Distinguished Alumnus Awards 2018
IIT Kharagpur has always been recognized as one of the pioneers of academic excellence which has gone on to contribute heavily in the development of our nation. With its motto ‘Dedicated to the service of the nation’, the students graduating from the institute have been of the highest merit and distinct character, who have achieved reputed positions in industry, business, arts, public sector, academic and research institutions or as entrepreneurs. The institute recognizes the Alumni of IIT Kharagpur who have distinguished themselves in their field of work and done the institute proud. With this intention the distinguished Alumnus awards were instituted and is awarded annually on the occasion of Convocation. This year, the awards have been bestowed on 13 distinguished alumni in recognition of their outstanding professional contributions. Here they are (in no particular order):
- Santanu Chaudhury: He did his B.Tech (1984) in Electronics and Electrical Communication from IIT Kharagpur. He earned his PhD in Computer Science and Engineering from IIT Kharagpur in 1989. He has been a Professor at IIT Delhi in Department of Electrical Engineering and also served as the Dean, Undergraduate Studies, IIT Delhi (2009–2012). His researches in collaboration with multiple companies have been of extensive use in the Industry. He is a Fellow of INAE, INASc, IAPR, IEEE and ACM. He has been the Schlumberger Chair Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering. IIT Delhi. He received INSA medal for young scientist in 1993 and the ACCS-CDAC award in 2012. Currently he is the Director of CSIR — Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute (CEERI). Sources: https://www.ceeri.res.in/director/ ; http://web.iitd.ac.in/~santanuc/
2. Ramesh Jain — B.E. in Electrical and Electronics Engg. from VNIT Nagpur. He completed his Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engg. from IIT Kharagpur in 1976. While being the professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and the University of California, San Diego, he founded and directed artificial intelligence and visual computing labs. He joined University of California, Irvine as the first Bren Professor in Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences in 2005. Ramesh co-founded multiple companies (Imageware, Virage, Praja, Seraja, mChron, and Krumbs), managed them in initial stages, and then turned them over to professional management. He was also the founding Editor-in-Chief of IEEE MultiMedia magazine and served on the editorial boards of several magazines and journals. Ramesh has been elected Fellow of ACM, IEEE, AAAS, IAPR, AAAI, and SPIE. He is the recipient of several awards including the ACM SIGMM Technical Achievement Award 2010. Currently, he is working with Krumbs — an Engagement Layer company. He also serves as the Director of Institute for Future Health (IFH), UCl, Irvine. Source: http://ngs.ics.uci.edu/ ;
3. Parag V Havaldar: He had done his B.Tech. in Computer Science and Engineering in 1991 from IIT Kharagpur and went on to do a Ph.D. in computer vision and graphics from the University of Southern California in 1996. He is honored with the Technical Achievement Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the development of expression-based facial performance-capture technology at Sony Pictures Imageworks. The technology developed by him and his group have been used to create stylized and realistic character animations in a variety of movies including “Alice in Wonderland”, “Monster House”, “Hancock” and “SpiderMan”. Currently he is the software and R&D Lead at Blizzard Entertainment.
4. Chaitali Chakrabarti: Chaitali Chakrabarti received her B. Tech. in Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur in 1984. She received her M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engg. Department from University of Maryland, College Park in 1986 and 1990 respectively. She has been at Arizona State University since fall 1990. She has been honoured with numerous awards including Distinguished Alumni Award, Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park (2013), Fulton Exemplar Faculty Award (2014). Currently she is a Professor at School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, Arizona State University. Source: https://ecee.engineering.asu.edu/project/chaitali-chakrabarti/ ;
5. Pushpak Bhattacharyya: Dr. Pushpak Bhattacharyya has been a Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at IIT Bombay since 2002. He earned his B. Tech. degree from IIT Kharagpur in 1984 and his M. Tech. from IIT Kanpur in 1986. He completed his PhD from IIT Bombay in 1994. He was a Visiting research fellow in Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1990. He is well known for his contributions to natural language processing and has several distinctions in that field. For his outstanding contribution to computer science, he has received many accolades including IBM Innovation award (2007), Yahoo Faculty Award (2011), P. K. Patwardhan Award for Technology Development (2008), and VNMM Award of IIT Roorkee (2014). Currently he serves as the Director, IIT Patna.
6. Samir V. Kamat: Dr. Samir V. Kamat received his B.Tech in Metallurgical Engineering from IIT Kharagpur in 1985 and PhD from Ohio State University in 1988. He has served as a Research Scientist at the Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory, Hyderabad and has been the Project Director for the Science and Design of Materials at Atomic Scale, Mechanical Behaviour in small Volumes and numerous other projects. He has published more than 180 papers in peer reviewed International Journals. He served as the Head at Functional Materials Division. Currently, he is the Director-General (Naval Systems and Materials) at DRDO. Sources: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samir-v-kamat-7a10a856/
7. Ashim Kumar Datta: He completed his B.Tech in Agricultural Engineering from IIT Kharagpur in 1979. He did his MS from University of Illionis in 1982 and PhD from University of Florida 1985. He has since been Professor in Agricultural and Biological Engineering at Cornell University. He is a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, Institute of Food Technologists, American Society of Agricultural Engineers and various others. He became a National Merit Scholar in 1974, and Travelling Fellow at College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, 1989. Currently he serves as Professor at at Cornell University. Sources: https://prabook.com/web/ashim_kumar.datta/603859 ; https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashim-datta-4927b521/?trk=public-profile-join-page ;
8. Dr. Haresh Lalvani: He did his B.Arch from IIT Kharagpur in 1967. He is a tenured professor of Architecture at Pratt Institute where he is also the co-director of the Center for Experimental Structures. His AlgoRhythm Columns are in the permanent design collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York. Based on the search to understand how nature designs its incredible creations, his groundbreaking design projects have been supported by NASA, NYSTAR, NEA, Graham Foundation among others. He received the Pioneers’ Award from the Space Structures Research Center, University of Surrey, UK.
9. Narayan B T Mandayan: He completed his B.Tech. in Electrical Engineering from IIT Kharagpur in 1989. He is a distinguished professor at Rutgers University in the United States, where he is also the Associate Director of Wireless Information Networking Laboratory(WINLAB), Rutgers University. His prime research interests include Cognitive Radio Networks and Network Coding for Wireless Networks, and has been published many a times in IEEE Transactions. He completed his Ph.D. from Electrical Engineering, Rice University, Houston and due to his spectacular research contributions, he was inducted as the Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE (2012–13).
10. Sudipta Seal: He did his B.Tech. in Metallurgical Engineering from IIT Kharagpur in 1990. He is currently a Professor and Chair of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Central Florida. He has served as Nano Initiative Coordinator for the Vice-President of Research & Commercialization. Dr. Sudipta Seal joined the Advanced Materials Processing and Analysis Center (AMPAC) and Materials Science & Engineering at the University of Central Florida in 1997 and has developed scalable methods for template free nano oxide particles.
11. Utpal Bhattacharya: He is a retired lieutenant general and has earlier served as the Vice President in JP Group, following his Army. He holds B. Sc (Hons) and B. Tech. (Hons) from IIT Kharagpur in Civil Engineering (1969), M. Sc (Defence Studies), and Master of Management Studies. He has been honoured with distinguished service awards viz., Ati Vishisht Seva Medal(AVSM), Chief of Army Staff Commendation, and Param Vishisht Seva Medal(PVSM) .Shri Utpal Bhattacharya is also a Member of the Board of Directors of Prasar Bharati and International Broadcaster on Doordarshan & AIR.
12. V Narayanan: He did his M.Tech in Cryogenic Engineering (1989) and PhD in Aerospace Engineering (2000) — both from IIT- Kharagpur. Dr V Narayanan, an outstanding scientist and an expert in cryogenic rocket propulsion technology, took charge as the new director of Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) of ISRO in January earlier this year. He joined ISRO way back in 1984 and later qualified to pursue Ph.D. from ceramics engineering in 1988. Since then, it has been no looking back for Dr. Narayanan as he guided the liquid propulsion activities of ISRO and was instrumental in finalising the Liquid Propulsion Roadmap of ISRO for the next 20 years.
13. Swami Smaranananda: Swami Smaranananda Giri is the General Secretary of the Yogoda Satsanga Society of India (YSS), founded by Sri Paramahansa Yogananda in 1917. The Society is involved in various spiritual, humanitarian and charitable activities in the Indian subcontinent. He is a Postdoctoral Fellow from Concordia University, Montreal, Canada, and a PhD in Electronics and Communication Engineering from IIT, Kharagpur, as well as a Gold Medalist in School Final and in Engineering. In 1985, Swami Smaranananda was to decide whether to join the former President of India Dr. Abdul Kalam in his missile project as a Scientist or Yogoda Satsanga Ashram as a sannyasi, and chose the latter.
