The School of Artificial Intelligence (ScAI) at the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi (IIT-Delhi) will soon launch a master’s in technology in machine intelligence and data science (MINDS). The MTech in MINDS will be a flagship educational programme and will begin in July 2022.
The course is planned as an industry-sponsored programme. Students will be expected to work on industry-relevant AI problems since they will be co-advised by an IIT-Delhi professor and a researcher from the sponsoring company. All students with an undergraduate degree in science or engineering will be eligible for the MINDS programme. According to a news report, the MINDS curriculum will include graduate-level courses in core AI technologies such as deep learning and data mining, application-oriented courses such as computer vision, natural language processing, and AI for healthcare, and also fundamental courses on the mathematics underlying modern AI technologies.
The founding head of the school noted that the PhD programme has gathered a lot of interest in its first year. The Institute has had a 90% success rate in PhD students joining ScAI last semester, which is exceptional for a young academic unit like ScAI, as students generally prefer more established academic programmes. The results suggest that the school has a strong faculty team in AI, he added.
ScAI currently lists around 40 faculty members on its list, including adjunct faculty members from industry research centers such as Microsoft Research, Google AI, and IBM Research. An official from the Institute explained that academia must work closely with all stakeholders, including industry, non-profit, and governmental organisations. M.Tech programme in MINDS will energise academia-industry collaboration in AI.
ScAI was established last year to strengthen the education, research, and applications of AI. It encourages multidisciplinary collaborations between AI and domain experts so that fundamental research impacting real applications could be pursued. The school is making rapid strides since its inception in synergising AI activities across the Institute and new faculty recruitments.
In September, IIT-Delhi set up a Centre of Excellence on Quantum Technologies, aiming to bring research in the field into one facility. According to the institute, the centre will focus on thrust areas such as quantum computing, quantum communication, quantum sensing and metrology, and quantum materials and devices. The centre will help principal investigators pitch more projects from the Indian Department of Science and Technology.
As OpenGov Asia reported, along with the design and development of new quantum materials, the centre will carry out research activities related to quantum processors and cryogenic controllers, the modelling and technology development of semiconducting qubits, and CMOS and 2D materials. Furthermore, the centre will explore quantum sensing and metrology, quantum biophotonics, the development of single-photon detectors, and sources based on semiconductors (2D materials, III-V). Professor Rajendra Singh, Head, School of Interdisciplinary Research (SIRe) and lead PI at the centre added that the centre of excellence will study superconductors, the development of bright single and entangled photon sources based on SPDC, quantum secure communication in free space, and optical fibre, quantum imaging, and sensing using quantum correlated photons.
