News Update Duvvuri Subbarao (MSc2/PHY/73) new governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Tuesday, September 02, 2008 government on Monday appointed Finance Secretary Duvvuri Subbarao as the new governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). He will succeed Dr Y V Reddy, whose term ends on September 5. "The government has decided to appoint D Subbarao as the next governor of RBI," finance minister P Chidambaram told reporters. Mr Subbarao would be appointed for a three-year period. He may, however, be considered for reappointment for another two years, as the RBI Act provides for appointment of a governor for a period of up to five years. Duvvuri Subbarao also takes over as the 22nd RBI governor at a critical time when there are a lot of headwinds ahead. The macro-economic situation is challenging with the slowing down of growth and inflation worries. He will have to get into action straightaway with the next policy review in October. Mr Subbarao, in contrast, is reckoned to be less hesitant on some key structural changes proposed for the central bank, making monetary policy its sole focus, divesting other functions such as public debt management and supervision of the banking system. Mr Subbarao studied physics at IIT and was one of the first IIT products to join the civil services. Subsequent to joining the IAS, he did his MS in economics from the Ohio State Universi ty (1978) and was a Humphrey Fellow at MIT during 1982-83. He also has a PhD in economics.   Rajendra K. Bordia (BT/ME/79), Sunday, August 10, 2008 Rajendra K. Bordia (BT/ME/79), University of Washington Professor of Materials science and engineering, has been awarded a Humboldt Research Award for Senior Scientists by Germany’s Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. This international honor, and one of the most prestigious awards given by Germany, recognizes Bordia’s career accomplishments in Materials Science and Engineering and will fund Bordia’s research. on composite particles and multilayered systems of semi-conducting oxides. Bordia also received the Marsha Landolt Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award from the University of Washington. He did his graduate studies at the Cornell University and spent more than five years as a research scientist at DuPont before arriving at the UW in 1991.   Anand Kumar, (MT/ME/71) Monday, August 18, 2008 Anand Kumar, (MT/ME/71) retired on 31 July 2007 as Scientist G from CSIR, Centre for Mathematical Modeling and Computer Simulation (C-MMACS) Bangalore. He joined NAL as Scientist B in 1971.   Jeet Bindra [Jagjeet Singh] (BT/CHE/69), Monday, August 11, 2008 Jeet Bindra [Jagjeet Singh] (BT/CHE/69), President of Chevron Global Manufacturing, was honored for his career achievements by being named a 2008 recipient of the University of Washington (UW) College of Engineering's prestigious Diamond Award. Bindra, who earned his master's degree in Chemical Engineering from UW, was recognized for Distinguished Achievement in Industry, alongside other esteemed alumni, at a ceremony on May 30 in Seattle.   Dr. Udai P. Singh Chairs World Environmental & Water Resources Congress 2008 Thursday, May 29, 2008 Udai P. Singh was the General Congress Chair of World Environmental & Water Resources Congress 2008 held at the Hawaii Convention Center in Honolulu from 12 through 16 May, 2008. This Congress is the premier annual conference held in North America for environmental and water resources professionals from all over the world. Aproximately 1,150 delegates from 32 countries from Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America continents participated in this year's Congress. More than 800 technical papers were presented in 16 concurrent tracks (more than 200 sessions). Ten short courses were offered, and six technical tours were conducted on the island of Oahu. Some example sessions were: Global Climate Change, Aquifer Protection and Sustainability, Watershed Management and Restoration, Sustainability Approaches through Water, Wastewater, and Stormawater, etc.. The theme of this year's Congress was "Ahupua'a: Sustainability from the Mountains to the Sea" Environmental and Water Resources Technology for a Sustainable Future. Ancient Hawaiian life was based around the ahupua'a system of sustainable land management. An Ahupua'a was a watershed-based political land division extending from the surrounding mountain ridges to the coastal ocean extending out to and including the coral reef. The ahupua'a system evolved to protect the upland water resources that were a life sustaining gift from the gods to be used wisely and conserved by al Hawaiians. For more informartion on the Congress, please see http://content.asce.org/conferences/ewri2008/. Udai is a 1972 graduate (B.Tech., Civil Engineering) of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur, with graduate degrees in water resources and environmental engineering from Clemson University and University of Florida. He has authored more than 50 technical papers in national and international publications and written and/or edited seven books in environmental engineering. Udai is a Vice President of Environmental Services and Senior Program Manager with CH2M HILL, one of the largest global firms providing engineering, construction, operations, and related technical services to public and private clients. The firm's work is concentrated in the areas of transportation, water, energy, environment, communications, construction, and industrial facilities. Currently Udai is in CH2M HILL's Oakland, California, USA office and manages, under contract, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) program on the characterization and remediation of the most toxic hazardous waste (Superfund) sites in the western United States. The Congress was organized and sponsored by the Environmental and Water Resources Institute (EWRI) of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). ASCE is USA's oldest professional engineering society, with more than 140,000 members. EWRI is ASCE's largest technical institute with about 25,000 members. Udai is currently the Vice President of EWRI, and was elected recently to take over as President of EWRI in October 2009, the first person of Indian origin to do so. For more information on EWRI, please see http://content.ewrinstitute.org/.   Deval Ganguly (BT/ME/80) Friday, April 04, 2008 MR. D GANGULY ,B.Tech. (Mechanical) from IIT, Kanpur, graduating in 1980 is with the Indian Manufacturing Industry for last 28 years. Currently, he is with the leading Tyre Manufacturer, JK Tyre, looking after its manufacturing operations in city of Mysore as Vice President (Works). He has worked with renowned Companies like ACC Cement, Dunlop (I) Ltd. & Philips (India) Ltd., in various capacities before joining JK Tyres. He has spear headed various initiatives in Company’s journey towards excellence like Business Process Re-Engineering (from Functional Based Organization to a Process Based Organization), Japanese concept of TPM (Total Productive Maintenance), Customer first concepts, Lean Manufacturing, Modular Manufacturing concepts, Value optimization, etc. Mysore Plants have gown from Rs. 300 Cr. to Rs. 1200 Cr. turn over in last 10 years under his able leadership. He is a renowned name in Tyre Industry and has traveled extensively to keep himself abreast with the latest in Tyre Technology & Tyre Manufacturing & other latest manufacturing concepts. He is a voracious reader and his personal library is worth a look. He is actively involved in many social organization for social upliftment of the under privileged. He is happily married with one son. Wife is   R K Misra (BT/CE/89) Friday, February 15, 2008 R K Misra journeys from village to Lead India It was a journey that began 42 years ago in Sonari, a small, impoverished village in UP's Sitapur district. The stage shifted to IIT Kanpur, then Tokyo University. A series of start-ups followed, with a stint in the US thrown in. But on Saturday night, life came full circle for R K Misra. As he outlined a plan to set up a cooperative dairy farm to transform life in the village where he was born, the jury and audience was visibly moved. After 10 rounds of challenging tasks and the scrutiny of hawk-eyed judges, it proved to be the decisive moment, helping Misra emerge winner of the Lead India contest. The man who never hesitates to speak his mind has often said that he believes he could be prime minister of India within 18 years. He has now taken a huge stride forward towards his ambitious goal. On Saturday, Misra showed just why he been a successful entrepreneur. Asked how he would utilize the prize money of Rs 50 lakh if he won, he rattled off a well thought-out plan with time-bound targets and actionable goals. Wasn't he thinking small by focusing on just a dairy farm, asked permanent jury member Kiran Bedi. "I believe in leading by example. This farm will not only provide sustainable employment but also s erve as a role model for other villages. The biggest problem in India is ineffective implementation. There is a lot of talk, but little action. That is why my motto is 'work more, talk less'," said Misra to a round of thunderous applause. Questions from the other judges followed. As a person born in UP, who is now settled in Bangalore, what did he feel about protests against migrants, asked India's solicitor-general Goolam E Vahanvati. "I don't think most citizens support such protests. They are carried out by a handful of people with vested interests. Treat them as a law and order problem, crack down on them, and the problem will vanish," responded Misra. When former Madhya Pradesh CM Digvijay Singh asked him how he would ensure an efficient service delivery mechanism to rural areas, Misra mentioned his efforts to improve Bangalore's roads through public-private partnership. He suggested making panchayats aware of the Right to Information Act. He also paid tribute to another special judge, RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal, saying, "I am a huge fan of his".   N R Narayana Murthy (MT/EE/69) Tuesday, January 29, 2008 Padma Vibhushan for N R Narayana Murthy Born into a Kannada Madhva Brahmin family in Mysore, India on August 20, 1946, Murthy graduated with a degree in electrical engineering from the National Institute of Engineering, University of Mysore in 1967 after attending government school, and received his master's degree from IIT Kanpur in 1969. His first position was at IIM Ahmedabad as chief systems programmer [2] where he worked on a time-sharing system and designed and implemented a BASIC interpreter for ECIL (Electronics Corporation of India Limited). After IIM Ahmedabad, he then joined Patni Computer Systems in Pune. Before moving to Mumbai, Murthy met his wife Sudha Murthy in Pune who at the time was an engineer working at Tata Engineering and Locomotive Co. Ltd. (Telco, now known as Tata Motors) in Pune. In 1981, he founded Infosys with six other software professionals. He served as president of the National Association of Software and Service Companies, India from 1992 to 1994. Murthy served as the founder CEO of Infosys for twenty years, and was succeeded by co-founder Nandan Nilekani in March 2002. He is the chairman of the governing body of the International Institute of Information Technology - Bangalore, and was the Chairman of the Gov erning Body of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. In addition, he is a member of the Board of Directors of INSEAD, Board of Overseers of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, Cornell University Board of Trustees, Business Advisory Council of Great Lakes Institute of Management - Chennai,Singapore Management University Board of Trustees and the Board of Advisors for the William F. Achtmeyer Center for Global Leadership at the Tuck School of Business. Mr. Murthy also sits on the Board of Governors of the Asian Institute of Management (AIM), a graduate school of business located in the Philippines and is also the Chairman of the Board of Members of School of Management[3], Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) located in Bangkok, Thailand. He is also a member of the Advisory Boards and Councils of various well-known universities – such as the Stanford Graduate School of Business, the Corporate Governance initiative at the Harvard Business School, Yale University and the University of Tokyo’s President's Council. Murthy serves as an independent director on the board of the DBS Bank of Singapore. This is the largest government-owned bank in Singapore. He also serves as a director on the Central Board of the Reserve Bank of India, as the co-chairman of the Indo-British Partnership, as a member of the Prime Minister's council on trade and industry, as a member of the Asia Advisory Board of British Telecommunications plc. and as a member of the Board of NDTV, India. He also serves as an independent director on the board of the European FMCG giantUnilever. He is an IT advisor to several Asian countries. He retired from his executive position at Infosys on 20th August, 2006. However, he continues as the Non-Executive Chairman of the board. Murthy has been the recipient of numerous awards and honors.In 2008, he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, a second highest civilian award by India and Légion d'honneur highest civilan award by France. In 2000, he was awarded the Padma Shri, a civilian award by the Government of India. He was the first recipient of the Indo-French Forum Medal (in the year 2003), awarded by the Indo-French Forum, in recognition of his role in promoting Indo-French ties. He was voted the World Entrepreneur of the Year - 2003 by Ernst & Young. He was one of the two people named as Asia's Businessmen of the Year for 2003 by Fortune magazine. In 2001, he was named by TIME / CNN as one of the twenty-five, most influential global executives, a group selected for their lasting influence in creating new industries and reshaping markets. He was awarded the Max Schmidheiny Liberty 2001 prize ( Switzerland), in recognition of his promotion of individual responsibility and liberty. In 1999, BusinessWeek named him one of the nine entrepreneurs of the year and he was also featured in the BusinessWeek's 'The Stars of Asia' (for three successive years - 1998, 1999 and 2000). In 1998, the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, one of the premier institutes of higher learning in India, conferred on him the Distinguished Alumnus Award, and in 1996-97, he was awarded the JRD Tata Corporate Leadership Award. In December 2005, Narayana Murthy was voted as the 7th most admired CEO/Chairman in the world in a global study conducted by Burson-Marsteller with the Economist Intelligence Unit [4]. The list included 14 others with distinguished names such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Warren Buffett. In May 2006, Narayana Murthy has, for the fifth year running, emerged the most admired business leader of India in a study conducted by Brand-comm, a leading Brand Consulting, Advertising and PR firm. The Economist ranked him 8th among the top 15 most admired global leaders (2005). He was ranked 28th among the world's most-respected business leaders by the Financial Times (2005). He topped the Economic Times Corporate Dossier list of India's most powerful CEOs for two consecutive years – 2004 and 2005. TIME magazine’s “Global Tech Influentials” list (August 2004) named Mr. Murthy as one of the ten leaders who are helping shape the future of technology. In November 2006, TIME magazine again voted him as one of the Asian heroes who have brought about revolutionary changes in Asia in the last 60 years. The list featured people who have had a significant impact on Asian history over the past 60 years and it included others such as Mahatma Gandhi, Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa, etc. He was the first recipient of the Indo-French Forum Medal (2003), awarded by the Indo-French Forum in recognition of his role in promoting Indo-French ties. He was voted the World Entrepreneur of the Year – 2003 by Ernst and Young. He was one of two people named as Asia's Businessmen of the Year for 2003 by Fortune magazine. In 2001, he was named by TIME/CNN as one of the 25 most influential global executives, selected for their lasting influence in creating new industries and reshaping markets. He was awarded the Max Schmidheiny Liberty 2001 prize (Switzerland), in recognition of his promotion of individual responsibility and liberty. In 1999, BusinessWeek named him one of their nine Entrepreneurs of the Year, and he was featured in BusinessWeek's 'The Stars of Asia' for three successive years – 1998, 1999 and 2000. He was recently awarded the Commander of the British Order (CBE) by the British government. He is known to lead an unpretentious lifestyle in his modest residence in Bangalore along with wife Sudha Murthy and has a reputation for being a calm, self-effacing, soft-spoken person and caring father like figure for the employees of Infosys, shunning pricey suits, and avoiding a high-flying lifestyle (he is known to fly economy class). By his ‘simple living high thinking’ phenomenon, he has become the most admired business leader among the business schools in India.   SHARDUL AGRAWALA (BT/MME/91) Wednesday, December 19, 2007 Shardul Agrawala is one of the drafting authors of the reports of IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), which was awarded the Nobel Prize last week. Shardul is currently with the Environment Directorate of OECD, based out of Paris. He's also an alumnus of the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton. With an interest in both economics and environmental issues, Shardul Agrawala enrolled in the School's Field IV program along with the newly created Certificate in Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy (STEP). He noted that the programs were a natural fit for him, having his roots in engineering as well as an interest in the economics of environmental issues. Says Shardul, “STEP subsequently became a core cluster for the WWS doctoral program, and I was the first person from this cluster to receive a Ph.D. The STEP coursework I took as part of my M.P.A. degree really played a critical role in helping me converge on the issues I have worked on since. “STEP courses have had a direct bearing on my career. Among the STEP faculty, I owe a special debt of gratitude to Frank von Hippel, who served as mentor during my second year in the M.P.A. program, and subsequently became my Ph.D. advisor. I really learned a lot from his emphasis on rigor in analysis, h is modesty, and his lifelong commitment to science in the public interest. “WWS has been my most memorable educational experience—I found it as intellectually rich as it is diverse, within a generous, flexible system, and with more than a few truly exceptional individuals.”   Vishwanath Prasad (MT/ME/78) Wednesday, December 19, 2007 Vishwanath "Vish" Prasad, executive dean and distinguished professor in the College of Engineering and Computing at Florida International University in Miami, has joined University of North Texas as Vice President for Research. A recognized scholar and researcher who is a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Prasad brings a demonstrated ability to lead a vibrant research program to UNT, a student-centered public research university and Texas' fourth largest with more than 34,000 students. "We have a bold vision for our future research agenda," says President Gretchen M. Bataille. "Dr. Prasad's experience in securing funding for research programs and developing partnerships with industry, and his commitment to attracting a diverse student population into the science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines, make him an excellent fit for UNT. Our faculty members are engaged in research and creative activities that make a difference for our communities. With strong leadership, that foundation will grow and we will be able to make a bigger impact on our state, nation and globe." As chief research officer, Prasad will promote UNT's mission in research, original scholarship and artistic creativity by developing and implementing a ca mpus-wide strategic and operational plan to support these efforts. He also will provide the executive and administrative leadership for further development of the Research Park, home to UNT's College of Engineering, the newly created interdisciplinary Center for Advanced Research and Technology, and other research centers and institutes.   Rajaram Gokul (BT/CSE/95) Wednesday, December 12, 2007 Gokul Rajaram, the god father of Google AdSense and a high-rank Product Manager has left Google to start his own company. He is the master brain behind the Google’s most profitable business, Google AdSense, which accounts more than 1/3 of its Google revenues. Rajaram joined Google in January 2003 when the company was working on draft plans of online advertising to sell space on publishers websites to show relevant ads. Rajaram along with other four engineers started the AdSense project and demonstrated the first version of product to top heads of Google in less than six months time. Before quitting Google, he was the key person behind most of the advanced and highly performing AdSense and other online advertising products of Google. Rajaram earned his B.Tech from the Indian Institute of Technology(IIT), Kanpur, and he was also awarded the President of India’s Gold Medal for being class valedictorian. Also he earned M.B.A from MIT Sloan School of Management and his M.S. in Computer Science from Texas at Austin. Gokul Rajaram excelled as a bright student and also a great Project Manager at Google. Many people at Google are very much interested to observer his future steps and the revolutions which he is going bring as an Entrepreneur.   Ravindra K. Tulsyan, (MT/ME/82) Wednesday, December 12, 2007 A book authored by Mr. Ravindra K. Tulsyan, DBF, CFPIM, CIRM, CSCP was released during the inaugural session of the 2007 BPC World Conference and Exhibition. The title of the book is: "How to Eat the Elephant? The CEO's Guide to an Enterprise System Implementation". The scanned covers are attached with this mail. The forward is written by none other than Mr. Tom Wallace, the world famous writer and educator. Eight Indian CEOs have also shared their experience of implementing enterprise systems in their organizations. This book is a must read for all, top management, users and even enterprise system consultants.   Dr. A. K. Singh (PHD/MTH/91) Wednesday, December 12, 2007 Dr. Singh has been honoured by the Prime Minister for his contribution to the work of United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which is joint winner of the Noble Peace Prize 2007. Dr. Singh is presently Scientist & Head, Methane Emission & Degasification, Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Dhanbad. With a Ph.D. degree in Mathematics from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, Dr. Singh is one of the most established scientists in India in the field of coalbed gases. He has more than thirty research papers to his credit in the national and international arena and has published 127 technical reports. His research is primarily concerned with the prediction of methane emission in mines, resource evaluation for production of coalbed methane, CBM reservoir modelling and Carbon storage in geologic formations. Dr. Singh is the key person to determine the national methane emission factor for coal mining and handling activities in India and also to prepare the estimates of fugitive emission to the atmosphere from India's coal and oil and natural gas systems on behalf of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India as a part of India's National Communication to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. He is one of the le ad authors of the Energy volume of 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Hon'ble Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh hosted a special function on Monday, November 26, 2007 at 7 PM at 7, Race Course Road, New Delhi to meet and honour the Indian scientists (including Dr. Ajay Kumar Singh) who have contributed to the work of IPCC which is the joint winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for 2007. Friday October 12 it was announced that former Vice President Al Gore and the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. IPCC is the influential body established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), to investigate global warming and its consequences for Earth. The Nobel committee, in a citation, said, the two were awarded "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change." The IPCC has completed three full assessment reports, guidelines and methodologies, special reports and technical papers. Dr. Ajay Kumar Singh is associated with most recent work of IPCC - the 2006 Guidelines.   Sanjay Mittal (BT/AE/88) Wednesday, December 12, 2007 Sanjay Mittal was honoured with the second annual “Scopus Young Scientist Awards”, for his studies on computational fluid dynamics. He being one to receive out of the nine brilliant technical minds of the country from across various scientific disciplines. The awardees comprised research scientists from several fields including life sciences, oceanic sciences, aerospace, chemistry, materials engineering, mathematics, and solid-state physics. A brainchild of Elsevier, one of the leading publishers of science and health information worldwide, the awards strive to provide a platform for original and authentic scientific research. The award consists of the Rs. 50,000 cash prize and a crystal plaque citation.   Jagdish (Jay) Narayan (BT/MME/1969) Wednesday, December 12, 2007 A 'magic additive' which when added to engine oil, increases the fuel efficiency of your car by 35 to 50 per cent and cuts down on carbon emission by 90 per cent has already been successfully tested by Jay Narayan, a professor at the Department of Material Science and Engineering and director of the NSF Centre for Advanced Materials and Smart Structures at USA’s North Carolina University. Calling the additive a perfect solution for the rising pollution in metros, Narayan said the formulation, based on nanotechnology, is waiting for a patent at the moment and will be launched in the American, Indian and Chinese markets within a year. The native of a village near Kanpur, Narayan completed his engineering degree from IIT-K in 1969, followed by a Masters and doctorate from the University of Berkeley. Narayan said nanotechnology could provide solutions for energy and pollution-related problems throughout the world. “The reason for poor mileage and harmful emissions is friction and this additive reduces the friction and repairs the internal surface of the engine, thus increasing efficiency and cutting down on carbon exhaust,” he said. He, however, refused to give information about the components of the additive due to patenting reasons. Narayan said that adding just 10 cc of the additive to engine oil would increase the life of the engine and cut down on the frequency of changing the engine oil. “Once the additive is mixed with the oil, it would last for five to six years. It could be used in all sorts of automotive engines,” he said. He said the formulation was successfully tested in the US and an exclusive license for its marketing would be given to a US-based agency within the next six months. A separate establishment for marketing the additive would be set up in India and China within a year.   Damnish & Rajeev Tuesday, November 06, 2007 Damnish Kumar (MSc5/MTH/2000) and Rajeev Gupta (BT/CE/1999) founded HyTech Professionals, a software engineering services company in 2004. Their company has been ranked top 3rd by Nasscom as ‘Exciting Emerging Companies to Work For’ in IT BPO sector in India. HyTech Professionals has its presence in India, USA, Sweden, Germany and Japan. Presently Damnish and Rajeev are the Director of HyTech Professionals.   Samir Kumar Barua (MT/ME/1974) Tuesday, November 06, 2007 Samir Kumar Barua has been appointed as the Director of Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A). Barua is currently a faculty at IIM-A and member of the IIM-A governing board since August, 2007 and has held many important administrative posts in IIM-A. Barua has prepared policy papers for the Finance Minister, the Governor of Reserve Bank of India and the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries. He is on the boards of several large organizations including the Indian Oil Corporation. He is also a visiting Professor at academic institutions in the United States, the Netherlands, Singapore, and Cyprus. He did his Ph.D. in Management from IIM-A. He has published over 200 papers, articles and cases. He has co-authored two books: Portfolio Management; and The Great Indian Scam: story of the missing Rs. 4000 crore which became a best-seller.   Tarun Souradeep (BT/ME/1988) Tuesday, November 06, 2007 Tarun Souradeep [Tarun Souradeep Ghosh] has received Swarnjayanti Fellowship in Physics (2006) from DST, SCOPUS Young Scientist Award in Physics (2006) from Elsevier and BUTI Foundation award in Physics (2006) by the Indian Physics Association. Presently Souradeep is Associate Professor in Inter-University Centre for Astronomy & Astrophysics (I.U.C.A.A.), Pune. He has done M.Sc. in Physics from Poona University and Ph. D. in Physics (Cosmology) from I.U.C.A.A.   Dev Ghoshal (BT/ME/1986) Thursday, November 01, 2007 Dev Ghoshal(Debashis Ghoshal) has been appointed as Vice President of Business Development and Global Client Services by Agiliance, Inc. Ghoshal is responsible for Agiliance’s overall partner strategy and leads Professional Services and Customer Support for Agiliance. Prior to Agiliance, Dev led Sun’s Global Software Practice, where he was responsible for the software P & L for Sun's middleware portfolio. Earlier in his career, Dev spent five years with McKinsey & Company; he then joined i2 Technologies where he held several leadership roles including Vice President, EMEA and Senior Vice President of Global Solution Delivery and Business Development. Dev holds a Master of Science from Texas A & M University and an MBA from the Wharton School of Business.   Bijon K. Dutta (MT/ME/1983) Wednesday, October 10, 2007 Bijon K. Dutta has recently been elected as Vice President of International Association for Structural Mechanics in Reactor Technology (IASMiRT). Presently, in the grade of Outstanding Scientist, he is also Head, Computational Mechanics Section, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and a senior professor in Homi Bhabha National Institute. His research interest include constraint dependent fracture mechanics, micro-mechanical modelling, probabilistic fracture mechanics, multi-scale material modelling, on-line creep-fatigue monitoring system, high-performance computing, nuclear fuel pin modelling at high-burnup and modelling of irradiated materials using molecular & dislocation dynamics. He is the recipient of technical excellence award and Homi Bhabha award for science and technology of Department of Atomic Energy (India). He is a fellow of Indian National Academy of Engineering. He has done his Ph.D from IIT Bombay.   Som Mittal (BT/MME/1973) Friday, October 05, 2007 Som Mittal has been appointed as the new president of The National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom). Mittal has over 32 years of experience in industry, of which 18 has been in the IT sector. He is presently head of services business for Hewlett-Packard for Asia Pacific and Japan. Mittal has done MBA from IIM Ahmedabad. Mittal is also the recepient of Distinguished Alumnus Award for the year 2000.   Atul Srivastava (PhD/ME/2006) Monday, October 01, 2007 Atul Srivastava has been given the best Ph.D. thesis award of INAE (Indian National Academy of Engineering) for his thesis titled “Optical imaging and control of convection around a KDP crystal growing from its aqueous solution”. Presently Srivastave is working as Scientific Officer at Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore.   A. M. Pradeep (PhD/AE/2005) Friday, September 14, 2007 A. M. Pradeep’s (PhD/AE/2005) Ph.D thesis has been adjudged as the second best PhD thesis amongst Aerospace Ph.D. theses from India in the period 2001-2006 by SAFRAN (a group of French aerospace companies).The decision was taken by a panel of experts from India and France. Presently Pradeep has joined as a faculty member in Aerospace Engineering Department of IIT Bombay.   Udai P Singh (BT/CE/1972) Thursday, October 18, 2007 The Environmental and Water Resources Institute (EWRI) has declared Dr. Udai P. Singh as the winner of its presidential election this year, after a lengthy nomination and election process. Singh will serve a four-year term on EWRI's Governing Board, beginning October 1, 2007, and will hold the positions of vice president, president elect, president, and past president of EWRI for one year each in that order. He will be the first person of Indian origin to lead EWRI. Singh is a 1972 graduate (B.Tech., Civil Engineering) of IIT Kanpur, with graduate degrees in water resources and environmental engineering from Clemson University and University of Florida. He has authored more than 50 technical papers in national and international publications and written and/or edited seven books in environmental engineering. He is a Vice President of Environmental Services and Senior Program Manager with CH2M HILL. Currently in CH2M HILL's Oakland, California office, Singh manages, under contract, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) program on the characterization and remediation of the most toxic hazardous waste (Superfund) sites in the western United States. Singh has won prestigious awards from many of the professional societies he is associated with in the civil and envi ronmental engineering area.Some of the recent ones are: * Water Environment Federation: Hazardous Waste Management Award * American Society of Civil Engineers: Outstanding Engineering Manager Award * Consulting Engineers and Land Surveyors of California: Golden State Award (Engineering Excellence) * American Council of Engineering Companies: Grand Award (Engineering Excellence) * American Academy of Environmental Engineers: Board Certification by Eminence * Environmental and Water Resources Institute: Outstanding Achievement Award He has been recognized by EPA for his contribution to hazardous waste management and cleanup of the most polluted and hazardous waste sites in USA. In 2004, he received an IIT Kanpur Alumni Leadership Award for a successful track record of engineering and project management. Singh has been active in EWRI since he served as a founding member in 1999. He has served as the chair of American Society of Civil Engineers Environmental Engineering Division, a member of EWRI's Governing Board, chair for the Institute Operations Executive Committee and chair for EWRI's first international conference "An International Perspective on Environmental and Water Resources" held in India in December 2006. He will serve as the General Conference Chair for the World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2008 in Honolulu, Hawaii.   Atul Bhargava (BT/ME/82) Wednesday, September 05, 2007 Atul Bhargava has been appointed as the MD of Intel Malaysia and Site GM. Atul joined Intel in 1984 as a package development engineer and has held various senior management positions at Intel spanning across manufacturing, product R&D, business unit operations and factory operations. Prior to this appointment, Atul was the General Manager for the latest state of the art Assembly and Test Microprocessor factory in Intel Kulim. Through his leadership, the factory has successfully ramped latest generation microprocessors and communication products. Prior to moving to Malaysia, Atul was the Director of Operations for one of the business units focused on communication products. Atul has a track record for developing and driving high performance teams and one of his team was awarded the Intel Achievement Award, the highest Intel award amongst other awards. This is the second time Atul has taken on an assignment in Penang, the first one to setup and startup of the Test Engineering function of the PG8 factory in Penang in 1998. Atul has been active in leading various community outreach activities for Intel the latest being the active support of the Corporate Social Responsibility CEO roundtable forum in Penang while also participating in several Intel Volunteer events. Atul holds Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (1977-1982), and a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Clemson University and an Executive MBA from Thunderbird American Graduate School of International Management in Arizona. In his spare time, Atul likes to play tennis and enjoys traveling with his wife and two daughters.   Rajinder Singh (BT/ME/1983) Friday, August 31, 2007 Rajinder Sing) has been appointed by Genpact as senior Vice President and head of Global Analytics Services. Singh will spearhead the delivery of Genpact’s Analytics and Decision Management solutions and will be responsible for helping clients compete and grow profitably using analytics. Prior to Genpact, Singh was working with GE Money. Before that he was the head of risk/reward management at US Bancorp, Minneapolis. He held various consulting and leadership positions in Germany and India. Singh also holds a Master of Science degree in Mechanical and Aerospace engineering from Rutgers University, NJ, and an MBA from Simon Business School, University of Rochester, New York.   Sushant Kumar Routray (MT/IME/1991) Wednesday, August 29, 2007 Sushant Kumar Routray has been appointed as Head of Human Resources and Productivity Services of Tata Motors, Jamshedpur. His designation is Deputy General Manager (HR & PSD).   Deepam Mishra (BT/EE/1992) Thursday, August 09, 2007 Deepam Mishra has recently been awarded IEEE's "Most Influential Paper of the Decade Award" in Machine Vision for the paper entitled “A System for Non-Intrusive Human Iris Acquisition and Identification”. Mishra is serial entrepreneur and a subject-matter expert in machine vision.He has contributed to significant technical and business innovations in computer vision and imaging. As an independent entrepreneur and a senior executive at Sarnoff Corporation, he has founded and successfully managed 5 technology startups in industries as varied as security (Pyramid Vision now part of L3 and Sensar now part of L1 Inc.), automotive and medical devices. He is currently advising an innovative video surveillance startup and is a board member of a medical device company. Mishra has done MS from Texas A&M University. He has also done MBA from the Wharton School.   Ashok Dhawan(BT/EE/1968) Tuesday, August 07, 2007 Ashok Dhawan has been appointed as the new CEO of Mobius Microsystems. Dhawan will lead Mobius introduction of new products based on the company’s patented CMOS Harmonic Oscillator (CHOTM) technology, as well as focus on revenue growth and customer base expansion. Dhawan has over 25 years experience in the industry in a wide range of leadership responsibilities, and a track record of successfully growing businesses in short periods of time. Most recently, he was President and CEO of Inphi Corporation. Before that, he was President of the Broadband Division of Ascend Communications, an Internet access company. Previously, he was Executive Vice President of Marketing and Engineering at Raycom Inc/Retix Corp. Before that, he was Vice President of the Communications Business Unit at Emulex Corp where he grew annual sales from zero to $50 million, and Vice President of LAN Products at Micom Systems taking sales from zero to $120 million within three years, before Nortel acquired it. After graduation Dhawan did M.S.E.E. from Washington State University.   Vinay P Aneja (BT/CHE/1971) Friday, August 03, 2007 Dr Vinay P Aneja has been chosen as the winner of 2007 North Carolina Award in Science. The North Carolina Award is the highest award a civilian can receive from the Governor of North Carolina and is also referred as the “Noble Prize” of North Carolina. Presently Aneja is professor of Air Quality and Environmental Technology, Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC. After his graduation Aneja has done both his M.S. and Ph.D from North Carolina State University. He has also done MBA from Union College, Schenectady, NY.   Himanshu Jain (MT/MSP/1974) Thursday, July 26, 2007 Himanshu Jain, scientist, who first compared the movements of atoms in glass to the wiggling of jellyfish in water, has received the Otto Schott Research Award at the International Congress on Glass in Strasbourg, France for his outstanding work in the field of glass science. At present Jain is the Director of NSF's International Materials Institute for New Functionality in Glass Department of Materials Science and Engineering Lehigh University, Penisylvania and the T.L. Diamond Chair Professor.   Sivaram Arepalli (PhD/PHY/1978) Friday, July 20, 2007 Dr Arepalli and his group have received the Rotary National Space Achievement Award,2007 for their nanotechnology based work in furthering the understanding of nanomaterials and their application to fuel cells, lightweight composites, and carbon dioxide removal systems. Arepalli have been working at NASA for the last twenty years. At present he is the Chief Scientist, Applied Nano Technology Group at NASA.   Ashok Gadgil (Msc2/PHY/1973) Thursday, July 19, 2007 Ashok Gadgil has developed a better kitchen stove using simple, life-saving technology. Gadgil worked with laboratory colleagues and students at UC Berkeley to modify an existing Indian stove for Darfurians' needs. While the Indian stove excelled at producing low-intensity heat for cooking rice, for instance, Darfurians needed a high-powered flame for sautéing onions, garlic and okra, ingredients in their staple dish, mulah. And since most families cook outside, the stove also needed to cope with the region's strong winds. The result of their efforts is the Berkeley-Darfur stove (darfurstoves.org), a hollow drum that looks like a cross between a lunar landing craft and a stop sign. Designed with a smooth airflow to fuel the fire and an upper rim that fits snugly with different-size pots, the stove requires 75 percent less wood than an open fire and a wind collar makes for a steady flame. That means fewer risky trips outside the camp for the Darfurian women. And those who now pay for firewood, Gadgil estimates, could save as much as $200 a year, which could be used instead for luxuries like new clothing and fresh meat. The next step for Gadgil is mass production and distribution of the stoves.   R. Mukund (MSC5/CHM/1979) Monday, June 25, 2007 Mr Mukund has been awarded the Asian Pacific American Forum (APAF) Legal Award for his outstanding achievements and dedicated efforts within the legal function and with APAF as well. Mukund invented and has led development of GE Power Suite® over the past 9 years from its origination in Power Systems to its launch as a corporate web-based EHS management system in 2000.   Vijay Vaishnavi (MT/PhD/EE/1971/1974) Monday, June 25, 2007 Dr Vijay Vaishnavi has recently been awarded the Information System Design Science Lifetime Achievement Award by the 2nd International Conference on Design Science Research in Information systems and Technology, The Westin, Pasadena, California, USA. The award recognizes Vaishnavi "for making significant fundamental contributions in design science research through research, leadership and mentorship." Vaishnavi, is a faculty member of Computer Information Systems at Georgia State since 1981. Vaishnavi's current research interests include information integration and web mining, software development, data structures and algorithms and design research methods.   Udai P. Singh (BT/CE/72) Thursday, May 17, 2007 Dr. Udai P. Singh received the 2007 EWRI Outstanding Achievement Award at the World Environmental & Water Resources Congress 2007, presented by the Environmental & Water Resources Institute (EWRI) of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). This award was given to Singh for two achievements: (1) for having started the Student and New Professional Activities Council (SNPC), having supported all SNPC activities and growth, and having mentored many members for SNPC; and (2) for chairing the successful 2006 EWRI India Conference, which marked the first time EWRI had a lead role in holding a conference outside of the USA. Currently Singh is in CH2M HILL's Oakland, California office and manages U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) program on the characterization and remediation of the most toxic hazardous waste (Superfund) sites in the western United States.   Umesh Chandra Ray (MT/IME/80) Friday, May 18, 2007 Umesh Chandra Ray, Professor of the Department of Production Engineering and Management at National Institute of Technology (NIT), Jamshedpur has recently been appointed as the Director of NIT, Patna.   Vivek Sarkar (BT/EE/81) Sunday, May 13, 2007 Vivek Sarkar has joined as professor in the Computer Science Department at Rice University, in Houston, Texas. From 1st July, he will become the E. D. Butcher Professor of Computer Science at Rice. Before joining Rice he was Senior Manager of Programming Technologies at the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center in Hawthorne, New York.   H.R. Rao (BT/CHE/79) Friday, May 11, 2007 Dr. Rao is the recipient of 2007 SUNY Chancellor's Awards for Excellence. Rao is currently Professor of Management Science and Systems in School of Management, SUNY Buffalo,USA. He is an expert on management information systems, decision support systems, expert systems and information assurance. He is a Fulbright fellow and recipient of the prestigious University Lilly Teaching Fellowship. His research has garnered support from the NSF, Department of Defense and Canadian Embassy. Rao is the author or co-author of more than 150 technical papers. After his graduation he got his MBA degree from the University of Delhi, Delhi, and a PhD from Purdue University, USA.   Sunil K. Agrawal (BT/ME/84) Friday, May 04, 2007 Sunil K. Agrawal (BT/ME/84), Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Delaware, has received the prestigious Humboldt Research Award for Senior U.S. Scientists from Germany's Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.Also, Agrawal was a recipient of a National Science Foundation Presidential Faculty Fellow Award from the White House in 1994.   Duvvuri Subbarao (MSc2/PHY/1973) Tuesday, May 01, 2007 Dr. Duvvuri Subbarao (MSc2/PHY/1973) has been appointed as Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance. He belongs to the 1972 batch of the IAS (AP cadre) and topped the Civil Services Exam 1972. Prior to this assignment, he was working as Secretary to the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council. He has worked as Joint Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs during 1988-1993 when economic reforms were initiated. He also served as Finance Secretary of Government of Andhra Pradesh 1993-98 and was actively involved in initiating fiscal reforms at the state level. He was lead Economist in the World Bank during 1999-2004 and worked on issues of public finance in countries of Africa and East Asia. Later he did his MS in Economics from Ohio State University and was a Humphrey Fellow at MIT during 1982-83. He has a Ph. D in Economics from Andhra University.   Lalit Kumar Jalan ( BT/EE/1979 ) Friday, April 20, 2007 Lalit Jalan has been appointed the new Chairman of BSES Rajdhani Power Limited and BSES Yamuna Power Limited and also nominated as a Director on the Board of BRPL. The announcement was made here on Thursday after the Board of Directors of Reliance Energy Limited met to approve the up-gradation of its leadership bandwidth in the management of BSES companies. Mr. Jalan was appointed Chief Executive Officer of BRPL and nominated on the Board of BYPL in 2005. After graduating from IIT Kanpur in 1979, Mr. Jalan did his Masters in Computer Science and MBA in Finance from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He is a recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award from IIT, Kanpur, and was chosen as one of the 15 achievers from the IIT system.   Atul Bansal (BT/CHE/84) Thursday, April 12, 2007 Embedded Linux service provider TimeSys Corp. is forging ahead with the appointment of Atul Bansal(BT/CHE/84) as the company’s new CEO. Bansal is responsible for the company’s overall strategic direction as the company continues to expand its Linux Link service offering that allows developers to build customized, commercial-grade embedded Linux platforms. Bansal is founder of Laurel Networks, where he served as president and CEO. Previously, Bansal worked for Fore Systems, where he was president of the Network Control Technology division, which was acquired by Marconi in 1999.   B V R Mohan Reddy (MT/ME/74) Monday, October 23, 2006 Mr. BVR Mohan Reddy is the Founder, Chairman and Managing Director of Infotech Enterprises. Mr. Reddy is a Graduate in Mechanical Engineering and has two Masters degrees, one in Management Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA and another in Industrial Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur. His basic graduation is in Mechanical Engineering from Andhra University, India. He has also received a gold medal for standing first in Mechanical Engineering. Mr. Reddy has over 30 years of Engineering and Management experience, most of it in the IT industry. He began his career with DCM Group in 1974 as a Senior Management Trainee; then moved to MICO BOSCH for three years as a Senior Systems Officer and later joined Hindustan Computers Ltd. (now HCL) as a Regional Manager. Later, Mr. Reddy worked as the Managing Director of OMC Computers. Hepromoted Infotech Enterprises(1991-92) and is the Chairman & Managing Director. Infotech Enterprises Ltd. is a global technology services and solution company specializing in geospatial, engineering design and IT solutions. The company helps customers across diverse industries improve their time-to market, reduce cost and optimize resources. Infotech has acquired significant domain expertise in various verticals providing high quality, dependability in deliverables and value of services. Customer includes some of the most recognized names in aerospace, rail, telecommunication, utilities, mapping industry and the government. Infotech’s office in US and UK, Germany, Australia, Singapore and Netherlands provide local customer interface, project management and delivery support.   Tushar Kanti Chakraborty (MSc2/CHM/79) Wednesday, October 18, 2006