Tag: honoris causa

IIT Kharagpur honours Shri Sundar Pichai with DSc Honoris Causa & Mrs. Anjali Pichai with Distinguished Alumnus Award

Excellence embodies the relentless pursuit of the highest standards, driven by an unwavering commitment to continuous improvement and innovation. It transcends conventional measures of success, focusing instead on achieving exceptional quality and performance through dedication, expertise, and a passionate commitment to one’s craft. Those who embody excellence are not satisfied with merely meeting expectations; they aim to exceed them, setting new benchmarks and inspiring others to reach their fullest potential. This pursuit involves a cycle of persistent learning, thoughtful reflection, and tireless effort, reflecting a deep dedication to personal and professional growth. In essence, excellence is a journey rather than a destination, characterized by the drive to push boundaries and redefine what is possible, both for oneself and for those around them. This attribute has been embodied by our most illustrious Alum Shri Sundarajan Pichai and his wife Mrs. Anjali Pichai.

In a momentous occasion of pride, IIT Kharagpur honoured Shri Sundar Pichai with the Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) Award and Mrs. Anjali Pichai with Distinguished Alumnus Award in San Francisco. Prof. V K Tewari, Director, IIT Kharagpur in the presence of Sundar Pichai’s parents and their daughter Ms. Kavya Pichai bestowed the award to the Google Scion.

 
(L-R) Prof. Rintu Banerjee, Deputy Director, IIT Kharagpur; Shri Sundar Pichai, CEO, Google; Prof. V K Tewari, Director, IIT Kharagpur & Prof. Debashish Chakravarty, Dean, Alumni Affairs, IIT Kharagpur

The award ceremony was attended by renowned alumni of IIT Kharagpur including Vinod Gupta & Ranbir Gupta along with Prof. Rintu Banerjee, Deputy Director and Prof. Debashish Chakravarty, Dean Alumni Affairs of the institute.

“Last week I was grateful to receive an honorary doctorate from my alma mater IIT Kharagpur. My parents always hoped I would get my doctorate, I think an honorary one still counts (smiley). The access to education and technology at IIT put me on a path to Google and helping more people access technology. IIT’s role in technology will only grow in importance with the AI revolution, and I will always be thankful for my time there,” cited Mr. Sundar Pichai, Illustrious Alumnus of IIT Kharagpur & CEO of Google [https://www.instagram.com/p/C938BlwxKGB/?img_index=1]

A B.Tech (Hons) in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering from IIT Kharagpur, Shri Sundararajan Pichai is recognized by the third highest civilian award, the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India. He stands as a quintessence of inspiration to the millions of Indians who aspire to dream big. Shri Pichai is the CEO of Alphabet Inc. and Google who led a technological revolution as the Senior Vice President and Product Chief at Google launching popular products like iGoogle, Google Toolbar, Desktop Search and Gadgets, Google Pack, and Gears. With more than 15 years of experience developing high-tech consumer and enterprise products, he is the pride of every Indian. Building technologies that improves the lives of people around the world, he has shaped the global economy by strengthening partnerships between governments, businesses and communities over two transformative decades.

(L-R) Kavya Pichai, Daughter of Mr. Pichai; Mr. Regunatha Pichai, Father of Mr. Pichai; Mrs. Lakshmi Pichai, Mother of Mr. Pichai; Prof. Rintu Banerjee, Deputy Director, IIT Kharagpur; Mrs. Anjali Pichai (Haryani), Alumnus & Wife of Mr. Pichai; Prof. V K Tewari, Director, IIT Kharagpur; Shri Sundar Pichai, Alumnus & CEO of Google; Shri Vinod Gupta, Alumnus & CEO and Chairman of infoGROUP; Shri Ranbir Gupta, Alumnus & President of Gupta Associates Inc., and Chairman of SIGMA7 and Prof. Debashish Chakravarty, Dean, Alumni Affairs, IIT Kharagpur.

In recognition of his remarkable contribution towards digital transformation, affordable technology and path breaking innovations, the Hon’ble President of India, Smt Droupadi Murmu, Visitor of the Institute, bestowed the degree of Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) in absentia at the 69th Convocation of IIT Kharagpur held on December 18, 2023.

Shri Sundar Pichai receiving the DSc Honoris Causa from Prof. V K Tewari

On receiving the Doctor of Science Award from his Alma Mater, Shri Sundar Pichai remarked, “This is indeed a great honour that IIT Kharagpur has bestowed on me. I am truly blessed and humbled to receive this award from Prof. Tewari in presence of my family and friends. Standing with this award in my hands reminds me of the young boy that I was who dreamed to be in the world that I am trying to create with my inventions. IIT Kharagpur holds a special place in my heart as this was the place where I first met my beloved wife, Anjali and had beautiful memories of my second home that I grew up in. The ambience, the people, the environment, the culture imparts a diaspora of knowledge learnings that one can implement in shaping up their practical wisdom. I am grateful to my institute for rewarding me with this award and there is nothing in the world that can compare to this emotional euphoria that I feel right now. I look forward to connect with IIT KGP manifesting greater technological solutions in partnership with Google. KGP ka tempo high hai! ,” added Shri Sundar Pichai.

Mrs Anjali Pichai (Haryani) receives the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Prof. Rintu Banerjee

Ms Anjali Pichai is a highly accomplished professional with a background in Chemical Engineering, earning her B.Tech honours degree from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur in 1993. Commencing her career in the early 1990s, Anjali initially served as a Business Analyst at Accenture, contributing her expertise for a span of three years. Venturing into the United States, Anjali transitioned her career as a Business Analyst at Sun Microsystems. She held the position of Business Operation Manager at Intuit, a prominent software company. Anjali’s career trajectory reflects her dedication and proficiency in the technology and business sectors.

The Awardees with their family and friends

 

Prof. V K Tewari, Director of IIT Kharagpur, expressed his delight in honoring both Sundar and Anjali Pichai, stating, “Their achievements exemplify the spirit of innovation and excellence that IIT Kharagpur seeks to instill in its students. We are privileged to recognize their outstanding contributions to the global technology industry and wish more laurels and attributes are added to their stature.”

                       

Shri Sundar Pichai meeting the Alumni of IIT Kharagpur including Rabir Gupta & Vinod Gupta

The awards ceremony underscores IIT Kharagpur’s commitment to celebrating the achievements of its alumni who have made significant contributions to society and industry worldwide.

By : Poulami Mondal, Digital & Creative Media Executive (Creative Writer)
Email: poulami.mondal@iitkgp.ac.in, media@iitkgp.ac.in, Ph. No.: +91-3222-282007

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IIT Kharagpur celebrates its 67th Convocation in the august presence of Minister of Education Shri Dharmendra Pradhan

Creating a historic benchmark by crossing 1600 plus offers in the Phase I of placement season 2021, IIT Kharagpur celebrated its 67th Convocation on December 18, 2021. Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Honourable Minister of Education and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of India graced the occasion as the Chief Guest. Shri Sanjiv Goenka, Chairman, Board of Governors, IIT Kharagpur honoured us with his virtual presence. With prolific advancements towards engaging new advents in technological pursuits and branching out to diverse fields of medical, law, management and entrepreneurship, for the first time IIT Kharagpur is proud to bestow a Lifetime Achievement Award to Prof. M A Ramlu who served as the founder Head of the Department of Mining Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and retired as an Officiating Director of IIT Kharagpur. Along with Prof Ramlu, five awardees including Prof. Sadhan Kumar De, Prof. Biswa Nath Chatterji, Puran Chand Dang, Shri Gopal Rajgarhia and Dr. Asoke Kumar Deysarkar were conferred the Life Fellow Awards of IIT Kharagpur 2021. 5 pioneers comprising of Prof. Suresh Chandra Mishra, Commander VK Jaitly, Dr. Mohan Rao, Krishan Mohan Khanna and Dr. Mukund Padmanabhan were also honoured with the Distinguished Alumnus Awards. This year IIT Kharagpur conferred the Doctor of Sciences (Honoris Causa) to 3 eminent personalities namely Dr. Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan, Dr. Tessy Thomas and Professor Harish Chandra Verma.

Today we are felicitating 1573 UG, 1253 PG, 34 MS, 333 Research Scholars along with 333 Ph.D (i.e., 302 Ph.D + 1 Joint MS- Ph.D + 12 Joint M. Tech/MCP- Ph.D + 18 Joint M.Sc- Ph. D), 34 MS, 918 M. Tech, 47 MCP, 120 MBA, 28 EMBA, 3 MMST, 20 MHRM, 17 LLM, 39 LLB, 61 PGDBA (a tri-institute programme with IIM Kolkata and ISI Kolkata), 557 Dual Degree, 450 B.Tech (Hons), 38 B.Arch (Hons), 4 six-year integrated M.Sc and M.Tech, 217 five-year integrated M.Sc, 7 three-year M.Sc and 300 two-year M.Sc degrees.

This year the President of India Gold Medal for the best academic performance among the outgoing B. Tech. (Hons.) and B. Arch. (Hons.) students was awarded to Mr. Gurjot Singh Suri, Department of Computer Science and Engineering who hails from Assam. A district topper in high school, he was awarded scholarship by the Government of Assam on being selected for IIT Kharagpur. He is currently working as a Software Engineer in Uber India. ThePresident of India Gold Medalfor the best all-round performance among the B. Tech. (Hons.) and B. Arch. (Hons.) outgoing students is awarded to Mr. Manthan Patel, Department of Mechanical Engineering. An avid robotics enthusiast from Ahmedabad, he represented the institute multiple times at various International and Inter-IIT Tech competitions. He is a recipient of the DAAD-WISE Research Scholarship (Completed at Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Germany) as well as the OP Jindal Engineering and Management Scholarship. He is currently pursuing M Sc in robotics at ETH Zurich, Switzerland. The Prime Minster of India Gold Medal for the best academic performance among the Dual Degree and Integrated M Sc. Outgoing students is awarded to Mr. Omar Eqbal, Department of Computer Science and Engineering. A topper, a NTSE scholar, selected for KVPY fellowship from Patna, Omar Eqbal is currently working as a software engineer at Nutanix.

The Dr. Jnan Chandra Ghosh Memorial Gold Medal for the best all-round performance among the Dual Degree and Integrated M.Sc. outgoing students is being given to Harsh Maheshwari from the Department of Electrical Engineering. Among the others are Chirag Arora of the Department of Chemistry, who is awarded the Professor Jagadish Chandra Bose Memorial Gold Medal for the best academic performance among the outgoing students of all 2-year M. Sc. courses in the Science disciplines, Arshdeep Singh of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering is awarded the Director’s Gold Medal for the best academic performance among the students completing M. Tech. and MCP courses and Jaskaran Singh of Reliability Engineering is awarded the Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma Gold Medal for the best all-round performance among the M. Tech. and MCP outgoing students. The Chairman, Board of Governor’s Gold Medal for PG category is awarded to Naveen Narasimhachar Joshi and for UG category to Buddhadeb Mondal.

Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Education Minister, Govt. of India in his address said that it is a privilege to enter into the ecosystem of IIT Kharagpur which was chosen as the first Centre of Excellence in the country after independence. He said that the Indian Knowledge system has been established on the grounds of Hijli Detention Camp which enriches the historic culture of IIT Kharagpur and is recognized as the post-independence temple of learning. He added that IIT Kharagpur will be the epicentre of change that traverses around the world in the coming years as it has a heritage and sacraments of sacrifice. He added that today we need new ideas to originate from India in the global scenario and India will be the fastest growing economy in the coming years.  He also said that achieving  successful 100 crore vaccinations was possible because of the IITs and NITs of this country. In the 21st century, the economy of the world will be run by those who have the market, the qualitative low cost workforce and the critical minds. He added that India can produce clean energy at one fourth of the cost compared to European countries which would be made possible by the IITians that is already proven in many verticals. He also added that India needs to build a low cost energy attracting manufacturing units of the world which will lead to economic empowerment of the country. He said that IIT Kharagpur should become the epicentre of major research initiatives that can make India a global power like America, and that IIT Kharagpur should innovate ways for incorporating MSMEs and implement alternate energy into a localized funded grid. He also informed about the leadership role IIT Kharagpur has taken in the area of VLSI chip design. He concluded saying that there should be “Purva Uday” (Rise of Eastern India) leading to investments in innovation for community welfare.

Prof V. K Tewari, Director IIT Kharagpur said that the institute hopes to bring life back to normal by calling back all students by next session notwithstanding the next variant OMICRON. He said that IIT KGP was successful in incorporating the provisions of NEP 2020 by revising its curriculum in UG/PG level be it credit bank or seamless movements of students in any discipline. He also said that the faculties as well as the students have dedicatedly designed and developed several equipment related to healthcare including COVIRAP, Painless needle, telemedicine, social distancing device etc. Expanding its horizons in Medical Sciences and Medical Engineering, the new Super-Speciality Hospital in the name of Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee has started its OPD with 14 visiting specialist with 250 beds. He added that in the coming years, his mission is to take this institute to top 10 universities of the world for which seven niche areas comprising Advanced Manufacturing Systems for Industry 4.0, Safety Engineering & Analytics, Quality & Reliability, Healthcare, Precision Agriculture & Food Nutrition, Smart Infrastructure and Advanced Transportation are identified. He concluded that IIT KGP has made history by getting the highest placement offers among all IITs and aims to become the global benchmark in education.

Content Writer:- Poulami Mondal, Digital & Creative Media Executive (Creative Writer)

Email: poulami.mondal@iitkgp.ac.in, media@iitkgp.ac.in, Ph. No.: +91-3222-282004

Honorary Awards for Exemplary Contributions to IIT and Society

With the onset of 2021, IIT Kharagpur is all set to welcome luminaries with exemplary contributions to the Institute and society as it announces the prestigious DSc Honoris Causa and Life Fellow awards.

The Institute will felicitate Shri Vinod Gupta, distinguished alumnus and philanthropist, US-based entrepreneur and former ambassador, Swami Atmapriyananda Maharaj, monk of the Ramakrishna Order and Former Vice-Chancellor,  Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Educational and Research Institute (RKMVERI), Dr. Randeep Guleria, Director, All India Institute Of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi and Dr. Elattuvalapil Sreedharan, former Managing Director of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) popularly known as the “Metro Man” with Honoris Causa in acknowledgement of their contribution to public welfare, social upliftment and India’s overall development.

IIT Kharagpur recommends this award to honour luminaries who have excelled in areas of relevance to the Institute’s vision in categories related to the major stakeholders of the Institute viz. Academics and Research, Industry, Alumni and Public Welfare Services. The award is approved by the Hon’ble President of India and Visitor to the IITs. 

The Institute will also confer its coveted Life Fellow award on Shri Ranbir Singh Gupta, renowned architect, distinguished alumnus, US-based entrepreneur and philanthropist, and Prof. Mahan Mj (Swami Vidyanathananda), monk of the Ramakrishna Order and eminent mathematician and Professor at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai in acknowledgement of their contribution to academics, social service and public welfare.

IIT Kharagpur recommends this award to honour luminaries from diverse fields of academics, industry, governance, art and culture, spirituality, social service, sports, defence etc. who through their expertise contribute or likely to contribute for the benefit of students and faculty of IIT Kharagpur and support the mission statement of IIT Kharagpur – dedicated to the service of the nation.

Both the awards will be presented on the occasion of the 66th Convocation of the Institute to be held later this month.

Congratulating the awardees Director, Prof. Virendra Kumar Tewari said, “We are glad to confer these awards and hope to felicitate these luminaries in person on the occasion of the 66th Convocation of the Institute, to be held later this month, which will be live telecasted globally. They resonate with the mission statement of IIT Kharagpur, dedicated to the service of the nation, aimed to achieve a greater good for the country. Each of them is the personification of our motto YogaH Karmasu Kaushalam, which you can observe in their imprint as professionals and human self.”

Brief Bio of Honoris Causa Awardees:

Vinod Gupta – Vinod Gupta is the Managing Partner, Everest Venture Group. An entrepreneurial career spanning over 50 years, Vinod has served as an ambassador of USA. He is a philanthropist supporting causes related to education, health and welfare. Despite a modest background from a small town in Uttar Pradesh, not only he reached the pinnacle of success but gave the IIT education a new direction defining the path of success for others. He is the pioneer of management and law education in the IIT system. Read Full Bio

 

Swami Atmapriyananda – Swami Atmapriyananda is a monk of the Ramakrishna Order and an Indian university administrator. He was the first Vice-Chancellor of Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Educational and Research Institute (erstwhile Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University). He has been in service to humanity in the spirit of worship of God in man and has been serving higher education institutions for nearly four decades. Read Full Bio

Dr. Randeep Guleria – Dr. Randeep Guleria is an Indian pulmonologist and the Director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. He is regarded as one of India’s leading medical expert and is credited with the establishment of India’s first centre for pulmonary medicines and sleep disorders at AIIMS. He is the director of All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. He is also part of India’s COVID-19 response effort. Read Full Bio

Dr. E. Sreedharan – Elattuvalapil Sreedharan is an Indian civil engineer and a retired IRSE officer popularly known as the “Metro Man”. He is credited for changing the face of public transport in India with his leadership in building the Konkan Railway and the Delhi Metro while he served as the managing director of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation DMRC between 1995 and 2012. Read Full Bio

Life Fellow

Ranbir Singh Gupta – Ranbir (Ron) Gupta has been President of Gupta Associates Inc., and Chairman of SIGMA7 design group, architectural, planning and infrastructure consulting firms. He has over 40 years of successful experience in the management, design and construction of facilities for various global financial services, mission-critical, high-technology, and institutional projects. He is also very passionate about public service. He has served on numerous regional and state-wide boards, national professional societies, and Indian Institutes of Technology alumni associations. Read Full Bio

Swami Vidyanathananda / Mahan Mj – Prof. Mahan Mj also known as Mahan Maharaj and Swami Vidyanathananda, is an Indian mathematician and monk of the Ramakrishna Order. He is currently a Professor of Mathematics at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai. He is best known for his work in hyperbolic geometry, geometric group theory, low-dimensional topology and complex geometry. Read Full Bio

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