Small labs too can do good research in notechnology'

From a Correspondent

JORHAT, Sept 26: “Research in notechnology is not only for the rich labs. Even small labs can carry on good research through innovative ways,” said Dr Sundan Baruah, Head, Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering of Assam Don Bosco University and also the Group Leader of the notechnology group. The notechnology group has designed and fabricated instruments for nomaterial synthesis and device fabrication in house.

notechnology deals with materials at sizes in the range of one-billionth of a meter, which exhibit properties unique from the bulk. A notechnology workshop was convened by Dr. Baruah in December, 2014 which was well acclaimed by the participants. The group has developed research collaborations with numerous institutions of repute like Uppsala University, North Dakota State University, Tezpur University, IACS, Kolkata, AIT and Bangkok University of Thailand, NEHU, S.N. Bose tiol Center for Basic Sciences, Kolkata, ICAR Pune, amongst others.

Dr. Baruah was working in one of the best laboratories in Europe, The ångstrom Laboratoriet of the 538-year old Uppsala University of Sweden, and as a Research Specialist at the Center of Excellence in notechnology at the Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand prior to joining Assam Don Bosco University.

Talking to The Sentinel, Dr Sundan Baruah said “We are trying to do what we call as poor man’s notechnology. I am ready to assist institutions from the Northeast in setting up small notechnology labs. It is not expensive instruments that generate good research output; it is out-of-the-box thinking that does.”

The 2014 notechnology workshop was attended by leading participants of the field and other areas of expertise. Prof KN Bhat from IISc Bangalore said, “My interaction with Dr. Sundan Baruah and his research scholars has been an eye-opener to see how much you can do with minimum facility. I congratulate him for training, encouraging and guiding the enthusiastic students.”Amongst the noted persons who visited the lab and interacted with the students are Prof. GL Hornyak, Director of the notechnology Center at AIT, Dr A Bezbaruah from North Dakota State University, Prof A Choudhury, Pro-VC of Tezpur University, Dr S Acharya from IACS and Dr B Sarkar from ICAR Pune.