Scientists as students’ guides

Times News Network, 10 Mar 07

Lucknow: Can science be the best career option? On Friday, some of the top scientists of India, gathered at the Sanjay Gandhi Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences donned the cap of a counsellor, to answer this and more such questions of students from various citybased schools and colleges. The panel of ‘counsellors’ itself was as star-stud as it could be. Director Indian Institute of Science (IISc) P Balram, vice-chancellor (VC) UP technical university (UPTU) Prem Vrat, director SGPGIMS Dr AK Mahapatra, director Centre for Bio-Magnetic Resonance (CBMR) CL Khetrapal, besides, a hosts of senior scientists from IISc and SGPGIMS faced the volley of questions from the students. In the exercise, the panel was supported by professional career counsellor Amrita Dass. “I think today academics is back. There might have been apprehensions of there being a lull in this field. But you make most of it when there are less persons,” said Balram. “One should not always look at Nobel prize as a benchmark. We’ll have to move beyond the present scenario where a committee of professors sitting in Sweden decides who is good,” he said. One thing which these experts of science and medicine were categorical about was that one should always look down at least 20 years down the line and see where one stands in his profession. Prof Prem Vrat, known for his illustrious career as an engineer and educator, asked the students to enjoy whatever they do in their life. “Enjoy and simply enjoy. And that would draw out the best in you,” he said. For him, science is one, be it engineering or medicine. However, he regretted the clear demarcation between engineering and medicine. “It has been projected as if the two streams would never meet. This is wrong and should not be,” he said. Added Prof CL Khetrapal, a senior scientist formerly with the IISc: “Science draws out the best useful thing for human consumption...Be it engineering or medicine.” This was dittoed by SGPGIMS director Dr AK Mahapatra. A renowned neurosurgeon Dr Mahapatra said that science meant rational thinking.