Professor Atul Thakur is the Director of the Amity School of Applied Sciences at Amity University Gurgaon. He holds a B.Sc., M.Sc. in Physics, along with an M.Phil. in Physics. Additionally, he also holds a PhD from Himachal Pradesh University. With 23 years of experience in Material Science, Professor Thakur has forty-three patents, 170 papers published in journals, and 14 book chapters. Moreover, he has also guided twelve PhD students, 10 M.Phil. students, and 60 M.Tech. students with their theses and dissertations.

Professor Thakur has received the Young Researcher Award from DAE 2013, and DST 2014. He also received the Newton Award from the Royal Academy of Engineering in the UK from 2017 to 2019. Besides academia, he is a part of the Academic Council Member at Amity University and Shoolini University. At the former, he is also a part of the NAAC documentation preparation committee, anti-ragging committee and NIRF documentation preparation committee among others.

Amity University, Gurgaon

How you ensure student has holistic exposure not just academics?

Amity University Haryana has been focused on the holistic development of students since its inception. Apart from their chosen field of study, students have the chance of earn a minor degree from any department on campus. Apart from this, there are ample opportunities where the student’s talent is nurtured. Students can choose any one foreign language out of Chinese, French, German, Spanish, Korean, Russian, and Japanese, courses on personality and behavioral development, and courses imparting soft skills and communication skills. To instill a sense of discipline, all the students must also undergo a seven days military training camp on campus. Students also get many opportunities to hone their skills and qualities through different initiatives such as workshops, seminars, conferences, educational tours, cultural and sports events, and department specific clubs.

How do you try to bring in practical approach towards subjects and how students get practical experience from studying the subject?

As the school offers education in diverse areas of Science, most of its Programs have laboratory components with a due focus on experiential learning for the students. ASAS is proud to have two DST FIST projects that fund the strengthening of the experimental research facilities available to the students for their projects and internship work. All the programs have either an internship, a project, or both components. The availability of teaching laboratories, research laboratories, and central facilities provides a conducive atmosphere for practical and hands-on training for the students along with classroom learning.

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What are the best practices offered by the department to the students which help them gain necessary skills?

The necessary skills required to excel in today’s world require rigor in academics and hands-on experience. At Amity School of Applied Sciences, the focused approach on academic rigor, hands-on training during the lab, assisted by the one-on-one Mentor Mentee interaction-based guidance, all collectively contribute to imparting necessary skills to students.

How do you help your student to cope up with the competition being so high in the outside world?

The mentor-mentee program provides every student with a platform to interact with the faculty mentors on a one-on-one basis. A faculty mentor plays a pivotal role in identifying mentees' strengths and potential and guiding them further in their career progression. Our students see competition as a necessary factor to bring out the best in them.

What do you see the department’s/ college’s greatest strengths and how it helping students to excel?

The greatest strength of the Amity School of Applied Sciences is its highly qualified and experienced faculty. All the faculty members have PhDs from highly ranked universities/institutes in India and abroad, with many of them having post-doctoral research experience abroad. The research experience translates into passionate teaching and effective learning of the students.

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What valuable advice would you like to the students for them to have a prosperous career ahead?

I would advise students to identify their strengths and interests. It is important to define your goal - your true worth. Identify the right place to help you achieve your goal, and put in all your efforts towards that goal. An aimless life with no focus and no determined effort does not lead to success. A focused life with a commitment to strive leads to success.