National Seminar on ‘Passion to Mission in Molecular: One Day National level Seminar on ‘Passion to Mission in Molecular Biology’ was jointly organized by NVPAS and Gujarat State Biotechnology Mission (GSBTM) at GCET Auditorium. The Chief Guest of the Function was Dr. N.K.Singh, Principle Scientist, IARI New Delhi. Dr. C.L.Patel, Chairman, Charutar Vidya Mandal presided the function. The Guest of Honor was Dr. B. G. Patel, Vice Chancellor, Sardar Patel University. The seminar witnessed the inspiring presence of scholars like Dr. K.S. Rao, BRD School of Biosciences., Prof. Hemant Purohit, from NEERI, Nagpur, Prof. Pramod Kumar Yadava from JNU, New Delhi, Dr. Datta Madamwar, BRD School of Biosciences, Dr. Vinay Kumar from BARC Mumbai and Dr. P.N Mukhopadhayaya from Genome Biotechnologies, Pune. The seminar received an overwhelming response from academic fraternity and students. Seminar On “Energy Conservation and Energy Alternatives”: Physics department of NVPAS organized a seminar on “Energy Conservation And Energy Alternatives” in collaboration with C. C. Patel Community Science Centre, S. P. University, V. V. Nagar. Science fair at NVPAS: The Science Association Portfolio of the College Madhyasth Samiti organized a science fair on 20th November, 2008 to address contemporary issues in various branches of pure and applied sciences. Approximately two hundred students from F.Y. /S.Y. /T.Y. B.Sc. and B.C.A. presented seventy projects in the form of posters, demo models and working models. The Hon. Secretary of CVM Prin. R.P. Patel was invited as the chief guest to inaugurate the function whereas Prof. K.N. Joshipura, Head of P.G. Dept. of Physics, S.P. University distributed prizes. Open House at NVPAS: The College organized Open House on 6th and 7th December, 2008. Apart from seeking to involve parents in the process of grooming their wards’ academic performance, the event aimed at evolving teacher-parent dialogue in the most constructive fashion. Much to the College’s satisfaction and credit, the two-day event saw a huge turn-up of parents. In addition to displaying the answer books of their wards to the parents, the College also constituted a mechanism for availing parents’ feedback on the academic system installed by the institute. The parent-teacher interaction that is already well-established by the Counseling System was strengthened by Open House. Other events: • Computer Science Dept. organized a regional level C Programming Competition “C Forum-2008” on 4th September, 2008. With Prin. R.P.Patel as the Chief guest and Dr. P.V. Virparia, Reader, G.H.Patel Post Graduate Department of Computer Science & Ms. Priya Swaminarayan Asst. Professor, MCA Department, ISTAR as respected judges, the event witnessed a record participation of around 40 students from 12 colleges of Gujarat to make it a grand success. • Dept. of Chemical Sciences organized visits to companies like Transpek and Transmetal near Baroda, Om Techno Ceramics, Pacific paints and resins and to central research institute CSMCRI. The industrial visits yielded the students opportunity to see sophisticated instruments like FTIR, HPLC, GC, etc. in operation. At CSMCRI, experts delivered an explanatory lecture on the development of new processes and marine salts. Extraction of bio-diesel from jatropha seeds as an alternative source of energy found immense favour with students’ innovative and experimental temperament. • An orientation program was arranged by the Department of Mathematics. Dr. Jyoti Divecha and Dr. Dharmesh Rajkundaliya from the Department of Statistics gave a PowerPoint presentation on the scope and application of Statistics in various branches of science • An educational tour was organized for the First Year students. They were taken to ISRO, Ahmadabad and Science City in the month of December.