Mumbai: Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) celebrated its 58th Foundation Day yesterday (10 March 2017). On the foundation day, IIT Bombay honoured eleven as Distinguished Alumnus Awards, two as Young Alumnus Achievers Awards, and awarded two faculty members for excellence in research work.
Like every year, the Institute felicitated its select alumni for their achievements in diverse fields ranging from academics, research and entrepreneurship. Mr Sanjay Mashruwala, Managing Director of Reliance Jio Infocom Limited and the Chief Guest for the function gave away the Distinguished Alumnus Awards, Young Alumnus Achiever Awards, the ‘Prof. S.C. Bhattacharya Award for Excellence in Research in Pure Sciences’ and ‘Prof. H.H. Mathur Award for Excellence in Research in Applied Sciences’.
The Institute had long felt the need to recognize the alumni of IIT Bombay, who have excelled in their field of work and made the Institute proud. With this aim, the Distinguished Alumnus Awards (DAA) have been instituted. The winners include:
Prof. Ajit Tamhane
Mr. Paritosh Choksi
Mr. Parag Saxena
Mr. Narendra Joshi
Dr. Mukta Ghate Farooq
Mr. Ardeshir Contractor
Prof. Nitin Padture
Mr. Rajesh Subramanian
Prof. Umesh Waghmare
Dr. Ganesh Natrajan
Dr. K. Sivan
The ‘Prof. S.C. Bhattacharya Award for Excellence in Research in Pure Sciences’ was conferred on Prof. Amiya Pani, Department of Mathematics. The ‘Prof. H.H. Mathur Award for Excellence in Research in Applied Sciences’ was conferred on Prof. Rinti Banerjee, Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering.
The Young Alumni Achiever Awards (YAAA) are for alumni who have made outstanding achievements in their chosen field of work and are below 40 years of age. These awards were instituted in the year 2011. The winnders include:
Prof. Pramod Reddy
Mr. Prashant Mali
On the occasion, Prof. Devang Khakhar, Director of IIT Bombay briefed about the achievements of the Institute. Referring to the brain drain from India, he said, “Today, the situation is much different with more than 86% finding work in India and making great contributions. Looking back over the 68 years, I feel that the hopes and dreams of the founders of the IITs are largely fulfilled. We have a lot to be proud of and celebrate on this Foundation Day.”
Highlighting the Institute’s progress, he said,“The progress of the Institute on all fronts has been very good. Today we have more than 10,000 students on the rolls and more than Rs 300 crore of research funding per year. 18% of the students are women. We have been able to recruit outstanding faculty over the years and have more than 620 faculty members on the rolls at present. Last year, 41 faculty members joined, 30% of whom were women.”
The foundation stone for the internationally recognized Institute was laid by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, then Prime Minister of India on 10 March 1959. IIT Bombay was the second IIT to be established in the country and the first one to be established with a foreign aid received from UNESCO. Since then, the Institute has grown from strength to strength and is now counted among the best engineering institutions across the globe.
