Students achievements
We SIGians always participate in an event with an aim of active participation and in keeping with our motto, ‘Pursuance of Excellence’. In the past fortnight SIG students participated in two events, viz. Manthan 2010’ conducted by SICSR and ‘Sambhav 2010’ conducted by SLS.
The inherent talents, confidence that grew in SIG by participation in ‘Khula Manch’, presentation and group activities were outwardly visible with a number of our colleagues bagging prizes in multiple events. SIG team of 9 students which included Akshay Mohgaonkar, Anish Kumar, Bhargavi Rathi, Chandrakant Dixit, Jaya Chauhan, Khyati Rajendra, Rachel Joseph, Sayani Saha, Virendra Sahni and won the 1st prize in street play in SICSR event of ‘Manthan 2010’. The theme was to bring in awareness about HIV, need to take these tests; and how both rural and urban youth feel shy to get the tests done.
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In addition to the above, Chandrakant Dixit bagged 1st prize in Photography. |
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Santha Rubini and Bhargavi Rathi were not left behind and they took the 1st prize at the ‘A Day @ KPO’. They attributed their success to training at SIG offered in the communication classes as part of curriculum. |
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Success is the child of audacity. This adage was proven when Chandrakant Dixit and Sayani Saha students of SIG won II prize in Junkyard, the thought-provoking intemperate competition on treasure hunt and showed their visual modality also in the creative work on the theme “time is changing”. |
The theme is very appropriate because time is indeed changing and SIGans have adopted to clinging lives and prove themselves and win prizes.
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Yugam’09 - The day that it was......
Finally, we have done it. Yugam ‘09, and what an experience it was!
‘Yuga’ means ‘Epoch’ and there couldn’t have been a better name for an event which symbolized the commencement of a new epoch in the evolution of technology. Even though the idea of ‘Yugam’ was conceived around three years ago, somehow or the other it just didn’t materialize due to unavoidable circumstances beyond our control. Yugam ’09 had everything from plenary sessions, where the experts from the industry shared there valuable knowledge, to paper presentations, debates, quizzes and a gaming zone. And to top all the fun to the day, there was an inter-college dance competition too.
A few months back a handful of students from the 2008-10 batch of SIG came up with the idea of a Technical Festival. They chalked out a plan, geared up the complete institute for it and it looked like things were in our favour this time. However, destiny had its way; all the plans were scuttled due to ‘Swine Flu’ episode in Pune. But as Sir Winston Churchill had said, “Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm”,the never say die attitude of the students resurfaced again. This attitude was completely supported by the Director and everyone at SIG and finally Yugam ’09 was staged! Indeed a lesson of life was learnt “Lehron se darkar nauka par nahin hoti, koshish karne walon ki haar nahin hoti”. After months of trying hard to make it happen, and a week of pandemonium, finally Yugam’09 proved to be a grand success!
21st November 2009 that’s the date when Yugam’09 happened and it was only ideal that it marked the end of the World GIS week. As the morning marked the final preparations, everyone at Symbiosis Institute of Geoinformatics had a common wish “The event must be a grand success”. And each one was ready to put his best efforts to make it work.
The event was inaugurated with the lighting of the lamp by the guests and a saraswati vandana by the students of SIG.
The Chief Guest for the event was Prof.L.M.Patnaik, Vice Chancellor, Defence Institute of Advanced Technology. The Guest of Honor was Padmashri Dr. Pramod Kale, Director, Integrated Circuit and Information Technology Pvt. Ltd., VLSI Design and Research Center, University of Pune. Also, Padmashri Dr.S.B.Mujumdar, founder director, president of Symbiosis Society and Chancellor Symbiosis International (Deemed University) graced the occasion. As the guests started arriving and the auditorium started filling up, the students realized that they were indeed very lucky to get to meet such eminent personalities.
In fact in his address, Dr. Mujumdar mentioned that on this particular day amongst all events taking place in Pune that was the only unique occasion where two prominent personalities of such high caliber are sharing the same dais. He also said that the credit for this goes to the SIG.
In his address Padmashri Dr.Pramod Kale narrated brief history of India’s entry into the space technology and also its progress from 1962 till date with sending Chandrayan to moon. He also emphasized on the use of GIS in various projects related to transportation and infrastructure development. He mentioned, how in the very near future, it would be possible for commuters to have a system on every vehicle which would enable them to track various social facilities like petrol pumps, hospitals, eateries etc, while traveling from one place to another.
Dr.L.M.Patnaik , elaborated on the important role that the computer is playing in our day to day lives in his address. He mentioned that looking at the ever diminishing size of the computer and its increasing utilities; a day is not far when human beings would be able to communicate with computers in their own languages.
Dr.S.B.Mujumdar, exhorted the students and the younger generation to take to the new technologies to improve their quality of life while maintaining balance of natural resources. Earlier, Brig.K.K.V. Khanzode, Director Symbiosis Institute of Geoinformatics welcomed the guests.
Maj.Gen. S.K.Chowdhary,VSM, Commandant Military Intelligence Training School, Pune, Dr.Eshwara, Director Geological Survey of India and Brig.Rajiv Divekar, Director, SIMS were amongst the distinguished guests present on the occasion. Students from various colleges of Pune and senior officers from the Military Intelligence Training School, Pune, attended the seminar. It was very heart warming to see some of our own alumni like Ms.Vijayalaxmi Patil Kale, Ms. Dimpi Arora Shah, Mr.Yogesh Kale, Mr.Gaurav Chitransh Grigo and Mr. Vinayak Jadhav witnessing the event.
The introductory session was followed by the plenary session which included experts from the industry like Dr.G.S. Rao (Lavasa) , Mr.Rajendra Tamhane (Tele Atlas), Mr.Rajesh Bhide (ESRI,India), Mr.Anthony (Cybertech), Dr.K.R.Rao (CME), Mr.Sameer Deshpande(Director, Geo Resource Mapping Pune). And it was indeed a moment of pride to see Mr.Yogesh Kale (CHF, International), who is also an alumni of SIG, sharing the stage with such eminent personalities.
As the event proceeded, the next event in succession was ‘Abhigyan’ – the paper presentation. This event included papers that covered diverse fields in Geoinformatics, including GIS, Remote Sensing, and Image Processing etc. It was a platform for students from various institutes to showcase their work in the field of Geoinformatics. Rizwan Sheikh, a student of SIG, won the first prize for presenting his paper on ‘Mapping of Phragmites Karka in Chilka Lake’.
The next event lined up was the debate competition which was aptly called ‘The war of words’. It was very entertaining to see participants from various institutes, animatedly debating on various social and scientific issues. The first and second position for the debate competition was won by Varun Mohite and Rosy Tans respectively. Both are students of IIPM, Pune. ‘I-logic’ – Programming skills test, took place simultaneously at different locations during the event. ‘I-logic’ was an innovative event wherein the programming skills of the participants were tested. The prizes for ‘Paheli’ were taken by Raghav Chakravarthy of Symbiosis Law School and Arijit Mitra of Bhartiya Vidyapeeth (IMED), Pune.
Today, computer gaming is a craze among the younger generation. ‘E-LAN-A-ZANG’ was one of the most popular events of the festival. This particular event saw a large number of students pouring in throughout the day, to counter strike and try their luck.
They say, ‘Dancing is –dreaming with your feet’. ‘Mudra’- The dance competition saw an overwhelming participation in both solo and group dance categories. The auditorium echoed with applause's and once more shouts from the audiences, who were thoroughly enjoying every moment of the event. The dance competition was judged by Ms.Sucheta Joshi (Popular Bharatnatyam danseuse) and Ms.Aditi Iyer (Celebrity Radio Jockey at Radio Mirchi). Aboli group of Fergusson took away the first prize in the group dance category while in the solo dance category the first position was bagged by Preeti Bora of SIG. Grishma of SIHS and Chandrakant Dixit of SIG won the second prize in individual category.
A very interesting incident that definitely needs a mention here was when the emcee for the evening, Sagar Nair called upon Sandip Patil , a student of SIG to come on stage. It so happened that somehow Sagar came to know that Sandip, who is very shy by nature, is a big fan of Ms.Aditi from Radio Mirchi and hence he decided to give his friend an opportunity to speak to Ms.Aditi in person. It was also very nice to see Ms.Aditi obliging Sandip with her autograph! Ms.Aditi also complimented Sandip for his everyday ’farmaish’ of songs and his talent to write couplets, which she said even she could not match. Yes, Sandip would remember this evening all his life!
The closing of a long day of fun and frolic was marked my ‘UTKARSH’, the prize distribution ceremony, so relevant, as winning any competition only makes a person all the more confident and content.
Yugam’09 came to a close with Brig. Khanzode’s address where he appreciated the efforts of each one at SIG. It was when he asked the audience to give a standing ovation to the Batch of 2008-10, that all the students realized that it was this very moment that they had worked so hard for and it was worth all of it.
This narration would be incomplete without a special mention of three students of Batch 2008-10 of SIG; Yatendra Sharma, Ravindar Singh Shekhawat and Akansha Bhatnagar. They were the student coordinators for the entire event and they definitely deserved kudos for their tenacity and perseverance. Also, our alumni Vinayak Jadhav was magnanimous in his presence through the day and providing assistance for vide filming entire proceedings.
Yugam ’09 has laid a foundation for the Tech Fest. We hope to continue and with this experience, organize it on a larger scale next year.
Symbiosis Institute of Geoinformatics is organizing National Tech-Fest "Yugam'09", with the help of academic community for a discussion about the state-of-the-art and future directions in the field of geoinformatics based on theme "Geoinformatics in Planning, Infrastructure and Management in changing Global Environment" which is a rapidly expanding field in India.
OS GEO Seminar held at SIG
SIG hosted a three day seminar-cum-workshop to promote Open Source GIS concept from 28th August 2008 to 30th August 2008, in association with Open source GeoSpatial and Indian Society of Geomatics. The inaugural session was held on 28th August 2008 in the morning session from 9 am to 3 pm. Internationally renowned scientists, namely, Dr P.S. Roy, Deputy Director, NRSA and Maj Gen Dr Siva Kumar, CEO of National Spatial Data Infrastructure, and Director, Natural Resources Data Management System (NRDMS), Department of Science and Technology, Govt of India graced the occasion.
Theme of the seminar was:
• Open Source GIS is a new technology and has evoked much interest amongst IT and Geoinformatics students.
• It will be a competitive technology to the emerging markets and would have strategic effect on the future business models.
Participation in Inter University Symposium
Geohorizon 2008
Geohorizon 2008-Geohorizon is a national level technical symposium conducted by the Society of Geoinformatics Engineers (SGE), a unique community of budding geomatic engineers and the Institute of Remote Sensing, Anna University, Chennai. Two SIG students, Ms.Richa Agrawal and Mr. L. Prasanna Kumar made the Symbiosis Institute of Geoinformatics proud by winning the following trophies:-
• First prize in Poster Presentation-‘Co2 Monitoring a GIS Approach’
• First prize in Image Interpretation
• First prize in ‘Debate- la Tierra’
• Second prize in Paper Presentation on ‘Slum Upliftment Needs an Attention-A GIS approach’.
Apart from these prizes, the student won the overall championship trophy and a scholarship of Rs 27000/-, recognized By Indian Geoinformatics Centre (ESRI’s first authorized learning centre).
Geohorizon 2007
Mr. Rajarshi Bagchi and Mr. Rakesh R. Bhramar of 2006 – 2008 batch participated in ‘Geohorizon 2007',a National Level Technical Symposium on Geomatics at Chennai. They won the first prize in Informal Quiz, and also two second prizes in Technical Quiz and for their paper presentation on ‘ Effects of Aquatic Plants of the Mula and Mutha Rivers in the Ecological Life of Pune: - A Remote Sensing & GIS Approach'.
Co-Curricular Activities
At SIG, emphasis is laid on the need to balance classroom and out-of-classroom life. The students work hard in class, but they also utilize their energies for diverse activities such as organizing seminars on contemporary issues, guest lectures and other inter-college competitions. Students are also encouraged to form informal groups and clubs based on their areas of interests, share information and exchange ideas. The curricular activities include Seminars and Workshops Programs. The college arranges a number of expert lectures, workshops and symposia on the emerging areas of GIS. In order to develop all round personality of the students for better career prospects, institute conducts soft skills training during the course of their study.
The field visits are organized by the institute to make the students compare the attribute data with the ground data to get better accuracy.
These co-curricular activities help them to:
• Improve communication skills
• Develop the right kind of attitude
• Enhance leadership qualities and abilities
• Work in a high pressure environment
• Manage stress well
• Emerge as a team player
• Refine interpersonal skills
• Develop group skills
• Improve creativity
• Set ambitious targets
• Become result-oriented
Extra Curricular Activities
The cultural committee of students had organized cultural programmes comprising quiz competitions, and other cultural events, Teachers’ Day celebrations and musical programmes to encourage participants and nurture their latent talents. This activity worked very well as a stress buster and to build bonhomie.
Awareness Programme- Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary
A group of proactive students took part in the awareness programme held on the occasion of Mahashivaratri at Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary where they assisted the forest department for organizing the pilgrims. The students spread the word about cleanliness and protection of the forest area. The pilgrims were also told not to litter and to take part in cleanliness drive.
Students at SIG show consideration and identify their role in awareness and development of society, for which activities are organized, recent one being visiting old age homes in Pune. Students also paid a visit to Queen Mary’s Technical Institute for Disabled Soldiers. Efforts are made to make people aware of this emerging field and its prominence in decision making in society. This involved visit to students of Kendriya Vidyalaya, Khadki, of less privileged classes, imparting knowledge about the wide scope of the upcoming subject of Geoinformatics and its relevance to their curriculum.
Participation in International Conferences
ESRI India User's Conference 2007
Students of SIG participated keenly in Second ESRI Asia-Pacific User Conference on 18th and 19th January 2007 at New Delhi . For them it was a peep into the corporate world connected with GIS domain, where they had an opportunity to get the feel of the GIS applications. Mr. Ashish Arora of 2005 – 2007 batch presented a paper on ‘Development Plan for a Township Using GIS for Indore Development Authority' and won the first prize amongst contestants comprising Ph D scholars and students from different universities including delegates from abroad. Over 1500 participants who attended the meet comprised senior Government officials, academicians and private sector GIS operators.
Map India 2007
Our students participated in the first ever ‘Map World Forum' conference held at International Convention Center at Hi-tech City of Hyderabad from 22nd January to 25th January 2007. SIG students presented multifarious geospatial topics of utility to the society with six posters and two paper presentations. SIG students participation in the conference was much appreciated by delegates including those from foreign countries.
Map India 2006 , New Delhi Map India is an Annual International Conference and Exhibition in the field of geographic information technologies like GIS, GPS, Aerial Photography and Remote Sensing. Map India aims to provide a common platform for the convergence, sharing and use of technologies and experiences in the Geospatial domain. The 10th Annual Conference of Map India was held at Hotel Taj at New Delhi, India from 31st January to 2nd February 2006. The conference evoked an overwhelming response from the students of the pioneer batch of Symbiosis Institute of Geoinformatics. The participants presented their papers covering a wide gamut of geospatial topics. In all 14 papers were presented by students of SIG which in itself was sufficient to make their presence felt.
Geospatial Information and Technology Association (GITA) – SIU Student Chapter
A new chapter in the annals of SIG was opened, when GITA of USA approached us to establish a GITA-SIG Student Chapter in order to provide excellence in education and information exchange on the use and benefits of geospatial information and technology in telecommunications, infrastructure, and utility applications. Ours is the only Student Chapter in India.
Events 
