IIT Mandi Launches Two Elective Courses This Semester

Indian Institute Technology (IIT) Mandi has introduced two new elective courses from the upcoming semester. The course will be taken by a visiting faculty member, Prof. Ramesh P. Singh. He is associated with the Department of Physics, Engineering and Computational Science of Schmid College of Science, from Champman University, California, USA.

The two courses that will be taught at IIT Mandi are ‘Geology and Geomorphology’ and ‘Monitoring of Himalayan Environment using Optical and Microwave Remote Sensing’. Both the undergraduate and postgraduate, as well as research students can pursue the elective courses at IIT Mandi.

The classes on ‘Monitoring of Himalayan Environment and using Optical and Microwave Remote Sensing’ will mainly focus on discussing the primary principles of broad electromagnetic wave propagation and interaction with land, glacier/snow, vegetation and land cover.

Prof. Ramesh P. Singh said that the Himalayan Region is a dynamic environment with changing weather conditions and seismically active as well. The Himalayan Region does not have a lot of observatories, which means satellite information is key. In the 21st century, there are plenty of satellites that are orbiting the Earth and will help in gathering the necessary information that is required for monitoring the environment of the Himalayan Region. It will also help in providing warnings for any kind imminent natural calamities.

The course is particularly aimed at students who are pursuing their M.S., M.Tech and PhD from IIT Mandi. The students will be asked to carry out data analysis for the purpose of understanding the cause of severe natural events and changes in the atmospherical or meteorological. This information will help in the understanding of the dynamic environment changes that take place in the Himalayan Region.

The course will introduce the usage of optical and microwave properties of meteorological and atmospherical parameters of the various extreme events such as avalanche, cloud burst and precipitation.

The second course, i.e. Geology and Geomorphology will aim at enlighting the undergraduate students, especially the students pursuing Civil Engineering, with concepts of geology rock types and their formation, along with geomorphological features. These pieces of information will help the students to gain basic knowledge for understanding in depth on how the Earth’s surface is formed. There are two major themes that will be focused on this course. The first theme is the formation of the Earth’s surface along with information about the tectonic plates and rock types. The second theme to be focused upon will be the different types of minerals found in the formation of rocks along with their features like the occurrences, weakness etc. the course is aimed at teaching the Civil Engineering students for the major reason that their curriculum includes studying the construction of bridges, structures, roads, etc.

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The course also focuses on the various natural events such as landslides, earthquakes, and cloud bursts. Prof. Ramesh P. Singh emphasised the importance of studying the various types of rocks and minerals that are found on the surface of the Earth. However, both courses will focus on the Himalayan Region.

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Prof. Ramesh P. Singh has been a teacher of Engineering Geoscience course for the past 23 years at the Kanpur campus of IIT as well as at a university in the US. He has been the president of Natural Hazards Section of the American Geophysical Union in the period of 2016-2018.