Parul University MNRDC Expansion – ₹1.17 Crore Centre of Excellence Grant, IIT Ropar Partnership, and the Advanced Manufacturing Research Roadmap

The Centre of Excellence in Advanced Manufacturing Research and Technology at Parul University represents a distinct institutional milestone from the original MNRDC funding. Where the ₹1.49 crore MNRDC grant (sanctioned under Gujarat Industrial Policy 2020) established the core research center and its initial instrument portfolio, the new ₹1.17 crore CoE grant – also awarded by the Industries Commissionerate, Government of Gujarat – recognises the MNRDC’s demonstrated performance and funds the next phase of capability expansion.

This dual-grant architecture is significant. It means Parul University has now received two separate government grants from the same state authority for nanotechnology and advanced manufacturing research – a pattern that reflects sustained institutional credibility rather than one-time recognition. Combined, the two grants total ₹2.66 crore from the Government of Gujarat, representing one of the larger university-level research infrastructure investments made by the Industries Commissionerate in the private university sector.

The CoE in Advanced Manufacturing Research and Technology specifically extends the MNRDC’s scope into manufacturing process research – complementing the existing characterisation-focused instrument portfolio with fabrication, machining, and manufacturing testing capabilities. This positions the MNRDC-CoE combination as a complete materials-to-manufacturing research pipeline: design materials, characterise them, process them, and test the output – all within a single university facility.

The MNRDC has formalised a strategic research partnership with IIT Ropar – the Indian Institute of Technology in Rupnagar, Punjab, one of the newer IITs established in 2008 with a strong focus on interdisciplinary research and industry-relevant engineering. This partnership creates a research corridor between a premier central government institution and a NAAC A++ private university – a model that is increasingly recognised in Indian higher education as a mechanism for sharing expensive research infrastructure and faculty expertise.

The practical implications of the IIT Ropar partnership include joint research projects drawing on both institutions’ facilities, faculty collaboration for high-impact publications, co-supervision of PhD scholars, and potential joint grant applications to DST, SERB, and other national funding bodies. For MNRDC researchers, IIT Ropar’s advanced facilities become accessible as collaborative tools; for IIT Ropar researchers, the MNRDC’s specific instrument portfolio – particularly the sputtering system, tribometer, and LCR meter – provides capabilities their own labs may not have. The partnership also enhances the credibility of MNRDC publications, which can now cite IIT Ropar co-authorship.

The Smart Materials Laboratory is planned as a dedicated research space for materials that respond actively to external stimuli – temperature, magnetic field, electrical field, stress, or light. This category includes shape memory alloys (directly connected to the MNRDC’s ISRO-funded SMA project), piezoelectric materials, magnetostrictive materials, and electrostrictive composites. The Smart Materials Lab will create a research environment where the MNRDC’s existing SEM, XRD, AFM, and LCR meter can be deployed systematically for smart material characterisation while dedicated fabrication and testing equipment supports active material development.

The planned Biotechnology Laboratory carries funding from SERB-TARE – the Science and Engineering Research Board’s Teachers’ Associateship for Research Excellence scheme, administered by the Department of Science and Technology.

SERB-TARE specifically supports faculty from non-IIT institutions in establishing research at their home institutions by providing funding for infrastructure, consumables, and research visits to premier institutions.

The MNRDC’s TARE-funded Biotechnology Lab would extend the center’s capabilities into biological sample fabrication and testing – enabling the AFM-in-liquid biological applications already demonstrated in the workshop to be performed on freshly prepared, in-house biological specimens.

The RF Anechoic Chamber is planned specifically to support the MNRDC’s CSIR-funded metamaterial MIMO antenna project. An anechoic chamber is a room whose walls, floor, and ceiling are lined with electromagnetic wave-absorbing panels that eliminate reflections – simulating free-space propagation conditions for antenna testing. Without one, antenna measurements are contaminated by reflections from laboratory walls and equipment. The planned CSIR-funded chamber will enable complete antenna characterisation – radiation pattern, gain, efficiency, polarisation, and bandwidth – for the metamaterial antenna designs being developed under the CSIR project. Once operational, it will make the MNRDC one of a small number of Indian university research centres with an in-house RF anechoic facility.

The MNRDC has procured two new instruments from Hitachi High-Tech Analytical Science, Japan, that are in the process of installation: the NEXTA DSC 200 (Differential Scanning Calorimeter) and the NEXTA STA 200 (Simultaneous Thermal Analyzer). DSC measures heat flow into and out of a sample as a function of temperature – directly measuring phase transitions (melting, crystallisation, glass transition, curing), specific heat capacity, and reaction enthalpy. STA combines DSC and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) in a single measurement, simultaneously tracking both heat flow and mass change as the sample is heated.

These instruments have immediate application to multiple ongoing MNRDC research themes: the SMA space application project (characterising the martensite-austenite transformation temperatures precisely), the green hydrogen catalyst research (measuring thermal stability of NiFeP@Ni nanotube catalysts), pharmaceutical characterisation (detecting drug polymorphs and excipient compatibility), and polymer processing (characterising glass transition and melt temperatures for the compression molding work). Their addition brings the MNRDC’s instrument count to twelve.

The MNRDC has grown its team by 10% – adding research staff capacity to support the expanding instrument portfolio, growing sample volumes, and new funded projects. This growth is funded through the center’s own revenue – all testing fees are credited to the MNRDC’s dedicated account and reinvested in maintenance, consumables, operations, and staff. The center has also attracted ₹2 lakh in industry sponsorship for its ICSUMMIT research conference – an early indicator that Gujarat’s industrial community recognises the MNRDC’s research outputs as commercially relevant.

The MNRDC’s recognition as Knowledge Partner for international conferences in the United Kingdom and Vietnam – secured within its first year of full operations – demonstrates international positioning that most Indian research centres take a decade to achieve. Combined with the ISRO, CSIR, and Royal Academy UK project portfolio, and now the CoE grant and IIT Ropar partnership, the MNRDC is building an institutional profile that will sustain its research credibility well beyond its founding grants. Students and researchers considering joining the Parul University research ecosystem can explore PhD and post-doctoral programmes directly connected to this expanding infrastructure.