Progress report

I

UNIVERSITY

OF CALCUTTA
nstitute of Radio Physics and Electronics
Radio Physics and Electronics

UGC-SAP (CAS) Programme
PROGRESS REPORT

(April 2005 – March 2010)

For Final Review
Centre of Advanced Study

in

Radio Physics and Electronics, University of Calcutta,

92 Acharya Prafulla Chandra Road

Kolkata 700 009

Presented at the CAS Advisory Committee meeting held on March 02, 2009, at Institute of Radio Physics and Electronics, University of Calcutta

Preface
The Institute of Radio Physics and Electronics established in 1949 is the first University department in India engaged in the study and research in all branches in Radio Science including Electronics, Communication, Computers, Control, Ionosphere and Wave Propagation. The internationally acclaimed research conducted by its founder Prof. Sisir Kumar Mitra, FRS, and his group and the able leadership of his successor, Prof. Jatindra Nath Bhar, FNA, elevated the status of this newly founded Institute to a very high level, so that the University Grants Commission awarded this department a status Centre of Advanced Study in 1963.
At the time of the setting up of the Center of Advanced Study in Radio Physics and Electronics in 1963, the U.G.C. had recommended that the thrust area of the Center be "Radio Wave Propagation and Upper Atmospheric Research". Prof. Bhar, however, was fully aware of the vast potentialities of the newly emerging areas in Electronics and was convinced that in the long term interest of the Institute, these new areas had to be nurtured side by side with studies on the Upper Atmosphere. It was mainly due to his efforts that the Center of Advanced Study was renamed as CAS in Radio Physics and Electronics.

As a result of the creation of the Center, substantial grants, and teaching positions were received by the Department. Prof. Bhar made it very clear to all his colleagues that "the Department was the Center and the Center was the Department" so that whatever additional facilities were created were available to all the faculty of the Department.

Since its inception as a CAS, the teaching and research activities of the Centre expanded manifold. The CAS status is enjoyed by the Institute uninterrupted till March 2010, i.e., over a long period of 47 years: perhaps a unique instance in the country. Because of the exemplary academic and research excellence, the UGC in 2008 identified this Centre as one of the two Networking Resource Centres in Physical Sciences and one amongst ten such centres planned to be established in the country.
The current phase (Phase IV) of the CAS covered the period from April 01, 2005 to March 31, 2010, with the undersigned as the Programme Coordinator and Prof. Susanta Sen as the Deputy Coordinator. The review/assessment of the activities of the CAS during Phase IV will be conducted during February 24 and 25, 2011. The Final Report to be placed before the Review Committee has been prepared in the format prescribed by the UGC as given in the following pages.
(P. K. Basu)

Programme Coordinator: Phase IV (2005-2010)

CAS in Radio Physics and Electronics

University of Calcutta

Kolkata 700009

Date: January 31, 2011