IEEE Inter-Sections (North Jersey and Pune Section) Events: Collaborative STEM Project Activities : vTools Events

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IEEE Inter-Sections (North Jersey and Pune Section) Events: Collaborative STEM Project Activities

#STEAM #STEM

IEEE North Jersey Section AP/MTT and IEEE Pune Section AP/MTT/EMC Chapter Co-sponsor the STEAM Project Activities

IEEE Pune section has chosen Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum (RDKM) at Pune as its cultural partner, to work on cross-disciplinary STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) projects. These projects come under an umbrella program called ‘Ekam’ (Ekam in many Indian languages represents unity or integration) initiated by the Pune section in association with RDKM around mid-2018. The major emphasis of all activities under the program is on the need to develop a multi-disciplinary outlook including Arts for students of Science and Technology.

Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum is a one-man collection of Padmashree Late Dr. D.G. Kelkar (1896 -1990) and depicts the tradition and culture of India. The museum was built with the aim to provide an uncanny vision of antiques of the 17^th to 19^th centuries from different parts of India. The collection of more than 20,000 artifacts includes architectural fragments, sculptures, musical instruments, textiles, paintings, and innumerable small objects associated with the everyday life of common Indians such as ivory and wooden combs, pots, lamps, and pens, inkstands, kumkum boxes and even ornamental foot scrubbers.
Some of the activities taken up by the IEEE Pune Section as part of the EKAM included:

Cultural programs, involving school and college students showcase ancient art and tradition and their relevance today (how the sixteen ways of ornaments ladies wore in olden times enhanced their beauty and their relationship to the modern fashion world, how lovers communicated in ancient Indian classics before the dawn of modern technology, etc.)
Talks / Demo programs by experts on diverse topics such as art and science of musical instruments, coin collection, mind mapping, Data Science and its relationship to ancient Indian Epics
Activity-based learning where school children where children were given an opportunity to handle and work on some of the old gadgets specific to Indian tradition available in the museum, such as the potter’s wheel, traditional Indian kitchenware (locally called Bhatukali), etc.

Recently, groups of engineering college students have started working on the development of games involving the artifacts in the museum. The objective is to develop a comprehensive and holistic view of project development from design to deployment to marketing. The teams include students from engineering, fine arts, and design disciplines, working under the guidance of Game experts from Tata R&D Center, RKDM, MIT Design College, and IEEE members. Though still in the development stage, the work has been greatly appreciated by the Vice-chancellor of Pune University, IEEE AP-S volunteers, and local communities. On February 25, 2022, Dr. Ajay Poddar, Global Chair of IEEE AP-S CAC, and Prof. GS Mani, Chair of IEEE JCAME Pune Section visited a small portion of the museum (other parts were closed due to maintenance activity), when one of the science game activities was demonstrated by Ms. Akanksha, a design undergrad student. Dr. Poddar had interactive discussions with Mrs. Sanjeevani Joglekar and Mrs. Ranade, who works in close association with the museum for engaging high school students, the photo is shown here was taken inside of the museum on Feb 25, 2022.