Arun Deb’s initiative

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Alumni’s gifts help IIEST set up two research centres
Mar 27, 2025, 10.08 PM IST

Kolkata: IIEST, Shibpur, one of the oldest engineering colleges in the country, on Thursday gave itself two interdisciplinary centres, where research will be carried out on the most contemporary issues of sustainable infrastructure, water and environment.

The centres have been set up with grants contributed by Sudhangsu Sekhar Chakraborty (88) and Arun Deb (88), 1957 civil engineering batchmates. Rs 10 crore from Chakraborty helped set up Centre of Sustainable Infrastructure Development (CSID), named after his wife, Chirasree. Deb’s gift of Rs 8.7 crore has been used to form Centre of Water and Environmental Studies (CWES), named after him and his wife, Dhriti.

“Such contributions by the alumni will motivate not only IIEST but also other institutes,” said BoG chairperson Tejaswi Ananthkumar.

“The BoG meeting on Thursday approved the proposals for the two research centres. The process to appoint directors, chair professors, adjunct faculty, scientific officers and lab assistants will begin shortly. We aim to make the centres functional in six months,” said IIEST director VMSR Murthy on Thursday.

Deb feels the CWES should focus on water and environment issues to benefit local communities. Chakraborty said, “CSID’s focus will be research on energy in transition, smart tech, green buildings and sustainable transportation. It should offer internship and skill development to students.”

CSID will have a director, to be designated as Pramathanath Bisi Chair Professor, Bisi being Chakraborty’s father-in-law. CWES director’s position will be designated as Arun Deb Chair Professor. Civil engineering professor Anirban Gupta added, “Two other CWES chair professors have been named after faculty members Kalyan Kumar Bhar and Amal Kumar Datta.” MoS for education and development of NE region Sukanta Majumdar will inaugurate the centres on Saturday.

KOLKATA: A former student and teacher at BE College, Shibpur (now IIEST), now settled in the US, has pledged to donate a million dollars (about Rs 8.6 crore) to his alma mater to set up a centre for water and environmental research.
This would be the largest grant to the institute in recent memory.
Arun Deb (88) graduated from the civil engineering department of BE College in 1957. The octogenarian – who has more than 60 years’ experience in teaching, research and consultancy in water and wastewater engineering across the world – feels this area of study is the need of the hour.