IIT Bombay Heritage Fund
2464 El Camino Real, PMB #575
Santa Clara, CA 95051-3097
 
Phone: 1-408-252-1664

http://www.iitbombay.org

With the Y2K hoopla behind us, the IIT-BHF alumni activities kicked back into high gear this year. This year marked a major transition for the institute when Dr Ashok Misra took over as the new Director from Dr Sukhatme. The Alumni had their chance to meet and interact with Dr Misra and senior professors when the IIT Bombay Roadshow visited various chapters this year. The Director was accompanied by Professor M.G.K Menon, Chairman of the Board of Governors of IIT Bombay; Professor S.L.N. Murthy, Dean of Resource Mobilization; Professor U.B. Desai, Dean of Student Affairs; Professor Suryanarayanan, Dean R & D; and Professor U.N. Gaitonde, Professor in-charge of Alumni Affairs. Social events like picnics and dinners as well as seminars by distinguished alumni rounded off the year for most of the chapters.

• The Boston Chapter of the Heritage Fund and IIT-SINE organized a number of successful events this year. The year started with a New Year Party in January and a seminar in March by Dr. Kedar Gupta and Sushil Bhatia on "Commercialization of New Technologies". The Student Luncheon in September was a new event and was the most successful program of the year, attended by more than 75 people, a third of whom were recent graduates attending their first alumni event. The Roadshow arrived in Boston on October 14, featuring a Keynote address by Vik Mehrotra and Alok Kapoor on " Investing in Indian Technologists". The chapter concluded its activities for the year with a networking event in November.
  

• The Roadshow visited the Chicago Chapter on October 7, featuring a keynote talk by Bharat Desai, CEO of Syntel. An MOU was also signed with Dean Don Jacobs of Kellogg School of Business and Management, for faculty training.
  

• The Dallas Chapter Roadshow event on October 15 featured a Keynote Address by Dr. Krish Prabhu, COO of Alcatel Worldwide.
  

• Nandan Nilekani, MD & COO of Infosys Technologies Ltd. spoke on "Entrepreneurship in India: A Case Study Of Infosys" at a function organized by the Houston Chapter in April. The Honorable Mr. Rinzing Wangdi, Consul-General of India in Houston, was the chief guest. The Roadshow was combined with the annual picnic on October 14. Professor S.L.N. Murthy presented the alumni with information about the current state of IIT-B and how each alumnus could help reshape our Institute.
  

• The Greater New York Chapter has emerged as one of the most active based on the sheer number of events held. Professor Amarnath Bhide (Harvard Business School) and Professor Deepak Phatak (Head, KReSIT, IIT Bombay) spoke on "The Entrepreneurial Drive" at Raagini Restaurant in April. A Chapter picnic was held in June, followed by the annual gala event in September. The Roadshow event was covered by Silicon India in "IIT Bombay's alumni chapter meets in N.J". This also featured Nandan Nilekani, and Dr. Hemant Kanakia, Founder & Ex-Chairman, Torrent Network Technologies Corporation as keynote speakers.
  

• The San Francisco Bay Area Chapter kicked of a busy year with a seminar in March by Professor Amarnath Bhide, who spoke on "What's the secret of start-up success?" Dr. Deepak Phatak also spoke about the new initiatives being undertaken at IIT. The Annual Bay Area picnic was held in July, with a record turnout of 350 people. TIBCO Inc. was the gracious sponsor of the event. This was followed by another speaker event, with Raj Mashruwala, VP TIBCO Inc. expounding on "Thriving in Chaos: A Case Study of a Successful Startup". The final event for this year was the Roadshow which also featured an invited talk on "Making it in e-Business" by Raj Jaswa, President and CEO of Selectica Inc. His company was also the gracious sponsor of this event.
  

• The Seattle Chapter featured a Keynote Address by Vijay Vashee and Atul Kanagat as part of the Roadshow in October.
  

• The Southern California Chapter held the Roadshow on October 1st, featuring distinguished speakers like Dr. N. Nallicheri from marchFIRST, Professor U. Karmarkar from UCLA's Anderson school, and Anand Rajaraman, Co-founder of Junglee and now at Cambrian Ventures. The world-renowned artists Dr. L. Subramaniam and Ms. Kavita Krishnamurthy presented a light Indian music program.
  

• The Washington, DC featured the Roadshow at the UMCP campus on the 12th of October with a visit by Professor Suryanarayanan.