Botany Department (Chennai)

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The Department of Botany was established in 1940. About 2000 undergraduates and more than 500 post-graduate students have been trained here. In recent years, 90 scholars have obtained M.Phil. Degrees and 15 candidates Ph.D. degrees. Many are now enrolled in M.Phil. and Ph.D. research programmes. About 150 students are currently enrolled in U.G., P.G., M.Phil. and Ph.D. programmes.

Dr. K.R. Venkatasubban guided the Department for 24 long years. He and other great teachers promoted love of plants and a spirit of inquiry that are still the highlights of this Department. Those who studied here are now shaping the teaching of botany in schools, colleges, and universities. Many of our students are now leading researchers and scientists in India and abroad.

The Botany Department is now housed in a separate building with adequate space for teaching and research. Besides teaching the faculty are actively involved in research. Several funding agencies have provided financial support to carry out minor and major projects and train Ph.D. scholars in such areas as rice grain development, native fodder grasses, floristics, ethnobotany, biodiversity, biology and tissue culture of neem tree, plant hormones, fossil plants and study of pollen grains. The Department of Science & Technology has provided us with a sophisticated microscope costing more than Rs. 15 lakhs. Other current research interests of the faculty include: nitrogen metabolism and several other areas of plant physiology, algal taxonomy, genetics, floristics, ethnobotany, biodiversity, and tissue culture of useful plants.

The closing years of the 20th century were also a period of introspection, challenge and exciting possibilities. The liberalisation of economy, the crisis in funding of higher education, mushrooming of self-financed institutions and public perception have tended to undermine the importance of plant sciences in the country. We are also aware that we must respond to the changing needs of this generation without sacrificing quality. We are now involved in an exercise to update our curriculum and rejuvenate teaching of Botany. The Convention on Biological Diversity has sharply brought to focus the importance of the study of plants in our country of great biodiversity and pressing environmental problems. We are prepared to offer the best training in plant sciences that is relevant to the needs of the day and which appeals to the intellectual and vocational aspirations of the students of the present and coming generations.

mccbotbio.synthasite.com/ - Website of Department of Botany, MCC, Chennai