The School of Physical, Chemical and Applied Sciences consists of the following departments.

1.· Department of Physics
2.· Department of Chemistry
3.· Department of Earth Sciences

The School is uniquely placed to conduct interdisciplinary teaching and research activities in the physical sciences. The above Departments of the School offer M.Sc., M.Phil., and Ph.D. programmes. The Departments in the School also offer an integrated M.Sc. programme of five years duration in Physics, Chemistry and Applied Geology for the +2 students.

All the Departments have distinguished faculty and excellent laboratory and computational facilities. There are more than 30 research scholars engaged in frontline areas of research. A very high percentage of M.Sc. students of the School have cleared national level tests, UGC-CSIR NET and GATE.

The students and researchers of the Departments routinely use common facilities like, Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (Lakeshore, USA), UV-VIS-NIR Spectrophotometer (Carry 5000) and scanning Electron Microscope with Energy Dispersive X-ray (SEM-EDX) Analyzer that are recently augmented, in the Central Instrumentation Facility (CIF).

All the Departments of the School are supported by DST-FIST programme and the Department of Chemistry is also supported by UGC-SAP funding. Sophisticated equipments have been procured under these funding and these are extensively used for teaching and research.

 Dr. S. Balakrishnan, Dean

The Department of Physics came to existence on 01.06.1987 and facilities are available for intensive training and research in basic areas of Physics. The Department has been recognized for special funding by DST under the Fund for Improvement of S&T Infrastructure (FIST) programme. The faculty members have received major research project grants for more than Rs.2.0 crores from different funding agencies like DST, AICTE, UGC, DRDO, DAE, INSA and CSIR, Government of India and published more than 300 papers in internationally reputed journals. Some of the faculty members received several national, international awards, fellowships and membership in the national committee’s and referees in many national and international journals. The Department conducts M.Sc. (Physics) programme and train research scholars for M.Phil. and Ph.D. in Physics in the following areas:
· Nonlinear Dynamics/Nonlinear Optics
· Spectroscopy
· Superionic Conductors
· Relaxation Mechanisms and Molecular Interactions
· Magnetic Materials
· Nano Materials

Programmes of study

M.Sc. Physics programme is offered with three Specializations (Condensed Matter Physics/ Laser Physics/ Electronics)
M.Sc. Physics (5 year Integrated)
M.Phil. Physics (Full-time)
Ph.D. Physics
[Full-time, Part-time (Internal & External)]

Entrance Examination
The question paper will consist of objective type questions.
For P.G. studies: The objective question paper covers all the subjects at U.G. degree with Physics as Main and Mathematics and Chemistry, as ancillaries.
For M.Phil. and Ph.D. Courses: The objective question paper covers all the subjects studies under P.G. course in Physics

Infrastructure facilities
The Department has sufficient infrastructure to conduct M. Sc. practical courses in routine as well as advanced level experiments. The department is equipped with the following facilities: Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer, Differential Scanning Calorimeter, Impedance Analyser, Ultrasonic Pulse Echo Interferometer, VSM (Lakeshore), UV-VIS-IR Spectrometer (Varian), Digital Nano Volt and Current Meters (Keithely), Advanced XRD and Excellent Computer Labs.

Faculty	Qualification	Specialization/Interest	Email id	Phone
Professor
* K. Porsezian	Ph.D. (Bharthidasan University, Tiruchirapalli)	Non-linear Dynamics, Non-linear Fiber optics, Solitons, Theoretical Physics.	ponzsol@yahoo.com
* T.K. Nambi Narayanan	Ph.D.(University of Madras, Madras)	Acoustics , Chemical Physics, Magnetic resonance.	tknambi@yahoo.com	407,401
* N. Satyanarayana	Ph.D. (Indian Institute of Technology, Madras)	Solid state ionics, Solid state spectroscopy, Crystal growth, Magnetic resonance.	nallanis2000@yahoo.com	404,401
* G. Govindaraj	Ph.D. (University of Madras, Madras)	Thin films, Solid state ionics, Dielectric Spectroscophy.	ggraj_7@yahoo.com	405,401
Reader
* Dr. G. Chandrasekaran,	Ph.D (Annamalai University)	Geomagnetism, Magnetism and Magnetic materials, Spectroscopy.	chandgc@rediffmail.com	406,401
* Dr. V. V. Ravikanth Kumar,	Ph.D (Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati)	Rare earth doped glasses and materials – Optical Spectroscopy and Photonic Crystal Fibers- Soft glasses	vv_ravikanth@yahoo.com
;Dr. S. Sivaprakasam	Ph.D (University of Hyderabad)	Semiconductor Lasers, Quantum Electronics	siva@iitk.ac.in
Dr. R. Sivakumar	Ph.D (IIT Madras)	Experimental Condensed Matter, Hydrogen in Metals, Computational Physics.	siva.phy@pondiuni.edu.in
Lecturer
Dr. S. V. M. Satyanarayana	Ph.D (IGCAR, Kalpakkam)	Nonlinear Dynamics, Statistical Mechanics, Biophysics.	svmsatya@yahoo.co.uk
Mr. A. Ramesh Naidu,	M.Phil (University of Hyderabad)	Condensed Matter Physics, Cognitive Phenomena.	a_rameshnaidu@yahoo.com
Dr. Alok Sharan,	Ph.D (IIT Kanpur)	Lasers, Nonlinear Optics, Nonlinear Optical Materials Characterization, Quantum computing and information processing.	aloksharan@gmail.com
Dr. Rabindra Nath Bhowmik,	Ph.D (Jadavpur University / SINP, Kolkata)	Magnetism and Magneto-transport Phenomena.	rabindranath.bhowmik@ saha.ac.in

The Department of Chemistry, started in 1987, offers M.Sc. (Chemical Sciences), M.Sc (Chemistry), Five year Integrated, M.Phil. and Ph.D. programmes. From the very beginning, the postgraduate students of the Department, at the end of their course, qualify the national level tests, i.e. UGC-CSIR NET/GATE, to seek academic progression. Many pharmaceutical companies visit the Department every year to conduct campus interviews and recruit students for suitable positions.

The Department of Chemistry has highly qualified faculty members to conduct research in fore-front areas of Chemistry including inorganic, organic, physical and theoretical Chemistry. Research work of the faculty is supported by the national funding agencies, such as DST, CSIR, AICTE and UGC. Research output is regularly published in leading international / national journals having high impact factor. The Department is equipped to support teaching and research activities. Interdisciplinary and collaborative research is a feature of the Department.

There are 15 research scholars and 25 M.Phil. Scholars engaged in research activities. A good number of visitors come to interact with the faculty/students and to give lectures.

The Department is supported by the University Grants Commission’s SAP (DRS) and the Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of India FIST programme to achieve its academic potentials.

Programmes of study
M.Sc. Chemical Sciences
M.Sc. Chemistry (Five year Integrated)
M.Phil. Chemistry (Full-Time)
Ph.D. Chemistry
[Full-time, Part-time (Internal]]

Entrance Examination
M.Sc. Chemical Sciences: The selection is based on entrance test comprising of 100 objective type multiple-choice questions. The question paper consists 10% of questions from mathematics at +2 level and the rest 90% is equally distributed among inorganic, organic and physical chemistry at undergraduate level.
M.Sc. (Five year Integrated): The question paper will consist of objective type questions in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics at +2 level.
M.Phil. The selection is based on the entrance examination. The examination will consist of objective type questions, covering all aspects of chemistry at the M.Sc. level. There will be 100 questions, out of which 90 questions will be distributed among inorganic, organic, physical chemistry and 10 will be from theoretical chemistry.
Ph.D. The selection is based on entrance examination held in common with M.Phil. entrance test and viva. The candidates who are qualified in NET/GATE/CSIR etc. are exempted from taking written examination.

Infrastructure Facilities
The Department has excellent computational facility and computer networking for intra and internet. Research facilities include EPR, NMR, IR, GCMS, Polarimeter, Atomic Absorption Spectrometer, Fluorescence, UV-VIS Spectrometers to conduct research in the forefront areas of organic synthesis, magnetic resonance, solid-state chemistry, organometallic chemistry, etc. There is an ongoing effort to add other sophisticated instruments such as HPLC, TGA/DTA, X-ray fluorescence, etc. The scholars also use the facilities available at SAIF, Chennai and SIF, Bangalore.
All the faculty members have individual laboratories with basic equipments to carry out day-to-day research. The scholars have access to several online journals and databases. Research seminars, invited lectures and group discussions are constantly held for the benefit of research scholars.
   

Faculty	Qualification	Specialization/Interest	Phone
Professor
* H. Surya Prakash Rao	Ph.D. (IISc, Bangalore)	Synthetic Organic Chemistry, Sterochemistry, Green Chemistry and Iindustrial Organic Chemistry	411,409
* P. Sambasiva Rao	Ph.D. (IIT, Madras)	Single crystal EPR studies on transition metal ions; EPR and optical studies on minerals; EPR dating.	412,409
Readers
* Bidhu Bhusan Das	Ph.D. (IIT, Kanpur)	Synthesis and state-of-the- art structure-property relations in Electronic and Magnetic Materials, Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy (EPR, NMR).	413,409
* R. Venkatesan	Ph. D. (IIT, Bombay)	Inorganic Photochemistry, EPR of Bio-molecules, Computers in Chemical Education, Electrochemistry.	415,409
Lecturers
*Bala Manimaran	Ph.D. (IIT, Bombay)	Organometallics and supramolecular chemistry
G. Vasuki	Ph.D. (Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai)	Stereoselective Synthesis; Chemistry Education (Constructivist Learning).
* R. Venkatesan	Ph. D. (IIT, Bombay)	Inorganic Photochemistry, EPR of Bio-molecules, Computers in Chemical Education, Electrochemistry.	415,409
* N. Dastagiri Reddy	Ph.D. (IIT, Kanpur)	Main group organometallics, transition metal based homogenous catalysis.
* M.M. Balakrishnarajan	Ph.D. (Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli)	Chemical Information Sciences.
*C.R. Ramanathan	Ph.D. (University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad)	Drug design and development, Asymmetric organic transformations.
*Binoy Krishna Saha	Ph.D. (University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad)	Supramolecular Chemistry, Crystal Engineering.
Guest Faculty	3 Nos.

The Department of Earth Sciences came into existence in September 1994.

The Department is being supported by the FIST programme of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and is poised for a rapid growth. DST has also sanctioned a National Facility for Geochronology and Isotope Geosciences in the Department.

Programmes of study
M.Sc. Applied Geology
This course is designed to develop basic understanding of the earth and the earth processes, as well as to develop skills to apply this knowledge to solve problems of scientific and national importance. Academic programmes include intensive field training programme offered at three stages, and four lab courses and a project work supported by modern laboratory facilities.
M.Sc. Applied Geology (Five year Integrated)
M.Phil. Applied Geology (Full-Time)
Ph. D. Earth Sciences [Full-time, Part-time (External)]

These research programmes include courses to develop research orientation and supervised research work in conventional as well as emerging areas of geoscience, supported by state of the art research facilities and sophisticated research equipments including XRD, ICP-AES, TIMS and heating-freezing stage for fluid inclusion research.

Entrance Examination
Admission of students to the M.Sc. (Applied Geology) course is done based on a entrance examination at the B.Sc. level consisting of objective type questions in geology.
Admission of students to the M.Sc. Applied Geology (Five year integrated) course is done based on entrance examination consisting of objective type questions in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics at +2 level.
For M.Phil. and Ph.D. the entrance examination will consist of objective questions at M.Sc. level covering topics like Structure & Tectonics, Mineralogy, Economic Geology, Geochemistry, Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy, Paleontology, Basic Geophysics, Remote Sensing, etc. For Ph.D. programme there will also be an interview.

Infrastructure Facilities
The Department has well equipped laboratories with sophisticated equipments to cater to the needs of research as well as practical course-work of M.Sc. students. Major facilities available in the Department are listed below:
Mineralogy, Petrology & Paleontology Laboratories: Polarizing microscopes, Stereoscopic microscopes, Polarizing Research Microscopes with photographic facility and heating-freezing stage for fluid inclusion research, X-ray Powder Diffractometer, Isodynamic Magnetic Separator.
Geochemistry Laboratory: Inductively Coupled Plasma Spectrometer, Furnace, Microwave digestion system, Electronic analytical balance, Spectrophotometer, Flame photometer, Conductivity meter, pH meter, Quartz double distillation unit, MilliQ Water Purification system.
Isotope Geoscience Laboratory: Thermal ionization mass spectrometer with ultra-clean laboratory to carry out Rb-Sr, Sm-Nd and U-Th-Pb isotope studies.
Computing and Network Facility: Adequate number of PCs with internet connectivity through University intranet and online access for all top ranking journals.
Remote Sensing & GIS Laboratory: Mirror stereoscope, Workstation with Intergraph & GIS software package.
Field Equipments: Global positioning system, Survey equipments, SLR camera and Digital cameras.
Geoscience Workshop: Rock cutting machine, Thin section preparing machine, Mounting machine for polished ore blocks, Laboratory ball mill with agate grinding set, Automatic sieve shaker.

shaker.

Dr.  M.S. Pandian, Head

Faculty	Qualification	Specialization/Interest	Phone
Professors
* S. Balakrishnan	Ph.D. (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi)	Isotope Geology, Geochemistry.	2654424
* M.S. Pandian	Ph.D. (Indian School of Mines, Dhanabad)	Economic Geology, Mineral Exploration.	2654425
Readers
* K.L. Pruseth	Ph.D. (Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur)	Experimental Mineralogy, Geochemistry
D. Senthilnathan	Ph. D. (Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur)	Paleontology, Sedimentology.	2654426
Lecturer(Senior Scale)
*Rajneesh Bhutani	Ph.D. (Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad)	Isotope Geology, Tectonics.	2654490
Lecturers
*Pramod Singh	Ph.D. (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi)	Geochemistry, Sedimentology, Paleoclimate.	2654489
Subhadip Bhadra	Ph. D. (Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur)	Structural Geology, Metamorphic Petrology