Hyderabad-based Mahindra Ecole Centrale (MEC) College of Engineering recently hosted its second annual Undergraduate Research Symposium URS@MEC 2019. URS at MEC has grown from an internal research focused symposium to a national platform for showcasing the research across undergraduate colleges. Over 300 students participated in the secondURS@MEC2019. 12 oral presentations and 30 posters were presented on the research work carried out by the participants during their B. Tech programme.

The keynote addresses were delivered to a packed auditorium by Professor Ajoy Ghatak of IIT Delhi who spoke on Relativity and Dr. Sriram Birudavolu, CEO – Cyber Security Centre of Excellence DSCI (A NASSCOM Initiative), who spoke on startups and entrepreneurship for young engineers.

The highlights of the MEC Undergraduate Symposium were concurrent events that kept the participants enthralled. Prizes worth INR 65000 were distributed to the winners in various contests held during the symposium.

MEC Club Enigma, in association with Machine Learning Group of Tech Mahindra organised a 12 hour coding challenge. This was to test the coding skills of undergraduates of B.Tech and encourage students to solve complex problems at one go.

A “Startup Idea Contest” was organised by Entrepreneurial and Innovation Centre (EIC) at MEC. This was judged by an eminent panel comprising of eminent entrepreneurs and leaders that included Dr. Srinivas A (founder director, AIPER), Raghavendra Prasad (director & co-founder, Fairgate Advisory Solutions) and Sricharan Lakkaraju (CEO, Stumagz- listed among Forbes 30 under 30). One of the winning teams was offered spot investments by the jury panel. In addition, the four winning teams will be mentored by Dr. Rajkumar Phatate, head Centre for Entrepreneurship at MEC, and if they lead to a startup, it will be incubated at MEC.

A design and prototype contest was also conducted on the occasion which witnessed the participation of 12 teams.