AT A GLANCE
Ajai Narendran
Area of Practice:
OVERVIEW
After a stint with Avionics Engineering, Ajail transitioned to academics, beginning with 8 years at Amrita University, Coimbatore, where he led the Knowledge Management team and taught a few courses at the Institute of Advanced Computing. His 23 years of experience in academics includes designing and building structured digital and web-based resource bases, knowledge management systems (KM), e-learning, and open-learning platforms He also designed and built Project Vidya, the multi-campus-wide resource network at Amrita University, which has been recommended by the IT Ministry, UGC, NAAC, and AICTE as a replicable model for Indian universities. Project Vidya was recognized among the top entries of Asian Digital Library initiatives at the ISDL 2008, held from August 13-15, 2008, in Vienna, Austria, and served as a case study in the project ‘ShareCity: Systemic Change in Indian Classrooms Through Digital Participatory Learning,’ conducted by the Centre for Technology and Culture in Norway.
He is in his 16th year at Srishti. The courses he teaches at SMI focus on integrating science and mathematics concepts into art and design education. His courses have contributed to collaborations between SMI and the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium, TIFR-CAM, ISRO, and Visvesvaraya Industrial & Tech Museum. These collaborations resulted in two significant science communication and public engagement exhibitions: “Kalpaneya Yatra – Festival of Astronomy” and “Mathematics of Planet Earth.” He also designed and built “Cantadora,” the intranet resource repository at SMI. He is passionate about science communication and public interest journalism and has published some articles on science and public issues in digital news media.
EDUCATION
AME – Avionics Engineering
Diploma in Software Engineering.
WORK EXPERIENCE
- Faculty member- Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology, MAHE, Bangalore
- Knowledge management lead& instructor – Amrita University, Coimbatore
- Avionics engineer trainee at Airworks India Ltd., Mumbai.
INTEREST AREAS
Science communication, Science Education, Literary and artistic dimensions of Math &Science, Experimental Optics/ Infrared and Ultraviolet Photography, Systems theory, Complexity science, Data mining, Knowledge Management, Open access initiatives, Prospects and Implications of AI
CURRENT PRACTICE AT SRISHTI
Teaching, Mentoring, Developing the In-house learning resource archive called ‘Cantadora’
TEACHING PORTFOLIO
Courses in General Studies for Foundation ( 1st year) UG Program (Offered from 2011 onwards )
1. Blossoming Equations – Mathematical equations nature’s narratives
2. Conceptual Science in Art and Design
3. Science Narratives
4. Envisage – Visual and metaphorical expressions of scientific concepts and theories.
5. Einstein’s Space& Van Gogh’s Sky – Investigating / Tracing the roots of aesthetics and motivations in Art and Science, their nourishing exchanges and mutual reflectivity
6. From Quarks to Quasars – Vistas in creative/ literary non-fiction and storytelling in science
7. Regenerating creation myths – Creation myths retold for the current times through current cosmological theories
8. General Studies: (Systems, Structures, Concepts) : Science Narratives – Literary Dimensions of Scientific Discoveries
Courses in Contextual Enquiry for Foundation ( 1st year) UG students (Offered from 2011 onwards)
1. Order& Chaos – From Molecules to Magnificent Structures
2. Order& Chaos – Strange Attractors
3. Order& Chaos – Looking beyond the boundaries…Seeing beyond the obvious
4. Order& Chaos – Prose& Poetry
5. Order& Chaos – Warp& Weft
6. Order& Chaos – Conceptual science& math
7. Order& Chaos – Evolving patterns
8. Order& Chaos – Deep time-Bighistory to complexity science
Design Charrette for 3rd year UG Students
1. Luminescence – Experimental photography and visual narratives
Courses in Generic Skills (Digital making) for Foundation ( 1st year) UG students (Offered from 2012 onwards)
1. Programming for the web
2. Building Web spaces
Study of Social Ecology
Field trips to different places in India
UG Thesis project – 2022
Skill e-labs – Mentored 23 students in the UG final semester on a Ministry of Education (Govt. Of India) and Amrita University project on developing virtual learning platforms to impart skill-based training for high school students.
CREATIVE PRACTICE & OUTREACH
Experimental Optics/ Infrared and Ultraviolet Photography
Science communication
Public interest journalism
Open access & Open learning initiatives
External juror for M.Des ( New media design ) at National Institute of Design, Gandhinagar , Ahmedabad, for the last 3 years.
Study locally, Learn globally: A case study across 10 years of e-learning/ knowledge management practices in a leading science and technology university and a leading art& design college – Conference paper presented at Edulearn 2012 conference in Barcelona, Spain.
Journalistic articles for the investigative, public interest online news portal The Probe India
Online harassment spurs outrage among journalists; tougher regulations need of the hour, 20 Dec 2022, The Probe India
Brahmaputra: Understanding the rage of the river through 700 years of water discharge history, 06 Oct 2022, The Probe India
Police-Media relations: Should they be regulated?, 06 Oct 2022, The Probe India
25 years of Kudumbashree – Reflections and Possibilities, 03 Oct 2022, The Probe India
Chardham Yatra: Pilgrim deaths could have been averted, 06 Oct 2022, The Probe India
Denied pension for a year, women army officers to seek compensation from the Indian army, 02 Oct 2022, The Probe India
