LECTURE SERIES

The Lecture Series at IIT Bombay serves as a platform for scholarly exchange, bringing together renowned academicians, distinguished faculty, and thought leaders to discuss critical scientific and technological advancements shaping the world today. Flagship initiatives like the Institute Colloquium Series and the N.R. Kamath Lecture Series provide the IIT Bombay community with invaluable insights into emerging challenges, groundbreaking research, and transformative innovations across disciplines. Over the past month, the Institute has hosted a series of thought-provoking lectures that have enriched academic discourse and fostered meaningful intellectual interactions among students and faculty, further strengthening the Institute’s vibrant academic ecosystem.

This month, the Institute featured the following lecture(s).

Lumina:  Lighting Her Path Lecture Series

Ms. Swati Vora

Lumina: Lighting Her Path, an IIT Bombay alumni initiative dedicated to connecting and inspiring women across the IIT Bombay community, hosted an engaging and deeply reflective interactive session on Relaunch Your Career – Dialogue and Workshop which was led by Ms. Swati Vora (M.Sc., Mathematics, 1984). Ms. Vora is the founder of Returnize, a transformative initiative helping women confidently relaunch and thrive in their careers after a break.

Key takeaways from the session included:

  • Career breaks are not setbacks
  • Skill refresh, storytelling, and mindset are equally important in a successful relaunch
  • Support systems and peer networks play a crucial role in sustaining momentum

 

Image source and for more on the story, click here: IITBAA LinkedIn Lumina

Prof. C. V. Seshadri Distinguished Institute Lecture

Prof. Rama Govindarajan

From the motion of microscopic particles to the formation of large natural patterns, sedimentation shapes many processes around us in ways that are far more complex than they appear.

At IIT Bombay’s 13th Prof. C. V. Seshadri Distinguished Institute Lecture, instituted in memory of the late Prof. Chetput Venkata Seshadri, Prof. Rama Govindarajan, Professor at the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, TIFR Bengaluru, delivered an insightful talk titled Cooperative Settling.

She discussed how particles settling through fluids interact with one another, why unsteady effects and particle shape matter, and how collective behaviour influences phenomena such as marine snow, raindrop formation, and sediment dynamics. The lecture highlighted how cooperation among particles can alter settling patterns, clustering, and motion in surprising ways.

You can watch Prof. Govindarajan’s lecture here: IITB CVS Lecture

Image and story source: DACR LinkedIn CVS

Prof. N.R. Kamath – Distinguished Institute Lecture

Prof. Bruce Hajek

Why do cryptocurrencies struggle to scale when global digital payment systems handle billions of transactions every day?

As part of the Prof. N.R. Kamath Distinguished Institute Lecture series at IIT Bombay, Prof. Bruce Hajek from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, delivered an insightful talk titled On Scaling Cryptocurrencies: Payment Channels and Bridges.

The lecture explored how permissionless blockchain networks face inherent limits in transaction throughput and how emerging mechanisms such as payment channel networks and bridges aim to improve scalability. Prof. Hajek also discussed algorithmic approaches to routing and pricing that help balance transactions across decentralised networks.

The session brought together students, faculty, and researchers for a deep dive into the future of scalable digital payment infrastructure.

Image and story source: DACR LinkedIn Hajek

 

Radhika Rajan Women Leadership Lecture Series

Dr. Sarita Ahlawat 

The Radhika Rajan Women Leadership Lecture Series at IIT Bombay hosted Dr Sarita Ahlawat, Co-founder and Managing Director of BotLab Dynamics, and TEDx Speaker. She is also the recipient of the Women in Civil Aviation Award 2022 and the National Tech Excellence Award for Women 2022.

Building India’s drone industry from the ground up requires more than technology. It demands resilience, problem-solving, and the courage to pivot from failure to breakthrough.  In her lecture, From Early Failures to World Records: The Story of BotLab Dynamics Dr. Ahlawat shared her entrepreneurial journey from IIT Delhi incubation in 2016 to executing the landmark Beating Retreat ceremony drone show at Rashtrapati Bhavan in January 2022. She also discussed early setbacks with the Indian Armed Forces, the strategic pivot to large-scale drone light shows, technical innovations that enabled seven world records, and BotLab Dynamics’ vision of building advanced technologies for India’s defence sector.

Image and story source: DACR LinkedIn Ahlawat