Bangalore University To Start Mobile Science Unit

Bangalore University (BU) is under discussion to start a Mobile Science Unit. It shall soon submit its proposal in this regard to the University Grants Commission (UGC) to get its approval for the project under the Innovative Universities Scheme.

Professor Sharath Ananthamurthy Chairman of BU's Department of Science said "The main motto is to make science accessible to people on the streets and increase their understanding of and interest in the subject. This mobile science unit will function on the lines of the mobile libraries of the department of Libraries of the State Government."

He also said that "This is one of the initiatives being planned by the department. The department of Physics will soon see a makeover of both infrastructure and laboratory facilities. A science communication centre is also being planned. Computers would be upgraded and new systems procured within the next four months. And the department will also get Wi-Fi facility".

In order to give a lift to the infrastructure, Prof Sharath has also planned to approach the National funding agencies including the Ministry of science and Technology. He said that students will have the access to Optical Tweezer and the Raman Spectometer very shortly.

He said "The department's two weather stations that were set up a few months ago will also receive a fillip. A display unit, showing the weather computed, will be put up in front of the department. The weather stations are digitising data on humidity, temperature, wind speed and directions. With the display units, those on the BU campus will get regular updates on weather."

To bring out this plan as a great success the department's Chandrashekar Research Scholar Forum is now active with 18 full time research scholars and several part-time scholars. The scholars will gather once in two weeks to discuss developments pertaining to not just their fields of research but also international developments in Physics.