Advertisement Number: P.Rect./R&D/2023/199

About the project: The states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have amongst the worst air pollution in India. A new path-breaking project aims to deploy and monitor air quality in all the rural districts of the two states. The criteria for identifying the non-attainment cities under National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) was based on the PM₁₀ levels monitored using manual monitoring technology. One of the limitations of the criteria set was that this ended up excluding the rural districts of India which did not have continuous PM_2.5 and PM₁₀ air quality monitoring. The project "To Support the Rural Air Quality Monitoring" is to set up a scientifically validated real-time air quality monitoring network which will provide unprecedented insights into the air quality conditions of rural India.

About the group/team: The team has made impactful contribution at nationwide scale to address the challenges of Air Pollution and Climate Change. Under the leadership of Prof Tripathi, the team has built ground-breaking innovative approaches for indigenously built low-cost sensor-based network technologies for nation-wide urban air quality monitoring and Real Time Source Apportionment (RTSA). The group has successfully evaluated a very large field-based sensor evaluation project in collaboration with MPCB, Mumbai. Recently, the group has been awarded the International Centre of Excellence on advanced pollution monitoring technologies recognized by the Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India. This work will be carried out as a part of this Centre. RTSA work has been done in Delhi withsupport from CPCB and is currently being carried out with support from Swiss Development Corporation in the cities of Lucknow and Pune.The group has also established sensor network in 5 cities (Jaipur, Chennai, Guwahati, Kanyakumari and Delhi) with support from Ericsson.

About the position

We are looking for one post of Project Engineer who should ensure that air pollution monitoring sensors have required uptime, proper maintenance etc.

Responsibilities: The candidate would be responsible for running large scale networks for air quality measurements using low-cost sensors. The candidate would be in-charge of the air quality sensors and will be responsible for their regular operation, calibration and maintenance and maintain device uptime. The candidate will be required to travel as desired in the project. The candidate will also take part in analysis of large datasets evolved during such monitoring. They should manage any technical issues of the sensors w.r.t data download, and data access, and coordinate with people on the ground for all maintenance issues and should coordinate with Start-Ups on managing maintenance as needed. The candidate should be open to visit field sites whenever required.

Relevant skills & experience

• Experience in air quality research.
• Prior fieldwork experience in maintaining sensor networks/ IoT devices
• Knowledge of programming language is a plus

Compensation & benefits

He/she will get the opportunity to work in a conductive environment and can avail the hostel/family accommodation facility (according to availability) at IIT Kanpur.

As regards the medical facilities, only the OPD facility for self shall be available at the Health Centre of IIT Kanpur without any reimbursement of cost of medicines. Any outside referral shall not be reimbursed. For the purpose, a medical booklet shall be provided to you on request.

Essential Qualification

M Tech or B Tech with MBA or B Tech + 3yrs relevant exp.

Duration of Appointment

• The post is purely temporary and is on contractual basis.
• The appointment for the post is for three years or till the completion of project, whichever is earlier. Appointment will be initially for one year. Renewal of appointment will be subjected to the performance of the candidate.
• Salary: Rs. 26400-2200-66000 per month (as per the experience).

The department reserves the right to fix suitable criteria for short listing of eligible candidates satisfying qualifications and experience. The selection will be based on interviews: online or in person. Short listed candidates will be informed with an email about the date of interview.

Interested candidates may apply via email (to [email protected]) giving full details qualifications and experience with copies of relevant certificates by September 12, 2023.

Please mention the post applied for and advertisement no. in the subject line of email.

Dr. Sachchida N. Tripathi, Professor
Department of Civil Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology
Kanpur 208016