A young Indian entrepreneur, Rohit Kandakatla has been elected as Vice-President of International Federation for Engineering Education Societies (IFEES) at World Engineering Education forum held in Florence, Italy last week.
He is said to be the first Indian and also the youngest to have been elected as the Vice-President.
Mr. Rohit was in fray along with top engineering educators, entrepreneurs and motivators, but finally managed to be elected due to his contribution to engineering education research as a student and also as the entrepreneur.
In fact, he is the first Indian to become International President of Student Platform for Engineering Education for Development (SPEED). Recognising his research in the area of engineering education and publication of papers, he was awarded 2014 IGIP-SPEED young scientist award last year at the 43 International conference on Engineering Pedagogy in Dubai by the International Society for Engineering Education.
Rohit, who did his Masters in Embedded Systems at Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, is also the founder and CEO of Footsteps, a social venture that works towards improving the learning and understanding of engineering for students across India.
“My journey in the field of engineering education began in 2012 with SPEED. Later, I founded the Indian Student Forum (ISF), a replica of the Global Student Forum, SPEED’s annual event, to reach out to more students,” says Rohit. His father Krishna Reddy runs an engineering college in Hyderabad.
In 2013, he was also elected as the Internal Affairs Officer (IAO) of SPEED globally through which he got the opportunity to interact with SPEED members across the globe. During his tenure as the IAO, he worked with the IFEES on the global student strategic thrust and developed a global student survey to collect data related to engineering education across the globe.
The IFEES was founded in 2006, at the American Society for Engineering Education’s Global Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. IFEES members represent diversity not only in cultures, but in engineering education interests, from quality assurance to engineering education, from pedagogy to the role of technology in the classroom.
