bhubaneswar iit bhubaneswar is planning to set up a centre of excellence coe for laboratory grown diamonds union education minister dharmendra pradhan said this in a tweet after reviewing physical infrastructure research projects academic programmes and measures for faculty development of national higher educational institutions here on fridayheartening to know that iit bhubaneswar intends to augment the existing experimental facilities and establish two pioneering centres one for materials characterization processing and manufacturing and other for a coe for laboratory grown diamonds said pradhanhe said both these facilities will expand the research and development rd and innovation profile of iit bhubaneswar strengthen innovation and research in material sciences boost industryacademia linkages aid development of critical technologies encourage entrepreneurship boost employment and make india selfreliant in frontier areasofficial sources said the institute will collaborate with an iit alumnus to grow diamonds in the laboratory after the project is sanctioned the centre will be set up said an official of the iit bhubaneswarhe inaugurated the virtual and augmented reality coe at iit bhubaneswar this coe will accelerate digital transformation across disciplines invigorate applicationdriven research as well as boost entrepreneurshippradhan said augmented reality ar and virtual reality vr can transform education healthcare architecture among others he encouraged iit bhubaneswar to keep pace with the changing aspirations of new india and also localise the innovations and solutionshe interacted with newly recruited faculties and encouraged them to instil social responsibilities in young minds and also prepare them to become global citizens in line with the tenets of national education policy nephe encouraged the iit bhubaneswar staff to undertake a massive plantation drive by july this year for making the campus green and sustainablehe reviewed the progress of works research and other aspects of iit bhubaneswar iim sambalpur nit rourkela central university of odisha koraput and iiser berhampur