Srinagar: In a remarkable achievement, Prof. Kowsar Majid, a distinguished senior faculty member at the Department of Chemistry, National Institute of Technology (NIT) Srinagar, has bagged a prestigious mega project from the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Department of Science and Technology (DST).
The newly sanctioned project, titled “In Situ Kinetic and Mechanistic Studies of Electrochemical Water Splitting Reactions,” is set to address critical challenges in the realm of sustainable energy by leveraging Metal-Organic Framework (MOF) based catalysts under the Competitive Research Grant (CRG) scheme of DST Government of India.
Director NIT Srinagar, Prof. Sudhakar Yedla congratulated Prof. Kowsar for bagging the prestigious SERB project. “We are proud to have such dedicated faculty members who are making significant strides in advancing knowledge and addressing real-world challenges,” he said.
Highlighting the institute’s ongoing efforts to foster an environment conducive to research, Prof. Yedla emphasized that NIT Srinagar remains committed to supporting its faculty and providing them with the necessary resources to excel in their respective fields.
Prof. Kowsar expressed her gratitude to DST, Government of India, for the thoughtful consideration of her research proposal, ensuring substantial funding for the project. The support includes provisions for essential manpower in the form of a Research Associate, as well as access to high-grade chemicals and other necessary amenities, she said.
Expressing gratitude, Prof. Kowsar extended her thanks to the leadership of her institute for their unwavering support and encouragement throughout the process. The backing from the institute played a crucial role in advancing this research endeavor, she added.
The said proposal is regarding understanding the kinetics and mechanistic aspects of the application of an important class of material that is MOFs (Metal organic frameworks). Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), is considered a novel category of porous and well crystalline materials.
Prof. Kowsar said that this special class of material has created significant interest in the current years due to the fact that these offer practical implementations in different sectors, like hydrogen and carbon dioxide storage, catalysis and separation due to their superior porosity, great surface area and versatile framework.
“While a lot has been reported regarding the synthesis and applications of MOFs, kinetics and mechanistic approaches associated with the application routes of these materials is under examination and thus demands attention,” she added.
Prof. Kowsar said with the steadfast support of institute, DST GOI, dedicated research team, and collaborative partners, we are optimistic about making a substantial contribution to this domain.
“ It is noteworthy that numerous scholars within my team have delved into this area, earning Ph.D. degrees for their commendable work. Our focus on Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) and MOF-based catalysts for diverse applications has been a prominent research pursuit, leading to the successful placement of many scholars in prestigious positions across the country and internationally,” she said.
In addition to publishing high-quality research papers in this specific field, Prof. Kowsar said our team has ventured into various research areas. I am pleased to share that one minor project proposed by our team has received approval for possible funding from JK STIC, for which we express our gratitude.
“Multiple research projects have been submitted for financial aid, and we anticipate further support from various sponsoring agencies for our allied research ideas in the future,” she added.
