Although year 2021 had a brief period of relative normalcy, it was a challenging year too.  Adapting to the NEW normal, the faculty and students at COEP stood together through the steep curves of Digital Education.  Envisaging the future mode of education as a mix mode desiring both online and offline teaching, conscious efforts have been taken to enhance captivity of online engagement with students and keeping their interest alive in the learning. We have all realised that the educational institutes today, not just need to conceive new pedagogies to ensure continuity of education, but also make conscious efforts to safeguard the psychological well being of students, faculty, and staff in these testing times. Concomitantly insightful, deliberate, and foresighted endeavours are to be pitched for scaling heights in the national and global rankings. Accepting the ongoing baffle with equanimity, COEP has continued its efforts to provide technology driven engineering education, incorporating current innovations through relevant curriculum, facilitating experience with state-of-the-art laboratories and equipment to overcome the “learning loss” named as “the COVID slide”.

 The visionary and enterprising Board of Governors, led by Shri. Pratap Pawar, have all their energies directed towards creating excellence in enabling research environment, strengthening our existing programs and the accelerated Industry-Institute connect culture at COEP, which is helping the institute grow in its stature as one of the best "Engineering Schools" in the country. The institute recognizes and acknowledges every small contribution of each stake holders in the progression of the institute, binding us together as a community pursuing a common purpose of getting COEP amongst the top most technical institutions on the global map.

We strive to emerge from a gloomy past year and take a look back and shed light on some of the major highlights of the year 2021, giving us the reasons for remaining optimistic and motivated after a difficult year. The institute owes all the strides made, accolades received and its illustrious journey to its vibrant students, faculty, and alumni. Every passing year witnesses a new and beautiful journey of teaching and learning at COEP which leaves an indelible mark in its history by the demeanor, societal commitment of the students and faculty for development and holistic excellence.  

 

 

 

 

 

A new Post Graduate Degree Programme in Transportation Engineering offered by the Civil Engineering department started from the AY 2021-22 with a sanctioned intake of 24 students.

    Change in nomenclature of one existing PG Programme 

 

The PG programme, M. Tech- “Artificial Intelligence and Robotics” started in AY 2020-21 was renamed as M. Tech- “Robotics and Artificial Intelligence” in AY 2021-22, retaining the sanctioned intake of 18 students.

 

• Publication of Journal 

    The Institution of Engineers (India) [IEI] will soon be publishing a special edition Journal on the Impact of Pandemic on various sectors, including education sector. COEP was bestowed upon with the responsibility to review/ edit those Research Papers based on the research findings of the scientific studies conducted by the education fraternity. Prof. Mukul Sutaone, Deputy Director, COEP reviewed and edited all the research papers received from various faculty and students from different institutes across the country. 

 

• Patents Granted

     Patents for the following inventions were granted to the institute in the year 2021.

 

 

 

 

 

• Mr. Sai Prasad won first position for his innovative idea of Skin Spray Gun at the AKIIC-2021

 The idea of “Skin Spray Gun device” conceived, designed, and developed at COEP won the first prize during Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam International Innovation Conclave 2021 (AKIIC-2021). Mr. Sai Prasad won first position for his innovative idea of Skin spray gun which helps in rapid healing of wounds using patient's own skin at the AKIIC-2021. Mr. Saiprasad Poyarekar, a research associate from Biomedical Engineering and Technology Incubation Centre (BETiC) of COEP at the Department of Manufacturing Engineering and Industrial Management.  

 

 He was working on the innovation titled as “An Epidermal Suspension Spray Device -A device to spray Skin-Pieces (Skin Gun)” under the guidance of Dr. Nikhil Panse, Plastic Surgeon, B. J. Medical College, Pune, Dr. Sandip Anasane and Dr. B. B. Ahuja from 2017 to 2019. Thereafter he started his startup “Pacify Medical Technology Pvt. Ltd.”   

 

 The said device was designed and developed at BETiC, COEP. A patent has been filed and published for the said innovation and is under examination. 

 

 Mr. Sai Prasad is also honoured with the following accolades for his innovation this month. 

 

1. Winner under the healthcare start-up segment at the annual 3D Experience forum of Dassault Systems held on 15th & 16th September 2021. 

 

2. Selected by TiE Mumbai as one of the two start-ups to showcase at their annual event IIMpact Healthcare Summit 2021event. 

 

 

 STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENTS

 

   COEP Team Orion, which participated in TIFAN 2020, a national level agricultural machine development competition for the first time, has won the “Best Debutant Team”. The award consists of a trophy and a cash prize of Rs. 25,000/- 

 

 

 SAE NIS Efficycle, a National Level Competition for developing a Hybrid Vehicle

Team Velociracers Participated in the national level competition SAE NIS EFFICYCLE held virtually from 13th to 21st November 2021 under 3 categories namely Conventional, Advanced Electric & New variant Effi-Que (4W Bio-Hybrid Vehicle) introduced by SAE-NIS this year and won the following awards.                                                                                    Conventional Variant: 

• Best Design Compliance Award

• Best CAE Award

• Best Project Plan and DVP Award

Effi-Que Variant:

• Overall Runner Up (AIR 2)

• Best Business Plan and Innovation Award

Advanced Electric Varaint:

• Overall 2nd Runner Up (AIR 3)

 

COEP Team Nemesis participated in the BAJA SAE India 2020 held virtually in April 2021 and won the 2nd prize for Best 4WD Team Award.

  - Six Teams from COEP won Wipro Earthian Award 2020

  - Six teams from the Planning Programme of COEP have won the ‘Wipro Earthian Award 2020’. Wipro Earthian Sustainability is a National Level Competition hosted and organized by Wipro Foundation. The objective of the competition is to discover urban issues in Indian cities. Every year the competition selects eight best projects within the domain undertaken by teams of college students across all disciplines at national level. This year out of the eight winning teams six teams were from COEP. 

 

 Most Promising Chapter Award by ISHRAE

 COEP was awarded the Most Promising Chapter Award 2020 by Indian Society of Heating Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ISHRAE) New Delhi for undertaking different technical activities at national and international level.

 

 

 Success at the Defence Services Examination 

    Mr. Pratik Kothawade, a student of B.Tech. Production Engineering, 2020 batch has secured All India Rank-1 in Combined Defence Services Examination (I), 2020 conducted by the Union Public Service Commission in February 2020. 

 

 

• UPSC 2020

 

Vinayak Narawade (Mech 2016)     - AIR 37

Tushar Desai (Mech 2015)             -  AIR 224

Anil Mhaske (Mech 2013)               - AIR 361

Aniket Phadtare (Meta 2014)         - AIR 426

Amar Raut (E&TC 2011)                 - AIR 449

Yashwant Munde (Electrical 2018) - AIR 502

Shrikant Kulkarni (Mech 2012)       - AIR 525

Sachin Lande (Civil 2018)               - AIR 566

Shivhar More (Instru 2017)              - AIR 649

 

• Student successes at Engineering Services Examination 2020

  Charudatta Salunkhe (2017 Mech)   - AIR 1

    Ajinkya Dagdu  (2017 Mech)          - AIR 16

   Akshay Sarpate  (2017 Mech)         - AIR 28

 

• Student successes at Indian forest Services Examination 2020

Tejas Patil ( 2018 Mech)                     - AIR 23 

Swapnil Ahire (2016 E&TC)                -AIR 29 

Sachin Ohol (2015 Production)           -AIR 40

Pritesh Pakhale (2016 E&TC)             -AIR 49  

David Chanap  (2017 Mechanical)      -AIR 83 

Sachin Lande  ( 2018 Civil)                   -AIR 87

 

 

 

 

 

• The Bajaj auto Ltd., Pune and Cookson India Ltd. have donated an amount of Rs. 100 Lakhs each to support the infrastructural development at the department of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering COEP, to establish the “Centre for Advanced Electronics Manufacturing and Skills Development” for setting up the Surface Mount Technology Assembly Line.

 

• Full-Time PhD Fellowship Endowment for Ph. D Scholars at COEP was offered by the Finolex Cables Ltd. Pune with a donation of Rs. 300 Lakhs.

 

• AICTE wide its letter dated 28th May 2021 has approved in Principle for running a few existing Postgraduate (PG) Programes and to establish some new PG Programmes at the extended campus of COEP at Chikhali, Pune.

 

 

• The formal inauguration of the state-of-the-art laboratory named as “Hella Frugal Innovation Laboratory” was held on14th October 2021. This lab is set up at the department of Electrical engineering, COEP with a generous support of Rs. 70 lakhs from HELLA India Automotive Pvt. Ltd. 

 

• Vascon Engineers Ltd. has supported retrofitting of the existing Civil Engineering Main Drawing Hall at COEP with funding at the tune of Rs. 4 Crore. The groundbreaking ceremony of the same was held on 7th December 2021.

 

• Out of the total budget of Rs. 150.00 Crores committed in installments, for the infrastructure development on Chikhali campus, the Government of Maharashtra vide its GR dated 26th March 2021 sanctioned the disbursement of Rs. 25.00 Crores. Also the funding at the tune of Rs. 5 crore is disbursed for the construction on the new library building.

 

 

 

 

• Motivational talk by Shri Gaur Gopal Das, Monk, Author, Lifestyle Coach and COEP, alumnus (Electrical Engineering, 1995) was organized in a virtual mode on 24 June.

• An interactive session with Mr. Laxman Narasimhan CEO of Reckitt was organized in a virtual mode on 7th September 2021.

 

• The COEP CXO Global Summit and the COEP distinguished alumni awards held on 26 June 2021, celebrated the excellence of COEP and the COEP alumni. Following were the distinguished COEP Alumni who were awarded the COEP Abhiman Awards.

Recipient of the COEP Abhiman Award 2020-21

  -Mr. Ashish Kulkarni, Decorated Rear Admiral in the Indian Navy

  - Mr. Milind Sohoni, Deputy Dean at the Indian School of Business (ISB)

  - Dr. Ramesh Raskar, 90+ US patent holding MIT Professor

  - Mr. Robert D. John, Director & CEO, Amphenol Interconnect India Pvt. Ltd.

  - Mr. Vikas S. Kharage, IAS, Principal Secretary (IAS) to Hon’ble Chief Minister of Maharashtra

The event also saw the launch of the COEP Student Support Club and a fundraise of ~ INR 12 Lakhs, which will enable us to support at least 40 COEP student’s food bills (i.e. mess expenses - 35,000 per student per year), or laptops or College Fees. The alumni continue to raise funds through the fundraiser website - https://milaap.org/fundraisers/support-alumni-association-of-coep .

• Covid ’19 vaccination drive for COEP alumni, and their family members was conducted on 27 June 2021. 

• The “Late Ashok Bapat Prize for M.Tech Dissertation (Structures)” for the year 2020-2021 was awarded to Ms. Natu Gauri Sanjay and her project guide Dr. (Mrs.) Suhasini Madhekar for their dissertation titled, "Nonlinear Time History Analysis of Code Exceeding Tall Building"

 

• Oxygen Audit

- About 70 faculty from the institute conducted the oxygen audit at 220 hospitals from Pune and near by areas during 15th to 31st May 2021.

 

 

• Establishing Skill Development Centres (SDCs) at Villages Adopted under UBA

- COEP, under the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan (UBA) intents to set up Skill Development Centres (SDCs) at the 6 different villages from nearby regions adopted by the institute. The UBA team will be providing vocational training to the youth from these villages making them skillful to undertake various jobs like plumbing, carpentry, masonry,  electrician etc.

- One such SDC was set up at Kikwi village in Bhor Taluka near Pune city which was  inaugurated by Prof. B. B. Ahuja on 9th October 2021.

-The institute donated 10 desktops (written off by Computer Engineering dept. at COEP) to this SDC aiming to develop computer literacy amongst the youth at the Kikwi village.

 

• Van Mahotsav 

Team Spandam from COEP celebrated the Van Mahotsav or Forest Festival during the 1st week  of July 2021. About 150 plants were planted at different locations in Pune city by the team under this programme. The plants were also tied ‘rakhi’ by the team under the ‘Vrikshabandhan’ initiative on the occasion of ‘Rakshabandhan,’ to develop an emotional connect with the plants.

 

 

 

 

• Blood Donation Camp

Team Spandan, in association with Sasoon General Hospital organized a blood donation camp at COEP which had an overwhelming response from about 365 donors who participated in the noble cause by donating their blood.

 

• COEP Volunteers to support the fight against COVID'19

 

 

 

1. ROBOCON competition robots - Robots throwing arrow in the pot. 

2. Upper body humanoid  

3. Electronic voting machine

4. Bag-packable surveillance robot

                                                                                         

Projects undertaken by the Department of Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering

1. Separation of mixed sounds from a single live audio recording

2. Vehicle Number tracking systems with Image processing  

 

COEP has been consistently ranked amongst the top 10 to 15 best engineering institutions in the country by different surveys conducted by various agencies, competing with the IITs and NITs. As per the recent survey results of various survey agencies, rankings for COEP this year are as under: