IIT-K holds 4-day 'Materials Camp' for students

Kanpur: Advanced Centre for Materials Science (ACMS) in association with Material Advantage, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur, a student technical chapter in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE), co-organized the four-day “Materials Camp 2026”, in collaboration with Materials Society, Indian Institute of Metals (IIM) Kanpur Chapter, Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE) Kanpur Chapter, and ASM International India Chapter.

Materials Camp 2026 attracted the participation of 43 students and nine teachers from schools of Jhansi (Mahatma Hansraj Modern School Jhansi), and Kanpur (Jai Narayan Vidya Mandir, Allen House Public School, Kendriya Vidyalaya IIT Kanpur, Sheiling House School, Methodist High School, Jugal Devi Saraswati Vidya Mandir, Dr Virendra Swaroop Public School, and DPS Kalyanpur).

During the inaugural ceremony, Prof. Kantesh Balani, Head of Materials Science and Engineering & Chair of INAE Kanpur Chapter, welcomed the participants and apprised them of the importance of materials in human civilization. Prof. Anish Upadhyaya, Head, ACMS, emphasized exploring new application avenues using materials engineering. Dr. Navin Manjooran, President, ASM International, joined online to inaugurate the event, highlighting ASM International as the biggest materials society in the world.

Om Upadhyaya, a B.Tech. student at IIT Kanpur and an earlier participant of Materials Camp shared personal insights and the “Experience of the Past Materials Camp”. The technical session began with an engaging talk on the “Classification of Materials” by Prof. Niraj Chawake.

Prof. Kantesh Balani delivered a talk on, “Fascinating World of Materials” showcasing materials for re-entry space vehicles, to developing superhydrophobic surfaces for self-cleaning, to the changing colours observed in peacock feathers.

The afternoon lab sessions were conducted on sample preparation and microscopy of various samples in the physical metallurgy laboratory at IIT Kanpur, wherein students learnt to polish a sample and observe its microstructure under an optical microscope.

The second day of Material Camp 2026 at IIT Kanpur witnessed an involved talk by Prof. Anish Upadhyaya on “Materials Failure: Learning” where he enunciated various examples from bulletproof armor to the design of nature-inspired cutting tools, among others. At ACMS.

The third day of Material Camp 2026 included talks from Prof. Shobit Omar on ‘Materials for Li-ion Batteries’, from Prof. Vivek Verma on ‘Materials for Wound Healing’, and from Prof. Shikhar Misra on ‘AI/ML in Materials Science’.