AR_final file_2018-19

DIRECTOR’S REPORT Indian science has moved into the era of mega-projects, where several institutions take leading roles in building multi-national international research facilities for the use of Indian scientists and students. IUCAA has been made responsible of the scientific and human resource aspects of LIGO - India, which involves setting up the third Laser Interferometric Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) detector on Indian soil, a mega-science initiative taken up by the Government of India through the Departments of Atomic Energy (DAE), and Science and Technology (DST). The University Grants Commission (UGC) has shown support even at this early stage by sanctioning new positions and resources available to this initiative at IUCAA. Also, IUCAA leads key aspects of the Thirty Meter Telescope, also funded by the DAE and DST, to be built in collaboration with Japan, China, Canada, and several institutions in the USA. In addition, IUCAA plays a very important role, on behalf of the Indian Universities, in ISRO’s scientific programmes. The AstroSat Science Support Cell has been established at IUCAA, supported by ISRO, providing a unique opportunity for researchers at Indian Universities at all levels, and IUCAA members, to carry out their scientific research with AstroSat. An excellent team at IUCAA is also building the Solar Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (SUIT), a payload for ISRO’s future Aditya - L1 mission to study the Sun. Substantial work has begun at IUCAA conceptualizing many of the future space projects in science that might be taken up by ISRO for launch. IUCAA currently has 23 Faculty and Emeritus Faculty, 35 Post-Doctoral Fellows, and 53 PhD Scholars. They have collectively published 130 peer-reviewed papers, with a mean impact factor of 5.49. I am very proud of this statistic, since it shows that my colleagues are not just very productive in their research, but they are making a substantial impact on the subject. During this year, seven IUCAA students have obtained PhD degrees. Even more gratifying is the fact that the 169 Visiting Associates of IUCAA, who are faculty members at Indian Universities and Colleges, supported in their research by IUCAA, have published 318 peer-reviewed papers during the same period (with a mean impact factor of 3.48, which has been increased through the years). This clearly indicates the impact IUCAA has had in promoting and nurturing Astronomy and Astrophysics (A & A) research at institutions of higher education all over the country. During this year, we welcomed Surhud More to our Core Faculty (Scientist - F), who has joined us from the Kavli Institute of Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (IPMU), Tokyo, Japan. Further, five appointments were made in the new positions in Technical and Scientific category, sanctioned by the UGC for augmenting capacity in view of the LIGO - India mega science project. Three have joined ( 16 )