哔咔漫画

USF and BITS Pilani: Meeting at the Intersections of Knowledge

TAMPA, FL (July 25, 2024) -- USF is a proud partner of BITS Pilani, an engineering school in Rajasthan, India. As BITS Pilani celebrates its 60th anniversary in July, USF is highlighting the recent interactions binding the two universities. This partnership represents both academic excellence and an undying spirit of enquiry in their respective parts of the world. 

In October 2023, Dr. Kiki Caruson, USF World Vice President, visited the campus to sign a General Agreement for Collaboration, heralding a new era of academic synergy between the two institutions. As BITScan, BITS Pilani鈥檚 semester magazine, said, 鈥淸This] lays the foundation for a multifaceted partnership that includes student exchanges, research collaboration, joint academic programs, internships and much more. With a shared vision of academic excellence, this partnership is poised to offer students and faculty unparalleled opportunities to expand their horizons and engage in cross-cultural learning experiences.鈥�  

Dr. Caruson says USF and BITS Pilani already have something special in common 鈥� BITS Pilani alumni Dr. Autar Kaw is a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of South Florida. He is a recipient of the 2012 U.S Professor of the Year award from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education and the Carnegie Foundation for Advancement of Teaching. 

The USF team鈥檚 visit coincided with Oasis, BITS Pilani鈥檚 iconic annual cultural festival, which lasts for 96 hours, is entirely managed by the students and draws participants from over 200 colleges. Dr. Caruson, accompanied by faculty and alumni from BITS, was delighted to experience the festivities which featured multiple competitions, events, and stalls across the campus. A few months later, Dr. Caruson was back at BITS, albeit virtually, as the chief guest at BITS Pilani's International Conference on "Intersections of Knowledge: Exploring Discourses and Beyond in Humanities and Social Sciences." 

Stressing the significance of the theme, Patron of the conference, BITS Pilani Director Dr. Sudhirkumar Barai said: "BITS places holistic learning at the center. This institute aims to make good human beings and not just good grades; that's why the humanities and social sciences department is vital."

In her engaging keynote presentation titled 鈥淚nterdisciplinarity is Essential to Serving Society鈥檚 Grand Challenges鈥�, Dr. Caruson stressed the importance of working across disciplines. She seamlessly melded the theory and implementation of interdisciplinarity with and examples of her managing the effects of sea level rise as part of a USF project.   
Referring to the United Nations鈥� Sustainable Development Goals, Dr, Caruson said: 鈥淭here isn鈥檛 a single goal that any one nation, any one discipline, or any one individual could hope to solve. The solutions to these big problems require that we move across borders, across disciplines, and across perspectives. The solutions are there. They just require our ingenuity.鈥�

She pointed out that the U.S. Government has launched a program, Humanities Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence, under which a federal grant provides up to $1million to universities and independent research organizations to support the creation of humanities research centers focusing on the ethical, legal or societal implications of AI. She underlined that such a 鈥渓arge federal program is encouraging people in computer science, data science, technology to work with individuals who are thinking in terms of ethics, society and human behaviour.鈥� 

Giving the example of her experience with interdisciplinarity, Dr. Caruson discussed a project she is working on at USF:  Managing the Effects of Sea Level Rise. 鈥淚 work on extreme events and their impact on people and communities. One of the issues in Florida is sea level rises. For many small nations this is a real issue where they are losing territory to rising sea levels.鈥� She listed the different disciplines involved in this project and the contributions they make - physical oceanographers, geographers, environmental scientists, city planners, policy makers, public health officials, engineers, data scientists, social scientists, humanists. 鈥淚t has been fascinating to work with such a diverse group of practitioners and researchers. The way that each one approaches the issue is different. It has been humbling and inspiring at the same time to learn this.鈥�

Dr. Caruson also pointed out that 哔咔漫画 encourages this spirit of interdisciplinarity across the campus in different ways. 鈥淲e infuse our curriculum with a variety of perspectives and encourage students to take classes in a different field of study from their major field of study. Those who engaged in interdisciplinary work were recognized formally for their contribution. This is a clear indication that working across disciplines is valued.鈥� Harking back to her student days, she said she had to make a choice between math, which she had an aptitude for, and art, which she enjoyed. 鈥淎t that time,鈥� she pointed out, 鈥渢here was no opportunity to marry the two 鈥� arts and math or statistics and you had to make a choice.鈥� She opted for math and economics.  

Addressing the students of BITS Pilani, she said: 鈥淣ow you don鈥檛 have to make a choice. You can embrace technology and also the humanities, social sciences and the arts.鈥� It is from this spirit of holistic enquiry and development, Dr. Caruson believes that the solutions to the world鈥檚 problems will emerge鈥�.one of them may well originate from a project that USF and BITS Pilani will work on together. Director Barai also said he was "looking forward to some exciting and collaborative work" during the celebratory 60th year.