Newsdigest for the IITD Alumni Association

1. IIT Delhi Distinguished Alumni Award – Nomination for 2007.

IIT Delhi Distinguished Alumni Award was instituted in 1991 to recognize conspicuous achievements and outstanding contributions made by an Alumnus of IIT Delhi to teaching and R&D, technology and business development, entrepreneurship, professional service and public policy. By presenting this award, the Institute recognizes its alumni for achievements that have brought laurels to the Institute.

The award is conferred each year by the Institute on one or more alumni at the Institute’s annual convocation. It consists of a plaque and a citation. A list of alumni who have been conferred this honour in earlier years is attached. (You may visit the IIT Delhi site www.iitd.ac.in/alumni to find more about previous awardees).

On behalf of the Screening Committee for the award, I have the pleasure of inviting you to nominate one (or more) IIT Delhi alumnus who in your opinion has excelled in his/her professional career and should be considered for the prestigious award. All those who have obtained a degree from IIT Delhi, other than those currently on the faculty or staff of IIT Delhi, are eligible.

Kindly send to me the nomination in the enclosed format together with the summary of his/her distinguished achievements / contributions. It would be helpful if you would also send to us a resume of the nominee. I would appreciate receiving nominations on or before Dec. 31^st, 2006. Please feel free to contact me if you need further information in this regard.

With kind regards,
Manoj Datta

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FORMAT FOR NOMINATION FOR IIT DELHI DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARD

Name of the nominee ____________________________________

IIT Delhi Degree (s) ____________________________________

Current position/ title ____________________________________

Nominee’s address, phone, fax, email address

____________________________________

____________________________________

____________________________________

Brief Sketch of nominee’s career and achievements: (use separate sheet, if required)

LIST OF RECIPIENTS OF DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARD

Name	Position and Affiliation at the time of Award	Alumnus Year	Year of Award
Prof. P.K. Kaw	Director, Institute for Plasma Research	1966	1992
Dr. Jai N.Gupta	President, EER Systems Corporation	1967	1992
Mr. Vinod Khosla	General Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers	1976	1993
Prof. Yogesh Jaluria	Professor, State University of New Jersey	1970	1994
Dr. Vijay.P. Bhatkar	Executive Director, CDAC, Pune University	1972	1994
Mr. Rajat Gupta	Managing Director, McKinsey & Company Inc.	1971	1995
Mr. R.S.Pawar	Executive Chairman & MD, NIIT	1972	1995
Mr. Y.C. Deveshwar	Chairman, ITC Ltd.	1968	1996
Prof. S.R. Kulkarni	Professor, California Inst. of Technology	1972	1996
Dr. Naren K. Gupta	Chairman & MD, Integrated Systems Inc.	1969	1997
Mr.Vinod Mahendroo	President, Applied Materials Inc.	1974	1998
Prof. A.J. Paulraj	Professor, Stanford University	1973	1998
Dr. O.P. Sharma	Director, United Tech. Research Centre	1967	1999
Mr. Vijay Thadani	President & CEO, NIIT	1972	1999
Mr. Anil Sood	Vice President, World Bank	1971	2000
Prof. G.P. Agarwal	Professor, University of Rochester	1974	2000
Mr. Hari S. Bhartia	Co-chairman & MD, Vam Organic Chemicals	1979	2000
Mr. Pradeep Gupta	Managing Director, Cyber Media (India) Ltd.	1975	2001
Mr. Manvinder Singh Banga	Chairman, Hindustan Lever Ltd.	1975	2001
Dr. Hanwant B. Singh	Group Leader, NASA Ames Research Centre	1968	2001
Dr. Prabhat K Dubey	Chairman, President and CEO, Force 10 Networks Inc., USA	1970	2002
Prof. Chandra S. Vikram	Professor, University of Alabama, USA	1973	2002
Prof. Subhash Kak	Professor, Louisiana State University, USA	1970	2002
Dr. Anoop Gupta	Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Corporation	1980	2003
Shri Vijay Mahajan	Managing Director, Basix India	1975	2003
Dr. Gobi R. Padmanabhan	Sr. Vice President, National Semiconductor, USA	1971	2003
Ms. Padmasree Warrior	Sr. Vice President and Chief Technology Officer Motorola Inc.	1982	2004
Dr. Madhu Sudan	Professor, MIT, USA	1987	2004
Mr. Akhil Gupta	CEO Corporate Development Reliance Infocomm Ltd.	1973	2004
Dr. Krishan Sabnani	Senior Vice President Networking Research Bell Labs, USA	1975	2005
Dr. Raghuram G. Rajan	Economic Counsellor and Director of Research, IMF, USA	1985	2005
Mr. K. Venkataramanan	President (Operations), Larsen & Toubro Limited	1966	2005
Mr. Asim Ghosh	Managing Director, Hutchison Essar	1969	2006
Prof. Renu Malhotra	Professor, University of Arizona, USA	1983	2006
Mr. Navin Chaddha	Managing Director, Gabriel Venture Partners, USA	1992	2006

2.Eminent persons who visited IIT Delhi recently

Prof. Denis Therien, Vice-Principal (Research and International Relations), McGill University, on his visit to the Institute on 23rd November 2006.

His Royal Highness Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, KG,KCVO,ADC, UK Special Representative for International Trade & Investment on his visit to the Institute on 30th October 2006.

Prof. Ryoji Noyori, Nobel Laureate (Chemistry), President RIKEN and Professor, Chemistry Department, Nagoya University, Japan. Prof. Ryoji Noyori visited the Institute on 30th October 2006.

Dr. Arden Bement, Director, National Science Foundation, USA Dr. Arden Bement visited the Institute on 16th October 2006.

Click here for more information

3. NRI establishes universal private charitable foundation.

The founder Mr. Vinesh Saxena of Vinesh Saxena family foundation, was born in middle class family in small town (Bisauli) in U.P. From the very beginning he was goal oriented. He excelled in education. In high school Provincial examination he passed with honors and ranked seventeenth in the whole province of Utter Pradesh. He earned Government Post Metric National merit scholarship, which was given to 200 students of whole India in 1959. Subsequently, he did B.Sc. from Agra University and Mechanical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi in 1967.

After doing his bachelor of engineering, he went to Canada and did his master of engineering at the University of New Brunswick. He earned an MBA from McGill University. He is also a member of Order of Engineers, the Chartered Management Accountants and the Society of cost engineers. He worked almost 25 years with Pratt and Whitney as engineer. He also taught part time at Concordia and McGill Universities. Mr. Saxena worked tirelessly, working full time, and teaching part time. He owned real estate and stayed active in financial markets all simultaneously.

After working very hard for almost forty years in Canadian society and leading a humble moderate life, he decided to establish a foundation. He felt ready to realize his other ambitions. He established this foundation to return what he had received from the Society for its betterment.

This perpetual trust has two objectives:
1. To help the needy: If you are in real need of money (could be a student, single mother/father, sick, poor, abused or anyone else in real need) and require financial aid, you can apply for “seed money” from Vinesh Saxena family foundation. The person may be from any part of the world. As at present one student of from Thailand has got help from the foundation to do his masters of engineering. A lady from New Delhi is getting financial help to support her child’s education when her husband is out of job due to accident. Visit website www.vsffoundation.ca
Mr. Saxena has compiled seven principles which he considers a tool kit for life. It is his inner most conviction that if people follow these principles in life, they can gain complete control of their life as well as destiny and be happy, self sufficient beings. However, due to circumstances, one is in "dire financial need", he/she can apply for assistance from this foundation.
2. Find answers to the "Unanswered" fundamental questions:
Even though Vinesh’s journey through worldly happenings- education, work, marriage, children etc.- his mind was always thinking about the same fundamental questions related to soul, life after death and the existence of God. Life could not just end after death, but what thereafter? He was brought up in a conventional Hindu traditional family but from the very beginning (may be at the age of 14) he started ignoring religious rituals. Examining different religions Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Christianity etc., he came to the conclusion that one has to rise above and beyond all these man-made religions to find real spirituality.
This foundation will provide financial or other support to promote efforts in getting answers to the fundamental questions i.e. "is there a soul"? "Is there life after death"? "Does God exist? The so-called religions do not provide answers to these basic questions. They even contradict each other- i.e. according to religious doctrines, the Hindus get reincarnated, but Muslims do not get reincarnated and Christians get bodily resurrected. What happens to communists, atheists, followers of "Jedi" etc. etc.? Religions originated at different places at different times in history to fill a void. They may be able to teach some morality, but just that. There is no scientific inquiry or universality as regards to answering fundamental questions related to soul, life after death and God. Mr. Saxena feels that is of utmost importance to obtain answers to these questions.
If soul and life after death do not exist, if there is no God and we are just random happenings, then one's attitude will be completely different than if these things do exist.

4. An Indian in Cowboy Country

Pradeep Anand, IITB, his book, An Indian in Cowboy Country, has hit the stands at real and virtual
bookstores. It is available at Barnes & Noble stores, at www.barnesandnoble.com, and www.amazon.com. Details about the book can be seen at www.pradeepanand.com
An Indian in Cowboy Country is about an IIT engineer's sometimes humorous,
sometimes poignant struggle to fit and assimilate into the fabric of American life.

Please read "An Indian in Cowboy Country" and let me know what you think about it. Also, please help me spread the word. If appropriate, please pass this email on to your friends; some will empathize with the hero, but all will gain insights into Indian immigrants in the US.

Nandan Nilekani, CEO, Infosys, has written the foreword to the book. He says, "An Indian in Cowboy Country is a must read. Pradeep has done an amazing job, with great simplicity, in chronicling an Asian Indian's journey in an alien society, simultaneously maintaining one's cultural moorings
and moral center."

Award-winning author and poet, Chitra Divakaruni says, "Pradeep Anand has put together a collection of highly enjoyable stories about the many challenges of being a brown-skinned techie in Texas. Immigrants everywhere will relate to this perceptive and relevant book."

The Mayor Pro Tem of Houston, Texas, Michael Berry said, "Pradeep Anand has given voice, in a very sincere, real way, to the phenomenon of overachieving Indians assimilating into the fabric of American life. He seems to effortlessly capture the essence of their struggle to fit in while retaining and celebrating very different roots. This journey is comical, poignant, and -- until now -- little known outside the world of those experiencing it.

A good read, whether you grew up in India, the U.S., or anywhere else!"