Report on Expert Talk by Prof. Rajesh Sundaresan and Networking Event at P.C.C.E.

The ACM Goa Professional Chapter, in collaboration with the Padre Conceicao College Of Engineering ACM Student Chapter, hosted an insightful expert talk on “Problems from Data Analysis on the Ground” and in-person Networking Event on 29^th September 2023 at 2:00pm in Comp Lab2 at Padre Conceicao College of Engineering.  The talk was given by Prof. Rajesh Sundaresan, a distinguished professor in Electrical Communication Engineering, an associate faculty member at the Robert Bosch Centre for Cyber Physical Systems, and the current Dean of the Division of EECS at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

The event began with an inaugural function, followed by the expert talk. The expert talk was followed by an in-person networking event for faculty and industry professionals across Goa. The event was attended by members of the ACM Goa chapter, faculty, industry professionals and students. The total number of participants where 65. It was successfully coordinated by Dr. Neha Karanjkar (Asst. Prof. IIT Goa and Chair, ACM Goa Professional Chapter), Louella Colaco (Asst. Prof. PCCE, Membership Chair ACM Goa Professional Chapter and Faculty sponsor PCCE ACM student chapter),  Asst.  Meghana Pai Kane (Asst. Prof. PCCE),  and Ms. Sasha Madkaikar (PCCE ACM student chapter chair). The ceremony was hosted by Ms. Shayne Cardozo (T.E. Computer Engineering) and the vote of thanks was proposed by Ms. Ridhi Jha (T.E. Computer Engineering).

During his presentation, Prof. Sundaresan shed light on several crucial real-world challenges that can be tackled using data analyses and operations research. Some of the application areas he discussed were water distribution, energy consumption disaggregation, and feedback interventions for energy behavior. He presented a case study centered on optimizing water supply in Mysore, India. It emphasized the use of data analyses to regulate water flow through valves during peak hours, highlighting the challenges of maintaining consistent supply without reservoir overflow or underflow. Another case study he focused on was electricity and power consumption in Kerala, showcasing the intricacies of managing and optimizing energy usage in a specific region. The study’s two-year data collection effort resulted in a remarkable 1% reduction in power consumption.

The talk was informative and insightful. Attendees had the opportunity to engage in meaningful discussions and pose questions, gaining valuable insights into the practical applications of data analyses in solving pressing real-world challenges.

The second part of the event was the in-person Networking Event. The event was for faculty members, researchers and working professionals from across Goa working in computing and technology-related fields for networking and fostering collaboration. The intention of the event was to open up new possibilities through collaboration and cooperation.

Some of the intended outcomes for the event were finding research collaborators, mentors, and resource persons for research, planning educational and student-related activities across different institutes, Industry-academia joint work and consultancy, Internships, etc. The agenda for the event was a 3 to 5 minutes overview by a few of the attendees representing each institute on people and the areas of interest/expertise in their institute, specific types of collaboration they seek and teaching/research/event related info they would like to share. The following participants addressed the audience.

The event was attended by faculty and industry professionals from : BITS Goa Campus; DBCE; Goa University; Goa College of Arts, Science and Commerce, Kandola; IIT Goa; P.C.C.E, Rosary College of Commerce and Arts, Navelim; Sridora Caculo College of commerce and Management Studies, Mapusa; SPES’s Goa Multi Faculty College Dharbandora; Lipee Indic Tech; Mavenz and Oracle.

The event was compared by Asst. Prof. Ms. Louella Colaco. The presentations were followed by an Unstructured (one-to-one) networking and refreshments.