Tata Institute of
Fundamental Research (TIFR)'s second campus at
Hyderabad proposed
Hyderabad,India.October,
2008: Yet
another jewel in the crown of state capital Hyderabad is coming up
in the shape of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR)'s
second campus in Hyderabad. The TIFR, Mumbai is planning to
commemorate the birth centenary of TIFR founder, Dr.Homi J.Bhabha
commencing from October 31, 2008 and is eager to lay the foundation
stone for its Hyderabad Campus at the earliest. Prime Minister
Dr.Manmohan Singh is being approached to lay the foundation stone
for the Hyderabad campus.
The Director of TIFR, Mumbai, Professor Mustansir Barma recently
wrote a letter to the Chief Minister Dr.Y.S.Rajasekhara Reddy about
their proposal for the creation of second campus of TIFR in
Hyderabad, with a projected investment of over Rs.2,500 crores over
a period of 12-15 years. In his letter, he said that Hyderabad, a
fast developing metropolis with excellent infrastructure and good
national and international connectivity meets the required
benchmarks and is their preferred choice for setting up the second
campus. For this purpose, they have requested to earmark required
land within the campus of Hyderabad Central University (HCU),
Hyderabad which they have already identified.
(Prof.Mustansir Barma, Director, TIFR, Mumbai called on Chief
Minister Dr.Y.S.R. at Camp Office)
Chief Minister Dr.Y.S.Rajasekhara Reddy and Hyderabad Central
University Vice-Chancellor Professor Syed E.Hasnain have welcomed
the proposal of TIFR as it is a nation's prestigious research
institute and its location within the Central University campus will
go a long way in making the Central University "World-class research
hub" -a la – 'Little Boston' and it will not only help students and
faculty of the University but also contribute to the economic
development of the State.
Elaborating the need for a second campus of TIFR, Mr.Barma said that
the Institute is poised for a greater growth, but the current campus
lacks the space to meet the demands of the future. The second campus
would take care of its expansion programs and hoped that it would be
set up in two phases, namely Phase I (2008 to 2014) and Phase II
(from 2014 to2020). It is aimed to have permanent faculty strength
of 200 along with approximately 1000 students and 300 postdoctoral
researchers in addition to 400 technical and 500 non-technical staff
by 2020, he said. It is expected that an additional strength of
about 50 faculty and 150 to 200 students along with technical and
non-technical staff of approximately 200 each by the end of Phase-I,
he added.
Establishing the second campus of TIFR in Hyderabad is expected to
bring in a large number of advantages. The location would facilitate
collaborative research with the faculty of other research and
educational institutions in the region. One of the unique
attractions of the proposed location would be the close proximity to
the Central University of Hyderabad which has excellent schools of
Chemistry, Life Sciences, Physics, and Mathematics,
Computer/Information Science, School of Engineering Sciences and
Technology. A synergy of the academic programs in the two
institutions would be of great benefit to both, and would provide
unique opportunities for the future.
TIFR was established in 1945 and its present campus buildings in
Colaba, Mumbai were inaugurated by the former Prime Minister, Pandit
Jawaharlal Nehru in 1962. The institute which began its research in
the areas of Cosmic Rays and High Energy Physics, Theoretical
Physics and Mathematics, extended the scope of its scientific
activities to include fields like Nuclear Physics, Nuclear and
Electron Magnetism, Computer Science, Geophysics, Molecular Biology,
Radio Astronomy and Science Education.
From the very beginning, the research programs at TIFR have involved
graduate students in a central way. TIFR was declared Deemed
University in 2002 and began to award its own degrees. Today, TIFR
is India's premier research Institution and is unique in conducting
research in areas such as Astronomy in an ultra broad spectral
region (Radio waves to y rays), very high field nuclear magnetic
resonance, Terawatt optical lasers, growth of semiconductor quantum
wells, wires and dots, Electron and mid-infrared spectroscopes and
so on. At present, TIFR has an academic faculty strength of about
200 conducting research in various disciplines.
