Energy Crisis? ANDAR KI BAAT voice/oct_08.pdfNikhil Sahu Ramanjit Singh Punit Rathi B Sudheer Kumar...

Energy Crisis?

By Sai Pooja Mahajan Unless we get Baku’s oil, the war is lost.

- Adolf Hitler (1942), World War II

Fortunately, the attack never occurred, and German forces were defeated before they ever reached Azerbaijan. The world today is also fighting a war against time. And unless we get the oil, is the war lost? According to the peak oil theory, oil production follows a bell curve. Oil is increasingly plentiful on the upslope of the curve and increasingly scarce and expensive on the down slope. The peak is predicted to be somewhere between the year 2010 and the year 2030. Once the decline gets under way, production will drop (conservatively) by 3% per year, every year. War, terrorism, extreme weather and other "above ground" geopolitical factors will likely push the effective decline rate past 10% per year, thus cutting the total supply by 50% in 7 years. The idea is corroborated by widely respected geologists, physicists, bankers and investors in the world. Assessment of the global oil demand and supply situation by the CEO of Schlumberger, Mr. Andrew Gould and Mr. Dick Cheney, the ex-CEO of Halliburton also support the proposed decline in oil.

Another factor which is increasingly gaining significance on the demand side is the emergence of China and India (and Asia as a whole) as rapidly growing economies. In 2025, GDP of China is expected to surpass that of Germany and Japan. The daily consumption of fuel in China in 2006 was about 6.6 million barrels whereas that of the US is 12 million barrels. (Continued on Pg.2)

O CTOBER 2008

Chemical Engineering Association (ChEA) The Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Bombay

“By some estimates, there will be an average

of two-percent annual growth in global oil

demand over the years ahead, along with,

conservatively, a three-percent natural

decline in production from existing reserves.

That means by 2010 we will need an

additional 50 million barrels per day.” Mr.

Dick Cheney, the ex-CEO, Halliburton

ANDAR KI BAAT

Biosynth Placements

Internship Experiences „Take it Easy‟ Fallacy

DAMP Leisure corner

And lots more…!

The ChEA Voice Contributors:

Akash Gupta, Aman Bansal, Amrit Jalan, Ashish Garg, Atish Parekh, Jasjit Parmar, Manish Agarwal, Neeta Dixit, Piyush Tiwari, Priyank Kanade, Ram Kumar, Sai Pooja Mahajan, Suvajeet Duttagupta, Venkatraman Prabhu

From the Editor’s “piled up” desk:

With great pleasure I‟d like to present to you the much awaited issue of ChEA Voice. Though an issue of ChEA Voice did take some time coming it finally is here with some changes and new features like active participation from our alumni, a special passing out article, leisure corner etc. incorporated. This first issue has been designed in such a manner as to make it useful to a vast spectrum of readers. The issue also offers variety in the nature of articles incorporated, some are leisure, some are critical while some have been written in a lighter vein. The technical articles have been tuned to a level such that there are minimal pre-requisites to understanding them. Both academic as well as non-academic aspects have been dealt with in the articles. Though I received a good number of inputs, I would like to see more enthusiasm and participation from the department students in the next issue. I also take this opportunity to thank each and every one who has contributed to the issue. Hope you enjoy reading it.

- Neeta Dixit

Editor

ChEA Voice, October 2008

So how do we NOT lose the war? The key would lie not only in increasing the efficiency of recovery and utilization of the conventional fuels but also in developing technology for non-conventional oils and alternative fuels. Non-conventional oil sources include tar sands, oil shale and bitumen. Enormous deposits of non-conventional oil include the Athabasca Oil Sands site in northwestern (Alberta) Canada and the Venezuelan Orinoco tar sands. Oil companies estimate that the Athabasca and Orinoco sites (both of similar size) have as much as two-thirds of total global oil deposits. Non-conventional oil production is currently less energy-efficient, and has a larger environmental impact than conventional oil production. Coal to Liquids (CTL) technology is being considered as a future alternative however, according to the data available on coal production, it is expected to peak in 2025 and then decline.

IEA reports suggest a 20 fold increase in nuclear

energy in the world energy mix in 2100. 60% of the

energy required for ground transportation is predicted

to come from nuclear energy. However as the uranium

ore supplies are limited and no technology has yet

been invented to extract uranium from seawater, the

uranium (U 235) reserves will not last more than 50

years. Fast breeder reactors present a more

promising possibility since they utilize U-238

which is estimated to last for the next 10,000 to

5,000,000,000 years. Problems arise from the

higher levels of heat and radiation produced by this

reactor. The long-term radioactive waste storage

problems of nuclear power have not been solved.

Today, the only industrial solution lies with storage in

underground repositories.

Proponents of the hydrogen economy suggest that

hydrogen holds the key to ongoing energy demands.

According to the majority of energy experts and

researchers, hydrogen is currently impractical as an

alternative to fossil-based liquid fuels. Hydrogen has a

poor volume concentration (2.5 times less energy per

cu.m of liquid, 3.3 times less energy per cu.m of gas

under standard conditions and 4.6 times less energy

per cu.m of gas under 200 bars of pressure). These

physical parameters will always limit the use of

hydrogen as an energy vector to specific niche

applications.

Biofuels and other forms of renewable energy aim to

be carbon neutral or even carbon negative. Carbon

neutral means that the carbon released during the use

of the fuel, e.g. through burning to power transport or

generate electricity, is reabsorbed and balanced by the

carbon absorbed by new plant growth. This does

assume however that the land used for growing the

crops would alternatively be desert or paved area. If

the land was previously a tropical rain forest, the

carbon absorption of this forest should be deducted

from the greenhouse gas savings. This implies that the

net effect of burning bio-fuels is an increase in

greenhouse gases.

The word “energy” incidentally equates with the Greek word for “challenge.” Like every war this one won‟t be nice. But unlike most other wars it will relieve the humanity of blood, toil, tears and sweat. Sai Pooja Mahanjan was a Dual Degree Student of the 2003

batch of the department. She can be contacted at

[email protected]

The ideas and opinions expressed in this newsletter belong essentially to the authors and the content managers and do not reflect the opinion of The Chemical Engineering Association

(ChEA). “ChEA Voice” is the students’ newsletter of the Chemical Engineering Association (ChEA) and does not intend to malign any individual or group. Grievances and demands for

apologies, if any, may be addressed to [email protected]

2

If every Chinese catches up with an American, the

world oil consumption will be 90 million barrels

per day (world oil production is 83 million barrels

per day!).

A 2008 study conducted by the University of Minnesota finds that: ...converting rainforests, peat lands, savannas, or grasslands to produce food-based biofuels in Brazil, Southeast Asia, and the United States creates a „biofuel carbon debt‟ by releasing 17 to 420 times more CO2 than the annual greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions these biofuels provide by displacing fossil fuels. The study not only takes into account removal of the original vegetation (as timber or by burning) but also the biomass present in the soil, for example roots, which is released on continued

plowing.


Vision: Project ‘Biosynth’ is a first ever student’s initiative of installing a self sustained autonomous Biodiesel producing unit at an institute level. Starting with a low capacity of 150L/week the project’s long term vision is to come up with a feasible and efficient technology that can substantially reduce the country’s dependence on fossils fuels as the only source of energy. It entails utilizing vegetable oil as its primary raw material to produce an environment friendly fuel, Biodiesel. The Biodiesel produced can be used to run campus vehicles in the initial stages. Conception: Project ‘Biosynth’ is an initiative taken by the faculty members and ChEA to provide students hands on experience of working on a live project. The project was first envisioned by ex-IITians Rishanth Reddy and Piyush Gupta. The institute has sponsored a sum of Rs 30 lakh for its installation and production. This plant, spread over an area of 1000 sq. ft, will produce 150 liters per batch. The project will be completely managed by students with Professors playing an advisory role. Selection Process: We started with the team formation early in the month of September. For the posts of Managers (8) and Overall Coordinators(2), individual presentations, interviews along with resume based short listing was done, followed by feedbacks from various faculty members to decide the final Core Team. For the organizers (18) a written test was held. 5 people were included in the Special Task Force.

Team Structure

Kickoff: The team is looking forward to have a separate lab for R&D and a set of equipments to start with the experiments which will help in scaling up the process from the lab to an industrial scale. Considerable insight in the process has been gained by frequent visits to a similar plant currently in its commissioning stage at Panvel. Assistance is being provided by PhD students in demonstrating the process of analyzing the oil sample for the FFA and Oil content along with the necessary precautions. Besides being an excellent opportunity for the students to learn and a vision to utilize the fuel to run campus buses, the project, in its later stages, may be utilized to enhance the understanding of principles taught in the core department courses and also to accommodate students for projects. The project, being the first of its kind in India will also ripen the entrepreneurship spirit among students. Lastly it must be noted this is not a commercial project, but it can be utilized to make bio-diesel a commercially viable product for the future.

List of Organizers Selected

Anasuya Mandal Aishwary Dale Gaurav Shah Abhirup Sarkar Arpan Bandyopadhyay Pranat Bhadani Bhavik Shah Dinesh Goel Gopi Krishna

Saurabh Belsare Saumya Gupta Vivek Kumar Nikhil Sahu Ramanjit Singh Punit Rathi B Sudheer Kumar Rajarshi Guha Kishore Kumar

Manish Agarwal, Priyank Kanade are fourth year B.Tech

students and Piyush Tiwari is a fifth year Dual Degree

student of the department. They can be contacted at

[email protected], [email protected],

[email protected] respectively.

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Project Biosynth

-Biodiesel Plant in IIT Bombay




ChEA Voice, October 2008 4

Career Blues – Part I

It’s that time of the year again when the final year students are engaged in résumés, notice boards filled with companies inviting for PPTs and GD/PI workshops being held all over the campus. It’s placement time! The IIT Bombay placement scene has always been revered, with leading companies in all sectors coming to campus for recruitment. We attempt to broadly divide them into five main categories:

1. Engineering/Core 2. Consultancy 3. I-Banks 4. Finance 5. Software 6. Others

Most of the youngsters have a tough time weighing the pros and cons of the options available. A majority of them generally go with the flow, sit for interviews and eventually end up getting selected into some place or the other, all this while never having really asking themselves what they want out of their lives. Answering this particular question is part of life and it is a matter of time before one encounters it. The more you keep delaying, the farther you are from the answer and the benefits of realizing it and moreover you keep running out of time to come up with an answer that you shall be satisfied with. So we have decided to give the uninformed a glimpse into what various sectors have to offer and what it takes for it all. In part I we shall take a look at categories Engineering, Consultancy and I-Banks. In part II we shall explore other career options like apping etc.

1. Engineering

Engineers solve problems by applying mathematic, scientific, technical, and design knowledge to address problems and tasks faced by businesses and governments. A fundamental part of engineering is the practical application of specialized scientific knowledge. They are often the crucial link between goals and reality. Who Does Well? Engineers need to be able to work in teams. In school, engineers learn to attack a problem by breaking it down into small, independent parts. Breaking problems down in this systematic way helps divide the work among team members. The most successful engineers have a balance of creative and scientific skills and can master both established techniques and innovate new ones. Discipline, patience, and perseverance are also important qualities in an engineer—some problems may take years or even a whole career to solve. The ability to communicate with others is also a key skill, as engineers need to communicate effectively within their teams and with others who will apply their work. What does it take? Beyond demonstrated academic excellence, aspiring engineers should be interested in math and science, enjoy complex problem solving, and have good organizational and communication skills, both oral and written. Engineering problems often require a team effort, so a good engineer needs to be able to work within a team—whether as a member or a leader. There is a growing demand for chemical and process engineers. The impact of climate change is a matter of international concern and it will be chemical and process engineers who are responsible for finding the solutions. Statistics show that average Chemical engineering salaries have risen by over 50% since 1996 and today are one of the highest paid among engineers.

2. Consulting

What is consulting all about? While many businesses are based on selling products or services, consulting firms primarily sell knowledge. You name it—re-engineering, e-commerce, change management, systems integration, billion-dollar mergers and acquisitions, corporate—there is a consultant that is available to tell companies how to meet their challenges better, stronger, and faster. Of course, “consulting” is a big, one-size-fits-all term that includes virtually any form of advice-giving. Pretty much anyone with a specialty in a field can offer consulting service.

The ideas and opinions expressed in this newsletter belong essentially to the authors and the content managers and do not reflect the opinion of The Chemical Engineering Association (ChEA). “ChEA

Voice” is the students’ newsletter of the Chemical Engineering Association (ChEA) and does not intend to malign any individual or group. All images used in this issue have been reproduced with

permission from the concerned authorities, wherever necessary. Grievances and demands for apologies, if any, may be addressed to [email protected]


To give you an insight into the trends of placements of the Chemical Engineering Department students over the past few years we have compiled the placement statistics of the department over the last 3 years. The statistics have been compiled from the database of the department placement nominees in previous years. The figures by no means should be taken as absolute due to many factors involved. The whole purpose of this article is only to analyze the general trend and the shifting interests of the students of our department, if any. The job types have been broadly divided as Technical, Consulting, Analytics, Finance, Software (IT) and others for the sake of comparison. Presented are pie charts of the % placed in each sector, year wise.

Technical jobs have been opted for always by more than 40% of the students of the department with gargantuan oil firms like Shell, IOC, Halliburton, Schlumberger, FMCG companies like ITC ,P&G and other core companies like Boc, HPCL,BPCL, Technip, Croda, Reliance recruiting. However, there has been a shift from approximately 50% technical jobs in previous years to 40%, whereas, consulting has gone up from 10-15% to 20% , with students being placed in 9 consultancy firms last year including names like BCG, AT Kearney & Opera Solutions. Analytics has always been at around 10% with major recruiters being Marketrx, Musigma. As expected IT contributes only about 5% (except in year 05-06 when there was a sudden IT boom). After 2005-06 there has been sudden increase in number of finance firms coming to campus and share of IT has decreased as can been seen in the chart. Also students entering other fields have increased from 5-6% to 13% last year. This could be because of the immense diversification that we see in Chemical Engineering now. We further conducted a poll for the final year students

(UG and PG separately) of the department to gauge their

job sector preference. The results of which are

presented:

(Continued on Page 8)

Technical 40%

Consulting

19%

Analytics 10%

Finance 10%

IT 8%

Others 13%

Technical 53%

Consulting

10%

Analytics 15%

Finance 13%

IT 4%

Others 5%

Technical 47%

Consulting

18%

Analytics 9%

Finance 2%

IT 18%

Others 6%

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Placement Statistics for 2007-08



[email protected]

-Trend over the last 3 years





The Research PT

By Venkatraman Prabhu, Atish Parekh,

Aman Bansal

A) India

We did our second year internship in Hindustan

Unilever Research Center, Bangalore. This company

takes only second year students from IIT’s since the

work that is done there is strictly confidential (third

year people have to submit an internship report).

There were 4 people from IIT Bombay this summer.

Generally Hindustan Lever has a tendency to pick up

more students from IITB than from any other IIT. So

sophies should try here because this is probably one of

the best places to do your internship if you are

interested in a research intern in India.

The research facilities and the labs are excellent. You

are given a problem statement to work on. The work

can involve extensive coding or performing

experiments. Generally coding work is given because it

is difficult to do very fruitful experimental work in 2

months. Coding might require you to have some

Matlab exposure. Many people get a publication out of

the work they do in Hindustan Unilever.

Venkat: My work was experimental in nature and later

involved some coding work to find out the final results.

My guide had never worked on the topic he had given

me but there were other people in Hindustan Unilever

who had worked on it before and they were all very

helpful. Once I had the results of the experiments I

had to analyze them.

Atish: My research topic was separation of volatile

organic compounds (VOC) from a binary mixture of

water + VOC. It was a two months project which

required the application of general Chemical Engg.

principles we have learnt up to 2nd year. My main work

was based on mass balance calculations for the

process under study. The chance of working with a

scientist directly helps a lot. I have developed an

admiration for their clarity of thought. Also we get an

exposure to what industry research really is. During

my internship I learnt so many new things in MS Office

about which I was unaware of. It may seem trivial to

most of us but believe me it is very useful!

The work timings in HUL are from 8:30am to 5:30pm

but as a trainee no one will question you. But you have

to see to it that your guide is pleased with your work.

The work atmosphere is good. The research associates

are very friendly and helpful. There is a lot of stress on

safety. Apart from all this, you get quality breakfast

and lunch there.

However you have to make your own arrangements for

accommodation.

To conclude, based on our experiences we’d say HUL is

definitely one of the best places you can intern in India

after your second year.

Venkatraman Prabhu and Atish Parekh are both third year

B.Tech students of the department. They can be contacted

at [email protected] and [email protected]

respectively.

B) Foreign

I did a three month intern at the University of Leeds, Leeds, UK. It was a project on polymer analysis. NMR spectroscopy is a very new technique used for this. There are only a handful of such machines in the world with rheometric/microimaging technique.

Publishing a paper was high on my agenda and my

professor shared the same. So from the beginning we

both had a clear goal to get the requisite number of

simulations ready. I got to derive an equation in the

process and the paper is almost ready to be sent for

approval.

Coming to the work culture: It was something I had

never seen before. People were so enthusiastic about

working. They were very nice and helping. There was

total flexibility in work timings. This actually provided me

with the flexibility to work on weekends too if I wanted. I

had three supervisors: English, American and German.

Now that's international work experience!

I can never write enough about the cultural experiences

there. I saw so many places & met so many people.

Scotland has the most fantastic landscapes I have ever

seen. In my lab I had four French summer students who

had come to UK to improve their English! We all made

really good friends and I assisted them in their English. I

have spent countless hours with my lab group members

talking about a plethora of topics.

Through such interaction I have been able to appreciate

the beauty of other cultures and get a clear picture of

the 'international mindset’.

Aman Bansal is a third year B.Tech student of the

department. He can be contacted at [email protected]

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The ideas and opinions expressed in this newsletter belong essentially to the authors and the content managers and do not reflect the opinion of The Chemical Engineering Association (ChEA). “ChEA Voice” is the students’ newsletter of the Chemical Engineering Association (ChEA) and does not intend to malign any individual or group. Grievances and demands for



The Industrial PT

By Neeta Dixit

Come third year and the buzz is about PTs. Well a

recent trend has prompted the sophomore batch to be

bitten by this bug too and it was not much different

when I was in my second year.

I had applied for an internship both in India and

abroad and wanted to decide only once I’ve all my

options clear. I secured an internship with BASF-The

Chemical Company and decided to take up the offer of

a foreign industrial internship to gain international

exposure, interact on a multicultural level and work in

a new environment. Widely known as the world’s

leading chemical company, with a total site area of

10km² and the expertise and experience of

approximately 37,000 employees at its headquarters,

it surely did live upto its name!

Most above average portfolio international companies have formal internship programs. They usually receive many applications from all over the world. Formalities are rigorous and time consuming, and enough time must be kept in hand for the various procedures. The work atmosphere was intellectually challenging yet

very comfortable.

There were no rigid timings to be followed, though

they expected us to work for 40 hours per week

One of the most amazing features in the company and a

key learning experience on using resources efficiently,

which I learnt during the campus tour on the

introduction day, was that the BASF headquarters works

on the philosophy of verbund (German for integrated

whole) which stands for integration and networking. With

its composite structures and highly efficient power plants

it saves not only production costs but also protects the

environment by helping to reduce waste and cut

emissions while keeping the consumption of resources

and transportation to a minimum. Raw materials and

feedstocks are transported through a dense network of

piping rather than having to be sent long distances by

road, rail or sea. The excess heat is transferred to other

plants for use in production.

On the lighter side travelling on weekends in a new

country is not only a great relief from work but also a

new experience all together. We also had a get-together

for internees every Wednesday which provided plenty of

opportunities for socializing.

Having said all this, the decision on applying and

choosing a right internship was not easy for me. Some of

us are confused on what to choose between a research

and an industrial PT. I wouldn’t be wrong in saying that

for most of us the key focus on choosing an internship is

the future prospect and rewards it holds.

Intuitively we may feel that an industrial PT would improve the chances for a core job or MS. While that is true to a certain extent it is however not wise to discount a research PT's value addition towards the above goals as well. As far as the PhD is concerned, a research PT helps in exploring a new area of study as well as provides you a potential recommender. The flip side being you can gain both the above in our department as well, which is unfortunately not the case with respect to gaining industrial exposure. An industrial experience helps you address real life problems. Issues of practical interest like control, flexibility, safety and optimization become clear. However it is wise to weigh all the options in hand subjectively in accordance with your future goals before making the decision. I wish you all the best in choosing (and securing ) the right kind of internship!

internships

7

The ideas and opinions expressed in this newsletter belong essentially to the authors and the content managers and do not reflect the opinion of The Chemical Engineering Association (ChEA). “ChEA Voice” is

the students’ newsletter of the Chemical Engineering Association (ChEA) and does not intend to malign any individual or group. Grievances and demands for apologies, if any, may be addressed to [email protected]


(Again note that these figures shouldn’t be treated as

absolute since only a share of students participated in

the poll and they were allowed to choose only one

option)

As expected 100% of the M.Tech students had a

technical job preference.

The UG batch had a varied set of preferences with

majority going in for Technical & Consulting as has

been observed in previous years too. Also, considering

the current situation in the Finance industry this

preference seems to have taken a backseat over I-

Banking. Students who specified their preference as

others included mainly agriculture.

We wish the passing out batch all the best in their

pursuit for the dream job!

With valuable inputs from Ram Kumar and Jasjit Parmar, the Chemical Dual and B.Tech Department Placement Nominees for the year 2008-09. They can be contacted at [email protected] and [email protected] respectively.

8

38 %

30 %

6 %

11 %

4 %

11 %

Placement Survey UG Poll 2008-09 Results

Inte

rvie

w!

Leisure Corner

"Scutt and Scurry"

Once Upon a time, There lived two mice.

One was Scutt, the other Scurry, Both of them, always in a hurry. Their friendship was a wonder;

Though each bore a different savor. Scutt believed in 'we',

Scurry always said 'me'. One Day some cheese, found Scurry,

Gobbled it all in a hurry. Back to the hole he went,

Which the two, held on rent. There he saw, Scutt asleep, Lost In, some thought, deep.

Scurry's eyes grew bright, When to his delight,

He saw more of some lovely cheese, In front of Scutt, who slept with ease.

Without a thought, he jumped, And soon landed on the lump.

The cheese was all gone, Now, for Scutt, 'twas dawn'. Who was up with a yawn,

And looked for the cheese that was gone. Good, you ate it, I saved it for you, His love for Scurry, was surely true.

Scurry didn't know what to say, As he had his eyes opened that day.

Suvajeet Duttagupta is a Research Scholar of the department. He can be contacted at [email protected]

Frobish: "...and on Monday we saw that if you write the coupled partial differential equations of change for this pseudoplastic fluid flowing in a cloverleaf--shaped channel and impose the usual singular perturbation theory boundary conditions you can easily prove that the liquid will emerge at the outlet as long as the pipe is tilted downward." Student: "Professor Frobish” Frobish: "That result by itself is of course only mildly interesting but Monday was the first day of class and I wanted to start slowly. Now today we'll see what happens if we relax some of those simplifying assumptions. Suppose, for example, we say that instead of a pseudoplastic fluid..." Student: "Professor Frobish!" Frobish: "What is it already?" Student: "You never finished the proof you were doing on Monday and I didn't understand any of it as far as you got." Frobish: "Finishing it was an exercise for the class...the mathematics is completely straightforward...but if you need help you'll find something similar in that paper by Lundquist I cited." Student: (a trace of hysteria entering his voice) "But I can't read Swedish!"


(ChEA). “ChEA Voice” is the students’ newsletter of the Chemical Engineering Association (ChEA) and does not intend to malign any individual or group. Grievances and demands for apologies, if any, may be addressed to [email protected]


If you like the idea of giving advice to other businesses, and you have a particular interest in some other specialized field, there’s a good chance you can find a position with an organization doing precisely that. What does it take to be a consultant? Research and analysis are the main tools of the trade for management consultants. In the chemical industry, consultants study products, markets, manufacturing processes, environmental regulations, and patents. With this information they assist executives in making business decisions concerning new products, acquiring other companies, or reorganizing internally. Consulting is great for people who like variety in their

work, enjoy problem solving and thinking about

business strategy. Consulting can be a very fulfilling

career as well as an excellent jumping-off point for a

management career or a future as an entrepreneur. On

the flip side, frequent travel and long hours can make

a consultant's schedule very demanding.

3. I-Banking

Big bucks and long hours are the hallmarks of the investment banking and finance industry. After all, keeping on top of the world’s financial markets can be an almost 24/7 job. But the financial rewards—not to mention being a part of some of the big-name business deals that you see in headlines—can make the grueling hours an adrenaline-based rush. Over the last few years, the number of financial firms recruiting from IIT Bombay has increased significantly. While investment banks have also begun recruiting for their front offices in global financial hubs from the IITs, that number remains relatively low. What an investment bank actually is? Investment banks help companies and governments raise money by issuing and selling securities in the capital markets, as well as providing advice on transactions such as mergers and acquisitions. An investment bank is split into the so-called Front Office, Middle Office, and Back Office. The two most interesting departments in an i-bank are corporate finance and global markets. The big money M&As, IPOs etc are all handled by the ―bankers‖ - Corpfin is the branch that raises capital for corporations, governments etc. In this division, work is not too different from what a consultant does. Global Markets, on the other hand is all about buying and selling financial products and making PnL off tight spreads. In this division, there are various desks – FX, IR, Commodities, Equity, and Credit etc. With their heavy quant background and tendency to pick up things easily, IITians, typically, end up working with structuring or trading teams, straight out of college.

What does it take? As true for all jobs, you shouldn't go into banking just for the money. To survive in investment banking, much less to do well, you'll need to like the work itself, which requires the research ability of a skilled investigative journalist, the focused attention of a surgeon, and the physical endurance (to withstand the long hours) of a marathon runner. Of course, you also have to have top-notch analytical skills. If the market or your industry group is in a slump (or if your firm suddenly decides to get out of a certain segment of the business), there's always the chance that you may find a pink slip on your desk Monday morning. Need we elaborate on this in the present scenario? But, if you like fast-paced, deal-oriented work, are at ease with numbers and analysis, have a tolerance for risk, then investment banking may be a great career choice.

Manudhane Awards 2008

ChEA congratulates all the winners of the

Manudhane awards 2008

RG Manudhane Student M.Tech excellence award

Kartik Shekhar

RG Manudhane Student PhD excellence

award

Chinmai Ghoroi

Indira Manudhane B.Tech. Student excellence award

Chetna Choudhary

Indira Manudhane Best PG teacher award

Prof R.K Malik

Also congratulations to Prof. Sanjay

Mahajani for the

Excellence in Teaching Award

The ideas and opinions expressed in this newsletter belong essentially to the authors and the content managers and do not reflect the opinion of The Chemical Engineering Association (ChEA). “ChEA

Voice” is the students’ newsletter of the Chemical Engineering Association (ChEA) and does not intend to malign any individual or group. All images used in this issue have been reproduced with

permission from the concerned authorities, wherever necessary. Grievances and demands for apologies, if any, may be addressed to [email protected]


Prabhu Deva‟s classic pelvic thrusts formed a hallmark of this 1990s hit number picturized atop running buses, amidst coy girls and amongst the ideal prototypes of teenagers. Leading a group of college going sloths, Prabhu Deva nonchalantly advocates the „Take it easy Policy‟ for every circumstance of life be it getting dumped by a girl, failing in exams, working on a Sunday and other similarly deplorable situations. The message conveyed is essentially one of pure ignorance which will seemingly yield bliss at a future date. „Un-taking‟ the initiative is the order of the day. The tone of this article should be clear by now. Quit if you don‟t like lectures or moral lessons. I may launch into a tirade with the permanent risk of being labelled a traitor or someone who has defected to the other side. Juniors will probably say “Matka Saala!” once they read this but it‟s fine. This is meant to be a „passing out‟ article and I assure you that you will pass out by the time I am done with it, either out of disgust or out of pure exhaustion.

In my experience over the last four years I have learned that as a collective community the IITians‟ average academic conscience and sense of morality comes closest to that of a frog, at best, an ugly one at that. There are of course many exceptions but I would rather not talk about them here. What is more lamentable is the fact that most of us aren‟t that way when we enter. The process of studying under the present day circumstances seems to be incubating this contagious floundering of principles and morals. I admit to being one of the system‟s cursed children and hence a vague attempt to salvage future generations of this prodigal parent. Please feel free to disagree with me. My views are but an outcome of the cynical view of the world I have possessed for so long. For all my preaching and lamenting here, I might just end up stating the obvious.

So, what are academic conscience and sense of morality? We are basically talking honesty in all forms of work be it courses or projects, resistance to plagiarism and discouraging malpractices in general. Simple as the words may sound, the practice of the aforementioned principles is far from easy and IIT Bombay perhaps is fast becoming a good example of what happens when those passing through the portals of a prestigious institute choose not to. For your information, the brand image of IIT Bombay that we so delectably exploit is partly a result of people who advocated similar ethics. The maintenance of the brand requires us to atleast match them, if not better. In hindsight, it sometimes appears that our apparent lack of work ethic might be the result of adolescence and will subside with the coming of age.

That coming of age is happening to an alarmingly small number of people nowadays and this is cause for concern.

We seem to be admiring ourselves a bit too

much, staring at ourselves in the mirror for too long to notice what‟s going on elsewhere.

As IITians, we appear to have fallen in love with our image rather than what we truly are. We have become the potholed moon that mirrors the sun.

Most of us believe that having obtained instruction at an institution as prestigious as an IIT; a bright career is in the offering. That, as a matter of fact is true. There is a certain advantage that one can obtain leveraging the IIT brand. But there is only so much you can do with it. Gone are the days when people hired you on the basis of the letters in front of your name. Today‟s world requires results which in turn require work and perseverance. The sooner one tunes in to this idea the further will he/she advance his/her prospects in the world no matter whether you are from the Indian, Siberian, Tunisian or the Biblical Institute of Technology.

Instead, the culture we propagate in our institute is a ridiculous display of lethargy and fickle mindedness, something that is akin to the „Take It Easy‟ policy of one Mr.Deva. Ours is a culture without accountability of any sort. We copy and plagiarise at will, we also manage to be ungrateful to our sources, we are obviously unapologetic about it and we do it inspite of and most of the times in complete awareness of the rules against such malpractices. We do it not once, not twice but again and again until it comes to us as naturally as our breath. So strong is our belief in our inability that we don‟t pause once to question or even doubt the remote possibility of the existence of one small shred of our original talent that brought us here in the first place. Most of us however claim that they are sure they can do it if they try; it‟s just that they don‟t feel like doing so. How very humble!

So, what does this make us? In my opinion, this makes us a community of Dumasses. Not only do we let go of an opportunity to carve out a good future, we also manage to stain the fabric of our conscience with vivid shades of plagiarism, lethargy and dishonesty so that we ultimately start challenging the very prospects of a worthy life. We have all heard of a phenomenon called “brain drain”, something associated with bright students leaving India. Going by what I have seen here in IITB, I am tempted to say that the brain drain we suffer because of our choice of work ethic and the sheer laziness to use our own resources is far greater. And worse, unlike the geographic distance that the other “brain drain” is all about, this thing we have here is more psychological in nature, more permanent and less likely to be recovered. Now, surely we need to point fingers at someone, don‟t we? Who‟s to blame? If it‟s the true culprit you seek, you need to just look into a mirror.

Alumni Speaketh

‘Take it Easy’ Fallacy By Amrit Jalan

The ideas and opinions expressed in this newsletter belong essentially to the authors and the content managers and do not reflect the opinion of The Chemical Engineering Association (ChEA). “ChEA Voice” is

the students’ newsletter of the Chemical Engineering Association (ChEA) and does not intend to malign any individual or group. Grievances and demands for apologies, if any, may be addressed to [email protected]


And this also includes those who are honest but

choose to do nothing about what goes on around

them. It includes seniors who advocate it to their

juniors, humble disciples waiting to be moulded. It

includes me and you.

As we graduate, many people tell us that we shall shape the future of India and the world. Most of us snigger and smirk at this remark because it deems too great a responsibility on our shoulders; because we are unsure about our own futures let alone that of the nation or the world. Make no mistake, it is the truth. Each one of us (and I am not talking only about IITians here) will shape the future and will in turn be shaped by it. The contribution we end up making is for us to determine. It is not out of a sense of duty that one contributes to such things, sometimes it is pity, sometimes it is a will to see someone else revel in the enlightenment that you have had the courage and desire to obtain and cherish. I do not completely understand the principle that Pandit Nehru based the IITs on. I don’t really desire to either, I am sure it must have been a prudent one but I would like to believe that somewhere in his thoughts he would have hoped that the IITs will produce enlightened souls who shall then be willing to act as the nutrients of an efficient society within the country or outside it. Our mindsets today are not in compliance with this view of the IITs. We buckle too easily, get discouraged too soon, are scantily motivated, easily bribed, fearsome of strong opinions and worse, we are aware of these weaknesses, are too proud to admit them and hence do not wish to address them head on. Mind you, I am not talking academics alone. The traits described above feature pretty much in every aspect of our everyday lives. Fostering integrity is the first and foremost principle of any institution, academic or professional; it is the first principle of IIT Bombay. We strive to be good engineers or scientists after we strive to be able human beings. Remember, integrity is an investment that always reaps returns.

Amrit Jalan was a B.Tech Student of the 2004 batch of

the department. He can be contacted at

[email protected]

Pay it forward

- Department Academic Mentorship Programme (DAMP)

“A Mentor is someone whose hindsight can become your foresight” describes aptly the purpose and role of Mentor in a single statement.

By being a Mentor, one is no longer just a student but a member of a dynamic community that appreciates those who are willing to make a contribution. Student mentors are senior students who act as guides, friends, and role models to the mentees. Both the faculty and student mentors are interested in ensuring that mentees have a successful academic and social experience at the university. A student mentor, who ideally has excellent social and communication skills, serves as a guide for success in a university setting, offering benefits such as (i) A supportive relationship with the mentees, (ii) Options and alternatives to mentees' questions and concerns, (iii) A resource for appropriate campus referrals, and (iv) Peer support and sincere recognition for the mentees' academic goals and achievements. Mentees receive assistance in 3 ways - Email, Face-to-Face in the Mentor Space, and “Ask a Mentor” for guidance and help on specific topics. Successful mentorship and benefits to both the sides can be judged by frequency of meetings and ratings of goal attainment. In IITB, there have been various levels of mentoring existing at present to serve the purpose. Institute Student Mentorship Programme (ISMP) is in action for mentoring of first year students. Besides this, there is senior mentoring at the hostel level, faculty advisors are there to help with academic issues and finally, student counselor is present to deal with serious cases when all the other mentoring methods fail. Currently there is no dedicated academic mentoring programme for 2nd, 3rd and 4th year UG students in the department. There are quite a few back loggers in all these batches and it is an urgent need to pay attention to them. Also, PG students don’t have any sort of mentorship available at the present. Academic performance of all these students should be tracked and improved upon by proper supervision, guidance and counseling. To justify this necessity, Department Academic Mentorship Programme (DAMP) has come into existence. This programme will run in the department with the aim of providing effective mentoring to backlogers. This will involve some amount of personal involvement from the side of the department mentor to find out the real reason behind the lagging performance of the students. The main emphasis will be on providing academic help and advice and an effort to build a long-lasting motivation towards the department. Besides DAMP, all the above mentioned mentoring activities will have to go hand-in hand to complement it in other aspects.

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The current structure of DAMP establishes it as a student body with the involvement of Faculty at appropriate points of contact. HOD and faculty advisors represent the faculty side of the programme. Faculty Advisors are a link between student body and faculty of the department. They are available for counseling purposes for the “problem cases” brought to attention by mentors. On the student side, student mentor coordinator is responsible for the day to day

functioning the DAMP. He acts as interface between

faculty, ISMP and DAMP. There are Department Student Mentors (DSMs) for all the UG mentees and PG nominee will look after the 1st year PG students since they don’t have any mentors at the institute level. Besides them, Department General Secretary is also integral part of the team. Students from the 3rd yr, 4th yr and 5th yr constitute the team of DSMs. Each DSM has been allotted 1-2 mentees to emphasize one-on-one interaction. The mentees are preferably allotted from the same hostel or a nearby hostel to ensure regular meeting between the mentor and the respective mentees. There are still some questions and issues to address like how to provide effective mentoring to M.Techs and PhDs. New initiatives and ideas are needed for these tasks. At present, DAMP has been started with simple yet strong motive to help students with poor academic performance and for the present, its scope has been limited to students with multiple backlogs but in the future, programme will be extended to other students also. Many aspects will be added to it as the program flourishes. Sincere thanks to HOD for being so supportive about this program and approving it. Also, the efforts by D. GSec., Piyush Tiwari, and ISMP coordinator, Abhinav Arora, in approval and execution of DAMP should be appreciated. DAMP is a way to pay it forward and contribute to the department by helping your peers.

Akash Gupta and Ashish Garg are fourth year Dual Degree and B.Tech students of the department respectively. They can be contacted at [email protected] and [email protected] respectively.

ChEA Executive Committee

FACULTY

Head of the Department & President Prof.Anurag Mehra

Vice-President Prof.Sandeep Roy

Treasurer Prof.Sameer Jadhav

STUDENTS

Department General Secretary Piyush Tiwari

General Secretary Manish Agarwal

Web Nominee Vishnu Sresht

Social Secretary Rajan Seth

Alumni & Seminar Secretary Ritika Tawani

Editor

Neeta Dixit

Feedback

We would like to have your feedback on this issue. Please send in your views, suggestions and ideas as this shall help us improve and learn. Anybody (UGs, PGs, PhDs or faculty) interested in writing or contributing to ChEA Voice can mail me at [email protected]. The faculty is specially requested to send in its views and comments. - Editor

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Department T-shirt

People!! The department T-shirt is in its designing stages and we are looking for catchy phrases and designs. All interested people are requested to rack their brains and come up with suggestions and ideas. There are incentives waiting for the best design. Please mail your ideas and suggestions to [email protected].



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