IITKharagpur – The KGP Chronicle

Distinguished Service Awards 2021

IIT Kharagpur has announced the recipients of the Distinguished Service Awards for 2021.

The Distinguished Service Awards (DSA) are conferred to recognize its alumni for providing outstanding service to the institute.

This year’s awards will be conferred to Mr. Amitabh Agarwal (1967/B.Tech/EE/NH), Mr. Srikanth C (2009/BLIPR/IP/JCB) and Mr. Sunil Kapoor (1986/BTech/MF/PH) in the 18th Annual Alumni Meet to be held from March 10th-13th, 2022.

Mr. Amitabh Agarwal

Mr. Amitabh Agarwal has provided impactful services to the Alumni chapters, the IITKGP foundations and has effectively contributed to numerous initiatives spanning over 20 years.

Some of his contributions include,

Donating to the Delhi Chapter for their programs
Establishing the Amitabh Agarwal Chair-Professorship at the Electrical Engineering Department
Donating to neighborhood schools in of IIT KGP
Supporting institute incubated startups
Support to Super 30 program of Prof. Anand Kumar

Mr. Agarwal has an M.Sc from the University of Manitoba, Canada, and an MBA from the University of Delhi. He is currently the Director of the Mohan Energy Corporation Pvt. Ltd.

Mr. Srikanth C

Mr. Srikant C joined the IIT Kharagpur Alumni Association Chennai Chapter in 2010 and was part of its organizing team of the IIT Kharagpur Alumni Association Chennai Chapter during the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of IIT Kharagpur and the PAN IIT Outreach 2012 program in Chennai.

He was also part of the organizing team of the ‘Mindskool competition’ for a school competition conducted by the IIT Kharagpur Alumni Association Chennai Chapter.

He volunteered for the IIT Kharagpur Alumni Foundation in their initiatives like reviewing group insurance schemes, assessing individual donations of assets to Kharagpur, and many more.

Currently, he is an advocate and an IPR consultant.

Mr. Sunil Kapoor

Mr. Sunil Kapoor played a key leadership role in the renovation and refurbishing of the Patel Hall Mess, Dining Hall, TV Room, and Common Room along with the nearly completed Central air-conditioning of facilities in the Hall. He achieved this by using alumni funds crowdsourced from hundreds of Patelians from all over the world.

He executed the Mess and Dining Room Renovation in a targeted period of 6 months and opened the renovated facilities by the start of the new session in July 2016. He generously helped the mess workers of the Hall during the COVID lockdown

Mr. Kapoor is presently the Director, IFA Steels Pvt. Ltd. Founder & Proprietor, Kapoor Wire Industries, and Partner, S. R. Kapoor & Sons.

The Distinguished Alumnus Awards seek to engage and inspire KGP’s 70,000 strong alumni in contributing to the infrastructural development of the institute and encourage them to come aboard in IITKGP’s journey to become onboard them onto IITs journey into becoming a popular destination for international students, teachers, and researchers.

Content Writer:- Arkaprabha Pal, Office of Alumni Affairs & Branding

Email: pal18arkaprabha@gmail.com

National Webinar on Leveraging Technology for Good Governance at IIT Kharagpur on 30.09.2021

The Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur invites you to attend the National Webinar on “Leveraging Technology for Good Governance”, on September 30, 2021 (Thursday) on virtual platform from 09:55 AM to 02:55 PM. The event is being organised as a part of the Completion of Programs on Good Governance, organised by the Department of Higher Education of the Ministry of Education.

Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the Hon’ble Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship & Electronics and Information Technology, will be the Chief Guest and will also present the inaugural address.

Shri Rakesh Ranjan, Additional Secretary of the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education will put forth his points of view regarding the topic entitled Leveraging Technology for Good Governance.

Professor Subhasis Chaudhuri, the Director of IIT Bombay will be the keynote speaker.

There will be three technical sessions on the different subjects whose experts from the relevant field will discuss and bring out a roadmap for the next level of technology development and resource generation.

Session I: Leveraging Technology for Healthcare (11:50 AM- 12:50 PM)

Session II: Leveraging Technology for Education and Administration (12:50 PM- 01:50 PM)

Session III: Leveraging Technology for Agriculture and Manufacturing (01:50 PM- 02:50 PM)

You can attend the webinar via this link:

https://youtu.be/oFHz2WqZEBM

Contact: Paramita Dey, Junior Assistant

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

Alumni have done a Good Samaritan Act

IIT Kharagpur Foundation, USA has bestowed twenty oxygen concentrators of 5 LPM capacity (by Philips Respironics Company) to IIT Kharagpur.

The oxygen concentrators have been delivered to B C Roy Technology Hospital with the hope of dealing successfully with the immense oxygen crisis for Covid-19 affected patients.

“I will never be able to thank Ron Gupta and all our alumni enough for such a generous venture. Not many people have the privilege to associate with someone as caring and understanding as them. Their sincere effort in resolving the crisis of oxygen is much appreciated. We hope to make the best out of it and also to hear more from them in near future”, mentioned Professor Virendra Kumar Tewari, Director of IIT Kharagpur.

With the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic wreaking havoc in India, there is huge demand oxygen concentrator, as they are considered to be life-saving for patients with breathing difficulties. Oxygen concentrators can help Covid-19 patients to get the required oxygen when the oxygen levels drop and cylinders’ supply is scarce.

“Our sincere gratitude to those people who have been Good Samaritan in these tough times. Words cannot describe how truly thankful we are to the IIT Kharagpur Foundation, USA and all our alumni who are associated with this noble initiative for standing with the institute and the community during this unprecedented time. Their help and support in dealing with this pandemic would be and shall be an inspiration for others”, said Prof Jayanta Mukhopadhyay, Dean Outreach of IIT Kharagpur.

(Inputs from Rituparna Chakraborty, Branding Executive)

Contact: Paramita Dey, Junior Assistant

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

IIT Kharagpur Alumnus Prof. Thirumalai Venkatesan has become FRS

“On behalf of the entire institute, I heartily congratulate to our distinguished alumnus, Prof Thirumalai Venkatesan (1969/B.Sc/PH) on his well-deserved success. It has been a great honor for getting elected as the Fellow of The Royal Society. His outstanding work as a physicist and an educator, for long years has finally paid up.We are so pleased to see him accomplishing great things. Best wishes to bring more and more laurels for him and his profession. In the year 2017, he visited IIT Kharagpur his Alma mater to receive the prestigious Distinguished Alumnus Award”, said Prof Virendra Kumar Tewari, the Director of Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur.

Recently, Prof Venkatesan catalyzed the development of nanoscience in Signapore, where he served as the Director of the NUS Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Institute (NUSNNI) as well as the Provost Chair Professor of ECE, Physics, MSE and NGS. He was also the founding director of the surface modification lab at Rutgers University. Currently, he is the Director of the Center for Quantum Research and Technology at University of Oklahoma.

Prof Venkatesan pioneered the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) process in its application to thin films of complex oxides and related multi component materials, which has transformed research on films/ hetero structures globally. As the inventor of the PLD process, he has published more than 800 papers, holds 35 patents and was ranked 66 in term of his citations among the top 100 physicists globally.

For about 17 years, he spent at Bell Labs and Bell core as a scientist and research manager, before becoming the Professor at University of Maryland for another 17 years. Prof Venkatesan is the winner of the George Pake Prize of the American Physical Society, IPS President’s gold medal, Bellcore Award of Excellence, University of Maryland Graduate Board award. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society, World Innovation Forum, an honorary guest professor at Tsinghua University (Beijing) and academician of Asia-Pacific academy of materials.

Prof Venkatesan had graduated from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur as B. Sc (Physics). Prof. Thirumalai Venkatesan obtained his M.Sc. degree in Physics at Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. He then received a Ph.D. from the University of New York. He is also responsible for several startup companies, Neocera, Neocera Magma, Blue Wave Semiconductors, Breathonix, Cellivate and Azometrix.

The Royal Society is a Fellowship of many of the world’s most eminent scientists and is the oldest scientific academy in continuous existence. Over sixty outstanding scientists from all over the globe have joined the Royal Society as Fellows and Foreign Members in the year 2021.

Media Contact: media@iitkgp.ac.in