The Institute of Advanced Study in Science and Technology (IASST) has celebrated its 47th Foundation Day with a day-long program. IASST was conceived and nurtured by the Assam Science Society in its early years and was inaugurated by Nobel Laureate Dorothy C. Hodgkin on November 3, 1979. Subsequently, it was supported by the state government as it was an autonomous R&D institute of Assam till March 2009. The institute was taken over in March 2009 by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India, as one of its autonomous R&D Institutes with a vision to emerge as a center of excellence in frontier research areas of Physical and Life Sciences with international visibility and to build human resources towards advanced scientific knowledge for societal development.
The event started with the hoisting of the institute flag and the lighting of the lamp. Prof. Ashis Kumar Mukherjee, Director of IASST, extended a warm welcome to all the distinguished guests and eminent speakers. He congratulated the IASST fraternity on their support in the institute’s growth and for living up to its vision. The inaugural session was graced by Prof. B. L. Ahuja, Honourable Vice Chancellor of Bodoland University, Assam, and Prof. Subhash Chandra Lakhotia, Distinguished Professor of Zoology, Banaras Hindu University, Prof. Dhanapati Deka, VC, Bhattadev University and other dignitaries. Two popular scientific lectures viz. Dr Dorothy Hodgkin and Dr C.V. Raman were delivered by Prof. Lakhotia and Prof. Ahuja and one MoU was signed bwteen IASST and Bhattadev University, Patshala, Assam to strengthen academic and research collaboration between the two institutions. Research scholars of IASST who were awarded PhD degree in the last year, as well as faculty members from IASST, were felicitated by dignitaries for being included in the world’s top 2% most cited scientists’ list and for being elected as fellows of the National Academy of Sciences. On the remarkable day of IASST, The event concluded with a cultural program featuring research scholars and staff from the institute.
