ALUMNI NEWSMAKERS

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Prabhat Singh has taken over as Director (Marketing) of GAIL (India). Singh is a Civil Engineer having graduated from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, and has around 29 years of experience of working in the Hydrocarbon Industry both in MNC and Public Sector Navratna PSUs at prominent positions. Prior to joining GAIL (Q,N,C,F)* as Director (Marketing), Singh headed the Upstream Business Development and the Strategy Divisions in British Gas since April 2006. During his earlier stint in GAIL, he headed GAIL`s Exploration and Production Department as General Manager. He made a major contribution in the execution of world`s longest exclusive LPG pipeline project from Jamnagar to Loni. The project was recognized by the Asian Development Bank as the `Best Managed Project` of the year. He was also instrumental in ushering in of the `Open Access Common Carrier Principle` in India which brought in a paradigm shift and contributed manifold in transitioning the pipeline transportation industry of the country into the matured industry that it is today. Prabhat Singh also led `Project Parivartan`in GAIL - a highly human oriented change management initiative which put `people at the heart of corporate purpose` to address the changing business environment. Before joining GAIL (India) and serving the company for almost 20 years, Shri Singh had also served EIL and NTPC. Shares of the company declined Rs 4.85, or 1.19%, to trade at Rs 402.00. The total volume of shares traded was 18,438 at the BSE (11.03 a.m., Thursday).

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Mr Vijay K. Saluja ,Ex Chief Engineer[civil]New Delhi Municipal Council & presently a Senior Fellow[urban studies] at Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi www.issin.org , resident of Nav Sansad Vihar, Sector 22, Dwarka was conferred CID Gallantry Award in Mumbai on 19.1.2010. under the category of Social Bravery by SONY TV . The awards were instituted from this year. Mr Vijay Saluja did his civil engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Delhi & also studied Management of Urban Renewal at University of Birmingham-UK. He has been conferred this Award in recognition of his honesty, integrity & for his sustained efforts for taking on unethical & unfair system, thus `demonstrating an exemplary act of BRAVERY`.The CID Gallantry Award certificate, which is signed by four jury members further states `that we hope that this achievement serves as an example for others to follow` Mr Vijay K Saluja was honoured with Red & White Bravery Award in 2002,Giraffe Heroes Award in 2004 ,for sticking his neck out for the common good by Giraffe Heroes Project, a US based organization www.giraffe.org & Satyendra K. Dubey Memorial Award,in Feb 2009 by IIT Kanpur & IIT Kanpur Alumni Association, besides many other recognitions, for fighting corruption. & for professional integrityAs an IIT Delhi graduate, Vijay Saluja joined the New Delhi Municipal Council in the hope of improving the overall living conditions for the people of New Delhi. Unfortunately this dream changed course when he was surrounded by the rampant corruption around him. Instead of going with the flow, Saluja decided to swim against the corruption in the system, which resulted in a hostile work environment, financial instability, mental and physical stress and even death threats. Saluja filed a civil petition in Delhi High Court citing his superiors' abuses of power, including massive squandering of public funds, and the damages to Saluja's career. The findings led to the restoration of Saluja’s 20 years of lost seniority, made him Chief Engineer of the department, and earned his adversaries contempt notices for dragging their feet. Vijay Saluja has been sustained through the years by his devotion to the common good. "Callous waste of public funds, when abject poverty abounds, literally appalls me" says the Chief Engineer.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Dr. Ashok Saxena, distinguished professor and dean of engineering at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Ark., has received the Committee E08 Fracture Mechanics Medal from ASTM International. The award is presented to individuals who have exerted a profound, positive effect on the development of the scientific discipline of fracture mechanics. A member of ASTM International since 1982, Saxena is active on Committee E08 and its subcommittees. He has been honored for his service to the committee with other awards over the years, including the ASTM Award of Merit and its accompanying title of fellow, the George R. Irwin Medal for his pioneering contributions for analyzing creep in engineering metals and two Awards of Appreciation for his work on developing ASTM test methods. Before joining the faculty at the University of Arkansas in 2003, Saxena was a Regents' Professor and chair of the School of Materials Science and Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Ga., and did engineering and research work at the Research and Development Center at Westinghouse Electric in Pittsburgh, Pa., and at the National Steel Corp. in Weirton, W.Va. His career has focused mainly on education and research in the materials science and engineering field with a concentration on fracture mechanics, fatigue, creep and creep-fatigue behavior of structural materials. Saxena is a member of ASME International, the Minerals, Metals and Materials Society (TMS), the American Society for Engineering Education, and he is a fellow of ASM International. A graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, India, where he received a B.Tech. in mechanical engineering, Saxena earned an M.S. and his Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from the University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio. ASTM International is one of the largest international standards development and delivery systems in the world. ASTM International meets the World Trade Organization (WTO) principles for the development of international standards: coherence, consensus, development dimension, effectiveness, impartiality, openness, relevance and transparency. ASTM standards are accepted and used in research and development, product testing, quality systems and commercial transactions.

Friday, January 15, 2010
	Dr. Sameer Khandekar Department of Mechanical Engineering, has been awarded the Prof. K. N. Seetharamu Medal for Young Researcher by the Indian Society for Heat and Mass Transfer

Thursday, January 14, 2010

MakeMyTrip has appointed Mukesh Singh has assumed the role of Senior Vice President (Technology Development). As the Senior Vice President of Technology Development, Mukesh Singh will oversee the technological evolution of MakeMyTrip - one of the strongest IT based travel companies in the world. Mukesh has over 11 years of relevant experience, having worked with Zoesis, eGain Communications, Sumtotal System, Timeline Studios and Amazon. He holds a B. Tech degree in Computer Science & Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. He also pursued a graduate level course on Interactive Virtual Environments, Synthetic Characters, Image Representation for Vision and Advanced Computer Graphics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Massachusetts. Mukesh was responsible for search, sponsored links and payments products at Amazon India. With specialization and extensive experience in various aspects of e-commerce, both the new hires are expected to contribute significantly towards MakeMyTrip’s continuous endeavours to create competitive differentiators. Commenting on these appointments, Deep Kalra, CEO & Founder, MakeMyTrip.com said, “Despite the slump in the industry over the better part of 2008-09, we have demonstrated profitability and emerged stronger. As we consolidate our strengths, we will continue to maintain our competitive edge by investing in resources - this includes technology, infrastructure and as importantly, best-in-industry talent. As I welcome Mukesh to MakeMyTrip, I am certain their diverse experience and skill-set will help us scale newer peaks in customer and IT innovation.”

Monday, November 30, 2009

Mr. Ranodeb Roy is a Managing Director, Head of Interest Rate Currency Credit Asia Pacific in Morgan Stanley. He is member of the firm’s Asia Executive Committee and Interest Rate Currency Credit Operating Committee. Mr. Roy has been just selected in the "Finance Asia" (A popular Asian Finance magazine inaugural list of 50 most Influential People in Asian Finance. Mr. Roy currently is based in Hong Kong. He joined Morgan Stanley Asia Ltd in March 2008. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Roy worked in Merrill Lynch Hong Kong as Managing Director, Co-Head of Fixed Income Currency and Commodities (FICC) group in 2007; worked in Merrill Lynch New York as Managing Director, Head of Credit Trading & Sales Americas and Global Head of Exotics business in 2006-2007, worked in Merrill Lynch Tokyo as Managing Director, Head of Credit Trading Pac Rim from 1999 – 2005. The previous experience of Mr. Roy includes Director in Barclays Credit and Interest Rate Trading from 1998-1999; Assistant Director in Peregrine Fixed Income Ltd from 1996 – 1998; Assistant Vice President in Bank of America from 1992 – 1996. Mr. Roy received his MBA from Indian Institute of Management at Ahmadabad, India in 1992; received his Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science & Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology at Kanpur in 1990. To view more details please click here

Friday, November 20, 2009

On November 14, 2009 the Indian Institute of Metals (IIM) conferred its highest honour of Honorary Membership on Prof K A Padmanabhan. The Honorary Membership of the Indian Institute of Metals was honoured upon by this year's President, Dr. Sanak Mishra, CEO, Greenfield Projects, Arcelor-Mittal- India. The other Honorary Members elected this year are: The outgoing President of the IIM, Mr Pugazhenthy, Director/ CEO, Indian Lead Zinc Development Centre (the Indian unit of the world body of lead and zinc manufacturers, head quartered in London); Dr Robert Shull, Immediate Past President of The Minerals Metals and Materials Society (TMS), USA and Dr B B Rath, Associate Director, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC (the last one could not be present). The Indian Institute of Metals has about 10,000 members and this year's events were co-sponsored by the TMS and the ASM, both of the USA. Prof. K A Padmanabhan is presently the Mercator Visiting Professor, University of Muenster, Institute of Materials Physics, Wilhelm-Klemm-Strasse, Muenster, Germany and Professor of Eminence, Anna University, Chennai, India. Prior to this, from september 2004 to 2006, he was the Jawaharlal Nehru Chair Professor, School of Physics, University of Hyderabad, India. In July 2002, he joined the Sylvan International Universities, Baltimore, USA - one of the largest providers of post-secondary education in the private sector as a Rector and was nominated to head their new university project which was coming up in Hyderabad, India, as its Founder - Vice Chancellor/Rector. He held that position till May 2004. Earlier, he was the Director, IIT Kanpur, from the afternoon of 30th September, 1997 till September 14, 2001. Prior to that, he was holding the appointment of Dean, Academic Research at IIT Madras while being a Professor and Head, Metal Forming Laboratory, in the Department of Metallurgical Engineering at the same Institute since 1980. Prof. Padmanabhan obtained his B.Sc. (Met. Eng.) (Hons.) degree from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, and Ph.D. from Cambridge University, U.K. in 1972. Apart from teaching and research, he has wide academic administrative experience serving in various capacities such as Head of the Department of Metallurgical Engineering, Founder Organising Chairman of Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) and Chairman of Centre for Continuing Education, all at IIT Madras. He has won many academic distinctions, honours and recognitions. In July 1998 he was conferred the Sc.D. degree by the University of Cambridge, U.K., for his research contributions being the sixth Indian and the FIRST Indian Engineer to obtain this distinction from that University. Eight technologies developed by him and his colleagues are used in Indian industries. Further, Prof. Padmanabhan was the FIRST Indian to receive in 1994 the 'Forschungspreis' (a career research award) of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany. He is an Honorary Academician, Bashkirian Academy of Sciences, Russia, a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, London, a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering, the Indian Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, India and the Institution of Engineers (India). He is a Consulting Fellow of the World Innovation Foundation. Prof Padmanabhan is a Member of the Materials Research Society, USA, Materials Research Society of India and the Asia-Pacific Academy of Materials. He was selected in 1983 as 'National Metallurgist' by the Ministry of Steel and Mines, Government of India and the Indian Institute of Metals and also won the Kamani and the G D Birla Gold Medals of the Indian Institute of Metals. He is a Life Fellow of the said Institute as well. In 1998 he was conferred the Distinguished Alumnus Award by the Department of Metallurgical Engineering, IT, BHU. Prof. Padmanabhan has supervised 25 Ph.D., 16 M.S., 38 M.Tech and 2 M.Phil. theses and many B. Tech. projects. He has more than 200 research publications in refereed international / national journals. He has edited seven books. He has the distinction of being the author of the first-ever produced comprehensive rexpert level book in English on "Superplasticity" (Springer Verlag, Germany, 1980), which is a citation classic. He published in March 2001 another expert-level book "Superplastic Flow: Phenomenology and Mechanics", through Springer Verlag, Germany. In October 2001 he became the first recipient of a new award established in Germany called �'uest Scientist Programme for Outstanding Scientists from Abroad' which is open to non-Germans of all nationalities working in any branch of science.