Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras will launch a Masters Programme in electric vehicles (EV). This Interdisciplinary Dual Degree (IDDD) will boost the students’ engagement with e-mobility and will be offered for its BTech and dual degree students. The programme will enhance the research capabilities in this field.
Students are expected to enrol in this programme from January 2022 during their third year of BTech and Dual Degree programmes. The initial intake is expected to be 25 students, says a release from the institute.
Skill sets
The students graduating from this programme will have the skill sets required to pursue job opportunities in EV product development including EV integration, vehicle aggregate engineering, communication and calibration, verification and validation, and product and portfolio planning.
T Asokan, Head, Department of Engineering Design, IIT Madras, in the release said that the course would be the result of nearly eight departments collaborating to induct the skills required for a student to engineer EVs. The content offered is carefully curated to build sufficient depth in each domain, starting from vehicle basics and going to very specific EV aggregates including batteries and motors.
While the Department of Engineering Design will anchor the programme, it will be delivered as a joint effort from various departments. “Over the next few years, we are hoping to have more programmes with different structures in the e-mobility space,” he said.
IIT Madras provides its undergraduate students with an option to upgrade to IDDD programmes where the students will study for five years and obtain B.Tech. in a parent discipline and M.Tech. in an interdisciplinary area. The objective is to provide greater flexibility to students, giving them the opportunity to take up courses across disciplines, and build expertise in modern interdisciplinary areas that will define the future of engineering and technology.
Karthick Athmanathan, Professor of Practice, IIT Madras, said, “We are now starting this phase where formal programmes for EVs and e-mobility are being offered with very close engagement with the industry. Such initiatives are going to help India achieve and retain the lead technologically in the medium and long term.”
According to CS Shankar Ram, Department of Engineering Design, IIT Madras, the students will be undergoing core courses that will build the foundation for EV Engineering. They will, then, pursue electives in the specific area of specialisation of their choice. They would also do a Masters project in this domain as part of their degree requirement. Care has been taken to enable the student to either opt for industry employment or pursue further research. This provides flexibility to the students in choosing their sub-domain as well as focus on industry and research.
Over the years, IIT Madras has been at the forefront of building capabilities in the country for e-mobility, through its various centres and programmes including the Centre for Battery Engineering and Electric Vehicles as well as incubating a host of start-ups in the e-mobility space over the years through the IIT Madras Incubation Cell, the release said.