physics dept 2015-16

Physics department had many achievements to be proud of and many activities involving both
staff and students in the academic year 2015-16.

Achievements :

• Neetu Singh , TYBSc ( 2014-15) was ranked in the top 1% ( among 1702 students) at the
state level , in NGPE (National Graduate Physics Examination) conducted by IAPT.
• Twelve students from SYBSc & TYBSc appeared for NGPE (National Graduate Physics
Examination). Marks scored by three of our students Siddharth Sardesai and Parag Aseri
from SYBSc and Jayesh Sah from TYBSc in part A of the examination were above the
cutoff making them eligible for the next round of evaluation.
• Miss Aarti Chavan, TYBSC student got a score of 24.33 in JAM 2016 and secured AIR
1347 at the National level.

Department Activities:

• An Essay competition on the topic “ My favorite Scientist” was conducted on 27 June th

2015 .
• Student seminars are given a lot importance in the physics department since it helps
the students to build confidence in their capacity to prepare for the topics and to
deliver the lectures.
• On 4 July , Akshay Shelake gave a seminar presentation on “Quantum Computing”.
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• TYBSc students Ashish Mishra, Suraj Soni and Jayesh Sah gave seminars on “The Solar
system” on 11 and 25 July.
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• On 1 August, Mirza Shah Ali from SYBSc gave a presentation on “Particle physics”.
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• A Physics Quiz was conducted for FY, SY and TYBSc students on 8th August 2015.
• An Inter Collegiate Quiz Competition “ Kaun Banega Physicist” based on the lines of the
popular show “Kaun Banega Crorepati” was organized on 26 November 2015. A java
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program was developed by Dr. Santosh Bhaskaran for this purpose. Forty three teams
comprising of 2 students each from various colleges in Mumbai participated in this
event. At the elimination round, six teams were selected for the final “Hot Seat round”
which was hosted by Dr. Santosh Bhaskaran in the frst half and Dr. Devidas Gulwade in
the second half. Three teams, one from Ruparel college, one from Wilson College and
one from National college , got first , second and third prizes respectively.
• Physics department held a physics exhibition on 13 February in which 58 students
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participated, presenting 35 working models in Physics. First , second and third prizes
were awarded to models based on hydraulics, hydroelectricity, holography and
Infinite Mirror respectively.
• Our current TYBSc students , Nalini , Sounder Rajan and Prathamesh Kulkarni attended a talk by
Prof. Heinrich Voelk , from University of Hydelberg on “Cosmic rays in our galaxy “in TIFR on 29
th Jan 2016
Best practices of the department & innovative methods :
• Dr. Devidas Gulwade initiated a competition “Physics problem League “ as part of talent
nurture program. It was a continuous activity and one problem was given to students
every month. Students participated in this program as a mixed group of 3 students from
2 & Third year.
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• As is the practice every year, the department conducted tests for TYBSc students every
Monday. There were problem solving sessions for TYBSc students twice a week. TYBSc
students gave seminars on experiments they performed during their practical sessions.
Also we conducted a large number of remedial lectures for FY and SYBSc students .We
grouped them into small batches to give more attention to each student , which they
do not get in large classes.
• A Bridge course was conducted for FYBSc & SYBSc students from 4th April 2016 to 23st
April 2016. The aim of this course is to help the students to solve problems in physics
and perform well in competitive exams. A small course in Space biology was also
conducted during this period by Dr. Santosh Bhaskaran.
Workshops by invitees:
• Prof Chakradev, retired professor and HOD of Physics department , CHM College
Ulhasnagar conducted a workshop on “ Demonstration experiments in Physics” on
2nd Septermber 2016. He enthralled the huge gathering of students from FY, SY and
TYBSc classes with his outstanding skill in demonstrating simple principles in Physics. He
has conducted more than 1600 such workshops all over India. Encouraged by him two
of our SYBSc students Parag Aseri and Shah Mirza Ali felt enthused to assist him in his
program for school children on 6 September , in a workshop conducted by Marathi
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Vijnan Parishad.
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Alumni Activities:
• Rohan Rajashekharan presently doing his M tech in IIT Madras and Usha Rao doing her
PhD in high pressure Physics in BARC addressed our present students on 30th July
2015. Both spoke on their research topics and motivated the students for higher
studies. Both of them are our alumini from the 2011-12 batch.
• Dr. Kanchan Khemchandani again an alumnus (1995-96 batch) who is presently a
Professor in the University Rio De Janiero, Brazil, gave a talk on Hadron physics on 16th
Jan 2016 . She inspired our students to take up new challenges every day and to never
miss a chance to learn new things.
Collaboration activity :

• BARC Collaboration: 4 students from TYBSc , Sriraj Kumar, Neetu singh , Jyoti Mishra and Jyoti
Singh attended a BARC summer project on “Determination of foil thickness from the energy loss
of alpha particles” from 20 June to 31 July 2015 under the guidance of
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Dr K Mahata , Nuclear physics Division. This collaboration was made possible due to the
efforts of Dr. Sarla Rathi.
• Prof. Mohan Karuppayil, School of Life Sciences, SRTMU, Nanded approached Dr. Santosh Bhaskaran
to design and develop a 1-D clinostat because of his expertise in space biology. Dr. Santosh has
provided voluntary consultancy service by designing and developing the same for him.

Visits

• On National science Day, (28 February) two of our teachers Dr. Sarla Rathi and Dr.
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Santosh Bhaskaran along with 45 students from SYBSc and TYBSc visited BARC. This
year’s theme was “ The world of Materials “ and it was organized by Dr. G.K. Dey ,
Associate director , material science group and his team.
• Students from bridge course also visited Nehru Science Centre and Nehru planetarium
on 25th April 2016 along with our staff Dr Santosh Bhaskaran VERSLARC activities :
• Dr. Anita Kanwar was felicitated for her contribution to Adharshila , innovative and
collaborative group of VES.
• Dr Sarla Rathi and Dr. Santosh Bhaskaran attended an induction training program on 8th
July 2015.
• On 14 July our TYBSc students attended a “ goal setting program “ conducted by
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VERSLARC
• On 25 August 2015, Prof. Hemalatha Deshpande & Dr. Anita Kanwar attended a talk by
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Dr. Saxena , V.C. , NMIMS

Staff Development Programs:
• Prof. Hemalatha Deshpande attended Board Of studies meetings for discussing SYBSc
Physics revised syllabus.
• All the teaching faculty of Physics department gave seminars on topics related to the
experiments to be done during practical sessions of FY, SY and TYBSc .
• Dr Anita Kanwar gave presentation on UGC schemes of community colleges and BVoc to
VES staff members on 27th June 2015
• Dr. Santosh Bhaskaran attended a one day workshop on Emerging Opportunities and
Rewarding Career of Radiation and Cancer Research organised by the Department of
Biophysics, University of Mumbai on 4 July.
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• All the teachers from Physics department attended a workshop on “Innovative ideas –
waste management” conducted on 11th August 2015 by Mr. Jayant Joshi.
• Dr. Anita Kanwar attended a leadership seminar organized by Ramakrishna Mission
,Bandra on 22-8-2015.
• Dr. Santosh Bhaskaran attended a national symposium on 25 and 26 September 2015
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on medical biophysics at Department of Physics , University of Pune.

• Dr. Anita Kanwar attended a meeting of Vijnan Bharti at Ruia college and a presentation
by a foreign guest on development of smart cities on 1st September 2015.
• Dr. Santosh Bhaskaran attended a oneday workshop on 19th November 2015 organized
by the Board of studies in Physics , Mumbai university, at VG Vaze college
• Dr. Sarla Rathi attended a 4 week orientation course starting from Nov 18 2015 at th

Mumbai university.
• Dr. Anita Kanwar attended a two day conference on 21 and 22 January organized by
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computer Society of India IT 2020

• Prof. Sulekha Gopinath, Prof. Hemalatha Deshpande , Dr Anita Kanwar, Dr. Sarla Rathi,
Dr. Santosh Bhaskaran attended a 2 day National conference on 17th and 18th
February 2016 on “Evolving as smart colleges “ organized by IQAC team VES College. Dr
Anita Kanwar was the co-convener of the conference.
• Dr Sarla Rathi visited HBCSE on 26th Feb 2016 on National Science Day, where liquid
nitrogen experiments, learning mathematics, science and technology experiments at
school and colleges, were demonstrated.
Extension Activities:
• Dr. Anita Kanwar visited Gramin Shikshan sanstha college of ASC as LIC committee
member on 1st August 2015 for a grant of continuous affiliation .
• Dr Anita Kanwar was the judge for the poster making contest and Advertising contest on
15th September 2015 organised by VES polytechnic for Engineer’s day.
• Dr Anita Kanwar also gave a presentation on 18th November 2015 for DBT Star College
scheme proposal at Shri Venkateshwara college , New Delhi.
• Dr Anita Kanwar was a judge for Avishkar for PG , PhD students and teachers category at
CKT College Panvel on 21st Dec 2015
• Dr Anita Kanwar was a resource person for the Career guidance Fest organized by RD &
SH National college on 14 March 2016
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• Dr. Devidas Gulwade was the resource person for the summer school in theoretical
physics conducted by IAPT , Mumbai Sub regional Council . It was organized in Wilson
college and he conducted the sessions on 21st and 22nd April.