Research ideas meet industry minds on National Engineers Day
Student projects on landslide prediction, automated waste collection and agricultural water management featured alongside discussions about industrial technology at Shiv Nadar University, Delhi-NCR, on Tuesday (September 15, 2026).
The National Engineers Day event brought together undergraduate and doctoral research with industry perspectives across civil, mechanical and chemical engineering. Three parallel sessions from the Departments of Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Civil Engineering discussed sustainable infrastructure, automation, advanced manufacturing, and the challenges of taking laboratory innovations into commercial use.
Civil engineering presentations included TODSphere, a planning support system for station prioritisation, by doctoral scholar D. Sai Kiran Varma. Fellow doctoral researchers Saksham Dhasmana and Adwait presented work on a physics-informed neural network for landslide prediction and drone-based remote sensing for agricultural water management, respectively. Fourth-year B.Tech student Nancy Patel’s project examined the estimation of material properties and the size of heat-affected zones in welds.
Dr Gyan Vikash, Head, Department of Civil Engineering, also held a session with Neeraj Singh, joint executive vice-president at Cube Highways Asset & Project Advisory, where they discussed resilient, sustainable, and smart infrastructure.
Mechanical engineering projects included Mitaali Singh’s electric all-terrain vehicle and Adya Tripathi’s automated waste collection, segregation and deposition system. Tripathi also presented a teleoperated robotic rover for resource excavation and material retrieval.
“What stood out to me was not just the choice of topics, but the thought and approach behind them and the confidence with which they were presented. The projects reflect a learning environment that gives students the freedom to experiment, while grounding that exploration in strong faculty mentorship and academic rigour,” said Mr Umesh Rai, Vice-President, ISGEC Heavy Engineering Ltd.
Other topics included Akash Jha’s rescue drone swarm, P Koushik’s soft magneto-rheological actuators, and energy harvesting from raindrop impact by Namratha and Vimal. Shardul Rai’s work concerned a graphical interface for evaluating a thermoelectric device, while Udayan presented a hummingbird robot.
“I really appreciated the undergraduate projects presented by the B.Tech. Mechanical Engineering students, particularly their inquiry-driven approach and the way they presented their ideas. The Smart Mechatronic System for Automated Waste Collection, Segregation and Deposition especially stood out to me,” said Mr Priyank Kochhar, Assistant General Manager, ISGEC Heavy Engineering Ltd.
The mechanical engineering session also included a discussion between Mr Nandeshkumar Mahto of Escorts Kubota and Mr Ramm Mohan of UFI Filters, moderated by Dr Ankit Gupta.
The chemical engineering panel discussion, The Future of Chemical Engineering: From Molecules to Megascale, moderated by Dr Dhiraj K. Garg examined the transition from laboratory research to industrial technology, as well as the profession’s direction over the next decade.
Dr Indranil Roy Choudhary, general manager of process modelling and technical services at Indian Oil’s R&D centre, stressed that scale-up required preserving a technology’s fundamental principle while addressing heat dissipation, mixing, mass transfer, catalyst stability and side reactions. He urged researchers to consider these engineering requirements early.
Harish Kumar, head of EPC process business at ISGEC, emphasised cost-effectiveness, sustainability and long-term operation. Industrial decisions also depended on product specifications, equipment life, operating conditions, marketability and investment payback.
Professor Shankar Narasimhan, emeritus professor of chemical engineering at IIT Madras, called for earlier collaboration between academia and industry and economic assessment during technology development. He highlighted recycling, energy efficiency and life-cycle thinking.
The panel identified artificial intelligence, digitalisation, sustainability and indigenous technology development as major influences. Narasimhan stressed that engineers must critically evaluate and validate AI-generated results. Kumar pointed to opportunities linked to industrial investment and sectors including hydrogen, plastics and energy.
Across civil, mechanical and chemical engineering, the event highlighted the need to connect technical knowledge with practical industrial challenges. Student presentations and industry discussions showed how developing an idea also requires attention to cost, reliability, sustainability and implementation, with academic guidance and industry engagement helping students understand what it takes to move beyond the laboratory.