Research Activities, Collaborations and Infrastructure
INTRODUCTION
Since the 2011-2012 financial year till date the faculty members have secured Minor Research Projects funded by the UGC, Major Research Project funded by UGC and ICSSR to one retired scientist from other institute with whom one faculty member was the Co-PI and the project was housed in the college; Post –Doctoral Fellowship by the ICSSR, under mentorship of one faculty member, Major Research Project by the DST- India and Major Research Project by the Space Application Centre, ISRO. With the ISRO funding, the college became the second academic institution in eastern India after the IIT, Kharagpur to house research on Geology of Mars.
All the research projects are either successfully completed within the tenure are being carried out with proper tome investment. Significant research outcomes are either published or are being synthesized by the worker for preparation of manuscripts.
Asutosh College currently accredited by NAAC with Grade-A, is a century old educational institute of repute not only in West Bengal but also in Eastern India. Presently, the College successfully runs six Postgraduate departments and twenty nine Undergraduate departments; highest amongst all the affiliated and constituent colleges under the University of Calcutta.
Members of our teaching fraternity are engaged in active research, either with individual research projects or in collaborations with other reputed national and state research institutions and universities.
Almost all the teaching faculty members are active in their research pursuits. In the last two decades, our faculty members and students pursuing research have made their significant contributions in their respective fields and have also published their work in reputed peer reviewed National and International journals.
They have also presented their research outcomes in several national and international conferences/seminar/symposiums. Several potential students have qualified the research entrance examinations viz. GATE, CSIR/ICMR/UGC-NET/DBT-NET and have also received other fellowships offered by several Institutes in India and abroad.
Currently, the total number of faculty members having PhD degrees is 105. Some of the faculty members are also guiding students for their PhD research work. Few of the faculty members are pursuing their research for PhD degrees as well.
OBJECTIVES
- To encourage and facilitate interdisciplinary research (both funded and non-funded) among the Faculty members.
- To encourage UG/PG students to handle sophisticated instruments and carry out experiments under ‘Skill-based’ module of the CBCS syllabus.
- To extend infrastructure to the master degree interns working pursuing projects.
- To run workshops, hands-on training courses on interdisciplinary areas of research
RESEARCH PROJECTS (MAJOR/MINOR): 2011 ONWARDS
Ph.D. MENTORS (2017 ONWARDS)
| Name of the Faculty & Department | Scholar’s Name(s) |
|---|---|
| Dr Sayani Mukhopadhyay, Geography | 1.Sharmishta Sarkar (Former UGC SRF) 2.Soumik Halder (Former UGC SRF) 3.Sujit Majhi (UGC-SRF) 4.Sumit Panja (UGC-JRF) -- Enrolled 5.Anirban Kundu (One DST -JRF) |
| Dr Abhik Kundu, Geology | 3 students have enrolled for pre-registration |
ON GOING PROJECTS (2017 ONWARDS)
| Name of the Faculty & Department | Name of Project | Funding Agency | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dr Amit Kumar Bhattacharjee, Physics | DST-INSPIRE Scheme | Department of Science and Technology | 3052055 |
| Dr Sarbani Banerjee, Communicative English | Other Bodies, Other Spiritualities: A Study of the Indigenous Communities in India and Canada | Dr. S. Radhakrishnan Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Humanities and Social Sciences | 18,00,000 |
| Rhiddhi Saha, Communicative English | Main Adaptation into Indian Languages | Dept. of Higher Education, Govt. of W.B. | 4,95,000 |
| Dr Bidisha Maitra Sen, Industrial Fish & Fisheries | Tracking population level responses against Azadirachtin based contaminant to agroecosystem by biomonitoring tools | DST, Government of West Bengal | 6,99,421 |
| Dr Chandrani Dutta, Environmental Science | Assessment of Ground Water Pollution With Special Reference to Salt Water Intrusion in the Basanti Block, South 24 Parganas District, West Bengal | Dept. of Higher Education, Govt. of W.B. | 4,95,000 |
| Dr Abhik Kundu, Geology |
Elucidation of the deformation signatures and fluvial activity near junction of Noachis Terra with Margaritifier and Arabia Terra | Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) | 2,39,0000 |
| Dr Sayani Mukhopadhyay, Geography | Climate change impact on cropping and related changes in nutritional security in the farm households: An assessment in coastal West Bengal | Department of Science & Technology and Biotechnology, Government of West Bengal | 8,36,000 |
| Dr Arpita Mondal | Waste to Value added Fertilizer: An alternative disposal strategy of Chicken Feathers and Poultry litter | DST-SERB | 17,52,701 |
ON GOING COLLABORATIVE LINKAGES (2017 ONWARDS)
| Name of the Faculty & Department | Name of Project | Collaborator(s) and Institutes | Initiated (year) | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dr Sankar Chandra Basu, Microbiology | Prediction and Reclassification of extracellular and transmembrane residues in membrane proteins: A novel approach based on the combination of statistical potential and membrane geometry | Group of Prof. Marraine Rooman, Service 3BIO - BioControl, BioInformatics & BioMatter Computational Biology and Bioinformatics (3BIO), Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium |
2019 | 2Years |
| Conformational phase transition in intrinsically disordered proteins: Revealing Criticality and fractal geometry in an attempt to explain their potential multi-functionality | Dr Abhirup Bandyopadhyay Post Doc, Theoretical Neurosciences Group, Institute De Neurosciences Des Systems, Aix-Marseille University, France |
2020 | 2Years | |
| Developing competitive inhibitors for the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein aimed to treat COVID-19: A protein design approach | Dr Hirak Kumar Patra, Associate Professor of Nanomedicine and Regenerative Medicine Department of Surgical Biotechnology Division of Surgery and Interventional Science University College London, Royal Free Hospital Rowland Hill Street, London, NW3 2PF United Kingdom Dr Pampa Saha Department of Neurological Surgery University of Pittsburgh 200 Lothrop Street, Scaife Hall, Pittsburgh 15213, USA. |
2020 | 2Years | |
| Dr Abhik Kundu, Geology | Joint collaborative project under Chandrayaan-2 Science Plan on Terrain Mapping Camera (TMC) data utilization for understanding Lunar surface processes | Space Applications Centre, ISRO, Ahmedabad | 2019 | 3 Years |
| Dr Rwiti Basu, Geology | Joint collaborative project under Chandrayaan-2 Science Plan on Terrain Mapping Camera (TMC) data utilization for understanding Lunar surface processes | Space Applications Centre (SAC), ISRO, Ahmedabad | 2019 | 3 years |
SPONSORESHIPS
- UGC
- RUSA
- West Bengal State DBT BOOST for setting up a Molecular Biology Laboratory
- DBT-FIST for boosting research and academic infrastructure of Postgraduate departments under Science stream.
PATENTS
EXISTING RESEARCH FACILITY
- DBT-Boost Laboratory: equipped with infrastructure suited for basic Molecular Biology research and conduction of UG/PG level practical classes of various Biological Science departments.
- Language Lab: set at the ACTC Building to facilitate research activities on various languages.
- Advanced Libraries: The College consists of one Central Library at Main Building, one digital cum conventional library at the Centenary Building and Multiple Departmental Libraries with scientific journal access in e and hard copy form. An NLIST database access is available for the faculty, Researchers and student users.
- Animal House: A functioning Animal House to breed, rear laboratory and experimental animals present.
UPCOMING RESEARCH FACILITY: ASUTOSH COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
Asutosh College has recently acquired a building for establishing a dedicated research centre for both science and humanities. The aim of this centre is mainly to create an environment for further encouraging the faculty members and their research students to nurture their intellectual curiosity and their scientific and research pursuit. The objective of this research centre will be to enhance local economy by focusing on the regional resources and improving the health, environment, well-being and quality of life for the people of West Bengal and the world. The intent is also to create an ambiance for pursuing fundamental researches in different disciplines of science and humanities and to give exposure to the students through various research trainings. The expertise of our teachers and the diversity of the subjects they teach will be an advantage for the centre to undertake interdisciplinary research in the coming years.