ANS: A five-member team of the third-year (B Tech) mining engineering students of IIT- ISM brought laurels not only to their institutions, but also the country by securing the third position in the Student Design Competition (SDC)-2021 of American Rock Mechanics Association (ARMA).
The team named “Stabilizers” compromising Madhav Singhal, Amara Venkata Sai Srujan, Battula Sreeshma, Anjali Atreyi, and Nimmagadda Sravani under the guidance of Professor Rabindra Kumar Sinha has finally secured the third prize in the “ARMA Student Design Competition 2021”, informed a Public Relations Official of IIT ISM, Dhanbad.
The American Rock Mechanics Association (ARMA), USA is a professional and international engineering and scientific society, which promotes vibrant interaction among rock mechanics professionals, Academia and Industry in the area of rock mechanics and Geomechanics.
The “ARMA Student Design Competition 2021” was organized by the University of Kentucky, USA and Virginia Tech ARMA student chapters, USA, and sponsored by ARMA, the University of Kentucky and ITASCA Consulting Group, informed the official.
This was a tough competition on a global level in which 167 participants attended the initial FLAC/Slope Webinar held on 9 April this year. Later 40 teams from 29 universities from 17 countries registered for the competition out of which 21 teams from various countries could submit their entry, she said.
“Thereafter, only six teams were selected in the first round for presentation of their design and finally, our team moved to the third position,” she added.
Expressing pleasure on the achievements of their students Professor Sinha said, “It’s one of my dreams which have come true”; it is a stepping stone towards fulfilling my dream to take IIT(ISM) to greater heights by mentoring the students to make a global presence.
“The team was really hard-working toiling day and night to design the mine,” he Sinha.
At present very few universities are in the elite club of the ARMA Students Chapter. I am in the process of playing a pivotal role in the opening of the “ARMA Students Chapter” in the Department of Mining Engineering, IIT(ISM) Dhanbad, where IIT(ISM) can make its presence felt globally to improve the ranking of the Department and the Institute, said Professor Sinha.
“The team Stabilisers have shown keen interest to work with the Department in setting up the ARMA Student’s chapter,” he added.
The team thanked Professor Rajiv Shekhar, Director of the Institute and Faculty Member of IIT(ISM) for encouragement, building a competitive ecosystem, carving out creativity, new ideas and innovation amongst the students and providing a platform to achieve this milestone.
Professor Arvind Kumar Mishra, Head of the Department of Mining Engineering congratulated the Team of the students for this stupendous achievement and thanked them for the hard work put in by them under the mentorship of Professor Rabindra Kumar Sinha.
“This is the first time in the history of IIT(ISM) that students have brought laurels to the Institute through ARMA Competition highlighting the global presence of IIT(ISM). This will provide an international platform for real-life problem exposures, guidance, interaction, and will help in the international exchange of students and grabbing opportunities for international internships and jobs,” added Mishra.