Honey, I Shrunk Them

This one was for the engineers of tomorrow and for the technologies of
tomorrow. The two-day national conference on Emerging Technologies:
Nanotechnology and Cyrogenics, was an affair to remember for the technology
enthusiasts.

The conference was inaugurated on October 30, 2009 in GL Bajaj Institute of
Technology & Management, Greater Noida by Professor Kripa Shankar, vice
chancellor, UPTU. Other than various luminaries like Dr Vanekar from IIT Delhi;
and Dr RB Saxena, scientist CSIR and advisor, National Physical Laboratory, who
chaired the discussions, the tech intelligentsia also constituted the audience.

Technical sessions on both the days generated the maximum enthusiasm,
questions, and discussions. Also, paper presentations were made by the whos who
of the education industry. These apart, keen interest in nanotechnology as the
technology of future is what added fuel to the sessions.

On the first day, various aspects of nanotechnology were put under the
scanner and dissected by the experts. Everything, ranging from carbon nano tubes
to the top-down and bottom-up approach was discussed. The discussion also
encompassed various impediments that lay in the way of nanotechnology and the
challenges that shall come with its mass adoption.

Nanotechnology vis-a-vis other fields was also talked about. If its benefits
in healthcare were discussed in one session, the others revolved around its
implementation in the field of technology and gadgets. Although the discussions
had to be limited within a timeframe, there was not much that they left
untouched about nanotechnology.

Apart from nanotechnology, the conference also spread across various other
emerging technologies like cloud computing and vitrtualization, cyrogenics, and
super-conductive magnets. It was not the technologies alone that were discussed
and debated. The speakers went to present a business case for their
implementation and the economics of use.

The most energetic sessions were perhaps those that talked about
nanotechnology in human healthcare. Seems like the scientists and engineers of
tomorrow are going to be really health conscious! Apart from that, this also
reinforces the belief that healthcare is one sector that is going to become
increasingly technology-intensive in the coming years.

To top it all, it was heartening to see that things we have been forever
talking about, such ascloud computing, public clouds, and SaaSwere debated in
a hall full of enthusiastic students. These are the people who are students now,
but will be the innovators of tomorrow.

And who knows, some of them might find their names mentioned in Dataquest
some time in the future!

Mehak Chawla

mehakc@cybermedia.co.in