On the eve of completion of its first year of existence, the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER-Tirupati) got its Memorandum of Association (MoA) as well as its official logo.

Tirupati got IISER, one of the seven national institutes Andhra Pradesh was promised in the A.P. Reorganisation Act. The foundation stone was laid on March 28, 2015 by Union Minister for Human Resources Development Smriti Zubin Irani. Tirupati is the sixth location in India to get an IISER after Pune, Kolkata, Tiruvananthapuram, Mohali and Bhopal.

The institute is functioning in a transit campus of Sree Rama Educational Group, while advance possession of 255 acres of land has been given in Panguru village of Yerpedu Mandal for developing the permanent campus. IISER Mentor-Director K.N. Ganesh formally kicked off the first Foundation Day celebrations on Sunday, where he recalled the year-long activities taken up and the progress made thus far.

Science education
He said that the IISERs were formed to offer science education and research of highest standards, indicating that the institutes had made a distinct name at the global level.

In his address on ‘Science meets the eye’, D. Balasubramanian, Dean, L.V. Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, spoke on the alarmingly low level of awareness on blindness in the society, further aggravated by the social implications, economic deprivation and rural-urban divide.

Citing a research conducted in the undivided Andhra Pradesh with a sample size of 10,293 persons spread across Hyderabad, Mahabubnagar, Adilabad and West Godavari districts, he said a whopping 1.8 p.c. were found to be ‘legally blind’.

As the availability of corneas was a mere 18,000 against the demand of 1 lakh corneas in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, he advised the IISER students to donate their eyes.

Birth of a logo

He called for a fight against cataract and glaucoma, which required humane concern and social transformation. Registrar Col. (Retd) G. Rajasekhar formally handed over MoA copies to the Director.

The logo of IISER-Tirupati depicts a golden spiral that grows to form an abstraction of the alphabet ‘i’. The subtle graphic form of lotus petals lends Indian nature, while the use of blue colour depicts trust, confidence, wisdom and intelligence.

“As a science education and research institute, the IISER serves mankind”, Prof. Ganesh said while unveiling the logo.

Contest

The logo designing exercise started much before the launch of the institute, when the IISER Pune students participated in a contest and came up with bright logos for the Tirupati institute, which was further refined and short-listed by National Institute of Design.

Enough care was taken to ensure that the official logo symbolises the goals and gives an inexplicable attachment to the stakeholders, while the entries received were double-checked for plagiarism.