INSPIRE Internship Programme

The INSPIRE ( Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research) Programme, an annual science internship programme, organized by the Government of India, with the objective of motivating young students to take up careers in research, was hosted by Deshbandhu College, from 16th to 20th December, 2013. 7 students of class 11 at our school, accompanied by their teacher, were able to take advantage of this privileged opportunity and gain exposure with leaders in various fields of science to glimpse the joys of research and innovation. The internship stretched over a period of 5 days as follows:

Day 1: The first day of the internship began with registration formalities, followed by an inauguration ceremony, with Dr. Umesh Rai, Director, University of Delhi (South Campus), as chief guest. The ceremony was presided over by the Principal of Deshbandhu College, Dr. Ajay K. Arora, followed by a tea break.

After the tea break, we were given an opportunity to interact with Dr. Seyed Hasnain on the topic Why is Biology so exciting?. This session was proceeded by lunch, after which were taken to the Zoology lab to perform an experiment on DNA extraction.

Day 2: The second day began with a talk by Dr. G.V.R. Prasad, from the department of Geology, who addressed the gathering about Dinosaurs in India. Later, after a tea break, Dr. B.K. Dass delivered a stimulating talk Why should we study Maths?. After lunch, we were taken to the Physics lab to learn more about solar cells.

Day 3: The third day of the internship commenced with a talk on the Wonders of Science, by Dr. R.P. Tandon, followed by an enlightening session with Dr. Rajeev Gupta on Supramolecular Chemistry. Later, we participated in preparing various kinds of invisible inks in the Chemistry lab of the college, under the guidance of our mentors.

Day 4: Day four of the programme was set in motion by an absorbing talk on Plant Biology for Human Welfare, with Dr. Jitender Khurana, followed by an interactive session with Dr. Aparna Mehra from IIT Delhi on limits and indeterminant forms. The day concluded by a thrilling visit to the Botany lab, where we learnt to identify gram positive and negative bacteria.

Day 5: The last day of the internship commenced with a talk on Electronics and their applications by Dr. Vinay Gupta, which was proceeded by an intriguing session Dr. R.N.K. Bamezai on Life Sciences and Biology. This was followed by the closing ceremony, which included the distribution of momentous and certificates to the invited school children.

It was a delightful and extremely enlightening experience and we would like to thank our School for providing us such a thrilling opportunity.

Filed by Arpita Saggar and Shrishti Karana, 11A.