Dr. Tessy Thomas standing in front of India's ICBM AGNI-V

Director-General of Defence Research Development Organisation, Hyderabad, Dr Tessy Thomas said on Saturday that the DRDO’s efforts positioned the nation among the top few countries in the world with multilevel strategic capability.

These include the Agni series, anti-ballistic missile programs, underwater weapon systems, main battle tanks, multi-range radar systems, electronic warfare, fighter aircraft, Light Combat Aircraft and its variants, and airborne early warning and control systems.

Ms. Thomas was addressing a virtual meeting of fourth edition of SRM University- Research Day , in which she appreciated the efforts of SRM AP in entering into new areas of research and encouraged the scholars to contribute to the country’s growth by developing indigenous technologies. The Research Day was an excellent opportunity for the faculty members, research scholars and students of SRM University-AP to exchange and exhibit their ideas on research, she said.

Pro Vice Chancellor, SRM University, D. Narayana Rao said that India needed to gradually move from a net consumer of knowledge to a net producer of knowledge as the country emerged as one of the world’s largest economies.

“The SRM University-AP provides faculty members and research scholars the required support to carry out research in new domains of knowledge,” Mr. Narayana Rao said.

During the next 25 years, the faculty members and research scholars of SRM AP would pursue significant and outstanding research in the areas of water resources and management, blue economy, self-diagnostic medical devices, new-age medicine, hydrogen as a potential replacement of fossil fuels and many more branches of scientific knowledge, he said.

Vice-Chancellor V.S. Rao recollected the interaction he had with Ms. Thomas in BITS Hyderabad, and invited her to visit the SRM University-AP campus to converse with the students.

During interaction with students and faculty members, Ms. Thomas elaborated how industrial and academic collaborations facilitated the development of indigenous technologies.

Among the 285 submissions from students and from the faculty community of SRM AP on various thematic areas, selected papers were awarded gold and silver medals.