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Profile of the School
The nucleus of the present School of Chemistry was formed when the University of Madras established an extension centre at Madurai in 1985. Having a humble beginning as the Department of Chemistry in 1966 of the established Madurai University. It has later bloomed into a full-fledged School. The school now comprises five departments- Inorganic, Organic, Physical, Natural Products and Materials Sciences with a faculty strength of 21 endowed with rich teaching and research expertise in diverse frontier areas renders the school as a prestigious one in the Madurai Kamaraj University providing an excellent opportunity to the students to come out creditably successful in competitive exams such as UGC/ CSIR and GATE.
The school provides a Choice Based Credit System for its M.Sc., Course rendering flexibility to the curricula to suit the individual needs of the students. Currently, around 120 research scholars are performing research work for their Ph.D., on full time or part time basis. The students qualifying in various courses are highly placed in teaching and research positions at academic institutions and Industries both in India and abroad. The school has to its credit around 300 publications in reputed International and National Journals in the last Five years. Based on the impressive performance in the teaching and research programmes, the School has been accorded with the UGC- DSA (Phase II) and DST FIST Programme. DST has provided funds from DST IRHPA Programme for a 300 MHz high resolution NMR instrument. NMR, EPR and LC- MS are not only a boon to Madurai Kamaraj University research scholars, but also provide service to various research institution and industries. The school has attracted grants to the tune of Rs. 2 Crores which includes research projects sanctioned to several faculty members by DST, CSIR, UGC and DAE.
School Of Chemistry – A Note On Alumni
The School of Chemistry has a lengthy list of celebrated alumni to boast upon. This list, which includes a former Vice Chancellor of Bharathiar University, Prof S Sivasubramanian, has eminent scholars and academicians placed across the country. Many of our alumni are serving at prime central institutes and prestigious universities in India. Some of the prominent faces are listed below: a) Dr S Natarajan, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore b) Dr A Sundareshan, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bangalore c) Dr P T Perumal of Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI), Chennai d) Dr K P Kaliappan of Indian Institute of Technology (IITB), Mumbai e) Dr C Retnaraj of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur f) Dr V Kesavan, Dr Sankaranarayanan and Dr P Anbarasan of Indian Institute of Technology (IITM), Chennai, g) M Sankar of Indian Institute of Technology (IITR), Roorkee h) Dr M Palaniandavar of Central Univerity of Tamilnadu and i) Dr V Ganesan of Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi.
The Chemistry Departments of the State Universities of Tamil Nadu are also represented with our Alumni. Some of them are: Prof. P. Manisankar of Alagappa University, Karaikudi, Prof. P. Venuvanalingam and Prof P Thomas Muthiah of Bharathidasan University, Trichy, Dr Ilanchezhian of Bharathiar University, Dr R Swarnalatha of M S University, Dr A Lalitha of Periyar University, Dr G Vasuki and Dr C R Ramanathan of Pondicherry University and Dr Nehru of Anna University, Trichy. Some of our Alumni are serving in Central Deemed Universities: Dr Subhashini of Avinashilingam Deemed University, Dr N S Nagarajan, Dr M Sundaravadivelu and Dr Abraham John of Gandhigram Rural Institute-Deemed University. Nearly half of the present faculty members of School of Chemistry are the alumni of Madurai Kamaraj University. Apart from this, almost all the colleges in the southern part of the state are at least one alumni member as faculty in the respective Chemistry department.
Some of the alumni are nationally recognized for their scientific contributions. Thus Dr S Natarajan, FASc., FNASc., FNA., Dr R Ramaraj, FASc., FNASc., and Dr M Palaniandavar, FASc., FNA., are elected Fellows of Science Academies of India. Many of our alumni have been awarded the Tamil Nadu State Best Scientist award.
Our alumni do contribute in the curriculum development of the School and enrichment of research activities. Whenever we approach them for delivering lectures or participating in any academic program, they never hesitate to oblige. For example, in the recent national level seminar conducted at School of Chemistry (28-3-14), two of our alumni took part and involved in the deliberation. Our students who are placed and working in pharmaceutical companies are instrumental in bringing their HR people for campus interview in our University.
