Pragyan is the ISO 9001 and 20121 certified, international level, annual techno-management fest of National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirapalli. Incepted in 2005, the fest takes place in the college campus and has grown bigger each year. The fest stays true to its slogan “Let’s Celebrate Technology”, by conducting 50+ events for tech buffs and management gurus from across the country. With students coming in from over 100 colleges, each edition of Pragyan sees the footfall figure reach the thousands.
This year, Pragyan is set to be bigger and better. The 50+ events in Pragyan’15 range from programming competitions like ByteCode, to brain teasing events like the Pragyan Main Quiz; from core engineering competitions like Junkyard Wars, to robotics events like RoboWars ; from management events like Dalal Street, to innovation competitions like Inspinature; and from fun events like Water Rockets, to landscape events like Aakriti. This year’s edition will even host out of the box events like Crime Busters, as well as a star gazing session. Clearly, Pragyan has something for everyone.
Apart from the horde of events, Pragyan also plays host to people who have made it big in tech from around the world, who come down to Trichy to deliver enticing guest lectures. This edition of Pragyan will witness guest lectures by Marshal Straballa (designer of Burj Khalifa), Amit Ranjan (Co-founder of SlideShare), Jill Tarter (American astronomer), among many other big names.
The fest also hosts Crossfire – where influential people from across the country participate in a series of panel discussions on various topics relevant to India and the youth. The 2015 edition of Pragyan will see a heated debate on the topic “Putting an Indian on the moon seems easier than keeping an Indian street clean”. The panels include experts on technology and development such as T.S Krishnamurthy (former Chief Election Commissioner of India), Mohan Guruswamy (Chairman, Center for Policy Alternatives), and Mr. Abdul Ghani, a renowned social activist, with Sumanth C. Raman (host of BSNL Sports Quiz) as the moderator.
If these weren’t enough for you, Pragyan also hosts a number of amazing workshops held by experts in their respective fields. Eight workshops will be held during Pragyan ‘15, including a brainwave robotics workshop conducted in collaboration with ARK Technosolutions, a Whatsapp hacking and security workshop held in partnership with i-3indiya Technologies, and a touch and augmented reality workshop held in association with Inif-zeal.
A number of exhibitions are also held during Pragyan, and this year’s edition will see eye popping exhibits of a brain controlled helicopter by Pantech Solutions, a high precision flight simulator by Flight4Fantasy, NAO – a programmable humanoid robot by Aldebaran, and the best of all, a 12 billion year old moon rock sample provided by the NASA space research center in Houston! Pragyan’15 will also host Sangam, an exhibition exclusively for NIT Trichy students where they are provided with a platform to showcase their new projects and ideas.
Infotainment, as the name suggests, is the part of Pragyan that is the perfect mix of information and entertainment. Under its banner, a number of amazing events such as Fire Show Pyroterra and Light Show Pyroterra will be conducted this year.
Pragyan’15 went the extra mile by going beyond the borders of the campus to hold outreach events. These include a hovercraft workshop held at Sathyabama University in Chennai, and a hacking competition held in Hyderabad, in association with Amazon. Pragyan Social Responsibilty (PSR), has played an integral role in raising awareness about various issues in and outside campus, as well as spreading much needed technical knowledge to the masses. A few events organized by PSR are Catalyst, a program were school children were taught concepts of MS Office in detail, conducting Mock JEE exams for school students, as well as a pet project to prevent wastage of paper on campus.
Without a shadow of doubt, Pragyan has proven to be much more that just another college tech fest. This year, with the theme of ‘Space’, Pragyan 2015 is bound to be an even greater spectacle than the editions before it.
“Come for Pragyan ’15 you shall, reach for the stars you will.”
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