The DBT STAR College Program started in St.Xavier’s College (Autonomous), Kolkata from the year 2019 and since then it has helped the students, the faculty members and all associated with the departments in innumerable ways.Departments Associated
The three departments associated with this program are
- Department of Physics
- Department of Chemistry
- Department of Microbiology
As the central focus for this program is to boost research and academic activities among students of undergraduate level, incubation of student based reserach activities, outreach programs, various skill ehancement courses, refresher courses for faculty members, establishment of various state-of-the-art laboratory facilities and software tools has been some of the major objectives accomplished.
As for example, the Department of Physics enhanced their lab on Quantum Mechanics and its application and also was able to establish several Matlab software licenses for computational modelling, rapid visualization and data analysis. Various workshops for spreading awareness and list of possibilities for participation across inter-disciplinary module were conducted. For UG dissertation use of Matlab acquired from DBT grant benefitted students for using numerical tools like solving ODE, plotting and other numerical techniques for their project work. The surface profilometer which was successfully installed and calibrated in the last year was used for data gathering for a known hard surface and analysis was done.
As a part of student outreach programme, the department of Chemistry along with Videography Department of the College carried out Inter-disciplinary online Computation classes for the students of UG Chemistry, Physics & Microbiology Departments. The students were explained how to optimize the structures of the simple antibiotics viz. Tinidazole, Ornidazole that have prominent anti-microbial activities. Certain reported copper and iron complexes were also optimized. TD-DFT of some of the molecules was shown to the students in the online mode and they were taught to explain the electronic transitions in the UV-vis spectra of the compounds. As a part of Skill Enhancement Course (SEC) practical, with the help of the chemicals and instruments procured from DBT grant, a detailed study on the efficacy of various novel Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria on different test crops viz. Okra, Chili, Maize and Soybean was conducted involving the undergraduate students of Department of Microbiology.
Other activities including preparation of sanitizer during pandemic era, conducting online student outreach activities, video tutorials to help all undergraduate students in their practical courses etc. Were also conducted as a part of this DBT Star College Program.
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS
Training and courses participated:
Seminars and programme conducted
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY
Department of Microbiology
Department of Biotechnology
Proforma for submission of Annual Progress Report supported under Star College Scheme
(Kindly note that the annual report from Point 6 to 10, should not be more than 5 A4 size sheets, with font size 12pt and line spacing 1.5)
- Name of the College :St. Xavier’s College (Autonomous) Kolkata
- Name of Coordinator; Designation; Address; Phone no: Arup Kumar Mitra; Associate Professor; 30, Mother Teresa Sarani, Kokata-700016; Phone no.: 9831041051.
- Assessment duration : 01/04/2020 to 31/03/2021 Duration in years : 1 year
- Details of Departments Supported
| Sl No | Name of Department | Courses (B.Sc./M.Sc./PG Diploma, certificate etc) offered | Regular Faculty members | |
| Total = | ||||
| With Ph.D. | Without Ph.D. | |||
| 1. | Physics | UG+PG | 12 | 2 |
| 2. | Chemistry | UG[B.Sc (Honours)] | 6 | 1 |
| 3. | Microbiology | UG+PG | 9 | 1 |
- Number & Date of Advisory committee meeting:
The committee consisting of Principal of the College, Coordinator and the faculty members of the Department of Microbiology, Chemistry and Physics met thrice to evaluate the progress of the work.
- Qualitative improvements due to DBT support. Please highlight 5 salient points (within 500 words).
- Department of Physics
- The Semester 5 lab on Quantum mechanics and application have been enhanced by the introduction of the following cost worthy experiments possible because of DBT grant. All the experimental set ups have been installed, demonstrated and made accessible to the students in the online mode such as Electron spin resonance experiment, tunnel diode.
- The Semester 4 lab on Elements of Modern Physics have been extended by the introduction of the following experiments possible because of DBT grant. All the experimental set ups have been installed, demonstrated and made accessible to the students in the online mode such as e/m of electron using Thomson’s method, Millikan’s oil drop experiment, Planck’s constant by LED, Planck’s constant by photo electric effect etc.
- Exposure to Matlab, data fitting, estimation of mass of galaxy clusters and simulating the structure of compact stars using Matlab (from DBT grant) by the students of Physics.
- For UG dissertation, students working on Computational Astrophysics, used Matlab which was acquired using DBT grant. Students used numerical tools like solving ODE, plotting and other numerical techniques for their project work.
- The surface profilometer which was successfully installed and calibrated in the last year was used for data gathering for a known hard surface and analysis was done.
- Department of Chemistry
- Rahul Sharma and Dr. I. Chakraborty along with the Videography Department of the College carried out Inter-disciplinary online Computation classes for the students of UG Chemistry, Physics & Microbiology Departments. The students were explained how to optimize the structures of the simple antibiotics viz. Tinidazole, Ornidazole that have prominent anti-microbial activities. Certain reported copper and iron complexes were also optimized. TD-DFT of some of the molecules was shown to the students in the online mode and they were taught to explain the electronic transitions in the UV-vis spectra of the compounds.
- Inter-disciplinary online classes on Synthesis of certain hydrazones incorporating imidazole, benzimidazole and benzothiazole for the students of both Microbiology and Chemistry. Dr. Ankur Ray and Dr. Sanjib Ganguly were involved in these practical and the students were shown everything live by using the online MS Teams platform.The recurring grants were utilized judiciously to buy quite a few pure chemicals from Sigma, TCI etc. as well as several solvents, desiccators and glasswares to carry out the synthesis. The synthesis of complexes of the hydrazones with Fe (II)/(III) as well as Cu (II) were carried out by reported methods with the help of rotary evaporators. The project has been completed and the findings are communicated to a peer reviewed journal. Dr. Indranil Chakrabarty with some of the students carried out a project on Conceptual Basis of C‒H activation.
- Department of Microbiology
- As a part of Skill Enhancement Course (SEC) practical, with the help of the chemicals and instruments procured from DBT grant, a detailed study on the efficacy of various novel Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria on different test crops viz. Okra, Chili, Maize and Soybean was conducted involving the students of UG semester 6. The entire study was conducted under the guidance of Dr. Arup Kumar Mitra, Dr. Sudeshna Shyam Choudhury, Dr. Jaydip Ghosh, and Dr. Anindita Banerjee. Here the entire batch was divided into 8 separate groups having 5 students each, supervised by the research scholars of Dept of Microbiology. Two papers based on the findings of this experiment have been communicated to peer reviewed journals.
- A series of video tutorials demonstrating the principle, procedure and observation of the practical experiments were conducted and recorded by the professors of the department along with the help of the research scholars. The videos made were informative to help the students in understanding the in-depth procedures of the experiments.
- Any Novel aspect introduced or planning to introduce during the Scheme duration.
Department of Physics
- Department of Physics hosts laboratories for Chemistry, Mathematics, Computer Science, Biotechnology and Microbiology students. During the course of the pandemic, we conducted online practical classes; however, demonstrations and data sets were made available to the students to enhance their assimilation and analysis.
- From the DBT grant, we have obtained several Matlab software licenses for computational modelling, rapid visualization and data analysis. The Physics department has conducted workshop for spreading awareness and list of possibilities for participation across disciplines. Computational Physics course, based on Matlab has been included in the Core Physics syllabus.
Department of Chemistry
- Synthesis and Spectral Characterization of novel diaryl azo-oximes using the biologically relevent imidazole group in the side chain.
- Synthesis and Spectral Characterization of the Ru(III) complexes with the diaryl azo-oximes.
- Applying the ligand as well as the Ru(III) complexes on multidrug resistant bacteria isolated from wide environmental conditions.
- Optimization of the structures of simple antibiotics like Tinidazole and Ornidazole.
Department of Microbiology
- Design and formulation of novel biofertilizers by the students under SEC practical.The students tested the efficacy of the formulated biofertilizers on various seasonal crops viz. Chili, Okra, Maize,& Soybean grown in their experimental setups at their respective homes.
- Preparation of 700 units of Hand Sanitizer for free distribution during the convocation of batch 2020.
- Lessons learnt / difficulties faced/suggestions if any, in implementation of the programme and utilization of DBT grant. (Max 3 points within 300 words).
Department of Physics
License constraints of Matlab was found to be inadequate for proper sharing across networks. In the current pandemic situation, more online software licenses for the students and faculties alike are needed and the Department has already started to look into this matter. The online Practical classes were quite challenging for the faculties as well as the students and this provided an opportunity to prepare a tailor made virtual online laboratory for the experiments covered in the syllabus with a proper science education research grant.
Department of Chemistry
The prime challenge that we faced was to show the experiments in online mode to the students, particularly in the initial stages (just after the lock down) and it was pretty challenging for all the faculty members. Within one or weeks, this was extremely well managed with the assistance of the staffs from the Videography Department of the College.
Department of Microbiology
Amidst the SARS COVID scenario the biggest challenge faced by the faculties was to deliver the practical lessons to the students. The departmental faculties along with the help from the research scholars mitigated the challenge by designing online practical video tutorials. However, due to lack of professional equipment and hi-end editing/videography tools at times the quality of the video was little compromised mainly in the clarity and resolution aspects.
- Key Performance indicators
Department of Physics
| S.no | Indicator | Pre-support | During /After Support | Remarks | ||||||||||||||
| 1 | No. of students admitted | Total = 45 | Total =45 | |||||||||||||||
| M= | F= | M= | F= | |||||||||||||||
| SC | ST | OBC | G | SC | ST | OBC | G | SC | ST | OBC | G | SC | ST | OBC | G | |||
| ) | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | No. of students passing out (%) Students Admitted/passing out (pass %) | 95% (Please verify) | 98% (Please verify) | Increased | ||||||||||||||
| 3 | Drop-out rates | 2% (Please verify) | 1% (Please verify) | Decreased | ||||||||||||||
| 4 | No. of students opting for MSc | 90% (Please verify) | 95% (Please verify) | Increased | ||||||||||||||
| 5 | Average marks | 65% (Please verify) | 76% (Please verify) | Increased | ||||||||||||||
| 6 | No. of hands-on experiments being conducted | 5 | 11 | Increased | ||||||||||||||
| 7 | No. of new experiments introduced | 5 | 11 | Increased | ||||||||||||||
| 8 | Publications (scopus indexed) /patents, if any. | 13 papers and one designed patent | Increased | |||||||||||||||
| 9 | Training received by faculty | 2 Faculty members
| ||||||||||||||||
| 10 | Exhibitions/seminars/training courses conducted | 1 departmental annual fest+ 1 national level Webinar +2 Inter- national level Webinars+ 1 memorial lecture | ||||||||||||||||
| 11 | Books/journals subscribed from grants | Nil | Nil | |||||||||||||||
| 12 | Outreach activities (Popular lectures) | Nil | Lecture for School Children on Learning Physics through Games & Sports JBNSTS, Kolkata, WBDS in July, 2020 by Dr. Subhankar Ghosh
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| 13 | Colleges mentored to apply for DBT Star College grants | Nil | Nil | |||||||||||||||
| 14 | Invited lectures | 3 | Statistical modelling of drying droplets –Tapati Dutta , 29-30th June, 2020; Webinar on Droplets and their drying patterns, Organised by CUTN. Flow features in drying droplets via Euler characteristic surfaces—A topological tool- Tapati Dutta, 11th January, 2021, Condensed Matter Research Centre, Jadavpur University. Chandrasekhar limit for quark stars: A model building approach Beyond Newtonian Dynamics of a planar Circular-Restricted Three-Body Problem with Kerr-like primaries, invited lecture at University Oldenburg – Online, Speaker: Suparna Roychowdhury (St. Xavier’s College Kolkata, India), date: 26th January, 2021.
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Department of Chemistry
| S.n | Indicator | Pre-support | During /After Support | Remarks | ||||||||||||||
| 1 | No. of students admitted | Total =40 | Total =46 | |||||||||||||||
| M=19 | F=21 | M=27 | F=22 | |||||||||||||||
| SC-1 | ST-0 | OBC-1 | G-17 | SC-1 | ST-0 | OBC-2 | G-18 | SC-1 | ST-0 | OBC-3 | G-18 | SC-0 | ST-0 | OBC-2 | G-22 | |||
| 2 | No. of students passing out (%) Students Admitted/passing out (pass %) | 85% | 85% | Increased | ||||||||||||||
| 3 | Drop-out rates | 20% | 15% | |||||||||||||||
| 4 | No. of students opting for MSc | 75% | 90% | Increased | ||||||||||||||
| 5 | Average marks | 63-65% | 82% | Increased | ||||||||||||||
| 6 | No. of hands-on experiments beingconducted | 0 | 6 | Increased | ||||||||||||||
| 7 | No. of new experiments introduced | 2 | 12 | Increased to a large extent | ||||||||||||||
| 8 | Publications (scopusindexed) /patents, if any. | 2 | 6 | Increased | ||||||||||||||
| 9 | Training received by faculty | 0 | 2 | Increased | ||||||||||||||
| 10 | Exhibitions/seminars/training courses conducted | Seminars:1 Training Courses (Workshops): 0
| 4 online seminars, 4 online workshops ,2 Refresher Online Courses (Dr. Indranil Chakraborty and Dr. Rahul Sharma | Increased | ||||||||||||||
| 11 | Books/journals subscribed from grants | NA | NA | |||||||||||||||
| 12 | Outreach activities (Popular lectures) | Online lectures by Dr. Sanjib Ganguly, Dr. Ankur Ray and Dr. Rahul Sharma. | Increased | |||||||||||||||
| 13 | Colleges mentored to apply for DBT Star College grants | |||||||||||||||||
| 14 | Invited lectures | 3 | 11 | Increased | ||||||||||||||
Department of Microbiology
| S.no | Indicator | Pre-support | During /After Support | Remarks | ||||||||||||||
| 1 | No. of students admitted | Total =45 | Total =49 | |||||||||||||||
| M=21 | F=24 | M=22 | F=27 | Increased | ||||||||||||||
| SC-0 | ST-0 | OBC-1 | G-15 | SC-3 | ST-0 | OBC-0 | G-26 | SC-0 | ST-0
| OBC-1 | G- 21 | SC-5 | ST-0 | OBC-1 | G-21 | |||
| 2 | No. of students passing out (%) Students Admitted/passing out (pass %) | For 3rd Year-pass out 40 students admitted/passing out-100% | For 3rd year-pass out-43 Students admitted/passing out-100% | Increased | ||||||||||||||
| 3 | Drop-out rates | 2% | 0.8% | Decreased | ||||||||||||||
| 4 | No. of students opting for MSc | 43 | 40 for MSc and 3 MBA. | Increased | ||||||||||||||
| 5 | Average marks | 67.5% | 72.5% | Increased | ||||||||||||||
| 6 | No. of hands-on experiments being conducted | 10 | 21 | Twice more. | ||||||||||||||
| 7 | No. of new experiments introduced | 2 | 12 (in CBCS based syllabus of Semester 1,2,3,4) | Increased | ||||||||||||||
| 8 | Publications (scopus indexed) /patents, if any. | 14 | 22 (by nearly all the faculty members) | Increased | ||||||||||||||
| 9 | Training received by faculty | One Refresher course | 3 (Refresher courses by Dr. Mahasweta Mitra Ghosh, Dr. Riddhi Majumder and Dr. Madhumita Maitra) 1 Refresher course done by Dr. Anindita Banerjee from Goa University. | Increased | ||||||||||||||
| 10 | Exhibitions/seminars/training courses conducted | 2 | 11 (6 outreach programs and 5 seminars) | Increased | ||||||||||||||
| 11 | Books/journals subscribed from grants | |||||||||||||||||
| 12 | Outreach activities (Popular lectures) | ü Lectures given by Dr. Arup Kumar Mitra: 5th June,2021, Department of Environmental Studies, St. Xavier’s College (Autonomous) Kolkata, COLLOQUIUM on Environment Sustainability 5th June,2021, Shobhit University, Induction of Post Covid Mycoses in West Bengal. 9th March,2021, Department of Environmental Studies, St. Xavier’s College (Autonomous), Kolkata, Raghabapur Campus “Wasteland to Productive Land through Organic Amendment” 25th September,2020, Educational Media Research Institute, St. Xavier’s College (Autonomous) Kolkata, MOOCOLLOQUIUM on Challenges, Prospects and Developments of MOOC 27th July,2020, Department of Education, Netaji Nagar College for Women , Impact of Covid 19 on Education Sector (National Webinar) ü Lecture given by Madhumita Maitra , 08th Jan. 2021, Yubavani Programme of All India Radio, ‘The scope of Microbiology for school and college students.’ | ||||||||||||||||
| 13 | Colleges mentored to apply for DBT Star College grants | |||||||||||||||||
| 14 | Invited lectures | Academic lecture series | Invited talk by Dr. Sudeshna Shyam Choudhury on 16th September, 2020, National Tea Research Foundation in collaboration with NABARD, on “Studies on the keeping quality of different types if tea (Black, Green, Oolong and White) and their biochemical aspects and antioxidants properties), Invited talks by Dr. Madhumita Maitra first on October 2020, Sarojini Naidu College for Women“Introduction to Industrial Microbiology” . | Increased | ||||||||||||||
- Proofs ( S.No. 6-14 not more than 5 pages, 1.5 line spacing 11 times roman font size) to be provided duly attested by Principal and Coordinator.
- Self evaluation
For quantitative analysis you may fix five objective (max) each having 2 marks and accordingly can calculate the matrix.
Department of Physics
| Department | *Objective (as stated in proposal) | % achieved | Reasons for underachievement / If achieved, state in quantitative metrics |
| Physics | 1. Department of Physics hosts laboratories for Chemistry, Mathematics, Computer Science, Biotechnology and Microbiology students.
| 100% | In spite of the pandemic, the teachers of the Department were extremely enthusiastic to carry out the inter-disciplinary experiments for the interest of the students and show them the visuals along with demonstrations in an online mode. |
| 2. Webinars were organized in the Department and they had an inter-disciplinary flavour. | 100% | 1 departmental annual fest+ 3 Webinars + 1 memorial lecture . This is probably one of the achievements to encourage the students of St. Xavier’s College as well as other Colleges. | |
3. Projects by Faculties of Department of Physics, St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata
| 100% | 20 Projects have been carried out involving 43 Undergraduate students from Physics | |
4.Quite a number of students participated in Summer Internship.
| 100% | Students involved in summer research programs (offline) in different other institutes and universities: 2 21 students participated in online summer internship in other institutes |
Department of Chemistry
| Department | *Objective (as stated in proposal) | % achieved | Reasons for underachievement / If achieved, state in quantitative metrics |
| Chemistry | 1. Developing Computation Laboratory in the Chemistry Department and carry out optimization experiments of certain biomolecules by using DFT for the UG students of Chemistry, Microbiology and Physics.
The newly set Chemistry Laboratory with the rotary evaporator was supposed to be used (for the UG students of Chemistry, Physics & Microbiology) to carry out the synthesis of several biologically relevant organic compounds and certain complexes. Organizing online workshops (by inviting Scientists from renowned institutes) and lectures for UG students on Role of Computation in understanding Reaction pathways and on topics of Bioorganic and Bioinorganic Chemistry for UG students of Chemistry & Microbiology; arranging FDP for teachers Introducing interactive classes and student seminar on the new topics related to Chemistry and Biology interface (Bioorganic, Biophysical and Bioinorganic Chemistry).
Minor projects involving students of Chemistry & Microbiology as well as Chemistry & Physics. |
100%
100%
100%
100%
100% | By procuring a new Computer Workstation with 5 terminals by using the DBT grant (non-recurring) and carry out optimizations of several amino acids, glucose-6-phosphate, antibiotics (tinidazole, ornidazole) as well as chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine and the students were shown and explained the results in the online mode.
3 Rotary Evaporators with 3 Chillers & 3 Vacuum Pumps were procured from the grants (non-recurring) and a large number of pure chemicals were bought from Sigma, TCI and Merck (recurring portion). In addition, glass-wares and electrodes were also procured.
Organized 4 online workshops for the UG students to the new instruments and the chemicals purchased from the grants of DBT. Arranged 4 beyond curricular online class-room lectures/seminars (2 inter-disciplinary) by renowned academicians/scientists in google meet platform. 2 FDP were arranged for the teachers of the College as well as other Colleges in West Bengal.
Interactive online classes (12) were offered by the faculty members in MS Teams. Furthermore, the students were given specific topics to present in the online mode and this was considered to be one of the criteria of judging them in the coursework. (2 marks) A total of 42 Projects including inter-disciplinary were carried out involving 84 students (involving students of both Chemistry & Microbiology as well as Chemistry and Physics) (2 marks) |
Department of Microbiology
| Department | *Objective (as stated in proposal) | % achieved | Reasons for underachievement / If achieved, state in quantitative metrics |
| Microbiology | Procuring Instruments that will help in to execution of new Practical introduced by UGC for the Undergraduate students of Microbiology Chemistry and Physics under CBCS syllabus | 100% | a) Bio-rad T-100 Demonstration of the PCR process using this instrument was carried out. This instrument is capable of setting a range of ligation temperatures that increases its efficiency during standardization of a PCR process. Hands on demonstration could not be done with the students due to the ‘Covid situation’ and subsequent lockdown in the city. |
Seminars and Workshops Organized in the Department of Microbiology, St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata-16 Under DBT STAR SCHEME No. BT/HRD/11/037/2019 Dated 18.03.19
| 100% | 1. Modern Trends in Microbiology Chapter XVII Date: 9th , 10th and 11th October 2020. Number of Speakers:4 Total Participants: 150 Student Participants:115 2. Frontiers in Biological Sciences Chapter IV: An International Webinar on Covid 19the Current Scenario Date: 2nd and 4th July 2020 Number of Speakers:4 Total Participants:1805 Student Participants: 1263 3. A National Webinar on “Pandemics and Natural Disasters: Understanding and coping.” Date: 10th and 12th of July Number of Speakers: Total Participants: Student Participants: 4. Exordium 2021 Date: 27.04.2021 Number of Speakers: 3 Total Participants:174 Student Participants:163 | |
| Projects by Faculties of Department of Microbiology, St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata | 100% |
1 Major Project was carried out involving 40 Undergraduate students from Microbiology. | |
| Students participating in Summer Internship |
100% |
40 Undergraduate students have participated in Summer Internship Programs in Prestigious Institutes Like IIT Kharagpur, Birla industrial and Technological Museum, NPIU KIT, NIT Raipur etc. | |
| Outreach Programme | 100% | 1. UG students (30 students) Semester I Microbiology (H) participated in Satyen Bose National Science Fair and shared their scientific knowledge using models and posters to innumerable number of visitors. They were highly appreciated and awarded for their efforts. The topics were, ‘Green building’, ‘Solid waste management’, ‘Reuse and Recycle’, ‘transportation’ ,’Biofertilizers’ etc. 2. Colloquium on Environmental Sustainability was conducted where 4 UG students gave oral presentations. 3. 20th July,2020, Department of Botany, Pingla Thana Mahavidyalaya, Maligram Covid 19 Pandemic: Mortality to Mitigation (International Webinar) Title: “Covid 19 Crisis: Darkness to Light” 4. 26th June,2020, IQAC, Sarat Centenary College, Dhaniakhali, Hooghly, West Bengal,” Covid-19: Facts and Facets” 5. MOOCOLLOQUIUM, conducted by EMRC, Kolkata, St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata conducted its first ever workshop on “Challenges prospect and development of MOOC on 26th and 27th of September 2020.
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