National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) is a pioneer institute in Research and Development (R&D) activities in the State of Odisha. Right from its inception in the year 1996, NIST has been involved in numerous R&D activities. NIST has received a huge amount fund (6.6 Crores) for Research Project from different Govt funding agency (SERB/ DST/NBHM/CSIR/UGC/DRDO/ISRO etc.) during last 5 years. The institute has set up modern laboratories and the supporting infrastructure for undergraduate and post graduate and Ph. D. students. A research orientated education at this Institute can enhance engineering science to development of new technology. NIST has successfully implemented Under Graduate Research program and student RAs and Summer Interns have done commendable research work. Recently NIST has been awarded the Energy Conservation Award - 2017 by the Govt. of Odisha and NIST Student Team has won the First Prize in the CADENCE design contest.
NIST along with collaborating institutions like IIT, Delhi, NEERI, Nagpur, CMET, Pune, University of Hyderabad, University of California, Michigan State University, Stanford University, and NJIT, USA have bagged the Intel DST-IUSF Award for the project, ‘Integrated low cost water sensor for real time river-water monitoring and decision-making” jointly funded by the Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India and Intel (Indo-US Science and Technology Forum). Research activities are the backbone of any good Institute and the activities lead to innovation and development of new technologies.
300 Research papers were published in International/ National reputed Journals by NIST faculty members during last 5 years
6.6 Crore Rupees of Research Fund from Govt. of India ( SERB/DST/DRDO/ISI/NBHM/AICTE/ICSSR ) received by NIST faculty during last 5 Years
2 Patents by NIST faculty members during last 5 years
80 Research articles published by NIST students in Reputed Int/National Journals/Inter/Nation Conference Proceedings during last 5 years
The NIST University is in the process of building Global Innovation Centers (GICs) in four key areas:
The GICs are built and/or planned to be developed with global collaboration of industries, labs, universities, and govt. The technical resourcing to support these GICs at NIST University is through a three-tier approach:
The objective is to leverage research, innovation, and product prototype/PoC in those key technology areas. GICs are expected to attract companies for product development in those key segments and/or develop the startup/companies (Make in Odisha/India initiative) with commercial production. The near-term objective is to have a technology corridor in southern Odisha leveraging research universities/institutes (e.g., NIST University, IISER ...) and Tata SEZ facility. NIST University is expected to serve as the de-facto R&D facility and an epicenter of innovation for high-tech companies in different verticals. This will certainly help our state of Odisha to become a high-technology hub of national eminence in the near future.
The NIST University has already established the 5G and Future Communication Global Innovation Center (GIC). The GIC infrastructure is provided by Celona (www.celona.io), California, USA. The GIC has complete 5G infrastructure including core, radio (GNodeB), and antennas supporting Private Wireless Networks (PWN). NIST University campus is currently running a 5G network leveraging the mid-band spectrum provided by DoT.
NIST University is also working with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), USA in providing 5G/6G testbeds worldwide. This will enable access to 5G/6G testbed globally to industries, research labs, researchers, and the student community for collaborative innovation and evolution of 5G/6G technology.
NIST University is working with Celona, USA collaboratively for publications, research grants, and patents. In addition, both NIST University and Celona are in discussion with mining sectors for the deployment of 5G technology in support of smart mining in India. This will differentiate mining sectors for not only using the latest communication technology (i.e., 5G) first-time in the mining vertical, but also for significant increases in productivity, safety, and security, and enabling automation in moving towards the era of smart mining. Given in Odisha there are around 1260 mines, this will be a game changer for the state and potentially Celona, USA opening a 5G production unit in the state.
NISTU is in the process of developing the Semiconductor Fabrication Global Innovation Center (GIC) leveraging advanced materials in a differentiated way.
India needs to empower its semiconductor visions by propelling innovation infrastructure leading to productizations in emerging technologies that are most conducive for scale-up in India. Advanced compound semiconductor devices (Gallium Arsenide GaAs, Gallium Nitride GaN, Indium Phosphide InP, Silicon Carbide SiC, and Silicon Germanium Si-Ge) enabling drones, electric vehicles, advanced wireless (5G) and telecommunication (100 Gb/s), renewable energy, smart power grid, mobile internet-of-things can position India as the production hub of such immense value-added industries. The silicon-based semiconductor industry faces stiff competition and decreasing margins due to large capacity in China, Taiwan, Germany, and the USA, whereas compound semiconductor-based chipsets are in controlled technology regimes and ideal for pursuing in India with collaboration from the USA, as China has limited access to achieve dominance in these new generation and strategic sectors.
“Make-in-India” technology developments by NIST University and USA Technology company/ University collaborated Center for India Advanced Compound Semiconductors (IACS) facility in GaN, InP, SiC, and SiGe will create an ecosystem of global-scale excellence in Berhampur/Odisha region that can replace existing Silicon Valley, and spur large scale product development in subsystems (power electronics, control devices, detectors) and eventual sectoral dominance in Drones, Unmanned Autonomous System, EV, 5G, ultrahigh-speed telecom, smart grids, and next generation telemedicine.
This advanced “Make-in-India” technology development facility will transform Berhampur /Chhatrapur (Southern Odisha) into a new cradle of advanced semiconductor technologies that will bring India into a global semiconductor leadership position. Once established, apart from R&D and product development, this facility will also train semiconductor manpower across Odisha/India as well as usher commercialization of developed chipsets across the country.
NIST University is in active discussion with companies in the US and semiconductor funding organizations in India to have the Semiconductor GIC at NIST University.
The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is integrated into the work-life culture at NIST University. AI has been extensively used now at the University from content creation, AI chatbots, translation service, advertising, and marketing to social media branding. NIST University has private cloud infrastructure, hardware, and software tools in support of state-of-the-art laboratories for research and innovation in AI and ML. We are now working with multiple industries (e.g., www.saclit.in) collaboratively in this area to transform innovation into commercialization/productization. The key objective is to bring innovation in various focus areas to real-life products in collaboration with various industries. The areas of focus are:
The work at NIST University in collaboration with companies has the potential for having niche AI companies/startups developing products at NISTU incubation centers and moving to a large-scale product center in Odisha.
The Biotechnology Global Innovation Center (GIC) has a special focus on Marine Biotechnology to leverage the marine biodiversity of 414 km of Odisha coastal belt. In addition to state of art laboratories in Molecular Biotechnology, the Biotechnology GIC is expected to leverage diverse resources and expertise of various labs, research, and innovation at NIST University (e.g., Bio-Informatics, Sensor Technology, IoT, AI in the medical vertical). The GIC eventually will enable and support biotechnology firms along the eastern corridor of India. The Biotechnology GIC is involved in:
As per the Odisha Gazette Notification, No 192, January 25, 2024 (issued by the Department of Science and Technology) the Biotechnology Policy of Odisha encourages the Center of Research Excellence (CRE) in Biotechnology in different regions of Odisha.Southern Odisha (specifically Gopalpur region) is the most suitable location to have CRE on Marine Biotechnology. At the guidance/suggestion from “Make in Odisha Conclave 2022”, the NIST and Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER – Berhampur) have applied for a research grant for the Biotech CRE at Berhampur. The same may be supported by Govt. of Odisha for the realization of the envisioned Biotech Park in the State.
Scaling up for commercial development and IPR generation requires the identification of marine organisms and a list of potential biomaterials and bioactive natural products of health, cosmetics, and commercial value. Genomic and metagenomic analysis of marine species of high value or near extinction is to create a catalogue of the marine life of Odisha. Exploration of potential methods for sustainable cultivation and extraction of the shortlisted biomaterials and bioactive natural products to produce on a higher scale for further usage and commercialization is critical.
The facilities and grant for exploration and genomic sequencing of bio-diverse species of Odisha coastal belt not only shall make Odisha’s Biotech Park a reality but also attract companies to Odisha with interest in health care and cosmetic product development. In addition, it will help ocean tourism, protection of endangered species, and targeted commercial fishing activities with huge financial and employment benefits to the state of Odisha.
A NISTian research group refers to a well-knit thinking micro-community obsessed with a specialization. The underlying philosophy being ten thinking heads are better than one. We have the following groups:
Research Area | Brief Description | Details |
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NANOMATERIAL RESEARCH GROUP | The group at the Center for Nanoscience and Technology was founded by Late Prof. S.N.Sahu and this group is currently very active in the areas of nanocrystal semiconductors and metallic nanoparticles with a motivation for possible applications in solar cells for fuel production, chemical/biosensors, nano-electric devices and environmental application. | |
HIGH PERFORMANCE SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING GROUP | High Performance Computing involves using large computers to solve major scientific and engineering and Science problems. HPC is used from weather prediction to designing consumer products. The members of the HPC group at NIST investigate many aspects of High Performance Computing from innovations in core numerical algorithms, to system software and tools to enabling productive use of large-scale computation. | |
COMPUTER VISION GROUP | The objective of Computer Vision group is to perform research in the areas of Digital Image Processing, Computer Vision, Pattern Recognition and related fields. The group has engaged many B. Tech and M. Tech students for research and development of algorithm related to computer vision. It also provides hands on to its student for the development of medical image analysis tools. | |
WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORK GROUP | This group aims to explore the current research issues in wireless communication and wireless networks. In particular, the group is actively engaged in study anchor free localization in under water sensor networks, discrimination in faults in wireless sensor networks, mobility patterns of sensor nodes, routing issues in vehicular cloud, outlier detection, spectrum sensing and handoff in cognitive radio sensor networks, video summarization and video synopsis. | |
VLSI & EDA GROUP | The group works on the concepts of VLSI to implement in Silicon. The group trains students and make ready for Cadence VLSI certification Program (CVCP) in collaboration with Cadence, India. The group trained students on Electronic Design Automation tools for VLSI/ASIC Design during Summer Semester and record number of students joined in this group. | |
EQUINOX GROUP | Space-faring nations are actively exploring outer space and planetary bodies in our solar system both individually and as collaborators with other nations. Missions extending from low-Earth orbit to Earthʼs moon and beyond to destinations throughout the solar system have been successfully conducted. | |
MICROWAVE GROUP | The group is active in Antenna, characterization of Microwave Devices as well as circuits. The Tools like Microwave Office, CST, IE3D are using by the group for Antenna and Microwave Research. Antenna Fabrication Unit, VNA (up to UWB-band) and Anechoic Chamber (up to X-band) are also available for group’s research purpose. | |
DEVICE GROUP | The primary research area of this group is Semiconductor Device Physics, VLSI, Nanotechnology, Microelectronics and Photovoltaic. The group basically works on Fabrication and characterization of Semiconductor Devices and Nanotechnology. | |
SEMICONDUCTOR GROUP | Research work on the study of 2D electron density and mobility in GaN/AlGaN asymmetrically coupled quantum well heterostructures for development of MODFET devices Study of the effect of external/gate electric field on electron mobility in pseudomorphic GaAs/InGaAs quantum well FET structures |
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EMBEDDED SYSTEMS GROUP | Our research focus is on distributed, fault-tolerant, real-time embedded systems.More than 90 percent of existing computer systems are embedded systems consisting of both hardware and software components. Primary Research Interests of the group are | |
ROBOTICS & MECHATRONICS GROUP | Now surpassing the age of the automatization, the society is running towards the robotization. Most of the sophisticated and adventurous activities are performed by using robots. The broad area of applications of robotics not limited in the most popular and important fields such as defense, transportation, civil works, mechanical, agriculture, medical, astronomy etc. | |
POWER SYSTEM RESEARCH GROUP | This group works on several aspects of emerging technologies in power system. Phasor measurement unit is measuring device which was already deployed in many countries and in India also (pilot stage) for achieving accurate information about the power system behaviour. | |
MATHEMATICS AND OPTIMIZATION GROUP | This group works on Summability in sequence space, , Cosmology, Mathematical models on Inventory control and Optimization problems. The group is actively engaged in completing the Ph.D work of some of the members of the group. | |
AUTONOMOUS AND INTELLIGENT SYSTEM GROUP | This group is working on design and development of autonomous robots capable of solving complex problems using various artificial intelligent control techniques in real-time. At present the objectives of the group are | |
MATERIALS RESEARCH & CHARACTERIZATION GROUP | This group works on development of materials/modification of existing materials for better performance to bridge the technical gaps in the literature and also to meet the societal/industrial needs. The group is actively working on the following areas | |
FLUID AND ENERGY GROUP | Algorithm developed for Euler equation, Supersonic flow visualization, New refrigerant and absorbent development, Fluid flow analysis, CFD |
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DESIGN AND MANUFACTURING GROUP | Our research activity is related to the development of bio waste material for industrial applications. In our activity, we study mechanical and tribological behavior of natural fiber composites. Study the carbonization of natural fiber to improve the mechanical and tribological performance using Taguchi Approach for analysis purpose. | |
RENEWABLE ENERGY GROUP | The Renewable Energy group has been engaged in Research Projects, Conducting Short-term Courses, and Innovative Product Development. It undertakes projects on feasibility studies. as well as implements projects, for various agencies, industries, and CSR programs in rural villages under the larger gamut of Food-Water-Energy nexus. | |
APPRAISAL REASEARCH GROUP | This group works on assessment and validation of code specifications prevailing on worldwide especially with Indian, American and British codes by implementing modern design methods like Strut- and- Tie method in place of conventional Sectional force design method in design and detailing of various structural members. | |
GEO TECHNICAL RESEARCH GROUP | This group works on usage of geo synthetics in achieving soil stability and improving bearing capacity by using waste materials. It also works on ensuring soil characteristics for various construction activities. |