As India marches towards the 100th year of Indian Independence in 2047, activities of SAMat (School of Advanced Materials) and Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Research (JNCASR) will strive to realise India’s ambitions in the field of material research and beyond.

Stating this, Secretary Department of Science and Technology (DST) S Chandrasekhar on Saturday underlined the important role the two premier institutions were envisaged to play in the field. His remarks came while unveiling the foundation stone of the building a complex for SAMat at Jakkur Campus in Bangalore.

The foundation stone of the School of Advanced Materials (SAMat) was unveiled on Friday. It is expected to bring together all the materials research activity of the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Research (JNCASR) – a centre that has emerged as one of the frontier areas of materials research in the country and worldwide over the last 30 years.

“A building for SAMat at JNCASR campus, based on non-Governmental funds, as envisioned by Professor CNR Rao, is a dream coming true,” S Chandrasekhar said.

“The setting up of new building facility will lead to new ideas, new thought processes, new facilities,” he pointed out while congratulating the SAMat team. “As India marches towards the 100th year of Indian Independence in 2047, activities of SAMat and JNCASR will strive to realise India’s ambitions in the field and beyond,” Chandrasekhar added.

President JNCASR Prof G U Kulkarni pointed out, “Research activities in JNCASR have definitely made its mark globally and faculty of the institute found their place among the some of the best in India and all over the world,”

The foundation stone of the SAMat building was unveiled in the presence of Bharat Ratna Prof CNR Rao, FRS at Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), an autonomous institution under DST and an institution Deemed-to-be-University.

The ceremony was attended by directors of the Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences (CeNS), and the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIAP), along with deans, chairs of the units, faculty members and officers of the centre. A walk-through video of the proposed building of SAMat was screened on the occasion, a Ministry of Science and Technology note stated here.

“SAMat in Sanskrit stands for equanimity. The idea of creating the SAMat was realized in 2018 and it consists of 28 faculty members drawn from several units,” Prof A Sundaresan, Chair, Chemistry and Physics of Materials Unit (CPMU) & SAMat Coordinator said.

“In view of the number of faculty members involved in a broad spectrum of materials research, encompassing nanomaterials, energy materials, soft materials, biomaterials and theory; it was found necessary to have an umbrella structure to bring all the materials research activity together at the Centre,” the Ministry note further added.