Eco & Social work SIG

GreenAid

An ecological and social initiative by Institution of Engineers, NITK Chapter
Objective: To use the platform provided by IE SIGs to spread awareness about major social and environmental concerns and conduct events that will be of interest to the participants and also help spread awareness.
Relevancy: This SIG is essential and very relevant, since there isn’t much going on with respect to the above topics.
Tasks/Plans for this year:

• Try to get in touch with organizations like IAHV, Greenpeace India, CRY, WWF India, PETA India, and organizations dedicated to working for children with special needs, Jute Cottage, etc and help them out with projects that they have undertaken, specially around this area and help out with donations.
• Search for villages or localities that can use financial help and support them.
• Sponsor children’s educations and try to provide tools that can help them study.
• Try to conduct a vocational training session with a children and adults too.
• Attempt to make a difference through the kind of events we organize.
• Try to reduce the Carbon Footprint of people at college by spreading awareness.
• Recycling! Make it easier for others to give their stuff up for recycling.
• Start our own newsletter about environmental impact and social issues.

Since this is a new SIG, we are really looking forward to help and support from as many members of the club. If you have contacts/ideas, please let us know. :)

Computer History SIG

Theme
=====

Nothing too useful or computer related... Along with exploring some
sweet hardware and software from the past (http://bit.ly/SbvZO -- how
inviting is that?), we could discuss internet memes, your favourite
webcomics, famous usenet flame wars related to anything from linux and
minix to atheism and the invisible pink unicorn and learn about the
glorious culture that is the Internets.

Also, any takers for forming a group of archivists to archive websites
that have(are) played(ing) a part in the story of the internet heaven
forbid that they get lost in the apocalypse for ever? (eg. 4chan,
reddit, moderator threads on wikipedia, trails of revered anonymous
personae). (Ask why? see http://textfiles.com/) Or is writing
emulators for old hardware more like your thing? :P

Format of meet-ups
==============

In no way am I any authority in this, but we'll need to do our
research every week and present what we learn. I don't quite like the
"So-and-so will present about such-and-such next week same time same
place" model of SIGs, I'd rather everyone prepares a 5 (or 10?) minute
presentation on any topic (short, so not too much work / frustration,
not much damage done if the topic is uninteresting to the listener) of
his/her liking and further does a 5 minute Q&A session. Also, an IRC
channel to share links, scripts and flame will do some good in keeping
up the fun and interest.

Tl;dr: If you spend a lot of time on the internet or love computer
geek stories, this is a SIG you'll enjoy being a part of.

HR SIG

Will involve organising the club in a more efficient manner, so that its activities and events go on smoothly.

Writing SIG

This is mainly for newsletter but also for overall writing skill development. Can merge a book club idea with this later on.

Current Affairs

It is about having discussion sessions on various issues related to current affairs, controversial topics, matters that directly concern India and the world at large etc. Participants comprise of those who have a good knowledge of the topic and those curious to know about it. It gives us the edge of learning a variety of general topics and more importantly facilitates us to become a well informed citizen.

Media SIG

As of now this SIG will be open only to people who know the basics of Photoshop, Vegas, after effects etc. This SIG will include sessions on movie/poster making.

LabVIEW SIG

LabVIEW is a graphical programming environment used by millions of engineers and scientists to develop sophisticated measurement, test, and control systems using intuitive graphical icons and wires that resemble a flowchart. It offers unrivaled integration with thousands of hardware devices and provides hundreds of built-in libraries for advanced analysis and data visualization – all for creating virtual instrumentation. The LabVIEW platform is scalable across multiple targets and OSs, and, since its introduction in 1986, it has become an industry leader.
From taking simple temperature measurements to controlling the world’s largest particle accelerator, engineers and scientists use the LabVIEW graphical system design platform to meet a wide range of application challenges including Signal Processing, Instrument Control and Automation. You can also incorporate new LabVIEW projects into your systems because LabVIEW connects to virtually any measurement device and design tool.
At the LabVIEW SIG, we intend to familiarize the members with the LabVIEW environment, and involve them in basic coding. After that, we plan to implement a project using LabVIEW and hardware from the SOLVE Lab. Though the project topic is not fixed yet, some of the ideas that are under consideration are Gesture Controller and Telemetry system for Robots/UAVs.

Aerodynamics/Aeromodelling SIG

A newly introduced group, this SIG aims to share knowledge and technical know-how on aerodynamics basics, aircraft design and glider/powered model planes.
Some proposed activities and initiatives include: 

• Talks, seminars and information exchange sessions on the basic physics behind flight.
• Discussions on development of aircraft through the ages and plane trivia.
• Analysis of flight in nature and biomimicry as applied to the modern day aerospace industry.
• Knowledge exchange sessions on aerospace materials and engineering.
• Tutorials on aeromodelling/testing software such as XFLR5.
• Presentations and interactions centred around design of RC(remote- controlled) planes.
• Discussion of relevant problem statements from technical fests such as Engineer and Shaastra.
• Combined participation in flying events in various fests.
• Possible long-term projects related to aeromodelling.

Robotics SIG

To be in the RoGue, you need just one qualification- to walk, talk and breathe robotics.

An evergreen field that brings engineers from several branches together is robotics. With a hugely growing rise in popularity worldwide, is is impossible to imagine a technical fest without robots navigating their way through mazes and performing incredible tasks.

Seeing the rapid rise of robotics and to aid students in various robotics events, a group of IE members joined hands to form RoGue. Comprising some of the best robotics brains in college, this SIG is today the ideal place for enthusiasts to meet and discuss various aspects of the field.

This SIG mainly consists of 3 parts, it may be broken up into 3 different SIGS depending upon the number of participating members.

• Basics of robotics
• Image Processing
• Microcontroller Programming 

What has been done so far:

• Series of lectures and hands-on sessions on basics of robotics with the aim of participating in Roboliga (Nationwide event held 2 years back During Engineer).
• Lectures and programming sessions on image processing
• Conducted an event ‘a-maze-ing’ last year. This event required the first years to navigate a remote controlled bot through a maze that consisted of timed gates and sensors all of which was built by IE members
• Discussion on problem statements of various fests.

Automobiles SIG

A meeting place for motor enthusiasts where you can discuss all things automobile;from the latest braking systems to Danicka Patrick's racing attire.

With no restrictions as to branch or specific areas of knowledge, the SIG demands nothing but a love for automobiles. Garage meets consist of open discussions and tutorials, of heated debates and testing auto-quizzes, all sprinkled between hardcore sessions on motor gyaan.

The group is focused towards continuous learning and parallel application of that knowledge towards long-term projects. 
Updates:

• Members are presently learning ‘SolidWorks’- a design software used by leading automobile engineers worldwide.
• Solidworks sessions began from the basics of design softwares, and went on to creating different automobile parts and even high end applications involving simulations.
• These sessions are part of a long-term design project by AutoGarage.

Math & Algos SIG

In an engineering college, math is often equated to algorithms, which we further link to software alone. The Math and Algorithms group, instead, believes in using them as tools to solve any problem in the real world, and to encourage creative thinking for better, more efficient solutions.

Meetings usually consist of talks on various topics as well as discussion of problem statements from nationwide fests and competitions. Members are encouraged to take part in such events, and several practice sessions are taken up. 
What was done last year: 

• Talks on concrete math and fallacies of some mathematical postulates were held.
• A session on problem statements of Marathon, Online Math etc. from Engineer ’10 was held.
• A series of talks and interactive sessions on Game Theory are being conducted.
• The evergreen Josephus problem and some uncommon variations were discussed and solved.
• A talk on Probability and Paradoxes was held.
• Members put together the first ever true math event for first years in NITK, Mathematica ‘11 recently.

Physics SIG

The physics SIG is a place where we discuss interesting concepts in physics that you would never encounter in your classes. Last year our sessions started out with space-time diagrams and special relativity and moved on to quantum mechanics, string theory and more. The aim is to provide a forum where members can bring interesting topics, give talks and learn. Interactions sometimes happen over IRC.