Kshitij is the annual techno-management fest of the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur

Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur

The Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur is an autonomous engineering, technology and management oriented institute of higher education established by the government of India in 1951...

, Kharagpur

Kharagpur

Kharagpur is an industrial city in India. It is located in the Midnapore West district of the state of West Bengal.Kharagpur was chosen as the location of the first campus of the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology . The IITs are the premier technical education institutes in India and...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. Kshitij started off in 2004 with the aim of promoting technology and entrepreneurship in India, and in 8 years, it has grown to become the Asia’s largest techno-management fest. The previous edition of Kshitij i.e. Kshitij 2011 witnessed a participation of more than 50,000 students coming from various disciplines like engineering, management, law and sciences from all over the country as well as abroad. The events organised in Kshitij belong to various genres like coding, quizzing, debating, robotics and marketing. Apart from the events, Kshitij has taken the initiative to reach out to the students of rural India, giving a new direction and orientation to their learning.

Kshitij 2012 will be held from 27–30 January 2012.

History and Growth

Kshitij was conceived in the year 2004 with a vision to provide a platform for the budding engineers and entrepreneurs of India, to showcase their talents in their respective fields, and to provide India with novel, ground-breaking technologies. An austere vision from the brightest of minds of the world has given technology and entrepreneurship a whole new dimension. With a moderate start of 500 outstation participants in its very first edition, Kshitij has grown exponentially over the past 8 years. The total number of outstation participants for the 2011 edition exceeded 6000 and the total prize money also increased proportionately. Adding new events every year, Kshitij now presents a variety of events catering to every aspect of engineering and management. Starting initially with about 10 events Kshitij now organises more than 45 events.

Kshitij 2011

Kshitij 2011 was a phenomenal success as it created record breaking paths by expanding itself in every field. With over forty quality events in the fields of technology and management and participation exceeding sixty thousand, nationwide and abroad, this four-day fest started creating waves months prior to its official date. The fest had a flourishing prize money over sixty lakhs and its association with corporate giants like Microsoft, GE, Barclays Capital, Nokia, Google, Vodafone, Tata, ITC, Reliance, Adobe, and many more that profoundly sponsor it in the light of its unmatched credentials, thus helping it grow bigger and better every year. Kshitij 2011 aims to be a confluence of students, academia and the industry. The fest has been graced by the presence of such luminaries Larry Wall

Larry Wall

Larry Wall is a programmer and author, most widely known for his creation of the Perl programming language in 1987.-Education:Wall earned his bachelor's degree from Seattle Pacific University in 1976....

, father of PERL programming language; Philippe Lebrun, Head, Accelerator Technology Deptt., CERN; Chris Roebuck

Chris Roebuck

Chris Roebuck, BSc, MBA, FCIPD, FCMI is a British economist who lectures on leadership topics and advises organisations on maximising performance through effective leadership, in particular developing lean leadership and entrepreneurial leadership. Roebuck has held senior Human Resource and...

, one of the top 25 HR thinkers; Ronald Mallette, known for his research on Time Travel and Director of NASA- Glenn Research centre, Dr. Woodrow Whitlow, Jr. who are looked up to for their distinguished contribution in their respective fields. To promote the core disciplines of engineering, KSHITIJ 2011 associated with globally reputed and acknowledged institutions including ACM

ACM

ACM is a three-letter acronym that may refer to:* Alkyl acrylate copolymer, a type of rubber commonly found in automotive transmissions and hoses* Arnold-Chiari malformation* Asbestos Containing Material* Association for Computing Machinery...

, IEEE, ASHRAE, ASME and IMechE. These associations, by providing their prestigious certifications for the events of Kshitij, gave students the motivation to excel further and prove their mettle.

Kshitij 2010

Kshitij 2010 proved itself bigger and better than any of its previous edition. With over 12000 participants which for the first time included more than 6000 outstation participants. Prizes worth Rs 50 lacs were doled out and the B-plan incubation of astonishing 25 lacs. The guests included ‘ Director Genius ’ Shekhar Kapur

Shekhar Kapur

Shekhar Kapur is an Indian film director and producer. A critically acclaimed director, he rose to popularity with the movie Bandit Queen...

, George Kourounis

George Kourounis

George Kourounis , is a Canadian adventurer, television presenter, storm chaser, and explorer, currently best known for his television series Angry Planet. He specializes in documenting extreme weather and worldwide natural disasters...

 - Amazing adventurer, noble laureate Prof. Anthony James Leggett

Anthony James Leggett

Sir Anthony James Leggett, KBE, FRS , aka Tony Leggett, has been a Professor of Physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign since 1983....

 and Robin Chase

Robin Chase

Robin Chase is the founder and CEO of Buzzcar, a peer-to-peer car sharing service. She is co-founder and former CEO of Zipcar, an innovative car sharing service. She also started GoLoco.org, a venture combining online carpooling and social networking...

. Venturing into the social sector, Gram Pragati- a Social Initiative was conducted by Kshitij to initiate a change in the rural way of life. Interactive workshops encompassing a wide array of topics such as Autonomous Robotics , Rubiks Cube, 3D Animation, Patenting and Hot Air Ballooning, and enlightening exhibitions showcasing the novel Solar Car, Modular robots , Life size models of Bulwarks of Indian Defence by DRDO and the innovative Fog Screen were organized to whet the appetite of budding technocrats and management enthusiasts.

Kshitij 2009

Kshitij 2009 was a landmark edition of Kshitij when many of the events received certifications from various internationally recognized institutions like ASME, ASHRAE, ACM

Association for Computing Machinery

The Association for Computing Machinery is a learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 as the world's first scientific and educational computing society. Its membership is more than 92,000 as of 2009...

 and IMechE. In this edition, Kshitij saw over 11000 participants which for the first time included more than 5000 outstation participants. Prizes worth Rs 45 lacs. The guests included ‘ad hatter’ Prahlad Kakkar

Prahlad Kakkar

Prahlad Kakar is a leading Indian ad film director, best known for his work on the famous Pepsi TV commercial with Amitabh Bachchan and Sachin Tendulkar. He is the founder and main director for Genesis Film Productions, one of India’s leading production houses, established in 1977 He is renowned...

, Philip Emeagwali

Philip Emeagwali

Philip Emeagwali is a Nigerian -born engineer and computer scientist/geologist who was one of two winners of the 1989 Gordon Bell Prize, a prize from the IEEE, for his use of a Connection Machine supercomputer to help analyze petroleum fields....

 - the father of internet, noble laureate Prof. Kurt Wuthrich

Kurt Wüthrich

Kurt Wüthrich is a Swiss chemist and Nobel Chemistry laureate.-Biography:Born in Aarberg, Switzerland, Wüthrich was educated in chemistry, physics, and mathematics at the University of Berne before pursuing his Ph.D. under the direction of Silvio Fallab at the University of Basel, awarded in 1964...

,Prof Chandra Lalwani, Chandrayaan pioneer S.K. Shivkumar, Prof Chandra Wickramasinghe

Chandra Wickramasinghe

Vidya Jothi Nalin Chandra Wickramasinghe , FIMA, FRAS, FRSA is Professor at Cardiff University and Honorary Professor at the University of Buckingham. He is the Director of the Buckingham Centre for Astrobiology...

, BBC Film-maker Jeremy Bristow and NASA scientist Christopher McKay

Christopher McKay

Christopher P. McKay is a planetary scientist at NASA Ames Research Center, studying planetary atmospheres, astrobiology, and terraforming. McKay received his PhD in astrogeophysics from the University of Colorado in 1982 and his bachelor's degree from Florida Atlantic University.-Overview:McKay...

.

Kshitij 2008

In 2008, the fest had a participation of about 7000 and prize money worth Rs 35 lacs. This edition saw the inclusion of events like Anadigix and Forex. There was participation of masters of all possible fields. This included guests like “The Father of Nanotechnology” Prof. K. Eric Drexler

K. Eric Drexler

Dr. Kim Eric Drexler is an American engineer best known for popularizing the potential of molecular nanotechnology , from the 1970s and 1980s.His 1991 doctoral thesis at MIT was revised and published as...

, world-renowned Astrophysicist Prof. Lawrence M. Krauss

Lawrence M. Krauss

Lawrence Maxwell Krauss is an American theoretical physicist who is professor of physics, Foundation Professor of the School of Earth and Space Exploration, and director of the Origins Project at the Arizona State University. He is the author of several bestselling books, including The Physics of...

, the Founder of Wikipedia Mr. Jimmy D. Wales, famous Environmental Lawyer Mr. Mahesh Chandra Mehta

Mahesh Chandra Mehta

Mahesh Chandra Mehta is a public interest attorney from India. He was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in 1996 for his continuous fights in Indian courts against pollution-causing industries. He received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Asia for Public Service in 1997.-References:...

, Intel Country Manager Mr. Ramamurthy Sivakumar, Google Product Manager Mr. Surojeet Chatterjee and eminent Car designer Mr. Dilip Chhabria

Dilip Chhabria

Dilip Chhabria is an Indian automobile designer. He is the founder of DC Design.-Biography:He is qualified in Transportation Design from the Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, California, U.S. and worked with General Motors USA in their Design Centre...

.

Kshitij 2007

Kshitij 2007 witnessed a participation of over 6500 participants from over 200 colleges, in its 34 technical and managerial events, 10 guest lectures and 5 workshops, with prizes worth Rs.25 lacs. The campus was decorated into the flavours of ancient Egypt symbolizing the zenith of technology and wisdom. Noble laureates like Prof. Harold Kroto, Prof. Paul J. Crutzen

Paul J. Crutzen

Paul Jozef Crutzen is a Dutch Nobel prize winning atmospheric chemist.Crutzen is best known for his research on ozone depletion. He lists his main research interests as “Stratospheric and tropospheric chemistry, and their role in the biogeochemical cycles and climate”...

 and Prof. Lee Hartwell, along with Kevin Warwick

Kevin Warwick

Kevin Warwick is a British scientist and professor of cybernetics at the University of Reading, Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom...

, shared their passion for science. Ad-man Alyque Padamsee

Alyque Padamsee

Alyque Padamsee is an Indian theater personality and ad film maker. He is probably best known in the English-speaking world for playing Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the film Gandhi...

, Wing Cmdr. Rakesh Sharma

Rakesh Sharma

Wing commander Rakesh Sharma, AC, is a former Indian Air Force test pilot, and Cosmonaut aboard Soyuz T-11 as part of an Intercosmos Research Team...

, Richard Stallman

Richard Stallman

Richard Matthew Stallman , often shortened to rms,"'Richard Stallman' is just my mundane name; you can call me 'rms'"|last= Stallman|first= Richard|date= N.D.|work=Richard Stallman's homepage...

, Subir Raha, Ramon Magsaysay winner Mr. Arvind Kejriwal

Arvind Kejriwal

Arvind Kumar Kejriwal is an Indian social activist fighting for greater transparency in Government. He was awarded Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent Leadership in 2006, for activating India's Right to Information movement at grassroots and social activities to empower the poorest citizens to...

, Padamshree Dr. K Kasturirangan, and many such connoisseurs of their respective fields have contributed inestimably.

Kshitij 2006

In 2006 edition there was an outstation participation of over 2000 students, and prizes worth Rs 15 lacs. The cream of the country turned up at Kharagpur, to exchange their thoughts with stalwarts such as German Nobel Laureate Professor Klaus von Klitzing

Klaus von Klitzing

Klaus von Klitzing is a German physicist known for discovery of the integer quantum Hall Effect, for which he was awarded the 1985 Nobel Prize in Physics....

, Prof. Jacky Baltes of University of Manitoba, India’s principal scientific advisor Dr. R.Chidambaram, Warwick Manufacturing Group's director Lord Sushantha Kr. Bhattacharya and witness management gurus such as R. Gopalakrishnan, R.N. Mukhija, Arun Khaitana and Amit Chatterjee deliver inspiring lectures.

Kshitij 2005

Only in one year the outstation participation increased to five folds and the budget increased to such an extent the prize money in 2005 was more than the previous year’s entire budget,clearly indicating that the fest had made its mark! The fest held during Feb. 4-6 saw eminent guest like Mr. Richard Matthew Stallman, the creator of GNU and the founder of Free Software Foundation, Mr.B.K.Syngal, man who brought internet to India and Mr. Subir Raha, CMD, ONGC.

Kshitij 2004

Kshitij implying the horizon was born in 2004 as an attempt by the IIT Kharagpur students to look beyond and to encourage technology and management. It saw a modest start with about 500 participants.

Events

Being a techno-management fest, Kshitij has events pertaining to both technical and management fields. Kshitij has a total of more than 45 events belonging to various genres and the prize money for these events summed up to more than 60 lacs in Kshitij 2011.

The events are divided into various categories:

• Genesis: These are primarily online events held prior to the festival. These events start from October end and continue till the beginning of the festival. They include:
  • Cryptex : An event on Cryptology
  • C-Monopoly: Event on setting up of virtual business empire based on Carbon Credits
  • Mind Sport : An Event on Brain Teasers and Puzzles
  • Woodstock : Virtual Share Market
  • Relic Hunter : Online Treasure Hunt
  • Excalibur : Online Biz-Quiz
  • Forex : Virtual Foreign Exchange
  • Math Challenge : A test of Maths Aptitude

• Quizzard: This is the set of three brain-tickling quizzes to test the quizzing mettle of the students in every technical and business aspect. These quizzes are:
  • Biz Quiz : The Business Quiz
  • Tech Quiz : The Technical Quiz

Past quiz masters include Joy Bhattacharya, Arul Mani, Avinash Mudaliar and Giri 'Pickbrain' Balasubramanium.

• Strategia: Strategia comprises the major management events of Kshitij. These events aim at testing the skills of survival and strategic planning in the dynamically changing and highly competitive market. The Events in this category are:
  • The Verdict : Moot Court competetion of IIT Kharagpur
  • Marca de Fabrica : The Branding Event
  • Synergy : Join Hands to double your revenue

• Conceptualize: This section of Kshitij provides a platform for the innovative ideas to blossom and to be showcased in front of the world. This idea can be a new software, a research paper, a hardware designed or even a business plan. The events include:
  • Open Soft : Open ended, open source software designing competition
  • Open Hardware : Open ended hardware model designing
  • Eureka : The IEEE Technical Paper Presentation
  • B-Plan : The Business Plan Competition
  • Ecovision : Design Green Infrastructure

• Robotix: Robotix provides new problem statements every year in the field of Robotics. These include events from inter-disciplinary branches like Mechanical Robotics, Autonomous Robotics and Programming. Robotix is one of the most successful robotics competitions held in India. The events under Robotix in Kshitij 2012 are:
  • Inferno
  • Vertigo
  • Stalker
  • Echelon
  • Nuke-Clear
  • Stasis

• Ab Initio: Ab Initio tests the participants on their creativity and their ability to apply basic knowledge of mechanics in day to day life. These events include making mechanical or architectural models right from scratch. The five events under this category are:
  • Laws of Motion : Remote Controlled self propelled glider making event
  • Nightshift : Nightlong Junkyard Wars of Kshitij
  • Stabilitix : Designing the model of an Earthquake resistant building
  • Aqua Ranger : Air-boat designing competetion
  • Mechatron : Integrated smart machines designing competetion

The first four events are certified by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

• Theories 'n Core: Theories ‘n’ Core encourages the participant to revert to the theories and fundamentals to figure out the solutions to some real interesting problems. The events in this category include:
  • Kryotech- ASHRAE - India Student Design Competition : HVAC system designing event certified by ASHRAE
  • Anadigix : Analog and Digital Circuit designing
  • EmbeTronix : Designing a Wireless Tracker using Embedded Electronics
  • Overnite-ACM ICPC Multi-provincial programming contest : Nightlong coding competition certified by ACM

• Techn 4 Fun: These events held during Kshitij show that technology can be fun as well. Tech 4 Fun includes events like
  • X Games : The Campus Gaming event
  • Snappit : An event on capturing the best moments of Kshtij
  • Techquila : Series of fun events

Certifications

Many of the events in Kshitij 2012 have got certifications from various reputed organisations and institutions. These are :

• Association for Computing Machinery
  Association for Computing Machinery
  The Association for Computing Machinery is a learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 as the world's first scientific and educational computing society. Its membership is more than 92,000 as of 2009...
  
   (ACM): ACM, the world’s largest and oldest scientific and educational computing society which develops resources that advance computing as a science and profession, certifies Overnite ACM ICPC Multi Provincial Programming Contest. The society serves as a membership of computing professionals and students in many countries in all areas of industry, academia, and government thus uniting the world's computer educators, researchers and professionals to inspire dialogue and address the field's challenges.
• Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
  Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
  The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is a non-profit professional association headquartered in New York City that is dedicated to advancing technological innovation and excellence...
  
  (IEEE) : The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is the world’s largest professional association dedicated to advancing technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity. IEEE and it’s members inspire a global community through IEEE’s highly sited publications, conferences, technology standards, and professional and educational activities. IEEE certifies the event Eureka in Kshitij.

• American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers
  American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers
  The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers is an international technical society for all individuals and organizations interested in heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, and refrigeration...
  
   (ASHRAE): ASHRAE , also considered to be the world governing body of thermodynamics certifies Kryotech, an event to design the complete HVAC
  HVAC
  HVAC refers to technology of indoor or automotive environmental comfort. HVAC system design is a major subdiscipline of mechanical engineering, based on the principles of thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and heat transfer...
  
  (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) system for the industry.
• American Society of Mechanical Engineers
  American Society of Mechanical Engineers
  The American Society of Mechanical Engineers is a professional body, specifically an engineering society, focused on mechanical engineering....
  
   (ASME): ASME, a professional body known for setting codes and standards for mechanical devices, certifies the Kshitij event ASME Student Design Competition. Through this event, ASME provides a platform for budding technocrats to touch the horizons in the field of robotic design and intelligent automation.
• Institution of Mechanical Engineers
  Institution of Mechanical Engineers
  The Institution of Mechanical Engineers is the British engineering society based in central London, representing mechanical engineering. It is licensed by the Engineering Council UK to assess candidates for inclusion on ECUK's Register of professional Engineers...
  
   (IMechE) : The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) which is the fastest growing professional engineering institution in the UK, certifies the events Laws of Motion and Nightshift. The association of IMechE with these events aims at improving the world through engineering and nurturing new talents, helping them build their careers and take on the challenges that, when solved, will make a difference to all.

Guest Lectures

Since its inception in 2004, Kshitij conducts a series of GUEST LECTURES by various eminent personalities. Many world recognized scientists, technologists and businessmen have come to Kharagpur to share their experiences, their in-depth knowledge on various subjects and the secret of their successful journey of life with the students. The GUEST LECTURES at Kshitij have been mesmerizing and influenced the thinking of many students.
The Guest Lectures in the previous editions of Kshitij include lectures by :

• Mr. Larry Wall
  Larry Wall
  Larry Wall is a programmer and author, most widely known for his creation of the Perl programming language in 1987.-Education:Wall earned his bachelor's degree from Seattle Pacific University in 1976....
  
   (Father of PERL Programming Language)
• Dr. Woodrow Whitlow, Jr. (Director- NASA Glenn Research Center)
• Mr. Chris Roebuck
  Chris Roebuck
  Chris Roebuck, BSc, MBA, FCIPD, FCMI is a British economist who lectures on leadership topics and advises organisations on maximising performance through effective leadership, in particular developing lean leadership and entrepreneurial leadership. Roebuck has held senior Human Resource and...
  
   (One of the top 25 HR thinkers)
• Dr. Amit Goyal
  Amit Goyal
  Dr. Amit Goyal is a UT-Battelle Corporate Fellow, a Battelle Distinguished Inventor and an ORNL Distinguished Scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratories in Tennessee. He is also the chair of the UT-Battelle-ORNL Corporate Fellow Council. He is one of the leading researchers in the field of High...
  
   (leading researcher in the field of High Temperature Superconductors)
• Mr. Shekhar Kapur
  Shekhar Kapur
  Shekhar Kapur is an Indian film director and producer. A critically acclaimed director, he rose to popularity with the movie Bandit Queen...
  
   (Indian renowned Director and Producer)
• Mr. George Kourounis
  George Kourounis
  George Kourounis , is a Canadian adventurer, television presenter, storm chaser, and explorer, currently best known for his television series Angry Planet. He specializes in documenting extreme weather and worldwide natural disasters...
  
   (Adventurer, Host of TV series "Angry Planet")
• Sir Jimmy Donal Wales (Founder of Wikipedia)
• Prof. Paul J. Crutzen
  Paul J. Crutzen
  Paul Jozef Crutzen is a Dutch Nobel prize winning atmospheric chemist.Crutzen is best known for his research on ozone depletion. He lists his main research interests as “Stratospheric and tropospheric chemistry, and their role in the biogeochemical cycles and climate”...
  
   (Winner of Nobel Prize in Chemistry,1985)
• Prof. Ken Perlin
  Ken Perlin
  Ken Perlin is a professor in the Department of Computer Science at New York University, founding director of the Media Research Lab at NYU, and the Director of the Games for Learning Institute. His research interests include graphics, animation, multimedia, and science education...
  
   (Academy Award Winner)
• Prof. Kurt Wuthrich
  Kurt Wüthrich
  Kurt Wüthrich is a Swiss chemist and Nobel Chemistry laureate.-Biography:Born in Aarberg, Switzerland, Wüthrich was educated in chemistry, physics, and mathematics at the University of Berne before pursuing his Ph.D. under the direction of Silvio Fallab at the University of Basel, awarded in 1964...
  
   (Winner of Nobel Prize in Chemistry)
• Prof. Philip Emeagwali
  Philip Emeagwali
  Philip Emeagwali is a Nigerian -born engineer and computer scientist/geologist who was one of two winners of the 1989 Gordon Bell Prize, a prize from the IEEE, for his use of a Connection Machine supercomputer to help analyze petroleum fields....
  
  (Father of Internet)
• Prof. Richard Stallman
  Richard Stallman
  Richard Matthew Stallman , often shortened to rms,"'Richard Stallman' is just my mundane name; you can call me 'rms'"|last= Stallman|first= Richard|date= N.D.|work=Richard Stallman's homepage...
  
    (Founder of GNU Linux)
• Prof. Roger Kornberg (Winner of Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 2006)
• Wg. Cmdr. Rakesh Sharma
  Rakesh Sharma
  Wing commander Rakesh Sharma, AC, is a former Indian Air Force test pilot, and Cosmonaut aboard Soyuz T-11 as part of an Intercosmos Research Team...
  
   (India’s First Cosmonaut)
• Mr. Alyque Padamsee
  Alyque Padamsee
  Alyque Padamsee is an Indian theater personality and ad film maker. He is probably best known in the English-speaking world for playing Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the film Gandhi...
  
  (Ad-Guru)
• Mr. Prahlad Kakkar
  Prahlad Kakkar
  Prahlad Kakar is a leading Indian ad film director, best known for his work on the famous Pepsi TV commercial with Amitabh Bachchan and Sachin Tendulkar. He is the founder and main director for Genesis Film Productions, one of India’s leading production houses, established in 1977 He is renowned...
  
  (Ad-Guru)
• Mr. Dilip Chhabria
  Dilip Chhabria
  Dilip Chhabria is an Indian automobile designer. He is the founder of DC Design.-Biography:He is qualified in Transportation Design from the Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, California, U.S. and worked with General Motors USA in their Design Centre...
  
    (Automobile Designer)
• Prof. Chandra Wickramasinghe
  Chandra Wickramasinghe
  Vidya Jothi Nalin Chandra Wickramasinghe , FIMA, FRAS, FRSA is Professor at Cardiff University and Honorary Professor at the University of Buckingham. He is the Director of the Buckingham Centre for Astrobiology...
  
   (Director, Cardiff Centre for Astrobiology)

Workshops

In keeping with its principal aim of fostering the spirit of techno-managerial education, a number of workshops are organised in Kshitij, both during the festival and prior to the festival.

Internal Workshops

Workshops on a wide variety of topics are held during Kshitj. These workshops are presented by the experts in their fields and they provide the participants a unique opportunity to gain a thorough insight and hands- on experience in the specialized fields. Some of the workshops in the previous editions include workshops on:

• Automotive Engineering by Jaguar Cars
• CUDA
  CUDA
  CUDA or Compute Unified Device Architecture is a parallel computing architecture developed by Nvidia. CUDA is the computing engine in Nvidia graphics processing units that is accessible to software developers through variants of industry standard programming languages...
  
   Technology by NVIDIA
  NVIDIA
  Nvidia is an American global technology company based in Santa Clara, California. Nvidia is best known for its graphics processors . Nvidia and chief rival AMD Graphics Techonologies have dominated the high performance GPU market, pushing other manufacturers to smaller, niche roles...
  
  
• Streaming Technology by Adobe Systems
  Adobe Systems
  Adobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States...
  
  
• Hot Air Ballooning
• Ethical Hacking
• Film Making
• Forensic Sciences
• Rocketry
• Microfinance
• I-Sputnik
• Cyber Laws

External Workshops

The Kshitij Team organises a series of external workshops in various cities prior to the festival. These workshops aimed at reaching out to the student fraternity all over the country, provide a platform for the participants to identify, exchange, plan and elaborate emerging ideas and high-quality research. The 2010 workshops were held in Delhi, Jaipur, Hyderabad, Pune, Nagpur, Kolkata and Chennai on ‘Robotics, Finance and Cryptology’ in which students were taught fundamentals of cryptography and finance and were given practical demonstrations about making autonomous robots. The participation in these workshops this year was more than 300 students in each workshop with more than 500 students turning up for the workshop in Jaipur and 1300 students for the workshop in Kolkata.

Megashows

Megashows have been a major highlight of Kshitij since its inception in 2004 and have captured the imagination of all the students in the festival. Megashows have served as a stage where education saddles upon the back of entertainment and give the budding technocrats an opportunity to unlock their minds to creativity. The megashows are viewed by more than 6000 students in the Tagore Open Air Theatre in IIT Kharagpur. The previous editions of Kshitij had the following megashows :

• Pyro and UV Show by Anta Agni: A unique show of Firedancing, UVdancing and Flagginghttp://www.ohne.sk/antaagni.php?sec=referencie&lang=en.
• Acrobatic Dunking by Dunk Kings : A spectacular basketball acrobatic show http://www.dunk-kings.com/eng/references.
• Nigel Mead : One of the most entertaining Magician.
• Sand Animation : Great sand art by Mr. Sergey Nazarov.
• Pyromania : Physical and visual theater with pyrotechnics, fiber optics and innovative light effects
• Jason Latimer : One of the greatest magician of the present generation
• Alpha Show-Lumen : A new world of lights
• Pyrotechnique Show: Fireworks as never seen before

Exhibitions

Kshitij has showcased the latest and the best in science and technology bridging the gap between man and technology. Exhibitions at Kshitij have displayed various conglomeration and grandeur enthralling the audience. Some of the exhibitions in the previous editions of Kshitij include:

• Sense Table: MIT Media Lab
  MIT Media Lab
  The MIT Media Lab is a laboratory of MIT School of Architecture and Planning. Devoted to research projects at the convergence of design, multimedia and technology, the Media Lab has been widely popularized since the 1990s by business and technology publications such as Wired and Red Herring for a...
  
   http://www.pattenstudio.com
• AR Pool: Queen's University
  Queen's University
  Queen's University, , is a public research university located in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Founded on 16 October 1841, the university pre-dates the founding of Canada by 26 years. Queen's holds more more than of land throughout Ontario as well as Herstmonceux Castle in East Sussex, England...
  
  
• PR2 Exhibit: Willow Garage
  Willow Garage
  Willow Garage is a robotics research lab and technology incubator devoted to developing hardware and open source software for personal robotics applications. It was started in late 2006 by Scott Hassan, an early Google employee who helped develop Google's technology. Steve Cousins is the president...
  
  
• Missiles Exhibition: Defence research and development organization (DRDO)
• Solar Car: Dr. Graham Sparey-Taylor
• Solar Robotics: Dan Roe
• Mind Reading Machine: Peter Robinson
• Aeroshow: Society of Model Aeronautical Engineers of India
• Globe4D: Leiden University
• Ultra Orb: New York University
• Robo Garage: Kyoto University

Initiatives of Kshitij

Gram Pragati :
Kshitij 2010 endeavoured to reach out to the students of rural India, giving a new direction and orientation to their learning. Towards this objective, it focussed on reaching out, initially, to students in schools and colleges across rural Bengal. Using these as a model for study, Kshitij came out with initiatives to change the education and rural technology sectors for the better.

YUVA :
Kshitij 2011 undertook an initiative YUVA- a youth summit on climate change to restore the balance in the ecology using active participation from the youth. Youth Summit is a platform for the youth to give its voice in a bailiwick which needs it the most. Kshitij 2011 associated with agencies like the UNESCO, the IYCN, and the Green Add+ Ventures to work effectively in this direction.

External Links

• IIT Kharagpur organised a workshop on Robotics and Data Base Management System