Prof. Rajkumar Pant, Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering was on a 3 day visit (24th – 26th November’15) to Mushtifund Aryaan Higher Secondary School and Aryaan Study Circle, Gurukul. Prof. Pant a faculty member at I.I.T. Bombay since 1989, an alumnus of College of Aeronautics, Cranfield University, U.K. has published 160 scientific papers in International journals and conferences. He was a visiting faculty at Department of Aerospace and Ocean engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and visiting researcher at Instituto Technologico de Aeronautica, Brazil. From mid December 2015, he will be a visiting Professor for a year in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department of Nangyang Technical University, Singapore.

The first lecture session was held at Gurukul, Margao attended by students of both centres. The talk dealt with Professor’s recent projects involving Airships and aero floats for scientific research. He also discussed his experiences of his work with the Brazilian Security companies using his aerostats for surveillance during the Football World Cup.

The 2 day session at the Panjim Centre was a lecture – demonstration based on applications of fluid statics in the laboratory. He shed light on the basic concepts of aeronautics and airplane design, concepts of flight and motion of an airplane via demonstrations involving students and by using his project models. The students enjoyed and were very intrigued to hear his experiences he had in his career path and life. He gave valuable career advice for students inclined towards various branches of engineering.

Mr. Vyankatesh Prabhudesai, Director of M.A.H.S.S. and Aryaan Study Circle, shares a close bond with Prof. Pant. He says that Professor was one of his project guides during his B.Tech project titled “ Trajectory Analysis and separation characteristics of stores released/dropped from an aircraft. It was a phenomenal experience for all of the students and teachers alike.

“The lectures can’t be explained by any adjectives I know, it was very unique, a once in a lifetime experience.” – Kaivalya Karkare

“Professor Pant made a real glider and flew it in front of us! It was really enjoyable.” – Rahul Priolkar

“Even though he was with us for just 3 days, he left a lasting impact on me.He showed us that there is great joy in real physics, which is just not about textbook problems.” – Shikha Dessai