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Speech - Opening Ceremony of the Schrodinger Day

Speech - Opening Ceremony of the Schrodinger Day –

Virtual Conference on Computational Chemistry : VCC 2014

Venue :  Lecture Theatre 2, University of Mauritius – Tuesday 12 August, 2014 at 09.30 hrs

• Prof Soodursun Jugessur ,Pro Chancellor & Chairman of University of Mauritius Council

• Prof R Mohee,Vice-Chancellor University of Mauritius

• Prof A. Hussein Subratty, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Academia)

• Assoc Prof R. Thanika D. Juwaheer, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Planning and Resources),

• Academic and non-academic staff of the University of Mauritius

• Participants of the Virtual Conference on Computational Chemistry (VCCC-2014)

• Students

• Distinguished Guests

• Ladies and Gentlemen, Good morning

It gives me immense pleasure as the Minister of Tertiary Education, Science, Research & Technology to be present for the Opening Session of the Schrödinger Day under the umbrella of the Virtual Conference on Computational Chemistry. I congratulate the University of Mauritius and in particular the Computational Chemistry Group for the laudable initiative of conducting the conference virtually.

Today, the 12^th August, is the birth date of a famous Nobel winning physicist Erwin Schrödinger, who is known as the father of Quantum Mechanics. Schrödinger established several fundamental results in this field and the most important one is the Schrödinger equation. This prominent and well known equation is being used in different fields of Science including Computational Chemistry.

With ICT playing such an important role in our life, it is good to note that the Government of Mauritius has taken measures to ensure that the ICT culture permeates all levels of the society with the ultimate of making of Mauritius a Smart Island.  It is therefore appropriate that a second virtual conference be held in Mauritius after the first one held last year, which was a success.

Mauritius has been hosting several national and international conferences where participants from different regions of the world have been able to visit our small island. Now, apart from these face to face meetings, we can hold virtual conferences which are becoming common. I am honoured and pleased to address you on this occasion of the second Virtual Conference on Computational Chemistry.

I am also glad to know that the Schrödinger Day is being broadcast live through the internet. I had a look at the summary of research abstracts that are being presented for the VCCC-2014 and it amazes me to see the wide range of topics being studied using computational methods. I note that there are 120 participants from 35 countries. I would also like to add that Computational Chemistry has gained popularity over the years and is becoming a fundamental tool in Research.  We remember that the 2013 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to three computational chemists.

For Mauritius to become an innovation driven country, the government of Mauritius and my Ministry are trying our best to provide all facilities within our means to ensure that Mauritians benefit from the advantages of ICT and are able to carry out high level research. In fact, one of the objectives of the Government of Mauritius is to convert our country into a wireless nation and going over simple computer literacy. In this very same context, an International Institute of Technology (IIT) Research Academy, affiliated to the IIT of Delhi, was recently launched in Mauritius. This is among one of the most prominent milestones that my ministry has undertaken for the proper development of science, research and technology in Mauritius.

It is also good for all of you to know that this is the first time that such a project is being implemented outside India. I understand that computational resource is very important for computational chemistry research and we are looking forward to providing computational support by the implementation of clusters that are expected to be implemented in the coming years. Apart from this one, I have several projects in mind to promote high quality research. I intend to come up with research centres across the country and funding will be made available on a competitive basis through the Mauritius Research Council.

Let us come back to the Schrödinger Day. I had the opportunity to attend the Opening Ceremony of the biennial International Conference on Pure and Applied Chemistry and I know that a Nobel Prize winner has always delivered the keynote address. I can see that even for the Schrödinger Day, the 1996 Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry, namely Sir Harold Kroto, will intervene via Skype. In this context, I am pleased to inform you that one student from the University of Mauritius, from the Faculty of Medicine, was supported by the Govt of Mauritius to participate in Lindau 2014 Nobel Laureates Meeting.

There are, indeed, many young brains in this room who will be future scientists and who should benefit from our support, for example to participate in the Lindau Meeting.

To conclude, I sincerely hope that Mauritian researchers, students and participants will gather experience from the discussion that is going on during this virtual conference till end of August 2014. It is also good to note that researchers from the University of Mauritius will present their research works using the Schrödinger equation this afternoon.

I would like again to congratulate the University of Mauritius, the Organising Committee of the Virtual Conference on Computational Chemistry and all those involved in making this event a successful one. I wish all the participants a fruitful conference and I declare the Schrödinger Day open.

Thank you.

Dr R. Jeetah                                                                         Ministry of Tertiary Education, Science, Research and Technology