Institute has duly entered in the field of research activities at the Ph. D. level. Various research projects funded by Government agencies are being carried out by the faculty of the institute. Hence, beyond post graduation there are vast opportunities for students for further learning and career enhancement.
Department of Biotechnology & Biomedical Sciences
Name of Principal Investigator (PI): Dr. Arun Kumar, Director Research, Training & Placements
Title of the Research Project – “Biological Diversity log of Uttarakhand State and its conservation strategies” financial assistance from Uttarakhand Council of Science and Technology (UCOST), Govt. of Uttarakhand (2007-09).
Bio-diversity has numerous values in agriculture, forestry, medicine, food & industry. Conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity is inbuilt in Indian ethos and culture. The conservation of biodiversity requires the development of sound conservation planning and implementation of strong policies, but these measures themselves are inadequate to arrest the rate and magnitude of biodiversity loss. The foundation of sound conservation planning and policy is itself dependent on the existence of data generated through research, monitoring and inventories.
The Uttarakhand state is very rich in biodiversity. Like most Indian hill states it has primarily an agrarian economy. Nevertheless, the past decades have seen an increase in pressure on the state’s natural eco-systems. It is, therefore, high time that the issues, relating to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, like information on flora, fauna, microbes, agro-biodiversity and plants of ethno botanical importance, identification of major threats to biodiversity in the state and proposed conservation strategies are addressed at one place to provide an updated status of Biodiversity of the state.
The report of the project has been submitted listing biodiversity profile of the state including microbes, flora, fauna and fossils. It also deals with the total list of ethno botanical and ethno zoological species, as well as their conservation status. Threats to biodiversity and their conservation strategies have been discussed.
Department of Forestry
Name of Principal Investigator (PI): Dr. T.S. Mehra, Head Department of Forestry
Co-PI: Dr. Manisha Rani and Dr. C. S. Sanwal
Title of the Research Project – “Screening selection and cultivation of medicinal plants of heavy demands to uplift the financial status of rural population” Funding Agency: GBPIHED, Kosi Katarmal, Almora-Uttarakhand (Ministry of Environment & Forest, GOI).
Medicinal plants are moving from fringe to mainstream use with a greater number of people seeking remedies and health approaches free from side effects caused by synthetic drugs. As a result of this resurgence of interest in traditional medicines, the demand of raw material has increased manifolds, leading to the unscrupulous collection of medicinal plants from their wild habitat by traders & local collectors. Due to this indiscriminate & unscientific exploitation many such species have become threatened in the wild and large scale cultivation is the only option left for their conservation & sustainable utilization.
During the period list of medicinal plants in high demand in northern India has been prepared. Stevia rebaudina (a medicinal species) and Cymbopogon flexuosus ( an aromatic plant) are being cultivated in the campus after assessing their economic importance. Additionally around 120 local farmers have been registered for cultivation of these two species. Training manuals on agro-techniques of Stevia rebaudiana and Cymbopogon flexoxux have been prepared.
Department of Chemistry
Name of Principal Investigator (PI): Dr Deepak Pant
1. “Utilization of glass waste for the degradation of waste Plastic” funded by UttaraKhand Council of Science and Technology (UCOST).
In recent years quantities of water glass have been on the rise due to an increase in industrialization and the rapid improvement in the standard of living. Waste glass creates a serious environment problem, mainly because of the inconsistency of the waste glass streams. On the basic of colour Glass wastes are classified in two type colourless glass. In India most of the waste colorless glass consumed for the production of glass as a material resource, but the quality of products are not satisfactory. However, the waste colored glasses are not used for such purpose and dumped with municipalities. So there being a continuous demand for same alternative management plan for these wastes.
The current research has two central Objectives:
(i) Synthesize the various types of cracking catalyst from waste glass;
(ii) Test its efficiency for the various plastic products to provide a selective pathway for conversion. First phase of this project was now finished and work on second phase is in progress.
2. “Recovery of metals present in E-waste a greener way” by Indian Nation Science Academy (INSA) 2010.