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The School of Physical Sciences, Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada University (SRTMU), Nanded, Maharashtra, conducted the International Workshop on LIGO-India (IWLI-2019), during December 15-16, 2019, and was jointly organized by IUCAA; Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), Bengaluru; and SRTMU. Main objective was to begin engaging the scientists, engineers, and technicians, especially, college and university students around the LIGO- India site in instrumentation and science part of the project. As the proposed site of the LIGO-India falls within its jurisdiction, SRTMU (~ 60 km North) naturally attracted more attention, and has been expected to play a lead role in generating interest among the young talents from the nearby region. This workshop was intended mainly for young research scholars, post-doctoral fellows and young faculty members from universities, science and engineering colleges. More than 200 participants from IITs, NITs, IISERs, Engineering Colleges and Universities attended this workshop, which was inaugurated by the former education minister, Hon’ble Kamal Kishor Kadam. Udhav Bhosle (Vice-Chancellor, SRTMU) was the Chairman for the inaugural programme, while Sukanta Bose (IUCAA), Ajit Kembhavi (IUCAA), Frederick Raab (LIGO Hanford Observatory, USA), and Brian O’Reilly (LIGO Livingston Observatory, USA), were the Guests of Honour. J. S.Bisen (Pro Vice-Chancellor, SRTMU) was also present. The workshop started with a welcome address by M. K. Patil (Director, School of Physical Sciences), who briefly explained the theme and the activities to be carried out during the workshop. The resource persons were: Varun Bhalerao (IIT – Bombay, Mumbai), Su k a n t a Bo s e , Su r e s h Do r a v a r a i (IUCAA), Ajit Kembhavi, Shivaraj Kandhasamy (IUCAA), Sanjit Mitra (IUCAA), Nikhil Mukund (Max-Plank Institute, Germany), Jayant Narlikar ( IUCAA) , F r ede r i ck Ra ab , Br i an O’Re i l l y, and Gau t am Ve nugopa l (Caltech, USA). The topics covered in the workshop were: Introduction to gravitational waves (GW): Sources and data analysis, GW interferometers, EM follow- up, Building and operating a GWdetector, and LIGO – India. In addition to these formal talks, two special interaction sessions were also arranged, in which attempts were made to map the areas of interest of the participants in tune with the upcoming LIGO-India. These sessions were led by Udhav Bhosle, Ajit Kembhavi, Frederick Raab,L. M. Waghmare, and others. All the faculty members, administrative staff and students of the School of Physical Sciences, SRTMU, have taken much efforts in organizing this workshop. Sukanta Bose, andM. K. Patil were the coordinators of the workshop. As a part of the workshop, a public Marathi lecture by Jayant Narlikar, was held on the topic: Gurutvakarshanachya Lahri (Gravitational Waves), on Sunday, December 15, 2019. The public lecture was intended for school, college students, and the science loving general public at large, from Nanded city with a central theme to educate them on the importance of the gravitational waves and implications of the upcoming cutting-edge technology based mega project LIGO-India in the vicinity of this university. The public lecture was attended by more than 5,000 people, and was an unique event in the history of the university. The good attendance was due to a well coordinated advertisement through posters, banners, Aakashwani, and social media. Also, another public lecture by Fredrick Raab on Challenges in building GW detectors was arranged at MGM’s College of Engineering, Nanded. International Workshop on LIGO-India No. 121 - January 2020 12
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