An exciting new adventure in Indian science (March, 2011)     

There is today a strong feeling in the Indian scientific community that the research and education eco-system for science in India must be enhanced. The development of a facility like ICTS is partly a fulfilment of that strongly felt desire. ICTS has grown naturally out of a need in India today to create an institution where researchers from India and abroad can meet and interact for critical periods of time, in a relaxed and conducive atmosphere. I have given a detailed account of the genesis of ICTS in the first report on its activities, published a little more than a year ago, which covers the first two years of the existence of ICTS.

ICTS activities started from September 2007 with a very lively start. Between September 2007 and January 2011, ICTS has organized 48 programs over 597 program days. About 3700 people have participated in these programs, with close to half of this number coming from outside India. Nine more programs are planned for the near future. The programs range over many subjects: physics, astrophysics, cosmology, mathematics, computer science and their many branches.

Organizing and running programs forms the core activity of ICTS. The programs run for varying periods, depending on the type of activity, and can range from rapid response short time workshops to programs lasting several months. The idea is to provide the enviornment and facilities that will enhance the creative process and lend a hand to the solution of some of the profound scientific problems of our times. As past experience has shown, major breakthroughs can occur when problems are seen in a different light; and at times when there is a heterosis (or hybrid vigor) when different core disciplines are brought to bear on a given problem. For these reasons, ICTS aims to run parallel programs in different disciplines. Currently there is an enormous amount of work going on at the interface of physics, biology, mathematics and computer science in different combinations.

Proposals for ICTS programs can be sent by an organizing committee of two or more scientists who are faculty members at any research and education institution in India or abroad. All the program proposals received by ICTS are scrutinized by a large Program Committee  consisting of members who are leaders in their respective areas of research. Successful proposals must receive a positive recommendation from this committee.

Besides carrying out the core activity of programs, since its inception ICTS has been vigorous in initiating and adding new activities. These include the "ICTS Public Lecture" and the series entitled “Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar Lectures". We have already had a galaxy of speakers like Juan Maldacena, Lyman Page, Joe Silk , William Philips, Albert Libchaber, David Gross, Avi Wigderson and others deliver the "ICTS Public Lecture".

The “Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar Lectures" series was initiated to mark the birth centenary of Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar. Eminent academicians deliver these lectures on important new developments in their areas of specialty. The first lecture in any series is aimed at a general scientific audience, while the remaining are aimed at specialists. This series has been very successful especially because a short workshop is organized on the theme of the lectures. Upto now we have had five such lecture series: “Extremal Black Holes in Strings Theory”, Ashoke Sen; “Black Holes - the Harmonic Oscillators of the 21st Century”, Andrew Strominger; “The Standard Model of Cosmology”, Lyman Page; “What Modern Mathematical Physics should be- A point of view”, Ludwig Faddeev; “The Quantum Phases of Matter”, Subir Sachdev. Future Chandrasekhar lecturers include Dam Thanh Son and Satya Majumdar.

Besides its focus on being a facility to enhance research in the basic sciences, ICTS aims to contribute to the creation of scientific human resource. It plans to have programs for school and college teachers, facilitate the development of educational material and also employ modern technology in the dissemination of educational material. We are also exploring the idea of a “Math Clinic” where students, under some guidance, grapple with solutions of mathematical problems from diverse areas of science, technology, finance, health and so on.

ICTS is aware of the importance of the interface between “pure research” and applied science and technology, and of the importance of discussions of science and technology policy. All these diverse groups can meet and interact at ICTS. While it is true that ICTS is a science institute, it will also make an effort to integrate science into the larger fabric of human activity and knowledge. Hence we hope to invite people from the arts and civic society to give talks and to spend time with us and enrich the creative environment at ICTS.

Several academic members from various institutions in India are adjunct faculty members of ICTS. Recently ICTS has also started visiting scientists and post-doctoral fellows programs. Visits to ICTS can even take the form of sabbaticals in which faculty members can bring along their students and post-doctoral fellows. The process of recruiting the core faculty of ICTS has also begun. ICTS is looking for outstanding scientists with proven credentials to lead research in several areas of theoretical sciences (see this advertisement for details). They will form a nucleus for several families of researchers around which in-house research and other academic activities will be organized. The adjunct faculty, the visiting scientists and post-doctoral fellows, the program committee members and the future core faculty of ICTS and their students will serve to catalyze a productive academic atmosphere.

A campus for ICTS will be built on a nearly 18 acre plot of land leased by the Karnataka State Government in the north Bangalore region, near the Hessarghetta lake. The good news is that the processes leading to the building of the campus have already begun. The vital task of managing the construction project and associated processes is being executed by a team of engineers from the Directorate of Construction, Services & Estate Management (DCSEM) of the Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India. The Bangalore-based architectural firm of Venkataramanan Associates has won (after a rigorous selection process) the competition to design the campus. Steps have been initiated for selection of a construction agency that will translate the design into the campus. We are expecting it to be ready by mid-2013. Till then, ICTS programs will take place at various institutions and locations in India.

The tremendous response that ICTS has received from the scientific community in India and abroad, and the enthusiasm for it, is evident from the number of high level programs and lecture series that have been organized since its inception. We steadily continue to receive good proposals for future programs in various areas and we welcome this fact. Sometimes a complete program proposal may arise out of a promising idea. If you think you have such an idea, please let us know and we will be happy to help you take your idea forward to fruition. Proposals are welcome in any area of theoretical sciences and their interconnections. Guidelines for writing proposals are available here

ICTS looks forward to a growing and active participation of the scientific community in this new and exciting adventure in the development of science in India.


Spenta Wadia