The Department of Botany formerly established as the department of Natural Sciences in 1932 possesses an illustrious line of people whopassed on the vision of the founders of the college from generation to generation.

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Anouncements

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.	Profile
.	Courses Offered
.	Faculty
.	Activities
.	Research and Extension
.	Future Plans
.	Facilities
.	Highlights of the Department
.	Roll of Honour

Profile

Over the years, our educational pursuit has been a judicious mix of individual initiatives and innovations together with collective efforts.The department enjoys the reputation of having in its faculty, members with Ph. D. holders from five branches of plant sciences.

The scholarly experience shared by faculty and research guides trained in Royal Botanic Garden Kew England, Botanical Survey of India Calcutta, reputed Indian Universities (Delhi, Poona, and Baroda) and Spices Research Institute of India have a major impact in building up a community of scholars in the department.

The department follows a committee system of administration. In addition to the Staff Association and Botany Association, there are faculty and staff in charge of Library, Conduct of examination, Orientation programmes, Computer, Instrumentation and purchase, Infrastructure development, Green House and Garden, Research wing, Chemicals, Public relations, Herbarium, UG/ PG project preparation, Seminar presentation and Remedial teaching.

Courses Offered
Under graduate Courses:
    B.Sc. Botany

Students list	I B.Sc.	II B.Sc.	III B.Sc.
Syllabus	I B.Sc.	II B.Sc.	III B.Sc.
Question Papers	I B.Sc.	II B.Sc.	III B.Sc.
Teacher-in-charge	I B.Sc.	II B.Sc.	III B.Sc.

Post Graduate Courses:
    M.Sc. Botany

Students list	I M.Sc.	II M.Sc.	III M.Sc.	IV M.Sc.
Syllabus	I M.Sc.	II M.Sc.	III M.Sc.	IV M.Sc.
Question Papers	I M.Sc.	II M.Sc.	III M.Sc.	IV M.Sc.
Teacher-in-charge	I M.Sc.	II M.Sc.	III M.Sc.	IV M.Sc.

  M. Sc. Bioinformatics

  Ph.D

Faculty

Head: Prof. Aleyamma P.J. MSc.M.Phil

	Name of  the Teaching staff
.	Prof. Aleyamma P.J.
.	Dr. Thara K Simon
.	Dr. Kuriachen P.M
.	Dr. David Saj Mathew
.	Dr. Thomas Mathew P.
.	Dr. Manju M. George (on Leave)
.	Dr. Anilkumar K.M.
	Guest Lecturer
.	Dr. Beena B. Nair

Retired Faculty

.	Prof . T.C.Joseph
.	Prof. O.M.Mathen
.	Dr. G. Velayudan Thampi
.	Dr. C. Joyce Mathew
.	Dr. K. Kuruvilla
.	Dr. K.V.Paulose
.	Prof. V.V.Jose
.	Prof. C.M.Mathew
.	Prof. Joy Job Kulavelil
.	Dr. K.I.Mani Varghese
.	Prof.Rani Varghese
.	Prof.Santha M.Mathew

Activities

The conduct of exhibitions, association activities, participation in the intercollegiate seminars and competitions held by other colleges have helped in their soft skill development. Within the limits of the prescribed syllabus of the University, the provisions for innovative learning methods such as group discussions, field studies, and symposia are effectively utilised. Other than the traditional study tours, field trips are being conducted to the Sacred Grooves, Biosphere Reserves and such areas with high biodiversity. Students conduct floristic surveys also.

A major change occurred in the course pattern was the ‘research tilt’ where a paper equivalent research project was incorporated at both UG and PG levels, leading to the effective utilisation of the diverse research initiatives, ideas and skills of all the students. They are given special orientation for writing the thesis and presentation of seminars. The research culture of PG/ UG students has led to the publication of their projects in scientific journals and presentation of papers at state level and national level . Of the 7 Ph. D. research scholars of recent times, 5 are the alumni of the department.   Trying to keep the right balance between ‘lecturing ’ and ‘facilitating’, the students are familiarised with e-learning techniques, apart from hearing lectures.

Research and Extension

Recently the department received a major project from UGC. the investigator is Dr. K.I.Mani Varghese, co investigated by Dr. David Saj Mathew. Dr.P.Thomas Mathew is a co investigator in a UGC major project funded to the department of english.
The department offers honorary consultancy services in identification of medicinal plants and plant products, Mushroom cultivation and plantation of Vanila. For the past ten years, the research and postgraduate wing of the department has been an active centre of mycology, plant pathology and environmental biology and is now focusing its attention on Plant Taxonomy as well as Microbiology. Members of the faculty are also involved in Biodiversity and Conservation programmes. The research wing is one among the very few international centres working on the endemic flowering plants of Podostemaceae with international collaboration. We completed two UGC major projects and produced 3 PhDs in this area. Two scholars from Kaiserslrutlrn University of Technology, Germany visited the department in January 2003 and shared their experiences in wetland research.  More researchers are now working in the field. 

Future Plans

Future projects of the department are (1) Starting a self financing PG course in Microbiology/Bioinformatics (2) Establishing centres for Genetic Resources Management and Wetland Research (3) Undertaking projects in Post Harvest Diseases of fruits and Medicinal Plant Systematics (4) Extension programmes in Building Science education in local and Global context. We are indeed proud of the alumni who adorn responsible positions in different parts of the world. Expressing our sincere admiration and affection to the retired faculty for sharing their exceptional knowledge and continuously seeking guidance and inspiration from them, the department looks forward to a bright future.

Facilities

The department has full fledged labs for UG and PG courses with sophisticated instruments such as Vertical Laminar Flow, photo microscope, centrifugus and BOD incubators. The department also has a good collection of herberium specimens representing the native flora.

Highlights of the Department