IIT Kanpur completes 61 years; More than 2000 alumni join its foundation day celebrations
Kanpur: IIT Kanpur celebrates its 61st Foundation Day on the 2nd of November. This year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the occasion was celebrated virtually with the participation of over 2000 alumni across the world.
On this special occasion, 22 awards were bestowed upon the selected alumni for their outstanding achievements in their respective fields. Among the awardees were eminent scientists, industry experts, technocrats, and social activists, some of them pioneers in their respective fields.
The Chief Guest on the occasion was Prof. K Vijay Raghavan, Principal Scientific Advisor,Government of India while Chairman Board of Governors IIT Kanpur, Dr Koppillil Radhakrishnan presided over the function.
The IIT Kanpur prestigious Satyendra K Dubey memorial award was presented to Mr. Ravi Kumar (IIT K 2001) District Magistrate Patna, in recognition of his exemplary service to humanity and his unbending integrity in upholding human values. Mr. R. K. Mathur (IIT K 1975) a former bureaucrat from the Tripura cadre and the First Lieutenant Governor of the Union Territory of Ladakh and Prof Meenakshi Narain (IIT K 1982) of the Brown University US who led the collaboration board for U.S. institutions participating in the CMS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, an experiment pushing the frontiers of modern particle physics were amongst those awarded in the distinguished alumnus category.
Prof. Abhay Karandikar, Director, IIT Kanpur said, “Foundation Day is a time to reflect on our achievements of the past year and our ambitions and challenges for the future. Looking back, I feel proud of our collective efforts and accomplishments that have continued to enhance our institute which makes all of us proud. We celebrate this day with our extended family of alumni and other stakeholders and recognize their contributions and achievements through awards in different categories. I am indeed delighted that our alumni have made significant impact globally. The last one year has been a tumultuous one and I am deeply saddened that we have to host this event virtually. During these difficult times, IITK family rose up to the occasion to provide solutions and services that are serving the entire nation and also the world”
Other distinguished alumnus awardees included Air Marshal Raj Karan Singh Shera (Rtd.) Air Marshal, Air Officer Commanding in Chief Maintenance Command (Retd.), Neelkanth Mishra, Managing Director, the India Strategist and Co-Head of Equity Strategy, Asia Pacific, for Credit Suisse, Dr. Anand Jagannathan, Founder, CEO at Engage .Social Founder, CEO at Newz Social Dr. Rajeev Gautam, President and CEO, Performance Materials & Technologies at Honeywell Mr. Ved Arya Founder at SRIJAN Infratech & Development Services (SIDS).
Prof. Rajendra Bordia, Professor and Chair at Materials Science and Engineering, Clemson University, Clemson, SC and Prof. Shivendra Singh Panwar, Professor, Director of the NY State Center for Advanced Technology in Telecommunications, NYU Tandon School of Engineering, New York, Brooklyn received the distinguished service award. The Young Alumnus Award for those below was conferred to Mr. Abhiraj Singh Bhal, Cofounder and CEO of Urban Company (Formerly Urban Clap) and Dr. Barna Saha, Assistant Professor, Department of IEOR, University of California, Berkeley.
This year, two members of IIT K faculty, Professor Viswanath Sinha, Department of Electrical Engineering and Professor Ashutosh Sharma, Department of Chemical Engineering along with an alumni, Mr. Umang Gupta
were honoured as ‘Institute Fellows’. This is for their contribution to the overall growth of the Institute causing an impact on Indian society not only in the fields of education, academics, industrial development, etc but also on the overall wellbeing of the society and bringing laurels to the nation.
Past recipients of the awards included Mr Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Minister of Delhi (the 1st Satyendra Dubey Memorial Award). Mr. N. R. Narayana Murthy Co-founder, Infosys Mr. Sudhakar Kesavan CEO, ICF International Mr. BVR M. Reddy Founder, Cyient Ltd Dr. Arvind Krishna, Chief Executive Officer IBM, New York, Mr. Arun Seth, Chairman and Co-founder, Global Groupware Solutions,Mr. Pravin Bhagwat, Founder and CTO Mojo Networks, Mr. Ajeet Singh, Co-founder and Executive Chairman Thoughtspot Mr. Dheeraj Pandey Chairman & CEO, Nutanix Inc,