisation and Productionisation of ALH Tail Rotor Blade.

The committee also recommended an appreciation award to
          Mr R Indu Shekar, Scientist ‘E’, DEBEL, CV Raman Nagar, Bangalore-560 093 for his work on “Development of fiber-fiber hybrid composites for aerospace applications (Radomes).”

3. a) “K Suryanarain Rau Memorial Award For Smart Technology Development-2008” was conferred upon

Mr M Venkateswara Rao, Mr A Ananthan, Mr S Dasgupta and Dr PS Nair, Structures Group, ISRO Satellite Centre, Airport Road, Bangalore-560 017 for their work on “Development of a Piezo Activated Mirror (Smart Mirror) for Phase Shifting Applications in Electronics Speckle Shearography Interferometry NDT System”

b) “K Suryanarain Rau Memorial Senior Student Award for Research and Development in Smart Technology-2008” was given to

Mr Chetan S Jarali, CSIR-SRF (Professional), Structural Technology Division, National Aerospace Laboratories, Kodihalli, Airport Road, Bangalore-560017 for his work on “Studies on the development of hybrid actuated smart composite control surfaces for aerospace applications” Mr Raviprakash of M/s Pyrodynamics stated that he has increased the award amount for this from Rs 5000/- to Rs 6500/- from this year.

c) “K Suryanarain Rau Memorial Junior Student Award for Research and Development in Smart Technology-2008” was not given as there were no nominations for this.

Dr. Ramesh Sundaram, Secretary, ISAMPE proposed the vote of thanks.

2. Technical Session

As more time was deemed necessary for the keynote address by the chief guest, it had been decided a priori that the technical session would commence with the Vijay Zaveri memorial lecture followed by two technical lectures in the area of ‘Bio Inspired Materials’. Dr. MR Madhava, Head, Advanced Composites Division, NAL chaired the session.

Mr. S. Dasgupta,. Group Director, Structures, ISAC, Bangalore gave a talk on “Composite spacecraft structures -Present and future challenges”.
He gave an overview of the activities of ISAC and the roles that composites are playing. He dwelt upon some of the future challenges that face the composite space community.

Dr. Yamuna Krishnan, Assistant professor, National Centre for Biological Sciences gave a talk on ‘First Blueprint, Now Bricks: DNA as nanoscale construction material. New directions in bio materials’. This was a very interesting talk on how to develop building blocks using DNA which when successfully implemented will be a major break through for drug delivery systems and the like.

Professor Amaresh Chakrabarti gave the final talk on “Research on Bio-Inspired Designing at Ideas Lab, IISc, Bangalore”. He gave an overview of the design concepts, once again to some extent by mimicking nature. He also displayed some of the models that had been fabricated.

This was followed by Lunch.

3. Business Session

The business session restricted to the ISAMPE Members started in the afternoon and deliberated on the matters pertaining to Society’s functioning. Mr. TM Naidu, President, ISAMPE welcomed the members for the business session.

The AGM then dealt with the Business listed on the AGENDA. The reports of the Secretary and Treasurer as well as reports on activities of the Chapters were read. President highlighted some of his thoughts for the activities of ISAMPE. The Secretary proposed the vote of thanks. The Meeting concluded with the thanks to the Chair.

Record of discussions:

President welcomed all the members for the Business Session. 

The minutes of the 21st AGM was presented and confirmed. The resolution to accept the minutes was moved by Dr. PD Mangalgiri and seconded by Dr BR. Somashekhar. The General Body unanimously accepted the resolution.

Mr. BR.Ananda Murthy, Treasurer, ISAMPE presented the treasurer’s report (Click here to read the report).  Mr. Ananda Murthy informed AGM that he is yet to get audited statement of accounts from some Chapters. It was emphasized that Chapters should send their audited statement of accounts to Head Quarters in April of each year, after getting it approved in their respective General Body meeting. Dr. Mangalgiri suggested that one of the Joint secretaries of the parent Chapter could liaise with each Chapter Secretary, and get the audited statements every year. Chapter secretaries agreed to the AGM recommendations. Dr. R. Balasubramanian asked treasurer to clarify what steps have been taken to reduce TDS on ISAMPE deposits. Mr. Murthy clarified that fixed deposits are made as suggested by ISAMPE auditor to reduce TDS burden. The resolution to accept the Treasurer’s report was moved by Mrs. Raksha Zaveri and seconded by Mr. M Venkateshwara Rao. The General Body unanimously accepted the resolution.

      Mr. Rajarajan, Secretary, Thiruvanthapuram Chapter presented their annual report and briefed on future activities of the Chapter. It was proposed that Thiruvanthapuram Chapter would conduct INCCOM 8 in 2009. AGM approved this. Mr. Kiran of Pune Chapter presented their annual report and future plans. President requested them to plan more activities in the next year and asked them to enroll more ISAMPE Members.   Dr.RMVGK.Rao, Chairman Bangalore Chapter gave a brief on the Chapters activities and requested all members to attend the INCCOM-7 and make it a grand success. There was no representation from Coimbatore, Kanpur and Hyderabad Chapters. President requested at least one member from the Chapter board should try and attend the AGM and present their report.    

Election was held this year to fill up the vacancies of Director, Treasurer and Joint Secretary-1 and 2 in the Executive Council of the Society for the official years 2008-2010. According to the Election Procedure, vide Sec 5.3 of the Rules and Regulations, the Executive Council nominated candidates for the election to each office. The Executive Council in its meeting held on 24th March 2008, had made nominations for the vacant posts. The President, ISAMPE informed members that they had not received any other nominations for the post of Director, Joint Secretaries and Treasurer.  He declared the following persons elected unanimously.

1. Dr.R.V.Krishnan, Director
2. Mr.D.Saji, NAL, Treasurer
3. Mr.S.Ramachandra. GTRE, Joint Secretary  - 1
4. Mr.T.C.Subba Reddy, ADA, Joint Secretary – 2

Based on this, the President announced the Executive Council for the year    2008-09

Dr. RV. Krishnan felt it might not be a good idea to have both the joint secretaries posts falling vacant in the same year.  President agreed that the new board would look into this matter.

President appreciated the efforts made by the treasurer Mr..Ananda Murthy,  for maintaining all the accounts meticulously for the past 5 years. He thanked Mr. Murthy for his excellent service to ISAMPE. President also conveyed his thanks to Dr.Niranjanappa for serving as Joint Secretary for the past 2 years.

President said that in the next EB meeting, the Executive Council would select the Executive Board members for the year 2008-2009.  All the Chapter Chairmen and Chapter Secretaries’ will automatically be included in the Executive Board.

Treasurer informed the AGM that the auditor had requested a higher fee for his services as the workload had increased. AGM agreed that as the fee had not been increased for quite some time, a fee of Rs.5000/- per year was reasonable and it was approved. AGM approved the services of the auditor for one more year.

1. Dr. RMVGKRao queried whether it would be possible to invite Prof. Ajayan, Chairman Nano-Technology Centre, Rice University USA under ‘NECTAR’ programme in December 2008. Secretary informed that the interest amount from NECTAR fund would be available only after April 2009. Furthermore, the committee (which includes Director NAL/ his nominee) need to deliberate in this regard and finalise the speaker.   It was agreed that this would also be discussed in the ‘NECTAR’ committee meeting.
2. President, ISAMPE informed AGM that ISAMPE would be celebrating its Silver Jubilee year during 2009-2010. AGM authorized him to constitute a silver Jubilee committee under his chairmanship to chalk out Silver Jubilee activities.

Mr. D Saji, Joint Secretary, ISAMPE proposed the Vote of Thanks. The business session concluded with thanks to the Chair. 

The Programme ended with a traditional get-together dinner for the members of the Society and invitees, in the evening, on the lawns of Aeronautical Society of India.