The Indian Institute of Technology Madras presented the distinguished alumnus awards on its 64th Institute Day celebrations on Thursday.
Viswanathan Kumaran of the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, was selected for the award for 2020. Rupesh Nasre from the Computer Science and Engineering Department and Nagabhushana Rao Vadlamani from the Aerospace Engineering Department were selected for the Srimathi Marti Annapurna Gurunath Award for excellence in teaching for 2022-23. The award is based on an endowment by Institute alumnus Marti Subrahmanyam, Stem School of Business, New York University.
R.I. Sujith of the Aerospace Engineering department received the lifetime achievement award,. which includes a grant of ₹50 lakh to be operated as a project. He has been designated an Institute professor and has been invited to teach and take research scholars from various departments.
Sridhar Vembu, founder and chief executive officer of Zoho Corporation, who graduated with a B. Tech in Electrical Engineering in 1989, was the chief guest. He recalled that during his early days in the industry, they were required to create models that represented the real world. “We had to build models to fit the real world and the only way to build that is to actually build real world systems. We had to build real world stuff to even make models meaningful,” he said.
Institute director V. Kamakoti said the institute had granted over 75 interdisciplinary projects which were funded in the first round under the Institution of Excellence grants from the Union government. At present, 15 IoE centres of excellence in niche areas of research were being set up with a funding of ₹15 crore each, he said. Also, 20 IoE centres with a funding of ₹5 crore and 15 IoE projects with a funding of ₹2 crore would be supported, he said.
Hyperloop project
A team of 72 students from the institute were working on the hyperloop project that aims to set up Asia’s first 500 m test track on the IIT Madras Discovery campus, Mr. Kamakoti said.
Two professors were presented the mid-career research and development award with a grant of ₹40 lakh. Eleven alumni from various organisations across the world were presented the distinguished alumnus awards.
The institute’s Shaastra and Saarang teams raised ₹3 lakh as donations this year. Each of the three institutions chosen — the Deepam Trust and Ties That Bind Foundation from Chennai and the United Orphanage for the Disabled in Coimbatore – received ₹1 lakh.
