Driving Change

Elected bodies are giving voice to student issues   On a rainy October evening in 2024, Chiranjeevi Sadana, PhD student at the Department of Mechanical Engineering and newly elected Chairperson of the Students’ Council, is making arrangements for the first open mic of his term. The Students’ Council had finally been reinstated after six months. […]

‘With Gen AI, there are now a lot of opportunities, but also challenges’

Nihar B Shah is Associate Professor at Carnegie Mellon University, USA, where he leads a research group exploring how human-AI collaboration can lead to more trustworthy research publications and fairer evaluation systems. He completed his ME from the Department of Electrical Communication Engineering (ECE) at IISc in 2010, and also received the Young Alumnus Medal […]

Campus Canopies

Tracing the history of IISc’s green pathways   While casually strolling through IISc roads, one simply needs to look up – to be immediately immersed in the sight of the soaring avenue trees. Vibrant-hued seasonal flowers bloom on them as they merge into canopies, creating a breathtaking vista throughout the campus. The vibrant greenery of […]

‘I don’t want to be “Durga”. I want to be Anindita’

Anindita Bhadra, Professor at the Behaviour and Ecology Lab, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Kolkata, does not believe in glorifying women as multitaskers. A former PhD student at the Centre for Ecological Sciences, IISc, Anindita studied hierarchy in social wasps and later shifted to researching the behaviour of stray dogs in India. […]

Behind the Badge

A day in the life of hostel warden Chikka Gangamma    In the early morning hours, when most of the campus is still stirring from sleep, a familiar figure makes her way through the quiet streets of IISc. With a gentle smile that has become her trademark, Chikka Gangamma begins another day of guarding not […]

Connecting Calls

Beginning in the 1980s, Dhanalakshmi M, was one of the many dedicated telephone operators at IISc for over three decades. She was born on 13 May 1957 in Bangalore, and completed her BSc in Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Biology from Maharani’s College. After a diploma in ‘Reception and Bookkeeping’ from Sri Jayachamarajendra Polytechnic, Bangalore, she […]