• The agreement will facilitate the establishment of the IITK-UB Joint Center of Excellence in Biomedicine and Bioengineering

• The agreement would provide the scope for joint research, exchange of students and researchers, and exchange of academic materials, among others

Kanpur, March 24, 2023: The Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK) and the University at Buffalo, USA (UB) have signed a cooperation agreement today at IIT Kanpur to enrich research in Biomedicine & Bioengineering. The agreement was signed by Prof. Abhay Karandikar, Director, IIT Kanpur, and Prof A. Scott Weber, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, University of Buffalo.

By signing this cooperation agreement, IITK and UB have agreed to establish the IITK-UB Joint Center of Excellence in Biomedicine and Bioengineering at IIT Kanpur premises. The center is being established with the objective to facilitate long-term collaborations in education and research between IIT Kanpur and University at Buffalo, as well as other institutions. The research focus of this Center will be on developing materials and technologies for both in vitro (studies performed with cells) and in vivo (studies performed with animals) applications in biosciences.

Upon signing the agreement, Prof. Abhay Karandikar, Director, IIT Kanpur, said, “The agreement we signed today with University at Buffalo is in continuation to an existing MoU between the two institutes. Both the institutes have strategic objectives to collaborate for research that would help us build a robust ecosystem in Biomedicine and Bioengineering. The Center aims to develop materials & technologies for bioscience applications and facilitate long-term joint research collaborations. We’re confident that this Center would provide several opportunities to our researchers, faculty and students in taking forward research in these core areas.”

From University at Buffalo, Prof. Venu Govindaraju, Vice President for Research and Economic Development; Prof. Kemper Lewis, Dean, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences; Prof. Paras Prasad, Professor, Department of Chemistry; Prof. Mark Swihart, Chair, Chemical and Biological Engineering; Prof. Supriya Mahajan, Professor, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences; Prof. Luis Velarde, Professor, Department of Chemistry; Prof. John Tomaszewski, Distinguished Professor, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and Prof. Jonathan Bird, Professor, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences were also present at the ceremony. From IIT Kanpur, Prof. Dhirendra Katti, Dean of International Relations; Prof. Shalabh, Dean of Academic Affairs; Prof. Kantesh Balani, Dean of Resources & Alumni and Prof. Yogesh Joshi, Department of Chemical Engineering, were also present at the ceremony.

The formation of the Center under the agreement would facilitate exchange of students and researchers between IIT Kanpur and University at Buffalo; along with facilitating collaborative research and training programs; joint conferences, thematic workshops and exchange of scholarly material.

The cooperation agreement comes after a Joint Degree Program agreement that was signed between IITK and UB in 2017, to provide selected doctoral students at either institutes the opportunity to conduct research at the partner institute and earn two degrees, one each from IITK and UB.

About IIT Kanpur:

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur was established on 2nd November 1959 by an Act of Parliament. The institute has a sprawling campus spread over 1055 acres with large pool of academic and research resources spanning across 19 departments, 22 centres, and 3 Interdisciplinary programs in engineering, science, design, humanities, and management disciplines with 540 full-time faculty members and approximately 9000 students. In addition to formal undergraduate and postgraduate courses, the institute has been active in research and development in areas of value to both industry and government.

For more information, visit www.iitk.ac.in.

About University at Buffalo:

Founded in 1846, the University at Buffalo is a public research university in the USA consistently ranked as one of the world’s leading universities. UB has three campuses with over 7,000 students across its 13 schools and colleges that offer over 450 degree programs. The university offers courses in the areas of law, engineering, arts, sciences, medicine and management.