Adventurous voyage of five MIT students onboard ORV Sagar Kanya

For the first time, five students from Manipal Institute of Technology (MIT) got an opportunity to work with some scientists on board the national flagship ORV Sagar Kanya in the Bay of Bengal. The students of MIT Shibashis Guru, Gokul Valsan, Yugandhar Nighojkar, Abhilash AL and Sahil Gholap, all in final year MSc Geology participated in the Geoscientific Studies of Exclusive Economic Zone. These students contributed to the mapping of the Bay bed off Puri using Multi Beam Echo Sounder, along with scientists, led by Twinkle Damodharan from the National Centre for Antarctica and Ocean Research (NCAOR) and others, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) said in a statement.

The students spent 31 days onboard the scientific vessel, which is a versatile ocean observing platform, during which they received training on various oceanographic, geophysical and geological instruments, their operations and the data acquisition and processing software.

While their stay onboard the ORV Sagar Kanya, these students traveled from Chennai to the survey area and then across Sri Lanka, returning to Kochi. It was an adventurous voyage for the budding scientists, where they got to experience the real life encounters of an oceanographic research cruise.

Their expenses were borne by the Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India. They are the first batch of M.Sc students from MAHE going onboard a government-owned scientific research vessel.