ALUMNI NEWSMAKERS

Monday, May 20, 2013

Dr.Mukesh Sharma is currently professor of civil engineering at IIT Kanpur from where he completed his M.Tech. and later did his Ph.D. from the University of Waterloo, Canada, in 1994. Prior to joinining IIT Kanpur in 1997, Dr. Sharma was employed with Central Pollution Control Board, Delhi. Dr. Sharma stands out in the field of air quality management as he highlights the issue through scientific analyses and then argues for changes in policies which easily find favour with stakeholders. One of his biggest achievements is the inclusion of new air pollutants (ozone, arsenic, nickel, benzene and benzo(a)pyrene) to the Revised National Ambient Air Quality Standards in 2009. Dr. Sharma spearheaded the consultation with various stakeholders before the revised air quality standards were notified by the central goverment. His pathbreaking research on the formation of fine secondary aerosols in atmosphere through atmospheric chemistry has transformed the thinking on how air quality must be improved in India. He engaged in studies on emissions inventory and source apportionment for Indian cities, most notably in Kanpur, and has determined an optimum mix of management options to control emissions from motor vehicles and industries. His innovate research on the sequestration of carbon dioxide through algal mass holds considerable promise in mitigating climate change. He also indentified the merits of titanium dioxide and nanoparticles in controlling emissions of carcinogenic volatile organic compounds. The industrial units in Vapi, Gujrat, are in process of installing piolet plants based on Dr. Sharma's technology, supported by the Ministry of Enviroment and Forests. Dr. Sharma, an expert in engineering science and who has melded rigorous research with policy engagement, has published over 100 papers in national and international journals and conferences. He has also been the principal investigator of many research project funded by France, Norway, Sweden, USA, the World Bnak, and various agencies in India. Dr. Mukesh Sharma has received several international and national awards. He is the first Indian to receive the Kong Ha Award in Air Quality from Clean Air Asia, a UN supported foundation. He is also an associate editor and is on the editorial board of international scientific journals. His other awards include Hiyoshi Environmental Award by Hiyoshi Corporation, Japan, Excellence in Research and Technology Development, Ministry of Enviroment(Ontario), Canada, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Fellowship; and Faculty of Engineering Award for Excellence of Graduate Studies, University of Waterloo, Canada.

Monday, May 06, 2013

The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) has named C. Mauli Agrawal the interim vice president for research. After serving as dean of the UTSA College of Engineering for nearly eight years, Agrawal will assume his new responsibilities May 15. Agrawal, who holds the Peter Flawn Professorship in Biomedical Engineering at UTSA, will remain a faculty member in the College of Engineering, continuing to teach and conduct research. "I am thankful to have been a part of this incredible journey of the College of Engineering," said Agrawal. "I will continue to be part of Engineering and work with our community partners as the college continues to rise to its full potential." Agrawal came to San Antonio in 1991 as assistant professor of orthopaedics and director of orthopaedic biomaterials at the UT Health Science Center San Antonio. In 2003, he joined the UTSA College of Engineering as associate dean for research and was appointed dean in 2005. He established the UTSA Department of Biomedical Engineering as well as led the effort to establish the joint biomedical program between UTSA and the Health Science Center, the Texas Sustainable Energy Research Institute, the Center for Innovation and Technology Entrepreneurship and the Interactive Technology Experience Center (iTEC). Agrawal also has been instrumental in broadening the university's partnerships with BioMedSA, Southwest Research Institute, CPS Energy, UT Health Science Center and the military. Under Agrawal's leadership, the college's annual research expenditures increased dramatically from $1 million to $14 million. Additionally, he has recruited faculty from top universities around the world, and student enrollment has grown by more than 50 percent, putting UTSA on the map as the fastest-growing engineering program in the state. Agrawal received his Ph.D. in materials science at Duke University, his master's degree in mechanical engineering from Clemson University and his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, India.

Monday, May 06, 2013

Rakesh Agrawal, the Winthrop E. Stone Distinguished Professor in the School of Chemical Engineering, has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation's oldest and most prestigious honorary societies. "Dr. Agrawal has an extraordinary record of innovations, and his work has had a significant impact on manufacturing and in diverse industries," said Purdue President Mitch Daniels. Agrawal holds 118 U.S. patents, nearly 500 non-U.S. patents and has authored 107 technical papers. In 2011 he received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation from President Barack Obama. The award is the highest honor for technological achievement bestowed by the president. A member of the National Academy of Engineering, Agrawal served on the National Research Council (NRC) panel that issued a report called "The Hydrogen Economy: Opportunities, Costs, Barriers and R&D Needs." He also has served on a national panel concerning America's energy future, and he was a member of the NRC's Board on Energy and Environmental Systems. He earned a doctorate in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1980, a master's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Delaware in 1977 and a bachelor's in chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, in 1975. Agrawal came to Purdue in 2004 following a career in industry that included 24 years at Air Products and Chemicals Inc. in Allentown, Pa. Previously, he has focused on basic and applied research in gas separations, process development, gas liquefication processes, cryogenics and thermodynamics. He joins 10 Purdue colleagues as members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Those previously elected to membership are Leah H. Jamieson, the John A. Edwardson Dean of Engineering and Ransburg Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering; H. Jay Melosh, Distinguished Professor of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and Physics; Ei-ichi Negishi, Nobel laureate and the Herbert C. Brown Distinguished Professor of Chemistry; former Purdue President France A. Cordova; Arden Bement, inaugural director of Purdue's Global Policy Research Institute; R. Graham Cooks, the Henry Bohn Hass Distinguished Professor of Chemistry; Joseph Francisco, the William E. Moore Distinguished Professor of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and Chemistry; Albert Overhauser, the Stuart Distinguished Professor of Physics; Michael Rossmann, the Hanley Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences; and Freydoon Shahidi, Distinguished Professor of Mathematics. The new class will be inducted during a ceremony Oct. 12 at the academy's headquarters in Cambridge, Mass. Members of the 2013 class include winners of the Nobel Prize; National Medal of Science; the Lasker Award; the Pulitzer and the Shaw prizes; the Fields Medal; MacArthur and Guggenheim fellowships; the Kennedy Center Honors; and Grammy, Emmy, Academy and Tony awards. A complete list of new members is available on the academy's website at http://www.amacad.org/news/alphalist2013.pdf

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Prof Rajeev Sangal of Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Hyderabad joined as the new director of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Banaras Hindu University (BHU) on Tuesday. Prof Sangal did his masters and research in Computer and Information Sciences from University of California, USA after completing BTech in Electrical Engineering from IIT-Kanpur. He earlier served as director-cum-vice chancellor of IIIT-Hyderabad. Prof Sangal is known for his work on development of software for converting and translating languages. He has developed eight softwares for the conversion of the matter from one language to other. He has also built 18 systems of machine translation out of which eight systems are released for public use. He has led a consortium of 12 institutions for building machine translation system for nine Indian languages.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Padma Shri awardee and former director of IIT Kanpur, Professor Sanjay Govind Dhande, has been appointed as a member of the prestigious National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) by government of India, informed IIT-Kanpur through a press release. The National Security Advisory Board is a multi-disciplinary body of persons of eminence from outside government with expertise in the fields of foreign affairs, science and technology, cyber security, economics, defence, internal security, education and media related technologies. The term of appointment of Professor Dhande is for a period of two years. Presently, Shyam Sharan, former Foreign Secretary of Government of India, is the Chairman of NSAB. While accepting the membership, Professor Sanjay Dhande said that the concept of national security has become multi-dimensional with technology playing a crucial role in the coming years. He further stated that he hopes to contribute in the fields of technology, cyber security and education related to national security.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Prof. Amitabha Chattopadhyay (MSC2/CHM/80) elected as Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) Prof. Amitabha Chattopadhyay received B.Sc. with Honors in Chemistry from St. Xavier’s College (Calcutta) and M.Sc. from IIT Kanpur. He obtained his Ph.D. from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook, and was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Davis. He subsequently joined the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad and is now an Outstanding Scientist (Director level) there. He has been recently elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC). Prof. Chattopadhyay’s work is focused on monitoring organization, dynamics and function of biological membranes in healthy and diseased conditions. His group has developed and applied novel, innovative and sensitive techniques (such as the wavelength-selective fluorescence approach) using fluorescence spectroscopy for monitoring solvent relaxation in membranes, membrane-mimetic media, and proteins. These pioneering studies have led to a better understanding of the dynamics of hydration of membranes and proteins. Another seminal contribution of Prof. Chattopadhyay’s group focuses on the role of membrane cholesterol in regulating the organization, dynamics and function of G-protein coupled receptors such as the serotonin1A receptor. His work showed, for the first time, that membrane cholesterol is necessary for the function of G-protein coupled receptors such as the serotonin 1A receptor. His work has also provided novel insight in the role of membrane cholesterol in the entry of pathogens into host cells. Prof. Chattopadhyay has used fluorescence-based microscopic approaches such as Fluorescence Recovery After Photobleaching (FRAP), Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (FCS), and Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) to provide novel insight into organization, dynamics and function of membrane-bound receptors. Overall, his work has contributed significantly to the understanding of membrane organization and dynamics, and the interplay between membrane lipids and proteins, especially in neuronal membranes. Prof. Chattopadhyay was awarded the prestigious Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award, Ranbaxy Research Award, and currently is a J.C. Bose Fellow of the Dept. of Science and Technology, Govt. of India. He is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, and all the Indian Academies of Science, the Andhra Pradesh Akademi of Sciences, and West Bengal Academy of Science and Technology. Prof. Chattopadhyay is currently on the editorial boards of a large number of reputed international journals that include Biophysical Journal, The Journal of Physical Chemistry, Journal of Neurochemistry and BBA-Biomembranes. He has mentored a number of students for Ph.D. Prof. Chattopadhyay has authored close to 200 research publications (total citations > 5300, h-index 38), a monograph, and national and international patents. He has delivered more than 400 invited lectures all over the world including keynote and plenary lectures. Prof. Chattopadhyay has organized a number of international conferences on the broad theme of biological membranes including a thematic meeting of the Biophysical Society. Prof. Chattopadhyay has been instrumental in designing and teaching courses related to biomembranes and fluorescence spectroscopy for Ph.D. students in India and other parts of the world. In recent years, Prof. Chattopadhyay has been involved with science awareness programs among high school and college students. Prof. Chattopadhyay is an Adjunct Professor at the Special Centre for Molecular Medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru University (New Delhi), the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (Mohali), Institute of Life Sciences (Hyderabad) and Honorary Faculty at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (Bangalore). He serves as the first Dean of Biological Sciences of the Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Siddhartha Gupta & Aditi Makol (MBA/2010) working with Infosys (Consulting & Systems Integration) in IT consulting won the Max Life Insurance challenge in the ‘Capgemini Super Techies Show’. It is India’s first technology based reality television show, aired on ET Now. They were selected in the Elite top 21 finalist teams from all over India after a stringent selection process, which was based on gauging the applicant’s technology skills and business problem-solving abilities, after several rounds of short listing and interviews by Capgemini and Economic Times Now. The real-time business problem was given to them by the CIO of Max Life Insurance at Gurgaon headquarter office. They presented a technical and business viable solution for the problem to a panel of Judges (VP-Capgemini, MD-Cyber Media, CIO-Max Life Insurance) at Mumbai, ET Now Studio. Finally they emerged amongst the top 5 teams all over India. They were awarded prizes by IBM, Capgemini and iOmega. Received Infosys excellence award for the challenge won in this show.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

The South Asian Studies Association presented its 2013 Community Service Award to Gunjan Bagla, managing director of Amritt, for his role in promoting U.S.-India relations and supporting the cause of SASA. SASA president Bill Vanderbok presented the award, which reads: “For his steadfast counsel, guidance, support and generosity to SASA and all of our activities reaching back to the very first conference at Loyola Marymount University in 2007 and continuing forward to this day and into the future.” The award was presented at the March meeting of The Indus Entrepreneur, in Cerritos, Calif. In attendance was N. Parthasarathi, the Indian consul general in San Francisco. Bagla is the founder of Amritt Inc., whose clients include Roche, Boeing, Clorox, Covidien and Paramount Farms. Based in California, he is the author of "Doing Business in 21st Century India: How to Profit Today in Tomorrow’s Most Exciting Market," published by Hachette Books. The Indian American created the executive seminar "Business with India" for the California Institute of Technology, and was part of President Obama’s executive mission to India in 2010. A mechanical engineering graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur and past president of the pan-IIT Alumni Group, Bagla earned his MBA from Southern Illinois University, where he was inducted into the Beta Gamma Sigma honor society.

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Ambassador Skand Ranjan Tayal is a graduate of Allahabad University and has a Post-Graduate Degree in Chemistry from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. After joining the Indian Foreign Service (1976), Ambassador(Retd) Tayal served in Indian Missions in Sofia, Warsaw, Geneva and Moscow. He was India’s Consul General in Johannesburg (1996-98) and Houston (2002-05), and Ambassador of India to Uzbekistan (2005-08). Since 2008, he was Ambassador of India to the Republic of Korea. Ambassador Tayal was Secretary of the Indian National Commission for UNESCO during 1991-95 and served briefly as the Director in charge of IITs in the Department of Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development. He was Joint Secretary and the Chief Passport Officer of India during 1999-2002. Ambassador Tayal has wide experience in both bilateral and multilateral diplomacy and has been a frequent speaker on contemporary affairs. Serving as Independent Director on the Board of Hindustan Shipyard Limited, Visakhapatnam and Vice President of India-Republic of Korea Friendship Society,New Delhi. For more details please click the following link http://asiasociety.org/korea/events/policy-india-land-silent-revolutions

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

IIT K's Alum Deepak Narula is Fortune Magazine's Businessperson of the year. Deepak Narula knows mortgage-backed securities, and it shows. The former Lehman trader's $1.5 billion mortgage-focused hedge fund has left others in the industry in the dust this year, posting 37% returns through October (the hedge fund industry average for the period is 4.5%). Metacapital has outpaced other funds for years -- it's up 520% since 2008 -- by taking positions with near perfect foresight of policy change and movement in the housing market. This year, they've won big both on agency mortgage backed securities that have risen in value with QE3 -- the Fed is buying $40 billion in mortgage backed securities per month -- and non-agency mortgage backed securities, which have done well as housing has recovered. Narula credits Metacapital's team of seasoned investment professionals for the performance. Narula, who was born in India and graduated with an engineering degree, can put himself in that category: He has focused on mortgages since the late '80s. For more details please click the following link http://money.cnn.com/gallery/news/companies/2012/11/16/business-person-of-the-year.fortune/37.html