On the 27th February 2023, the students of Mushtifund Aryaans Higher Secondary School were provided the golden opportunity to interact with Prof. U B Desai, a dynamic personality who has played a key role in shaping the electronics landscape of the country.

He began by talking about research, he told us about Jaipur Foot and how it is helping people who can’t walk with artificial legs. He told us about how they set-up a IOT Nodes at Sula Vineyard in Nashik which captured critical data about the farms. Then, he told us about a vital testing device for COVID 19 which prof. Shiv Singh worked on the COVIHOME Kit which used saliva to test for COVID-19 rather than using the tedious nasal method, unfortunately this product didn’t see the light of day as it got stuck in approvals. Then, he beautifully explained to us the dynamics of his student’s research by which you can get internet access through any normal plug point. One point sir emphasised on was, investing more money into research which has a real impact on society, which is not just a requirement, but a necessity as we need to find more efficient solutions for. Then, we discussed the Pasteur’s Quadrant, where the different categories of research were beautifully divided into 4 Quadrants namely – Bohr’s (Pure Research), Pasteur (Use-inspired Research), Edison (Pure-Applied) and Tinkering.

Then, he talked about the Age of One’s and Zero’s. He explained the importance of the invention of transistors. He talked about Information Theory by Claude Shannon, Shannon found a mathematical way of finding a solution to any sort of problem. Then, he talked about the influence of Electronics & IT in the Biological Fields. He also emphasised the importance of being curious, questioning everything, he said that you need to know the how, why and why not. He also told us that we should have the courage to accept failure as without the acceptance of failure you can’t power ahead. He told us we need to fall before we can learn, implying the simple statement “To Make we need to Break”. Then, we had a brief discussion on Research and Funding and how we need more investment on Research in India. He talked about IIT Hyderabad, we learned the importance of a Free and Intellectual Ecosystem for students to learn, collaborate and help each other to power ahead. Further on, he talked about Innovation and Discontinuity, there needs to be something which keeps you awake at night, which is what empowers innovation. He discussed more on the Fractal Academic Program, which has a “Basics First” approach so each student from any other major can enjoy the course, this program is in the 1st semester and really guides the excitement of the students in the right direction. He showed us how important architecture impacts student productivity and creative thinking.

This session inspired us and boosted our will in so many ways, and we remain indebted to Prof. Desai for having spared time from their unimaginably busy schedule and sharing their valuable experience with us.  I would like to extend my warm gratitude to our director – Sir VPD, for constantly exposing us to such superiorly skilled and hardworking people whom we all look up to.

Written by,

Shreyas Kamat

11th Reg