Country’s first training centre on climate in city

To be operated by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM),an autonomous institute under the Ministry of Earth Sciences,the project aims at taking post-graduate students and training them in the field of climate science. To commence next year in August,the IITM is currently scouting for locations in Pune.

Dr B N Goswami,director of IITM,said the institute will be first of its kind in the country. The IITM will be unable to house the institute which will have lab,offices,classrooms and hostels and are looking at an additional 15 acres for the project. “Interactions of different components of climate systems are not addressed in atmospheric sciences or oceonography which is offered at few institutes in the country. This institute will focus on all aspects of climate systems and a student will be able to do his/her M Tech or even get a PhD depending on the area of research,” said Goswami.

Students who have a masters degree in Physics,Chemistry,Statistics,Geophysics,Maths will be eligible for the two-year MTech in climate science or a PhD. The institute will tie-up with University of Pune. “Students will be screened through a national common entrance test followed by an interview. We will start with 20 students for the PhD programme and gradually increase the number,” said Goswami.

“The scholarship amount is the highest in the country for any course. The students will be trained under experts to get a job,” said Goswami.