Distinguished alumni felicitated at the Diamond Jubilee celebrations at IIT Kanpur

Kanpur: IIT Kanpur, one of the first Indian Institutes of Technology and a globally acclaimed Institute of National Importance, successfully completed 60 years today.

A special event was held to mark the completion of the institute’s diamond jubilee where several distinguished alumni including Chief Economic Advisor Government of India Prof. Krishnamurthy Subramaniam, Union Defence Secretary Mr. Ajay Kumar were felicitated in the presence of Hon’ble Union Minister of Human Resource Development, Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’.

The celebrations were attended by the present students as well as hundred alumni from India and overseas. Present on the occasion were Prof. Sandeep Verma, Secretary, SERB, Government of India and Mr. Rahul Mehta, Founder, The Mehta Family Foundation.

On the occasion, distinguished alumni were felicitated for academic excellence, professional excellence and entrepreneurship excellence. For Academic Excellence, the awardees are Prof. Shankar Subramanian, Chair and Professor of Bioengineering, University of California, San Diego (1982), Prof. Nitash P. Balsara Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The Charles W. Tobias Professor in Electrochemistry, Berkeley College of Chemistry, University of California at Berkeley (1982), Prof. Ajeet Rohatgi Regents’ Professor, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology (1971) and Prof. Rajesh Gopakumar Centre Director, ICTS-Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (1992).

Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India, Prof. Krishnamurthy Subramanian (1994), Defence Secretary Dr. Ajay Kumar (1984) and Senior Vice President, Cloud and Cognitive Software, IBM, New York, Dr. Arvind Krishna (1985), Member Lokpal of India Mr. Dinesh Kumar Jain (1981/1983) and Co-founder and Chairman of Sagacito Technologies Mr. Ravindra Kumar Dhariwal (1975) were awarded for professional excellence while for Entrepreneurship Excellence awards were given to Mr. Ajeet Singh Co-founder and Executive Chairman, ThoughtSpot) (1997),Mr. Arun Seth Trustee, Nasscom Foundation, Chairman & Co-founder, Global Groupware Solutions and former Chairman of British Telecom (1973) and Mr. Pravin Bhagwat Founder & CTO Mojo Networks (1990).
Mr. Vikas Vaibhav (IPS), DIG, Eastern Range, Bhagalpur Bihar (2001) was awarded the Satyendra K. Dubey Memorial Award. Mr. Rakesh Sharma an Independent Financial consultant (1978), Dr. Ram B. Misra, Professor at the Montclair State University (1968) were awarded with the distinguished services award while the Young Alumnus Award went to Mr. Deepak Garg, (Founder and CEO, Rivigo (2003) and Dr. Manu Prakash, Associate Professor, Stanford University (2002). Institute Fellows Prof. Kripa Shankar, Prof Mohini Mullick, and Prof Madhira Madhav were also felicitated on the occasion.

Hon’ble Union Minister of Human Resource Development, Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ said, “At the outset, I would like to congratulate all those associated with IIT Kanpur, both past and present, students, faculty and other officials for leaving no stone unturned in striving hard in creating a world-class institution. I congratulate all the awardees for their outstanding contribution in their respective fields. Our aim is to ensure IIT Kanpur is amongst the best institutes in the world for which the ministry will provide full support. This is my first visit here and I will come back as the infrastructure and facilities here have caught my attention.”

Professor Abhay Karandikar, Director IIT Kanpur said “We would like to thank all those who have been with us throughout this wonderful journey and strived hard in reaching the institute to great heights. Our alumni have made us proud with their achievements across various genres. We are also thankful for the government’s support and look for their continuing encouragement in the future. At IIT Kanpur we have an exciting road ahead with some ambitious plans on the anvil-like the Mehta Family Foundation Centre for Engineering in Medicine, the Techno Park and the Defence Aerospace Park in association with the Uttar Pradesh.”

Established in 1959, the IIT Kanpur is one of the most prestigious institutes in the country. With the best research infrastructure and state-of-the-art facilities, it encourages students to innovate using technology and approach education with a problem- solving attitude. It was set up with a vision to “To create, disseminate and translate knowledge in science, engineering and allied disciplines that will best serve the society” and the recognition that the institute has garnered as a major centre of learning in Engineering, Science and several Inter-disciplinary Areas is testament to the success of this vision.

At present there are over 7500 students pursuing their education across various disciplines. The verdant campus is spread across 1055 acres with 108 buildings housing students and staff. The institute strongly believes in research across various disciplines. The faculty members at IIT Kanpur have been recipients of several national and international awards including Padma Shri, Infosys Prize, Humboldt Research Award, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award, TWAS Prize, National J.C. Bose Fellowship, Fulkerson Prize, Goedel Prize, National Academy of Sciences (NASc), Indian National Science Academy (INSA), Indian Academy of Science (FASc), Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE), and the Swaranajayanti Fellowship.