Activities

Activities of the R & D Cell for the year 2013-2014
The following faculty members were assigned by the principal as the R & D Cell committee members:
Conveners	Departments
Dr. R. Shenbagarathai	Department of Biotechnology
Dr. M. Helen Mary Jacqueline	Department of Economics
Members
Dr. (Mrs) V. Sri Devi	Department of Chemistry
Mrs. S.P. Jeyakokila	Department of Mathematics
Dr. E. Sheeba	Department of Commerce
Ms. Uma Maheswari	Department of Economics
Student Member
Kokila G.	Arts Stream
Abirami P.	Science Stream

The R & D cell serves as a platform to coordinate and initiate research activities of faculty members by providing management grant to pursue their doctoral degrees, or do research on areas of their academic interest in the form of library visits, or avail sabbatical leave. It also enables the teaching faculty to be involved in book or an in house journal publication for circulation among the academic elite. A new initiative was taken by the cell as a Diamond Jubilee venture of the college in this year, which is the launch of projects of institutional concerns to be carried out by the faculty members through management funding and also to release a book on Research Methodology as a college publication. Research Methodology book is issued every year to all undergraduate students to learning and understanding of research.

The In-house Journal ‘ASPIRE’ contains articles contributed from students and faculty from Humanities and Sciences Department. The Journal serves as a portal for dissemination of research ideas of undergraduate and post graduate student projects.The journal was released during September 2010.

The R & D cell also manages the Research forum which organizes two programs every semester. In this forum, the college faculty members share their research experience with their peer group and academic discussions and debates are held for the growth of scientific knowledge.

Details of R&D talk held during the year 2012-2013
Name of the faculty & Department	Title of the Talk	Date
Dr. Daniel Jeyaraj, Liverpool University, UK	Lecture on Formulation of Research Policy	03/08/2012
College Faculty	Presentation of research outcomes UGC CPE Research and Extension projects at Thondamanpatti & Environment Management research projects	14/08/2012
Dr. N. Sayira Banu	An Analysis of the Impact of Economic Reforms in India on Selected Macro Economic Variables	25/09/2012

Research Initiatives

To promote research culture among faculty, initiatives were taken to approach faculty members of different departments. Importance of research cum teaching and the availability of several research grants in areas of humanities & sciences even emphasized

CSIR / UGC NET Coaching

A UGC grant of Rs. 1,88,000/- was allocated to regular PG departments organizing NET coaching classes in their respective disciplines. Expert lectures enabled them to gain confidence in preparation and appearing for NET exam.

Environmental Management Research Grant

A seed money of Rs. 10,000/- each was granted to eight projects to promote research culture among faculty.

• Workshop on Dynamism of Research and Proposal writing - Nov / Dec 2012.

Thondamanpatti village

The most important highlight was R & D cell took the initiative to coordinate thirteen departments to undertake research / extension activity in their field of specialization that will benefit the villagers. Research teams representing respective disciplines comprising of faculty and students visited the village and interacted with its community to gather relevant information and build rapport.

In continuation, specific training programme and application of PRA techniques by four different groups will be implemented at Thondamanpatti village during the academic year 2012-13.

Workshop on PARTICIPATORY RURAL APPRAISAL (Organized as part of Thondamanpatti village Adoption Programme) on 24.08.2012 & 25.08.2012.

Resource Persons:

Dr. S. Manivel

Associate Professor

Dept of Cooperation,

Gandhigram Rural Institute –

Deemed University

Dr. R. Ramesh

Associate Professor

Dept of Rural Development

Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar,

Ethiopia

Dr. K. Manikandan

Associate Professor

Dept of Economics,

Gandhigram Rural Institute -

Deemed University

Tree Planting at Thondamanpatti on 06th October, 2012. Thirty tree saplings were planted at the village. School children and villagers have taken the responsibility to nurture the given saplings.

Interdisciplinary Research Project

The college management has sanctioned 6 interdisciplinary projects for the academic year 2012-2013. Total amount sanctioned Rs.88,600/-

S.No	Departments	Name of the Faculty	Title of the Project	Amount Sanctioned
1.	Social Sciences & Biotech	Dr. Synthia Mary Mathew & Dr. Poornima Kani	A study on the relationship between hematological parameters and intelligence among primary school children at Salwarpatty, Madurai	Rs.20,000/-
2.	Zoology, Chemistry & Physical Education	Mrs. A.P.A. Rani, Mrs. S. Mahalakshmi & Mrs. Shantha Meena	Experimental and Cheminformatics analysis of Lead Toxicity of Petrol Bunk workers	Rs.20,000/-
3.	Social Sciences & CHRD	Mrs. R. Vidhya Lakshmi, Ms. Kajal J.Mehta & Mrs. S. Sriilatha	A study on Organisational Learning of teaching & non-teaching faculty of Lady Doak College	Rs.17,500/-
4.	Physics & Chemistry	Dr. Beulah Rajkumar & Mrs. G. Jayanthi Kalaivani	Fabrication and use of a low cost soil moisture sensor using Gypsum blocks	Rs. 10,100
5.	Chemistry & Biotech	Mrs. S. Julie Ranee & Ms. T. Mowna Sundari	Chemical synthesis and insilico of benzamidazole derivatives on fungal and viral targets	Rs.10,000/-
6.	Tamil & Botany	Mrs. P. Stella JiJiboy , Ms. M. Glory Salomi Victoria & Mrs. D. Melchi Leebana	Diversity of trees at Lady Doak College campus, Madurai	Rs.11,000/-
Total				Rs.88,600/-

Writing Research Proposal

Fourteen departments conducted the workshop on Writing Research Proposal during the Academic Year 2012-2013. The knowledge gained from the workshop will be useful for Writing Research Proposals in the near future and also for their Ph.D. Degree. Many research scholars were benefitted from the above workshop.