Catalysts
Undergraduate Chemistry Club
Catalysts, the Undergraduate Chemistry Club of IISc, is a student-driven initiative to sparkcuriosity and enthusiasm for chemistry. Over the past year, the club has organised talks spanning diverse fields ranging from computational chemistry and enzyme engineering to molecular orbital theory, to encourage and motivate students to explore chemistry more deeply. Through mock thesis defences and paper presentations, the club provides a platform for undergraduates to hone their scientific communication skills. In addition, the club has invited IISc alumni and senior students to conduct sessions on applying for summer internships and PhD programmes abroad. Most notably, the club’s striking demonstrations during IISc Open Day and Pravega brought the excitement of chemistry to school students, showcasing experiments that highlighted both the wonder and the relevance of science. At its heart, Catalysts celebrates the idea that chemistry is not just a subject, but an exciting, vibrant and spirited way of understanding the world.
Events Conducted from September 2024 – August 2025:
September 2024: Talk by Prof Uday Maitra on Chemiluminescence
Prof Uday Maitra, Professor at the Department of Organic Chemistry, IISc interacted with UG students and showed them the world of chemistry with several demonstrations on colourchanging reactions, fluorescence and chemiluminescence, encouraging the students to explore the subject and all the wonders it has to offer.
October 2024: Talk on Summer Internships
Senior students in the UG Chemistry programme, Krishna Bharadwaj, Camelia Roy and Priyanshu Gupta shared their experiences from the DAAD and RESOLV summer programmes
January 2025: Talk on Computational Chemistry
Shelly, UG Chemistry student, delivered a talk on computational chemistry, how the field has evolved and the various prospects it has to offer.
January 2025: Outreach Programme with School Students
As part of Pravega XII, Catalysts organised an engaging, interactive session for students of classes 9-10, encouraging them to study chemistry
February 2025: Demonstrations during IISc Open Day
March 2025: Talk on Enzyme Engineering by Prof Debasis Das
Prof Debasis Das from the Department of Inorganic and Physical Chemistry, IISc talked about his research on engineering and modulating the activities of various enzymes for industrial applications
April 2025: Mock Thesis Presentations
Graduating UG Chemistry students presented the research work they had conducted in the last year of their degree
June 2025: Demonstrations during FSID’s Che-Mystery Event for School Students
October 2025: Paper Presentation by First and Second Year students on various subjects like solid state lithium-ion batteries, origin of homochirality, organic synthesis and supramolecular chemistry.