alumni Archives | Page 3 of 3 | The KGP Chronicle

Aug

30

2019

6 Comments

By Chirosree Basu

Remembering Indramohan Asthana

Storiesalumni, Clock Tower, Distinguished Service Award, IIT Kharagpur, Indramohan Asthana

“My buildings will be my legacy...they will speak for me long after I’m gone,” Julia Morgan, world famous architect, had said after a long and prolific career. Her sentiment would have been echoed by Indramohan Asthana, a much admired alumnus of IIT Kharagpur and a renowned architect. We are deeply saddened by his demise on the night of August 29, 2019. Asthana graduated from the Department of Architecture and Regional Planning with 1st Class Honours in 1959 and started his professional career as an architect the same year. And what an outstanding innings it turned out to be! His firm…

Aug

22

2019

2 Comments

By Chirosree Basu

KGPian for Life, and proud to be one

Eventsalumni, Alumni Affairs, Homecoming 2019, loyalty, Pledge. IIT Kharagpur

Homecoming 2019 had a unique feature that will make it stand out in the history of IIT Kharagpur. This was the first time that the alumni of the Institute took a formal pledge of loyalty. On August 17, a day before the Foundation Day of the Institute, members of the 1999, 2004 and 2009 batches who came for the event thanked their alma mater for nurturing them, helping them “grow in knowledge and wisdom”, instilling in them “faith and integrity”, and promoting “intellectual freedom, dialogue and diversity”. ‘Homecoming’ is an annual event in IIT Kharagpur’s calendar. Since 2018, batches who…

Jul

28

2019

1 Comment

By Satarupa Sen Bhattacharya

When one great is inspired by another

Funded Projectsalumni, alumnus, Chair, Chair Professorship, kgpian, manufacturing, Tapan Bagchi, warwick, Warwick Manufacturing Group

Can industry and academia work together to promote the overall competitiveness of a sector through exchange of ideas and innovation, through synthesis of organizational and academic practice and discipline? The jury may be out on that one, yet there is one example that not only tilts the scale heavily towards the potential of success of a collaborative engagement such as this, but also serves as a model par excellence on account of the precedence that it has set: The Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) founded by illustrious British-Indian engineer, academic, manufacturing expert and leading consultant for industry and governments -- late…

Jul

25

2019

8 Comments

By Shreyoshi Ghosh

Kgpians Who Steered India’s Moonshot

Storiesalumni, alumnus, chandrayaan, chandrayaan 2, Distinguished Alumnus Award, Indian Space Research Organization, ISRO, moon shot, Sriharikota

Careers360 India Today It was a week of celebration with India's moonshot Chandrayaan -2 being launched by Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) from the spaceport at Sriharikota at Andhra Pradesh. And this time too IIT Kharagpur has a reason to give its traditional tempo shout. Three Kgpians were among the noted scientists who played a key role in the successful launch of GSLV MkIII - M1/Chandrayaan -2. Alumnus Dr V Narayanan, an expert in cryogenic rocket propulsion technology, was responsible for the manufacture of GSLV rocket's cryogenic and liquid engines. He did his MTech in Cryogenic Engineering in 1990…

May

31

2019

1 Comment

By Chirosree Basu

Shape of water

Storiesalumni, IIT Kharagpur, India Habitat Centre, Jehangir Art Gallery, Kabir, paintings, Vijay Kiyawat, water colour

“Wherever you are is the entry point” – Kabir We don’t know if Vijay Kiyawat (1967/BTech/ME/NH) came across these words of Kabir, the great mystical poet and saint. But the trajectory of his life demonstrates the truth of the statement. That is, you can make a fresh beginning from any point of your life. That is what happened when Kiyawat retired in 2008 after an extremely successful corporate career. “I wanted to do something different - something different from consulting, or teaching,” he says. So he took up the paint brush - a rather unusual choice for a person who…

May

10

2019

0 Comments

By Chirosree Basu

That’s what friends are for

EngagementAI, alumni, Bangalore chapter, Data analytics, IIT Kharagpur, TAAB

While inaugurating the Nagpur Alumni chapter in March, Dean, Alumni Affairs, Prof. Subrata Chattopadhyay, talked about the hub-and-spoke model of Alumni connectivity. “If the two major Alumni foundations (of India and USA) form the hub of the connectivity efforts, the chapters are the spokes. The chapters channelize our efforts to reach out to the Alumni in every nook and corner of the country.” The Technology Alumni Association Bangalore (TAAB) of IIT Kharagpur has been doing this for years, and now more proactively. Its assistance in facilitating summer internships this year is a prime example of this. Each year, students –…

Apr

24

2019

0 Comments

By Shreyoshi Ghosh

The DJ Has Arrived

Engagementalumni, alumnus, kgpian, music, offbeat

Kgpians are known for their dynamic talents beyond being technologists, researchers, corporate leaders, administrators. While some choose the offbeat career, some go with a balance between the two worlds of an IITian's career as well as pursuing their passion in other creative fields. Dhananjay Collur, who studied to become an engineer in the field of Electronics and Electrical Communications at IIT Kharagpur, is among the latter. After being a corporate professional and entrepreneur for 35 years, he has turned to his heart's call - Music. Dhananjay, popularly known as DJ among his IIT KGP peer group, has released his maiden…

Mar

11

2019

0 Comments

By Chirosree Basu

Breakfast with Ron

Storiesalumni, Batch of 1970, Clock Tower, IIT KGP Foundation of USA, IIT Kharagpur, Ron Gupta, SIGMA7

At the Distinguished Service award ceremony at IIT Kharagpur in January 2019, Prof. Partha Pratim Chakrabarti, Director, IIT Kharagpur, laid bare a fact that should have been pretty obvious but, as usual, had not occurred to anybody else. While talking about IIT KGP alumni’s contribution to the Institute, Prof. Chakrabarti referred to the recent hoopla over the donation pledge of Rs 25 crore undertaken by the alumni of a particular IIT and pointed out, “Among several batches, more than Rs 50 crore has been given by the Batch of 1970 alone.” There are, of course, other batches, which have donated…

Nov

23

2018

7 Comments

By Shreyoshi Ghosh

Alumnus Honours Former Faculty

Funded ProjectsA S Davis, alumni, alumnus, Chair Professor, Chair Professorship, faculty, former faculty, Professor, Vinod Gupta

Who Was Prof. A S Davis? It was 1965 . . . few pairs of eyes rolled watching a boy being grabbed by his neck from his room D-231 at RK Hall, by a Professor and taken to the laboratory. The Professor was A S Davis from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at IIT Kharagpur. The young boy was Vinod Gupta (B.Tech./AG/1967), now an entrepreneur and philanthropist. Recently, Vinod has donated USD 100,000 to his alma mater IIT Kharagpur to set up a Chair Professorship in the memory of Prof. Davis. The teacher who won’t let me miss my lessons…

Oct

03

2018

2 Comments

By Shreyoshi Ghosh

Alumnus to Donate USD 1 Million for Academy of Leadership at IIT KGP

Funded Projectsalumni, alumnus, donation, grant, IIT Foundation, leadership, leadership academy

Economic Times Hindustan Times Indian Express Financial Express Business Standard Jagran Josh NDTV The Week IIT KGP is all set to establish India’s first of its kind Academy of Leadership envisioning the advancement of education. The academy intends to develop innovative programmes combining the core curricula in science and engineering disciplines with philosophy, reasoning, and liberal arts. “It is indeed an opportune time to expand the scope of the value proposition of the academic excellence at IIT Kharagpur by developing the next phase education process. This is to be based not only on scientific and technical training but the teachings of ancient philosophies,…