BITS Pilani: Making us proud!

Green Globe Foundation YUVA Award goes to BITS Pilani Chemical Engineering Student Raghav Mimani

2010-03-05T05:16:00.000-08:00

(Refer: prlog.org/10540541-green-globe-foundation-yuva-award-goes-to-bits-pilani-chemical-engineering-student-raghav-mimani.html)

Youth who bear the brunt of the negative impacts of climate change, also symbolize a great force in combating it and carry immense potential to be the flag bearers of change.

Feb 19, 2010 – It is known that Climate change not only impacts the ecology but has far-reaching consequences for the society, culture, and politics of the nations. Youth have the potential to be the change-makers, who through their knowledge, observations and action, can go the way and show the way to combat the challenges of climate change for a greener today and for an environment that will nurture the future generations.

World Sustainable Development Forum DSDS 2010 the tenth Delhi Sustainable Development Summit – Beyond Copenhagen: New Pathways to Sustainable Development took place during February 5-7, 2010. One of the highlights of the DSDS is the Green Globe Foundation Award which is a WIZCRAFT initiative with TERI as Knowledge partner and OUTLOOK as Media partner. Green Globe Foundation has the motto Together we can save the world and the awards are for honouring the real heroes who are making efforts to save the planet.

This year the YUVA (Youth Unite for Voluntary Action) was bagged by Raghav Mimani third year B.E. (Hons) Chemical Engineering student of Birla Institute of Technology and Science – BITS Pilani. In a glittering function held at Delhi, Raghav received the award from Mr. Jigmi Yoser Thinley Prime Minister of Bhutan. Raghav joined BITS Pilani in the year 2007 after clearing the online BITSAT examination.

Its indeed a matter of pride that Raghav also had participated in the “World Youth Meeting for Sustainable Future” held at Bari, Italy during January 19-21, 2010. For Raghav who is presently the General Secretary of the BITS Pilani Students Union, entrepreneurship is a Mission with Passion and like a true BITSian he firmly believes that there are no dreams too large, no innovation unimaginable and no frontiers beyond reach.

Proud to be BITSian Raghav Mimani is bound to climb many more green peaks in the years to come.

Proud to be BITSian Anu Hassan wins Kalaimamani Award

2010-02-05T09:00:00.000-08:00

(Refer: prlog.org/10431458-proud-to-be-bitsian-anu-hassan-wins-kalaimamani-award.html)

This award is given to artists who have rendered valuable service in the field of performing art.

Anu who holds coveted dual degree MSc (Hons) and MMS from Birla Institute of Technology and Science (popularly known as BITS) Pilani is a Multi Talented Entrepreneur, Film Actress, Model, Jazz Singer, Martial Arts Bungee Jumper, Scuba Diver, TV Star and TV Anchor well known for “Koffee with Anu” show.

Organized by the Tamil Nadu Iyal Isai Nataka (Literature, Music, Theatre) Mandram, the 42nd Kalaimamani awards took place at the Kalaivanar Arangam Chennai on November 28, 2009 and the winners received the awards and medals from Governor Surjit Singh Barnala and Chief Minister Karunanidhi.

In an exclusive message to BITSAA, Anu Hassan was emphatic in stating that her alma mater BITS Pilani in addition to academic excellence gave ample encouragement to culture oriented activities during her student days (1988 – 1993) and that she takes pride in stating the same.

Proud to be BITSian Anu Hassan is bound to climb many more peaks in the years to come.

For Alam Ali Kayam Khan to do SRK BITS Pilani says Main Hoon Na

2010-02-05T08:38:00.000-08:00

(Refer: prlog.org/10430455-for-alam-ali-kayam-khan-to-do-srk-bits-pilani-says-main-hoon-na.html)

Proud to be BITSian Alam Ali firmly believes that When a Mission is taken up with Passion, there are no dreams too large, no innovation unimaginable and no frontiers beyond reach.

In mid 2007, 95 year old Nola Ochs completed her degree in General Studies with history focus from Fort Hays State University Kansas USA to break the Guinness record held by Mozelle Richardson, who at age 90 in 2004 had received a journalism degree from the University of Oklahoma.

The US universities have the academic regulations and flexibilities such as modular approach, credit based curriculum, continuous internal evaluation, choice of electives, interdisciplinary approach, substitution as well as withdrawal from courses combined with well maintained easily retrievable student records etc built in the system to facilitate such things to happen.

Reading the above, one might conclude that such things happening in India and Indian University is unthinkable. All that is possible in India is a Bollywood potboiler such as Main Hoon Na with Shahrukh Khan going to college after many years as undercover agent stuff and making box office history.

For those who know about Birla Institute of Technology and Science popularly known as BITS Pilani will say that well such a thing is possible in India also. For those who think the other side is green for sure have not seen the grass at Pilani and the college Fest aptly known as OASIS which is a jewel in the crown among such Festivals in India. Students of this Institute take pride in stating that they came here by taking the road not taken by others and that has made all the difference – lines from the inspirational poem Road Not taken by Robert Frost.

Alam Ali Kayam Khan a topper from Rajasthan Board joined BITS Pilani in 1977 to do his B.E. (Hons) Electrical & Electronics (EEE) which was of five year duration then. Due to personal and pressing family problems, he took the decision to discontinue from the degree and went into oblivion. His batch mates who had joined with him graduated in 1982 and ended up being dreamers, performers and achievers in many walks of life. Year 2007 being the silver jubilee year of graduation, for the reunion to be held in October 2007at Pilani organized by the BITS Alumni Association – BITSAA, Alam Ali’s friends located him in Ranasar village in Churu district of Rajasthan teaching in a school science and mathematics to kids and brought him to join the reunion.

Pushed by his batch mates and his own burning desire to complete the degree from BITS Pilani, in November 2007, Alam Ali applied for readmission and appealed to reinstate him. BITS Pilani brought back his records, worked out the balance of curriculum to be completed in four semesters to enable Alam Ali become eligible for the award of the degree.

From January 2008 for the next two years, Alam Ali stayed in the hostel with students who were close to the age of his eldest daughter, ate in the mess, attended classes, wrote examinations, spent night outs in the All Night Canteen (ANC) and the famous Sarath Babu FoodKing restaurant etc. First day when he entered the class, other students thought that the faculty had come to deliver the lecture and were pleasantly shocked when they found him sitting along with them. He was referred as Sir by his class mates even though he was one among them.

On November 24, 2009, in the farewell tea party for graduating students, Alam Ali broke his long silence and gave an emotional and inspirational speech. He profusely thanked the Vice Chancellor and all officers of the Institute for enabling him to achieve his burning desire. He had words of praise for Dr RK Mittal Deputy Director Administration – Dean Academic Registration and Counselling Division and Dr BR Natarajan Dean Work Integrated Learning Programmes who had mentored him all through.

He made it a point to thank Dr V K Coubey Group Leader EEE who guided his final semester thesis. He got a loud round of applause when he thanked the young fellows with whom he attended classes for respecting him and helping him to catch up with difficult subjects and new technologies. Alam Ali became
emotional while thanking his batch mates for standing by him all along to ensure that he accomplished his
dream to complete the degree from BITS Pilani.

Alam Ali was emphatic in stating that BITSians are destined to achieve the impossible and he was proud in joining the worldwide community of BITS Alumni.
Those who know Alam Ali close enough will vouch for the fact about his intimate knowledge of Vishnu Purana, Upanishads and believe it or not Vedas as well as Buddhism.

If any one thought that after all these years, Alam Ali must have come out of BITS Pilani as Five Point Someone, you will be surprised to know that he has cleared his B.E.(Hons) EEE with a First Division and he is not one among 3 Idiots who may be found here and there.

For Alam Ali, this Id-ul-Zuha (Bakrid) festival is special and his entire Ranasar village in Churu district is waiting to welcome him. Who knows Alam Ali may be destined to achieve his next dream of doing his masters from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology – KAUST Jeddah Saudi Arabia.

BITS Pilani Finance student Aayush Deora Habitat Young Visionary Award 2010 Runner-up

2010-02-05T03:47:00.000-08:00

(Refer: prlog.org/10517321-bits-pilani-finance-student-aayush-deora-habitat-young-visionary-award-2010-runnerup.html)

His role model is none other than IT Czar Infosys N R Narayana Murthy.

Feb 03, 2010 – Starting from 2004, India Habitat Centre has been engaging with the youth, who are successor generation and form the largest component of our population, through the Habitat Young Visionary Award competition. For more details click indiahabitat.org/main.htm

This award carries a fully funded summer programme at Cambridge University and is awarded to a young voice that expresses the vision to build a society of their choice based on a theme that enables and urges the young minds to search their values and relate them to the future. The runner-up gets an internship at National Geographic Hong Kong.

The competition for the Habitat Young Visionary Award is open to students all over India who go through three rounds of rigorous participation, at the end of which the finalists are chosen to compete for the Award. Participants are required to write an essay on their specific vision, based on a theme that is provided each year. The theme for this year was “The Change you wish to see”.

A committee of academic experts then evaluates these essays and selects the best ten from each zone - North & East and South & West. These semi-finalists are invited to present their vision in greater detail before a panel of judges comprising of well-known and eminent persons - journalists, bureaucrats, writers, politicians, policy-makers and achievers. This year, the semi-finals for North & East zones took place in India Habitat Centre, Delhi and for South & West zones in IIT Madras, Chennai. Three semi-finalists each from the two Semi-Finals - a total of six - were short-listed for the Finals, in which their vision was questioned in greater detail.

The grand finale for the Habitat Young Visionary Award 2010 was conducted at India Habitat Centre Lodhi Road New Delhi on 30 January 2010. The finals had six contestants - Rishika Das Roy from St. Xavier's College, Kolkata; Neha Kamra from Indira Gandhi Institute of Technology, GGSIPU, Delhi; Kushal Bhimjiani from National Law School of India, Bangalore; Rohit Keshav Pothukuchi from NALSAR, Hyderabad; Abhinav Aggarwal from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai and Aayush Deora from Birla Institute of Technology and Science – BITS Pilani.

In the hotly contested finals, Rishika Das was declared winner for her presentation on Saving Lives of victims after natural disasters while Aayush Deora was declared runner-up for his presentation on Empowering India through Education. It is indeed a matter of pride that Anurag Dutta also a student of BITS Pilani won the runner-up position in 2009.

Aayush Deora did his schooling in Calcutta Boys School and joined BITS Pilani in the year 2006 for the MSc (Tech) Finance degree program after clearing the online entrance examination BITSAT. In September last year as Group Leader for the team with 2 other BITSians Anirudh Mandhana and Gaurav Shahlot, he participated in the Youth Business Development Competition 2009 organized by the Oxford Business Network for Social Entrepreneurship - The Said Business School and won the first position. He is all geared up to participate in ASES (Asia-Pacific Student Entrepreneurship Society) scheduled during April 4-10, 2010 at Stanford University, USA.

Proud to be BITSian Aayush Deora is bound to climb many more peaks in the coming years and bring laurels to BITS Pilani.

Novel “BITSAA-Silicon Valley Miles Program” helps BITS student present at IEEE Nano Conference

2010-01-31T21:31:00.000-08:00

Arwind Pavan's personal account of how he won the BITSAA Miles Program last year...

It was a lazy saturday evening when I resorted to my most-repeated activity of the day - check email. And there it was! My paper to the 9th IEEE International Conference on Nanotechnology to be held in Italy had been accepted. This was followed by franctic calls to my guide, friends and family to convey this news. However, once the initial bubble had burst a few days later, realization dawned. These international conferences, inspite of the prestige it garners, comes at a hefty price. The registration alone costed me close to $500. It was in this predicament that I contacted BITSAA. Everything was stacked against me - I was not on campus to get the signatures of Dean, SWD on the forms, it was only a month before I left for the conference while the official deadline for these issues is a minimum of two months, and to top it all, the prices of the flight tickets and accomodation kept increasing by the day.Notwithstanding these stumbling block, BITSAA did come forward in a genuine effort to help me not miss this golden opportunity. And I definitely owe Dilip from BITSAA, who took much pains to arrange for my tickets to Genoa, a travelogue of my experience.

Needless to say, IEEE NANO 2009 saw some of the best brains in the world presenting their research ideas and breakthroughs. It covered a whole range of topics including nano-biomedicine, issues in nm feature size fabrication, the latest fad on graphene and nanowire devices, organic materials and terahertz nanoelectronics to name a few. All of the sessions that I had attended had been a true cornucopia of learning and interesting research themes that were of immediate concern to current day problems of energy and security. At this juncture, I would definitely give it to BITS for the brilliant idea of offering the dual-degree scheme. With a background in Physics and EEE, I was able to fully appreciate the problems and their solutions in cutting edge areas of technology. I was able to seamlessly integrate what I learnt in Physics with the plethora of applications that Electronics engg. emphasizes on. What BITS offers in these two degrees is often partial to students who would like to take up nanotechnology as their research area. By the end of last week, I stood enchanted, Physics being the enchantress and for this, I definitely have a lot of professors at BITS to thank.

Having been brought up in an environments surrounded by our own folk, it was refreshing and exciting to meet new people and along with it, new ideas and differing view-points. I had the good opportunity to meet a lot of eminent faculty and industry barons in this field. Notable among them were my discussions with Prof. Steven Goodnick, Programs Chair for the conference, and Director of the Centre for Nanotechnology in Arizona State University. He told me he had been to BITS Pilani and was vocally happy that our work is among the best in the world. I could also meet up and network with a lot of Indians, students and professionals, including BITSians from abroad working in different areas. The numerous discussions I had with all the professors and graduate students gave a lot of inside information on how research happens around the world. It probably taught me the most improtant thing that I would need all my life- the art of networking. On a lighter note, it was a classic case of culture shock in the first few days of my trip. The food they eat, the etiquette they follow, the customs they believe in - all of them affect the way they run their lives in a very profound way. And when we are one among them, I realized it becomes very essential to realize this and adapt to the new surroudings.

I certainly believe that an institution derives its strength from its alumni group. And in our case, it cannot be more than true. If we are able to enjoy the benefits of night-out sessions of counter-strike on LAN, the design assignments in ADVD, almost paid trips around the world for conferences, a sounding board for Ph.D / MBA aspirants to name a few, we have only BITSAA to thank for. For me, and so many others whose lives have been touched by BITSAA, it had been truly defining moments. Without the help from the BITSAA SVC miles program, it might have been almost impossible for me to make the trip of my life. Another three months and I would become a previleged member of the BITS Alumni Association, ready to take on the world, and help fellow BITSians nurture and realize their dreams...

May the BITSian spirit live on...

(Refer prlog.org/10356734-novel-bitsaasilicon-valley-miles-program-helps-bits-student-present-at-ieee-nano-conference.html)

Arvind Pawan represented BITS Pilani at the prestigious 2009 IEEE Nano Conference held in Italy. The only undergraduate student selected to present, he fully credits BITSAA-Silicon Valley Miles Program in making this unique opportunity a reality.

Oct 02, 2009 – Silicon Valley: “This has been an amazing experience! It was exciting to meet eminent academicians like Professor Steven Goodnick, Programs Chair for the conference & Director of the center for nanotech at the Arizona State University and gain new perspectives and ideas. It was a rich experience, not just from an academic point of view, but also from a cultural viewpoint. I thank BITSAA-Silicon Valley for providing me with the travel scholarship in a timely fashion”, said Arvind Pawan, class of 2010, BITS Pilani.

Arvind Pawan was the only undergraduate student invited to present at the IEEE Nano 2009. The BITSAA Silicon Valley Miles Program enabled Arvind to travel to Italy, present his paper at the prestigious IEEE conference and interact with leading researchers in Nanotechnology, his field of study at BITS Pilani.

In 2006, a student from BITS Pilani was invited to present his paper at the ACM conference held in Milan but he had no means to pay for the air ticket. That was the impetus for establishing BITSAA-Silicon Valley Miles Program, an initiative by BITS Alumni Association - Silicon Valley (BITSAA-Silicon Valley), to support the international travel requirements of students and faculty from BITS Pilani. This is a very unique program that is funded by donated airline miles, which may otherwise expire and be wasted. Besides supporting travel requirements to renowned international conferences, BITSAA-Silicon Valley Miles Program opens new opportunities for both students and faculty of BITS Pilani to interact with the best in the world.

Arvind Pawan, a dual degree, electrical engineer and M.Sc Physics, student from the class of 2010 was the very first recipient of this program. His story is a testimony to the success of BITSAA-Silicon Valley Miles Program and its objective to enable BITS Pilani to be more active globally.

“We are extremely happy with the success of our first award in this program; it is one more way to further the potential of BITS Pilani at the global level. We are even more delighted to learn that Arvind’s paper co-authored with his Professor V.K. Chaubey and his class mate has been accepted at the IEEE International nanoelectronics conference to be held in Honk Kong in January 2010”, said Jayan Ramankutty, Founding President, BITSAA Silicon Valley.

About BITSAA Silicon Valley Miles Donation Program
The program was launched in April 2009 with a seed fund, provided by some members of BITSAA-Silicon Valley and sufficient for first few travel awards. The mission is to create a sustainable program funded through donated airline miles to support international travel requirements of both faculty and students from BITS Pilani to actively participate in reputed conferences. BITSAA-Silicon Valley has established a relationship with Rotary International to consolidate donated Airline Frequent Flyer Miles and award travel tickets to the selected candidates. Currently, the program is accepting United Airlines Frequent Flyer Miles.

More details are available at bitsaa.org/?page=Miles (BITSAA Silicon Valley Miles Donation Program) or you can send an email to milesadmin@bitsaa.org .

About BITSAA Silicon Valley
BITSAA, Silicon Valley Inc., is a not-for-profit alumni association of BITS incorporated in Silicon Valley, USA with a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) status and Tax Id 82-0587411. Its mission is to enable alumni to initiate and participate in activities for the general development of BITS Pilani, its faculty and students. Additionally, it aims to strengthen the ties among alumni, faculty and friends of BITS through such initiatives.

What is BITSAA Graduate Application Scholarship?
See: bitsaa.org/?gradappscholarship

BITSAA origins & 9/11

2010-01-26T09:15:00.000-08:00

There was an incident many years back that was one of the contributing factors in the formation of BITSAA and its show of strength. Today BITS Alumni Association International is a powerful huge organisation helping in a number of causes for the BITSians. I am taking these 2 very old articles from rediff that you may or may not have come across.

(Refer: rediff.com/news/2006/sep/14spec1.htm
and rediff.com/news/2003/sep/16spec1.htm)

He died. She killed herself.

When she learned that her husband was one among the passengers on the ill-fated American Airlines Flight 11 that slammed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, Kalahasthi Prasanna's contract with the world ended.

It took her another 37 days to formally part ways with a world she no longer wanted to live in.

Five years on, friends of the family still battle guilt, sorrow and anger when they recall how Prasanna ended her life -- she hung herself from a rope strung from a chin-up bar in her apartment.

Vamsikrishna Pendyala, Prasanna's husband, never knew what it was to have an easy life.

Son of a technician at Avadi, near Chennai, India, Vamsi -- as his friends call him -- relied on hard work to find his way into BITS, Pilani, Rajasthan, one of India's premier engineering colleges.

That is where he met Ronnie Verghese -- in the queue of people registering for courses.

Vamsi was an average student, but by dint of hard work ensured that his grades were always steady. "He was really struggling to get the money," Verghese recalls. "He borrowed money, he wanted to go for higher studies, to get a better life, improve the lot of his family."

Verghese partied while Vamsi slogged; it was Vamsi's meticulous note-taking that helped Verghese pass his exams.

The two friends then held internships at the same places and kept in touch until, in 1992, Vamsi decided to study in the US. He worked at a petrol pump station there so that he could continue graduate school at the University of Missouri, Rolla in the Midwest.

He was working on his thesis there when he got a job at Monsanto in Missouri. He gave up on graduate school, but then Monsanto laid him off.

"He found a job in Houston and was working there," Verghese says, of his friend's life between 1994-1995.

It didn't get better in a hurry. Vamsi scrounged money together to buy a used sports car -- a Nissan 350 ZX -- to get to and from school. Came a day of unusually high rain in Texas, and his car was totalled.

"He lived his life with great difficulty," Verghese recalls. "I've seen him live in Houston on Thair Sadam (yoghurt rice) and pickle. He could not afford anything else. He never let his family know what was going through, though.

"He wanted to make sure his family didn't suffer."

And then, things seemed to change, for the better. He found jobs in Los Angeles, and ended up as a project manager for the consulting firm DTI.

He went back to India to attend the marriage of his brother Srinivas -- and his eye lighted on his sister-in-law's cousin, Prasanna.

The two families smiled benignly on what, despite their approval, could be deemed a 'love' marriage. Despite the usual immigration problems, Prasanna joined him in Los Angeles and began training under a dentist so that she could join the dentistry school at the University of South California.

As a project manager, Vamsi's job involved a lot of travelling. In September 2001, he went to Boston for what he thought was a quick job, but had to stay on to deal with another project.

He was to return that weekend, but got held up by another project.

Verghese recalls a conversation with Prasanna, in which she told her husband's friend how she had asked him to come home that weekend -- he could go back again if needed, she told him.

Vamsi, whose life was lived on the twin principles of dedication and hard work, decided that he would rather work on the project through the weekend, and then return.

On the morning of Tuesday September 11, he and a friend rushed to Logan [ Images ] Arport in Boston. He was the last person to get on board American's Flight 11 to Los Angeles -- and he likely considered himself lucky to have squeaked through in time.

As Vamsi rushed through the airport lounge and towards the departure gate, Flight 11 had already begun boarding -- and walking into the aircraft were, among others, Mohammad Atta and Abdulaziz Alomari.

Prasanna had insisted that he call her before boarding. Vamsi couldn't, in his rush, but once on board the flight he called his wife and left her a message on voice mail:

'Hi, sweetie, I've just boarded the flight, and I'll see you in Los Angeles this afternoon' was the message.

Neena Mukkamala first met Prasanna during the interview at the USC College of Dentistry in Los Angeles. "There were 30 Indians in our class. We were the only two Telugu people," she recalls.

They were classmates and, separated from each other by one student, worked in the same laboratory. When the lab work ended at midnight or later, Prasanna used to drop Neena home before driving to her own apartment on Catalina Street, downtown LA.

Because Neena's husband was in Delaware then and Vamsi was often away, the two found time to bond, discussing their husbands, family and the school work that ruled their lives.

"She was a very nice girl," Neena recalls. "She was outgoing and very friendly with everyone.

"Her husband used to go to work at different places. She was my main friend there. He used to be a good man, too. They were more like friends than wife and husband."

It was during their second semester together that Vamsi began working in Boston.

On September 11, Prasanna called Neena. "She said something about the flights," says Neena.

By then, the planes had struck the WTC, and the horrific images were all over the television screens. Prasanna, however, did not know which flight her husband had taken.

She bunked school and stayed home, waiting, hoping. 'I am getting scared,' she told Neena.

Verghese, meanwhile, was calling around to see if all his friends were safe. "I sent an e-mail to all my friends," he recalls. "I left a message with Prasanna.

"She called after a day or so to say he (Vamsi) was on Flight 11."

Her friends never saw Prasanna collapse; they never saw her break down.

"She was all upset." Neena recalls. "But she has this thing, she would not cry in front of other people. She was like a coconut: a hard shell, and soft inside."

"She was the bindaas type, a very strong person," Rajiv Patel, president of the class of 2003 at USC, recalls. "It was very surprising."

Prasanna refused counselling; she told her friends she was alright, that she would get on with her life. Neena kept calling her, meeting up with her, but Prasanna increasingly preferred spending time with a senior, one who had earlier lost her first husband.

'I want to talk to Neena, but she gets more upset than me,' she told the senior student according to Neena, who admits she was more prone to breaking down than Prasanna.

Neena recalls classmates asking her, is she okay? Why is she not crying?

Her father, brother and father-in-law had all come over; Neena had started attending classes again. Friends like Verghese and Neena, and Nadadur Kumar, then associate director of the office of international services at USC, were increasingly confident that Prasanna would recover from the tragedy, would eventually become whole again.

There were subtle signs, though, of the tragedy in the making. In separate conversations, Prasanna told the senior student, and Verghese, about one time when Vamsi joked about what she would do if he was not there.

'I'm not going to stay without you,' Prasanna said she told her husband then.

Was that the sort of thing young couples tell each other? Was there, in her retelling that story not once, but twice, a hint of what she intended?

The senior student, who for personal reasons did not want to be named, recalled Prasanna asking if it was possible to buy in stores the (poisonous) solvent they used in laboratories; the explanation was she wanted to clean something at home.

There was also, for those looking for straws in the wind, the fact that her sister in India had earlier committed suicide.

Verghese called Prasanna October 18. She was not in a mood to chat, Prasanna told him. She told her brother to go visit relatives in Chicago.

October 19, Neena noticed that Prasanna had not come to school. When she recalls that day, she unconsciously shifts into present tense -- for her, as for all friends of the couple, the immediacy of the tragedy has not been dimmed by the passage of time.

"She's not calling back; something's wrong," Neena recalls.

After multiple calls to Prasanna's home, Neena called Rajiv Patel at the International Dentistry Program, and asked him to come over to Prasanna's house.

"The house was locked," Neena recalls. "There was a sari or comforter hanging outside her window. The car was there."

That worried Neena -- Prasanna could not have gone anywhere at all without it.

Rajiv and Neena stood outside the door, and tried Prasanna's cell phone. They heard it ringing inside the house.

The lady who was taking care of the property would not open the door for them. "She suspected something was wrong. She called later. I went there during lunch. I guess she called the cops," Neena recalls.

She called Bob Taylor, deputy chief of the department of public safety at the university.

"We notified the LA police department," says Taylor, now chief probation officer of the Los Angeles County Probation Department. "We worked with them, confirming that she was a student of the university.

"She had committed suicide: she hung herself."

In the apartment, the police found a receipt, dated October 15, for a length of rope. Beside her was a letter from then New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, inviting her to a memorial service scheduled for October 28.

Neena did not enter the apartment -- she could not take that final look at her friend. "I didn't see Prasanna," Neena recalls. "I didn't dare go into the house; my friends would not let me."

The words stop. Memories, still fresh after five years, well up as tears.

Rajiv Patel, too, did not see the body. "We were fortunate in having good memories," he says. "If we had seen that, it would have stuck in our minds."

"When someone commits suicide, one of the first things you feel is, 'What a loss, what a tragic loss of a human being,' says Taylor. "When it's someone like this -- young, attractive, vibrant, intelligent -- you just wonder if there was some way to reach her, to understand her grief."

The incident shocked the student affairs department; its members began outreach efforts to see if there were other people who had been badly affected by 9/11, and who were silently struggling with the terrible wounds to their psyche.

Soon after the tragedy Venu Palaparthi who, like Vamsi, was an alumnus of BITS-Pilani, brought together a group of people to endow a fund in his memory. Finding that they were not qualified to collect funds, the group put together the BITS Alumni Association, which now has 16 chapters.

"We owe our entire organization to Vamsi," Venu says. "In dying, he created an organization."

BITSAA has now raised $ 1.5 million for the cause.

Nothing they have done has managed to assuage the feelings of guilt. And so, even today, Neena wonders if there is something she missed, some sign she should have picked up on, something, anything, she could have done to prevent the death of her friend.

Should she, perhaps, have stuck with her, refused to leave her side? Would that have meant the young widow would still be in the land of the living, attending classes, talking again of hopes and dreams?

For Verghese, it manifests as anger. "I was kind of pissed off," he says.

"We are the guys who are supposed to help. I kept thinking everyone's there (with Prasanna) and it's fine. I was kind of pissed off that I'd screwed up."

The words trail off into prolonged silence; Verghese retreats into a place of grief no outsider can fathom, no words can bridge.

Here is the 2nd article:

'His death brought us closer'

September 16, 2003 16:50 IST

When Vamsikrishna 'Vamsi' Pendyala moved to the US, he counted on a better life.

He wanted a second master's degree. He wanted to put his wife Prasanna through a dentistry programme. He wanted to spend more time with her.

But he died aboard American Airlines Flight 11 when it was flown into the World Trade Center [ Images ] on September 11, 2001.

A month later Prasanna, Vamsi's wife of two-and-a-half years, committed suicide.

Caught in the maelstrom of international terrorism, Vamsi died for a cause he wanted no part of. But thanks to the efforts of those around him, his death has become a symbol of defiance against those who caused it.

His friends and batch-mates created an organisation, the BITSAA International, to make a positive difference through a scholarship endowment in his name. The Pendyala Vamsikrishna Memorial Scholarship will pay for a year's tuition for a deserving student at the Birla Institute of Technology, Pilani, where Vamsi studied.

"To date we have raised about $10,000 specifically towards the scholarship," says Venu Palaparthi, founder-member of the BITSAA International. "The objective is to raise another $10,000 this year so this scholarship is fully endowed."

Academic performance in the first year at BITS is the primary criterion for selection. Last semester, the scholarship was awarded to Bhupendra Singh Manola, who scored a grade point average of 9.9 on a 10 scale -- among the highest -- in his first year at BITS.

Manola had lost his father, and his family income is less than Rs 20,000 per annum.

In 2002-03, Krishnachitanya P, who is doing a four-year engineering degree in instrumentation, was awarded the scholarship.

Vamsi lived in Los Angeles with Prasanna. She studied at the University of Southern California, and they lived close to the campus.

Since 1998, Vamsi had worked as a project manager for DTI, a Fremont based e-business integration company. As a key contributor to some of DTI's alliances, Vamsi travelled a lot.

For three weeks leading to September 11, 2001, Vamsi was on a 15-hour work schedule to complete a project for a client in Boston. He was scheduled to fly home September 10, but had to stay on to tie up loose ends, working till 3 am September 11.

Just as he boarded Flight 11, he called Prasanna, who was unwell. 'I'll be home soon, sweetie,' he said. 'I boarded the plane. It's on time. I'll be there around lunch time.''

But his flight was the first of the two to be hijacked and flown into the WTC.

At the time of his death, Vamsi was working on a master's in engineering management from the California Coast University. He wanted to save enough money to start his own company. He had also taken a loan to pay for his wife's dental classes.

Prasanna watched the televised images of the flight as it crashed into the WTC, knowing her husband was on board.

"She and her husband were very close," said Nadadur Kumar, an attorney who worked with international students at the USC. "Prasanna had come to lean on him and grow at the same time."

In the beginning, Prasanna appeared focused on her goals despite her loss. In an interview to the San Jose Mercury News, she said, 'I only wish I had more time with him. I wish it will never happen to anyone again. I wish this thing won't be repeated and that we will be more cautious about that. I am sure that would be Vamsi's wish, too.''

Her friends and family felt Prasanna would pull through the crisis. Her family and in-laws flew over from India [ Images ] for the funeral. They offered to take her home. She refused. She felt the best way for her to remember her husband was to complete her program.

"Prasanna was very determined to do what he wanted her to do -- to finish school," said Kumar. "I remember her saying, 'His memory is only going to strengthen my resolve.'"

But October 18, 2001, barely a month later, she hung herself from her husband's Nautilus exercise equipment.

"Prasanna was intelligent, ambitious," says Kumar. "But there was a sadness about her. She was a person unmistakably in great sorrow."

As her distraught family tried to deal with the double loss, Vamsi's friends rallied together. And the BITS alumni decided to do something to honour his memory.

"We knew of Vamsi's humble beginnings," says Palaparthi. "Starting off in the small town of Chilakaluripet in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh, Vamsi had a dream. He was determined to get the best education India offered. So we agreed the best way to honour his memory was to give a chance to a deserving student."

The BITS Alumni Association, which was an informal organisation till then, was registered as a not-for-profit organisation.

Vamsi's death made the BITS alumni realise the fragility of friendships. They decided to meet more often to preserve their memories. They turned from a close-knit group of BITSians into an international organisation. And today, the BITSAA International is a network with 30 chapters worldwide, which raised $650,000 for its alma mater this year.

"Vamsi's death showed us how fragile our lives are," says Palaparthi. "His death brought us closer. In Vamsi, we saw ourselves. It could have been any one of us. It reminded us of the times we shared not very long ago, of our journey to the US, of our struggles and successes."

Let's Promote BITS Pilani - A BITSAA Initiative

2009-01-12T01:51:00.000-08:00

BITS Pilani, one of the top Universities in India (Click here for rankings), has never believed in publicizing itself like many other Private Engineering Colleges do. Even then, it has always attracted the brightest minds from all across the country. But till now everyone learnt about BITS Pilani through word of mouth. And now it's time to change that!

A lot of BITSians (both current students & alumni) felt that many meritorious students couldn't join BITS Pilani due to lack of information. Many students, even after joining BITS Pilani, aren’t aware of all the flexibilities that are offered by the university. This leads to them choosing wrong branches/campuses as they tend to believe in what they’ve heard from a friend/relative/teacher.

Thus, BITSAA decided to form a team of dedicated BITSians who prepared resource material which could be used to clear doubts of many BITS aspirants. Special care was taken to not over-publicize, which is common amongst other colleges in India. Instead, the whole initiative was aimed at giving aspirants authentic information and bare facts about BITS Pilani, the courses, flexibilities, opportunities etc.

The LPBP team visits Senior Secondary schools across the country and holds session on the above topics. The first session held in Hyderabad received a huge response and since then, a lot of BITSians have joined this initiative and taken sessions in their own schools. Currently, a total of 241 volunteers covering around 197 colleges across the country are a part of the LPBP team!

To know more about this initiative and how you can be a part of it, jump to the LPBP Group!

This was my first post on BITSian Wings, so pardon me for missing out on something! And don’t forget to let us know your thoughts about this initiative!

Rasagy Sharma,

BITS Pilani, Goa Campus

BITS Pilani : The true meaning of education

2008-12-25T22:37:00.000-08:00

"Eventually it takes integrity of character to build something bigger than all fortune. Character that is built in a sprawling campus tucked away from the distractions of city life. Where students of life read between lines and theorems to realize true responsibility as human beings, to wield knowledge and bring about no less than a revolution, which ever path they choose to tread in life"

-- That’s what BITS Pilani believes. (From a rare Outlook advertisement of BITS)

The success of a university should be measured by the options and avenues it provides to its students, for them to learn and assimilate knowledge beyond books and beyond classrooms. Imagination, arts, languages, media and sciences are as important to engineers as technology. BITS fully understands that and unlike today’s namesake universities (or even the ones with huge names) believes that a student should have all such pathways in life, should involve in extra-curricular activities, should learn more than what a traditional engineer would learn.

Apart from all possible courses for traditional engineering branches and Economics, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Biology, Pharmacy and Management that a student from any branch in BITS can take (upon fulfilling the pre-requisites), BITS boasts of courses all the way from Gandhian Philosophy to Current Affairs. From Film Appreciation to Advertising, Effective Public Speaking to Creative Writing in Mass Communication, the students have enormous number of choices. There are courses like Film and Video Production, New Media, Creative Multimedia, Music, Contemporary India, Journalism, Aesthetics, Entrepreneurship, Commerical Law, Psychology, Drama, American Literature, etc., which are open for all students. There are regular workshops on topics such as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Soft Skills etc, which provide the type of outlook to students that is not available in any other Indian university. BITS also has Centers of Excellence like the Center for Desert Development (CDD), Center for Women Studies, Center for Rain Water Harvesting etc, which are first of their kind efforts in India for promoting research in the respective fields. (For a comprehensive listing of courses:

http://discovery.bits-pilani.ac.in/courses/body_oncamp_coursedescriptions.html)

It’s not a surprise then that BITSians are found not only at the top technology spots, but are also eminent authors, movie directors, animators, politicians, IAS, Army, police officers. In short, they are found in all fields of life since BITS–Pilani provides them with an unparalleled comprehensive and versatile education.

BITSAA.org -- The portal that connects us all!

2008-11-02T17:46:00.000-08:00

The new website for BITSAA - http://bitsaa.org was launched on 1st November, 2008. This website will surely go on to make the BITS Alumni Association one of the best networked alumni associations in the world. ALL the initiatives (Read: BITS2MSPhD, BITS2BSchool, BITSConnect, BITS Embryo and many more) have all been brought under one roof. ALL the batch registrations, (All the way from Pre-1964 to 2006) are managed on this website too.

The website also contains the Databases of many BITSians who have made their mark in this world in the field of education, literature, entrepreneurship, leadership etc.:

1. Close to 50 books published by BITSians.

2. Over 320 names of BITSians in Academia out of which 200 odd are in the US itself. In-fact the list contains over 50 Department Heads/Chancellors/Vice Chancellors/Directors at universities like MIT, Purdue, Georgia Tech, Ohio State, Imperial College etc. along with Indian universities like IIT- Delhi, IIT- Bombay, IIM- Ahemdabad, IIT- Kanpur, IIT Madras, Indian School of business et al.

3. Over 230 names of companies founded by BITSian Entrepreneurs. The list includes names like Pennywise Solutions, Microtek, Hotmail, Onida, Bharat Forge, Mindtree, Amkette, LogicVision, Magma etc!

4. Over 225 names of BITSians who are CEOs/CTOs/MDs/Directors/VPs of companies like:

Veritas, Credit Suisse, Yesbank, Sony Ericsson, Cisco, Intel, Mckinsey, Ford Motors, Sun Microsystems, Tanishq, Philips, Dell, Star Sports, L&T, Ranbaxy, Samsonite, Yahoo!, Lehman Bros, CitiGroup, Barclays, Dabur, Idea Cellular, Airtel, Xilinx, Magma, IDBI... (The list continues. It gives a feeling that BITSians run this world!)

The website would not have been possible without the combined efforts and vision of BITSAA Leaders.

We as BITSians, urge all the other BITSians to come and join this website and contribute to the ever growing name of BITS-Pilani. It doesn't matter which batch or campus you graduated from. The only fact that matters is that we are connected together, and are indebted to our alma mater -- BITS-Pilani.

Update: The website had 500 registrations on the first day itself! Way to go!

BITSian Entrepreneurs!!

2008-09-27T04:38:00.000-07:00

Celebrating the spirit of entrepreneurship is a feeling which BITSians have always enjoyed. Here is a "small" list of BITSian Entrepreneurs! (Compiled by BITSAA). Just 238 names :) To download the list in XLS (Excel) format (along with comments about each company) please click here. (65 kb download)

Name Year Company Industry

Aarti Mohan	2002	Sattva	Media/Development
Abhishek Gupta	2004	3i Infotech	Technology Consulting
Abhishek Humbad		NextGen PMS Pvt Ltd.	Energy and Environment
Ajay Chopra		Pinnacle Systems
Alok Arora		Chrysalis Information Systems Limited
Alok Mathur	1980	Novo Innovations, Inc.	Healthcare IT
Alok Prasad	1983	RevenueXL Inc.	Healthcare Revenue Cycle
Amar Kapadia	1989	Aarohi
Amar Lakhtakia	1986	SherpaZ India Pvt Ltd, InfoKnox, Webify, Cymbal Corp, AristaSoft	IT - Software Products
Amruth B R	2008	Vita Peracta Solutions Pvt. Ltd.	Web Apps [Recruitment. Market Research]
Anand Morzaria	2001	Pennywise Solutions Pvt Ltd.	IT
Anand Rajaram	1997	Pixily	Online Service
Anil Gera		eViapar
Anil Gupta		Microtek
Anil Khasgiwala	1991	Arucom Electronics Pvt Ltd	Weighing and Process Controls
Anil Mansharamani		Netscout Systems
Anilesh Kumar	2005	Frequency Middle East	Marketing/Media
Anita Arora		The Cornell Group
Anne Anita Sakuru		KenPeople
Anurag Jain		Vision Healthcsource Brigade
Arjun Valluri		Intelligroup
Arpit Bagade	2005	MyKidsArena
Arun Kumar	1973	Haulers India, EMS India	Mining Contracts, Transport Solutions
Arun Raghavan	1998	UnifySquare	IT/Services/Unified Communications
Arvind Agrawal	1983	LS2 Corporation	IT
Arvind Singh		Value Communications
Ash Pahwa		DV Studio Technologies LLC
Ashish Dixit	1982	Tensilica Inc	Semiconductors Intellectual Property
Ashok Agarwal	1964	Sql Star International, ACS Technologies Ltd, Era Softwre (P) Ltd	IT
Ashok Luhadia		Amol Pharmaceuticals
Atul Agrawal	1979	Object CTalk Inc.	IT
Austin J		Truescope Technologies, Inc
Baba Kalyani		Bharat Forge
Balaji Deshpande	1996	TechnoHealth Inc	Technology and Healthcare
B.C. Krishna	1981	Memento, Inc.	Computer Software/Security
Bharat Narayanan		Hunter Foods
Bhargav Marepalli	1993	GSS America Infotech Ltd.	IT
Bhasker Agarwal	1970	ISSI	IT
Binod K Patodia		GTN Textiles
BP Agrawal	1968	Sustainable Innovations	Water, Health
Brij Bhushan	1964	Reston Consulting Group Inc.	Services - US Fed Government
C.J.Surendar	1978	Stellar Space Pvt. Ltd.	Project Management / Turn-Key Projects - Construction Industry.
C.P.Gopinathan]]	1991	361 Degree Minds Consulting	Learning, Training
Chaitanya Kalipatnapu	2001	Kenviron Corporate Education Pvt Ltd	Executive Education
Chand Prakash Garg	1973	Global Business, Inc	International Trade
Chander Shekhar Goel	1979	Goel Engineers (India)	Manufacturing of Perforated Metals
Chandra Bhople	1981	Nuva College of Engineering & Technology, Nagpur	Engineering Education in India
Chandrasekhar Nair	1989	BigTec	Health care, MEMS/Nano technology, IT
Chhatra Singh Nahata	1982	Fabric Plus Private Limited	Silk Exports( Fashion Accessories and Home & Fashion Fabrics)
Chinmoy Panda	1994	Mindfire Solutions	Software and IT Services
CP Rangachar		Yuken India
Cuckoo Kochar		DCR/Phoenix Group of Companies
Deep Kapuria		Hi-tech Gears Ltd.
Devendra Raut	1993	Inspirebridge technologies, Nuva College of Engineering & Technology, Nuva Infrastructure, TiMetra Networks (bought by Alcatel-Lucent)	Networking, Software Services/products, Education
Diaz Nesamoney		Informatica, Celequest
Dipankar Datta	1983	eSynapsys	Software Application Dev-IT
Dr. Deven Verma	1969	Edgewood Ventures	HiTech - Technologies
G.V.Ramana	1994	Idlebrain	Media
Gautam Chanda		Accordion Networks
Gayathri Vishwanathan	1995	Maarga Systems
Geetha Krishnakumar	2001	inherIT	IT Training
Gerard Pushpanathan	1988	Indusmedia Technologies P Ltd	IT
Girish Juneja		Sarvega
Gopi Krishna V.	1992	MeraTrip.com
Govind Bhandari		Clearpak Singapore	Packaging Solutions
Govind N. Jethalia		Sulux Phosphates
Gulu Mirchandani		Onida
Hari Krishnan	2002	Bridle IT	Education; Mobile VAS
Harish Lakshman	1995	Rane Group	Auto Components
Harsh Verma	1980	Glocol Inc	IT/Wireless
Harsha Konduri	2008	Vipashyin	Web 2.0
I. C. Sarma	1982	Advance Systems & Concetpts, Inc.	IT Services
Inderpal Bhandari		Virtual Gold Inc
J.S. Mazumdar	1982	Oil India Limited	Oil exploration & transportation
Jai Raj Gupta		Worldcast Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (Shaadi Online)
Jay Chopde	1987	Infospectrum India Pvt. Ltd.	Software development and engineering
Jayan Ramankutty		Nimbus, Lara Technologies, EmpowerTel, YuMe networks
Jayanth L Narayanan	1992	HO Food Services Pvt. Ltd. (Cafe Aarogya)	Restaurant/Food Services
J.C.Jain		Texplas Group
K Vijay Rao		Epicenter Technologies Inc.
Kamal Kant	1984	Busysoft Systems Pvt. Ltd.	Software Development Company
Kapil Kathpalia	1982	ISUUSI Inc.	Management Consultancy
Karthik Balasubramaniam	1996	KB-Vis Technologies Pvt. Ltd.	Graphics & Visualisation Software, Medical Imaging
Karthik Krishnamurthy	2000	Youngsoft Inc	Healthcare IT
Karthik Laxman	2004	RedCube Consulting Group, Pi Communications	Consulting (Social Sector / Communications and PR)
Kavikrut	2006	Mobile Medics Healthcare India Pvt. Ltd.	Rural Healthcare
Keerthy Mysore	1987	Shakti Corp Pty Ltd	Control & Automation; Safety Engineering & Consulting
Ketan Khandkar	1989	Navatar Group	Financial Services, CRM
Kiran Addepalli	2006	OpenGambit	Software Consulting
Kiran Kundargi		Apsora
Kishore Rajvanshy		Fleet Management Ltd
Krishna Vaidyanathan	1989	EILABS India Pvt. Ltd
K.R.V.Subramanian	1986	Ascendum Systems, Answerpal, Radix Learning
Lalit Agrawal		Ostern
M.L.Agarwal	1973	Central India Packaging / Ankit Packaging Ltd	Packaging
Madan Bellam		Maya Corp
Madhu S. Kejriwal		Ramtech Industries
Manish Rathi		Retrevo Inc.	Web
Manohar Baheti		Dewas Metal Sections Ltd
Manoj Kumar Mittal	1985	SHELTER Consulting Engineers	Consultancy in Civil and Structural Engineering
Manoj Saxena	1986	Webify Solutions, Inc., Exterprise
Manoj Vasusdevan	2006	SourcePilani	BPO
Maruti Tangirala	1990	SAFERTEK Software, LLC.	IT/ERP Software
Mukesh Chatter		Axiowave Networks, Inc., NeoNet LLC, Nextabit
Murali V Alam	1999	iTrendz Inc	IT Services
N.S.Parthasarathy	1983	MindTree Limited	IT Services
Nagesh Gupta		Redwave Networks, Inc
Nanda Vaidyanathan	1989	Nova Write	Commercial Printing
Naren Dubey	1993	Scancafe.com	Photography, Internet Retail
Naresh Khattar		Avalon Resorts
Narpat Bhandari		Vasona Systems Inc.
Naveen Puttagunta	1992	Rishtays, Inc.	Internet/Media
Navindra Jain		Excelan
Nitin Nistane	1987	Infospectrum India Pvt. Ltd.	Software development and engineering
Nivi Padhy	1989	Tiktala	Software
P.Ram Mohan	1981	Threesixtyone Degree Minds Consulting P. Ltd	Learning and Development
Padmanabhan Sreenivasan	1990	Zmanda
Phanindra Sama	2002	redBus.in	Travel
Philip Thomas	1976	Powertech Pollution Controls Pvt Ltd	Environment,air pollution control
Poonam Agarwal	2004	doSomething	social innovation
Prabhat Garg	1998	Inventive IT Solutions
Prabhu Ramamoorthy	2004	Telesto Infotech	Software
Pradeep Kumar Chetal		Savera Systems
Pradeep Mittal	2003	AspirantHunt	MBA/Education
Pradeep Sethi	1977	Corporate Insight	Consulting Human Resource
Praful Shroff	1976	Einfochips
Pramad Jandhyala	1993	LatentView Analytics	Consulting/Analytics
Prasad Thammineni	1991	Pixily	Document Processing, Content management & Business Processing
Prashant Gupta		Syndera, Liquid Price
Prashanth Palakurthi		Reflexis Systems, Inc, Techlead Corporation
Praveen Gupta	1994	CROSS-TAB MARKETING SERVICES PVT LTD	Market Research Services
Praveen Wicliff	1998	Icicle Technologies Private Limited	Software IT (BFSI)
Prem Jain	1973	Crescendo Communications
Priyanka Mehta Agrawal	2004	Multimetals Limited	Manufacturing
Punita Pandey	1984	netCustomer Inc.
Purnendu Ojha		Nextag
Raghavan Mayur		Technometrica
Raghu Rajagopal	1990	Energeate Business Solutions Pvt Ltd	Management Consulting
Raj Kumar Koneru		Intelligroup, A number of BPO companies
Raja Sekhar	2005	Haofresh	e-commerce
Rajeev Kumar		Aruba Networks	Wireless
Rajesh Butta	1990	Vishubh Consulting Services	Service Industry
Rajesh Chelapurath	1993	Ceera Investments, LLC
Rajesh Hukku		iFlex Solutions Ltd
Rajiv Bapna		Amkette
Raju Reddy	1981	Sierra Atlantic
Raju Sethi	1981	Precision Coatings Pvt Ltd	Pharmacetical/Surgical Dressings
Rajul Rastogi	1986	Astron International, Inc.	Petrochemical/Refining/IT
Rakesh Khullar	1978	Cluster Telecom Pvt Ltd	Telecom
Ram Mohan	1991	361 Degree Minds Cons. P Ltd	Learning in Individuals and Organizations
Ramakrishna Gaddipati	2005	BridleIT Soultions
Ramana Mulpury		MetricStream
Ramendra Baoni	1991	Bisquare Systems Pvt. Ltd.	IT, Product Design, Consulting
Ramesh Grover		CMS Computers
Ramesh Ramanathan		Janagraha
Ramesh Tainwala		Samsonite India
Ramesh Yerram Setti	1992	GSS America Infotech Ltd.	IT
Ramnish Kalsi	2000	Meriyatra.in	Travel
Ramu Annamalai Ramasamy	1996	InLott
Ranvir Trehan		SETA Corporation
Rathinavel Pandian	2008	PCS	Service Oriented
Ravi Baid		Alliance Infotech
Ravi Krishnamurthy		Exemplary Software
Ravindra Kumar Yerramsetti	1997	SMSCountry Networks Pvt Ltd	Telecommunications/Internet
Ravindra Vytla	2003	Bridle Information & Technology Solutions Pvt. Ltd.	Education
Ravishankar WS	1991	Banyan Tree Advisors	Portfolio Management
Ritu Vinayak	1991	361degree Minds	Learning and Development
Rohit Prakash	2006	Petro Gold International	Real Estate
Ruchika Gupta	1993	Cross-Tab Marketing Services Pvt. Ltd.	Market Research
S. Rajesh Kumar	1992	Dr. Rajesh Shah	Social Service
Sabarinath Saran	2001	IT Resources International, Inc	IT Consulting Services
Sabeer Bhatia	1985	Hotmail.com	Web mail
Sailesh Krishnamurthy	1995	Truviso, Inc.	Software Infrastructure
Samir Arora		Glam, Tickle.com
Sandeep Nalgundwar		Bridge-X
Sandeep Paladagu	2003	Whiz IT Solutions, Inc.	IT Services
Sandeep Talwar		BanyanTree Advisors
Sandeep Varma	1991	ICOMO Advertising India Pvt. Ltd	Media/Advertising
Sangeeta Patni	1985	Extensio Software, Inc.	Enterprise Software
Sanjay Anand		Sox Group
Sanjay Minocha	1986	Armaan Inc.
Sanjaya Gupta		Inomy
Sanjiv Taneja	1981	Inetegra Design	Electronics/SSI
Sanjoy Chatterji	1980	Entomo, Inc.	Enterprise Software (SaaS)
Saran	1999	IT Resources International
Sarath Babu	2001	Foodking Catering Service
Sasikanth Chemalamudi	2004	Habits
Satheesh Vattem	2001	MerrionIT	Software Services
Satish Gupta		BPO Frontline, Cradle Technologies
Satish Tandikota		Tribiosys
Satyajit Mohapatra	1996	RS India Sales Force Pvt. Ltd	International trade, Supply Chain, Export/Import
Shailendra Malani		Apnaguide.com
Shantanu Dash	1982	MosPay
Sharad Mehrotra	1982	Fabric7 Systems and Procket
Shashikant Khandelwal	2001	TheFind	Software/Internet
Shrikant Khadye		Inviziblehand, Inc
Siddarth Chaturvedi	1981	Green Top Services Inc., Safeway Services Inc.	Telecom BPO
Siva Cotipalli	2001	dhanaX Information Services Pvt Ltd	Internet/Financial Services
SK Garg		Eldeco Group
Sreenivasa Reddy Musani	1998	Ektha	IT, ITES and Business Process services
Sridhar Adurti	1993	PSS Solutions	Software Consultancy
Sridhar Obilisetty		Vianeta Communications
Srikanth Krishnamurthy	1992	Alfa Rubber and Springs P Ltd
Srinivas Balasubramanian		Infravio
Sriram Chandrasekaran		Logical Digital Corp.
Sriram Gutta		Mobile Medics Healthcare LLC
Subir Malhotra		MAS Designs	Commercial Interiors
Sudhir Gupta		XOP Works and Spatial Wireless
Sudhir Ippagunta	2006	Frequency	Marketing/Media/Advertising/Creative/Web and Interactive
Sujana Dasari	2004	Implesap Ltd	IT Consulting
Sujit Panigrahi	1996	Convergent Technologies	Software/IT
Sukhnandan Vohra	1990	Veracity Consulting	Strategy and business consulting
Sundi Natarajan	1992	COE	US Federal Government
Sunil Goel	1977	Theme Solar Systems
Sunil Hinduja	1982	Synergis MTS	Consulting and Professional Development
Thampi Thomas		PostX, NexGen, Elxsi
Tushar Jain	1993	Automat Industries Pvt Ltd.	Manufacturing
Vandana Malaiya	1984	EximSoft, Reliance Systems Private Ltd
Vasan V.S.	1992	Sahasra Solutions & SANAT Technologies	IT Training, Network storage product
Venk Krishnan		Nuware
Venkat Sharma	1977	iMedX inc. (USA), iMedX Information Services Pvt. Ltd (India)	Healthcare KPO
Venu Palaparthi		Dreamcricket.com
Vidhyashankar Sathya	1998	Times Internet, Inc.	Media
Viggy Mokkarala		Oberon Financial Technologies, Inc
Vijay Chandru	1975	STrand Life Sciences	Biotechnology
Vijay Parikh		StratumOne Communications
Vijay Vaidyathan		Net Effect Media
Vikram Gupta	1989	Zeevo
[[Vikram Kohli	1988	Ameriprise Financial (franchise)	Financial Planning & Investment Services
Vikram Rai	2002	I Think I Have A Solution	Non Profits/Social sector publishing and consulting
Vinod Agarwal	1973	LogicVision, Inc., SEMIndia
Vishnucharan Datta Rayapeddi	1985	Productivity Solutions Limited	Business Services (Consulting, Training, Coaching & Mentoring)
Vivek Kumar	1991	Holtec Consulting Pvt. Limited
W.S. Ravishankar		BanyanTree Advisors
Yogesh Vaidya		Software Tech Group

Glorious Trail

2008-09-24T00:14:00.000-07:00

BITS Pilani lost Dr. K.K.Birla, Chancellor and a pioneer in Indian education system, who completely moulded the concept of teaching, stressing on complete and overall development of a student; be it mentally or spiritually, which is even more divine than just imparting education through conventional methods. The ideas and pratices brought by him into action would always be remembered and valued. We salute him for all he has done for the country, BITS Pilani and most importantly for the students.

But life moves on, so will BITS, with the fond memories and blessings of Late Dr.Birla along with it.

In view with recent development, Shri Kumar Mangalam Birla has taken over as the Chancellor and Smt. Shobana Bhartia as the Pro-Chancellor of BITS Pilani. With numerous awards and achievements under their belt and experience of running one of the biggest industrial houses in India, they are truly set to take BITS to new heights and make the name proud which is "BITS Pilani".

http://www.pr-inside.com/kumar-mangalam-birla-chancellor-and-r809661.htm

http://www.pr-inside.com/kumar-mangalam-birla-chancellor-and-r812666.htm

http://www.1888pressrelease.com/bits-pilani-moves-ahead-with-chancellor-kumar-mangalam-birla-pr-73542.html

http://www.free-press-release.com/news/200809/1221622113.html

http://www.free-press-release.com/news/200809/1221702676.html

http://www.newswiretoday.com/news/39898/

BITS loses it's two gems

2008-08-30T02:54:00.000-07:00

K K Birla, the Chancellor of BITS Pilani and Dr. C R Mitra, the director of BITS for two decades (from 1969), are no more. Dr C R Mitra passed away on August 27th, 2008 while Dr. K K Birla expired on August 30th, 2008. Both were visionary leaders; ones who understood the importance of education and brought revolutionary changes in it. Education was made available to even poorest of the poor, and made relevant to the indian context by them.

We pray for their souls; may they rest in peace.

Dr. K K Birla

http://discovery.bits-pilani.ac.in/NewsModule/detail_page.aspx?id=228

http://discovery.bits-pilani.ac.in/condolence/condolence.pdf

http://www.rediff.com/money/2008/aug/30birla.htm

http://www.livemint.com/2008/08/30110518/KK-Birla-dies-at-90.html

Dr. C R Mitra

http://www.livemint.com/2008/08/30110518/KK-Birla-dies-at-90.html

http://www.pr-inside.com/former-bits-pilani-director-dr-cr-r775845.htm

http://www.hindu.com/2008/08/29/stories/2008082956181300.htm

http://www.prurgent.com/2008-08-28/pressrelease17522.htm

BITS Pilani Industry-University Collaborations

2008-08-27T10:35:00.000-07:00

Here is a list of "some" MOUs (Memorandum of Understanding) which BITS-Pilani has with various institutions/companies across India. It was made after extensive "Google" search and is in no way a complete list. Just the fact that it contains 75+ companies, including the likes of Texas Instruments, Yahoo!, HP, ST Microelectronics, Cisco, IBM, Dell speaks volumes. These MOUs put BITS at the very top of Industry-University collaborations among all the universities in India.

1	Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), Bangalore
2	Yahoo, Bangalore
3	Sap Labs, Bangalore
4	Maytas Infra Ltd
5	Indian Institute of Quality Management (IIQM) Jaipur
6	Tata Chemicals
7	Texmaco
8	Patni Computer Systems
9	Dabur Pharma
10	Persistent Systems
11	HP India Bangalore
12	Bharat Forge
13	Mahindra British Telecom (MBT)
14	Honeywell Bangalore
15	Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute (CEERI)
16	Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Hyderabad
17	RL Institute of Nautical Sciences - "RLINS", Madurai
18	TVS Motor
19	Intel India
20	Cognizant Chennai
21	Wipro
22	Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited (CPCL)
23	ST Microelectronics
24	nLeague Services Inc, Hyderabad
25	Andhra Bank
26	Ashok Leyland Chennai and Hosur
27	HCL Chennai
28	HCL Bangalore
29	Accenture Bangalore
30	Essar Power Hazira
31	NTPC
32	Texas Instruments, Bangalore
33	Grasim, Nagda
34	CFCL, Kota
35	Hindalco Renukoot
36	Satyam Hyderabad
37	CMC Vellore
38	Valtech Bangalore
39	Qualcomm Bangalore
40	Hindustan Zinc Udaipur
41	Bombay Hospital Mumbai
42	NCSM Kolkata
43	NDPL Delhi
44	DELL Bangalore
45	Strides Arco Bangalore
46	Bharat Forge Pune
47	Tech Mahindra Pune
48	THDC Tehri
49	IBM
50	Elite School of Optometry, Medical Research Foundation, Chennai
51	Bausch & Lomb School of Optometry, LV Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad
52	Madras Medical Mission, Chennai
53	Frontier Lifeline, Chennai
54	Tun Hussein Onn National Eye Hospital (THONEH), Malaysia
55	Tolani Maritime Institute, Induri
56	Tolani Maritime Institute, Pune
57	Bharat Dynamics Limited, Hyderabad
58	Ford India Ltd
59	Finolex Industries, Ratnagiri
60	Indogulf Fertilizers & Chemicals, Jagdishpur
61	Development Consultants Ltd, Calcutta
62	Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad
63	Bhakthivedanta Institute, Mumbai
64	Consultancy Development Centre, New Delhi
65	SPIC, Chennai
66	DJ Academy for Managerial Excellence, Coimbatore
67	Tata Elxsi Bangalore
68	Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai
69	Bombay Hospital, Mumbai
70	Institute of Cardio-Vascular Diseases, Chennai
71	CISCO
72	EMC (Benelux) B.V. SARL (EMC)
73	Jindal South West Group (JSW)
74	Nasscom IT
75	Infotech Enterprises
76	L&T e-Engineering Solutions
77	Sabre Travel Technologies, Bangalore

BITS Pilani in Rankings

2008-07-29T15:19:00.000-07:00

Though rankings should never be trusted while making final decisions for admissions, they do give a general perspective of the overall standing of a university.

BITS has consistently ranked among the top engineering institutions not only in

India

but also in Asia. Notably, other than the Dataquest rankings, BITS Pilani has never been ranked lower than any university other than the IITs. Also, in last 11 years, BITS has ranked above IIT Roorkee 9 times and above IIT Guwahati 10 times. Shown below is a compiled list of rankings BITS-Pilani has participated in, since 1997.

Government of India's National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) rated BITS as a five star Institution (highest rating) for the period ending February 7, 2007. BITS has scored 82.55 out of 100, higher than comparable public universities (with a five star rating and a focus on science and technology) such as Anna University (75.7), Jadavpur University (77.35) and IIT Roorkee (77.15).

Merit at BITS Pilani

2008-06-14T06:41:00.000-07:00

As Camelpost once said:

BITS Pilani has ensured the creation of a classless, casteless society and thousands of BITS alumni take pride in identifying themselves as Indians and not belonging to any caste, religion or language.

Never ever did we see any discrimination towards or for a student@ BITS based on caste/language/religion and never will we see it too, for in India today we are the ONLY UNIVERSITY which does not entertain any quota; be it Management/NRI/SC/ST/OBC. The only admission criteria at BITS is Merit with equal rights to all, and it will always remain so.

BITS Pilani, IIT Bombay, NIT Trichy, NITK Surathkal, DCE, ISM Dhanbad and Jadhavpur University give Dataquest T-schools 2008 rankings a Skip

2008-06-09T09:05:00.000-07:00

A revolution has started.

After BITS Pilani decided to quit participating in India Today rankings since 2005, BITS decided to give the Dataquest 2008 rankings a skip too. IIT Bombay and NIT Trichy followed suit and quit participating in DQ rankings. Since 2006, NITK Surthkal has been giving rankings a miss too. Jadhavpur university, another very reputed university in east-India gave a miss to these rankings too. ISM Dhanbad isn't found in them either. DCE decided to ignore these rankings as well. Only 6 out of 20 NITs are visible in the rankings.

One wonders what credibility these rankings have, with India's major and most reputed universities deciding not to participate in them:

IIT Bombay

BITS Pilani

NIT Trichy

NITK Surathkal

Delhi College of Engineering (DCE)

ISM Dhanbad

Jadhavpur University

Arguably all the above universities have the potential to rank in top 15 universities in India, with 6 of them (IITB, BITS, NITT, NITK, DCE, ISM) having the potential to rank in top 10 too. If 6 out of top 10 potential frontrunners decide to give these rankings a miss, then surely the credibility of these rankings is doubtable.

Some Surprises in the rankings:

1. 14/20 NITs missing/did not participate.

2. DA IICT at 12th. Though I know it is an upcoming college, but surpassing IIIT-A, BIT-Ranchi, PSG Tech, MNNIT in a year? Sounds undigestible.

3. New Horizon College of Engineering at 20th.

4. Amrita School of Engineering at 21st.

5. Agrasen at 25th.

All these were placed above Manipal Institute of Technology.

6. Almost all the colleges (Except AIT, PESIT, Galgotia) below the 30th rank are relatively unknown.

7. In HR perception MIT tops the list, and IIT Kharagpur, Guwahati are no where to be found.

8. A major flaw in these rankings is that they equate T-Schools with IT schools and take into account majorly IT placements and IT recruiters (During perception rankings). It's about time that they understood that T-Schools are "TECHNOLOGY" Schools imparting complete "ENGINEERING" skills to their students.

9. On a lighter note, the ranking lists IIT Madras as "IIIT Chennai". Yes you read it right! "IIIT" and not "IIT". "Chennai" and not "Madras". The last time I checked they were still called by the name of IIT Madras. Also I didn't know that they were calling IIIT-A as Indian Institute of "Informantion" Technology now-a-days.

It is about time that these magazines, which self-righteously take upon themselves the responsibility of publishing such rankings without any credibility, learn to either pursue responsible journalism, or decide to shut down their businesses. I would not be surprised if more reputed IITs/NITs decide to ignore these rankings which do nothing, but misguide the future generation of students.

http://dqindia.ciol.com/content/top_stories/2008/108060901.asp

http://dqindia.ciol.com/images08/Cover%20story%20table.pdf

BITSians develop India's first fully indegenous humanoid!

2008-05-26T01:54:00.000-07:00

India's only entry in Robogames'08: World's largest Robo competition!

Here is more:

About ACYUT

ACYUT is India's first humanoid Robot conceptualized, fabricated, assembled and programmed by five students from BITS, Pilani. ACYUT has been created on Pilani soil in its very own workshop and labs and is the only entry from India into RoboGames 2008. Check out http://acyut.wordpress.com/ to know more about how ACYUT was

born and how it is gearing up for the biggest contest in robotics. Catch a glimpse of ACYUT at http://www.youtube.com/v/QjAIaNiB1KI&hl=en

About RoboGames

Robogames is the world's largest open robot competition (even the Guinness Book of World Records says so!), being held at Fort Mason, San Francisco, from June 13, 2008 to June 15, 2008. The 2007 event had 249 teams participating from 28 different countries, in 70 different competitive events. There is only one Indian team participating in the 2008 event. www.robogames.net

Kudos to Samay Kohli, Arpit Mohan, Harsh Sinha, Prayag Mukherjee and Sushma Vallabhaneni for keeping the BITS flag flying high!! :D

Here is another video of Acyut:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhxYAeBOROs

MS/PhD admission statistics for BITS-Pilani, Pilani, Goa and Dubai Campuses, Fall 2008

2008-05-18T14:05:00.000-07:00

Here are the admission statistics (for MS, MS/PhD and PhD) for all the three campuses of BITS for 2008.

BITS-Pilani, Goa Campus has done very well in its first ever admit scene ( The first batch of the Goa campus is passing out this year) with admits with full scholarships to universities like University of California – Berkeley, Harvard University, Stanford University, Purdue University etc.

Average no. of admits per student stood at 3.27 (Total 454 admits for 139 students)

The list given below is NOT exhaustive.

Also,

Approx. 34% of applicants received some form of aid or the other (Fellowship, RA, TA, Tuition Waiver).

Top colleges like CMU (14 students), Stanford (11 students), Cornell (12 students), Purdue (29 students), Georgia Tech (16 students) etc. took a large number of BITSians this year.

These are the best (arguably!) admission statistics I've seen for any Indian University!

Kudos to BITS and BITSians!

MOUs with Foreign universities (Foreign collaborations of BITS)

2008-05-18T12:03:00.000-07:00

Here is a list of reputed universities abroad, with whom BITS has collaborations with. The collaborations range from Exchange Programs (For both faculty and students) to joint research facilities. This is again not an exhaustive list and does NOT include Indian companies:

For more information go to: http://discovery.bits-pilani.ac.in/iru_site/mou.html

Advanced Business Language Group Inc, USA
Altera International Limited, Hong Kong
Arizona State University, USA
Ben Gurion University of Neger, Israel
Binghamton University (State University of New York), New York, USA
Braton Bitech Inc, Maryland, USA
Carnegie Mellon University Software Engineering Institute
Christian Medical College Hospital, Vellore and Tulane University, Louisiane, USA
Cornell University, Ithaca, USA
ETA Ascon, Dubai
Helsinki University of Technology, Espoo, Finland
Hogskolan I Boras(University College of Boras), Sweden
Iowa State University, Iowa, USA
Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas, USA
Kathmandu University, Nepal
Lund University, Sweden
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, USA
Motorola Inc., USA
Nokia Research Centre, Finland
OSTN, Cleveland, UK
Purdue University, Indiana, USA
State University of New York at Buffalo, USA
Techlead Software Engg Pvt. Ltd, USA
The Commonwealth of Virginia George Mason University, USA
The George Washington University, USA
The Jacob Blaust Institutes for Desert Research of Ben Gurion University(BIDR-BGU), Israel
The Tun Hussein Onn National Eye Hospital, Malaysia
Transtech International Inc., Maryland, USA
Tulane University Medical Centre, New Orleans, USA
Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences, Bethesda, USA
Universities Of Ontario, Canada
University of Colombo, Sri Lanka
University of Dundee, UK
University of Maryland, College Park, USA
University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
University of Oklahoma, Norman, USA
University of Southern Califonia, USA
University of Windsor, Canada
Utah State University, USA
Victoria University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia
Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan
York University, Canada

BITSAA and IPL Partnership! Wow! :D

2008-05-02T12:23:00.000-07:00

Ahh! Finally BITSians joined the IPL frenzy!! Here is a first of its kind honor bestowed on ANY college community (read: BITSians!) by IPL, Rajastan Royals. This a mail I received sometime back::::

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear BITSians

BITSAA is glad to announce that Rajasthan Royals (IPL Cricket Team based in Jaipur) and BITSAA have signed an exclusive partnership deal to create the first International fan base of an IPL team. A press release to this effect went out to the India Newswire today (see below).

This deal came to BITSAA through Dreamcricket.com (founded by BITSian Venu Palaparthi- 1987 batch). Given that Rajasthan Royals is the natural home team for BITSians because of the memorable times we spent at Pilani, BITSAA was more than happy to oblige to kickstart a new trend in Indian sport history.

As part of this deal BITSians around the world will get:

• 50% discount on all season tickets for all Home Games (Played at Jaipur)

• 20% discount on purchase of 10 or more tickets for specific games (i.e not season tickets).

• Free tickets for home games that BITSAA will raffle to its members for specific promotions

• 50% discount to BITSians who may want to purchase a VIP box for the season

• Special tickets to RR away games like the ones in Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata

• Discounts on RR merchandise

• Articles from Shane Warne and other Rajasthan Royals players for the Alumni Magazine, Sandpaper 2.0

Please watch out for an announcement on how BITSians can avail of these benefits for IPL games. Send your thoughts and feedback to garg@bitsaa.org

Thanks,

Ashish Garg

CEO, BITSAA International

www.bitsaa.org

Here is the link::

http://www.indiainfoline.com/news/innernews.asp?storyId=66592&lmn=1

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Rajasthan Royals announces Global Fan Community alliance with BITS Pilani International Alumni Association!

The first international fan base by an IPL team is launched!

Jaipur, 30th April 2008: Emerging Media, owners of the Jaipur IPL franchise, Rajasthan Royals announced a first-of-its-kind global fan alliance by signing an exclusive relationship with BITS Pilani International Alumni Association.

With this association Rajasthan Royals will induct over 30,000 BITS Pilani Alumni into the Rajasthan Royals support base, providing all members of the community with special offers, free tickets and discounted merchandise of the Rajasthan Royals. In addition, the Rajasthan Royals will also contribute to the BITSAA community with special articles written by Shane Warne and a charity auction at a later stage.

BITS Pilani, the premier engineering and sciences institution is located in Rajasthan, only 5 hours away from Jaipur. Rajasthan Royals is also extending the benefits of this alliance to over 5000 students and members of faculty of BITS Pilani.

Manoj Badale, Chairman of the Rajasthan Royals said, “We are extremely excited about this partnership. BITS-ians worldwide are a fine representation of India, highly educated, well settled and truly global citizens, yet deeply connected by a certain bond they share. With this alliance, we hope to provide them another reason to bond: supporting a fierce team in the Royals.”

“BITS Pilani alumni around the world are rooting for Rajasthan Royal’s victory in the IPL tournament. Go Royals!”, said Professor S.P.Kothari, Chairman of BITSAA, who is currently Deputy Dean at the Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“This is the foundation of what will be a huge community for us in due course. We have a number of initiatives on the anvil, both online and offline for increased interaction between our global members and of course, the Warnie Army has begun to take shape”, said Ravi Krishnan, Vice Chairman of the Rajasthan Royals

Commenting on the relationship, Fraser Castellino, CEO of the Rajasthan Royals said, “Of course, the fact that Pilani and Jaipur share a home in Rajasthan was the primary connection between us. This is another first for us and we look forward to support from the BITS-ians.”

With Shane Warne being the only international captain of an IPL franchise and a few fine winning performances, the Rajasthan Royals are already attracting fans from all over the world.

"Rajasthan Royals is the natural home team for the global BITS Pilani Alumni because of the memorable times we spent at Pilani, Rajasthan. BITSians all around the world are rooting for Shane Warne and the team", said Ashish Garg, CEO of BITSAA.

BITSians of Note - I

2008-04-17T16:59:00.000-07:00

Here goes the inaugural profile:

Name: Mr. Mahesh Ramasubramanian

Batch: 93, Computer Science

Present designation: Digital Effects Supervisor

Company: Dreamworks Animation, Greater Los Angeles, USA

After completing his under-graduation from BITS in 97 Mahesh went on to the Cornell University to do an MS in Computer Graphics. After completing his MS he went on to work at Pacific Data Images as a Visual Effects Animator where he worked on movies like Shrek, Shrek-2. The company was then bought by Dreamworks SKG where he worked on movies like Madagascar. Presently he is working at Dreamworks Animation and has also worked on movies like Over the Hedge, The bee movie, etc. (Been the lead!)

Mahesh has his own IMDB page (Wow!) which lists:

Monsters vs. Aliens (2009) (digital effects supervisor)
Bee Movie (2007) (head of effects)
Over the Hedge (2006) (head of effects)
Madagascar (2005) (visual effects lead)
Shrek 2 (2004) (visual effects)
Shrek 4-D (2003) (visual effects)
... aka Shrek 3-D (USA: DVD title)
Shrek (2001) (effects artist)

In 2005 Mahesh also won the "Global 30 under 30" award under Arts and Culture category instituted by BITSAA in recognition of thirty students or alums for their extraordinary achievements before the age of 30.

Hats off to you Sir!

Updates: Facts!

2008-04-13T00:14:00.001-07:00

This one is going to be a regular one.

1. 25% teams in Eureka finals (2 out of 8 teams in finals, one from Goa and another from Pilani)

2. The first book on verilog was written by a BITSian. (Mr. Yatin Trivedi, Director Industry Partnership Programs, Magma Design Automation, USA)

3. The two indians on the 50 topmost connected people on Linked in: BITSians. :)

4. Ipv6 standard developed at BITS-Pilani.

5. Only college in India to have not agreed to reservations based on caste! BITS only entertains reservations based on Merit!

6. The first online examinations in India: BITSAT.

7. The admission selectivity is around 2%.

8. The Entrepreneurship Cell, Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership is one of the Top-5 such cells in India.

9. Companies like Onida, Tanishq, Amkette found by BITSians (Full list will be up soon!).

10. ISB topper for this 2008: BITSian, Chitra Raghunath (http://www.isb.edu/gradday2008/ScholarsofExcellence.shtml)

More to come...

More about Goldman Sachs Leaders

2008-04-13T00:07:00.000-07:00

To read more:

http://discovery.bits-pilani.ac.in/NewsModule/detail_page.aspx?id=214

Goldman Sachs Foundation conducts the Goldman Sachs Global Leaders Program with the motive to train and develop tomorrows educators, policy makers, business leaders, research scientists, social entrepreneurs, and other professionals and to create an international network through which they can share ideas, work collaboratively, and begin to change the world, together. In this regard, the Institute of International Education (IIE), in partnership with educational organizations in selected countries, conducted an annual international competition at 100 top-ranked universities in about 19 countries. Initially, the foundation named 150 Goldman Sachs Global Leaders, Class of 2008 from the world. They were further interviewed for the next level to select a group of fiften (from 75 all over the world) to receive an all-expense-paid trip to represent the group at the Global Leadership Institute in New York City in July 2008.

Last two years

100 universities --- 1 BITS Pilani

300 winners --- 10 from BITS

The universities are allowed to nominate maximum 10 students, i.e., an yield rate of 50%, if BITS nominated 10 each year! Wow!

Congratulations to Srikumar, Rachit, M Harsha Vardhan and Anantha Padmanabhan! :)

PS-II list out

2008-04-13T00:05:00.000-07:00

233 companies registered for provinding internships (Practice School) to BITSians.

Surprise Entrants

----------------------

Dreamworks, USA. (Wow!)

Insead, Singapore (Finally Infineon, Singapore guys will have lots of company!)

Stipend has increased for a lot of companies with the highest in India being Rs. 30000 (by infinera) for BE and Rs. 35000 (by Cisco) for Higher Degree Students. The highest stipend outside India is by Insead, France - 1440 Euros followed closely by Cypress Semiconductors - 3000$. Dreamworks has yet not released the stipend amount (Which I guess will more than the others)

Way to go Mighty BITSians!

4 BITSians named Goldman Sachs Global Leaders 2008

2008-02-27T03:02:00.000-08:00

Disclaimer: All the posts on this blog are meant to talk about BITS and not intended to offend any other college/university students. (You exactly know what I am talking about!) Please do not claim anything until you can give facts/news clips. Do not make comparisons between various colleges until they serve a higher purpose. The aim of this blog is to talk about achievements of BITS and BITSians and not to undermine others. Unless comparisons are fruitful to our discussion, they will be duly rewarded with a click on the delete button.

You can read the original article here:

http://discovery.bits-pilani.ac.in/NewsModule/detail_page.aspx?id=203

Four students of BITS Pilani - Anantha Padmanabhan (2006B1A3338), M Harsha Vardhan (2006A7PS156), Srikumar Murthy (2006A3PS235) and Rachit Chandra (2006A7PS012) have been named as Goldman Sachs Global Leaders. The Goldman Sachs Global Leaders Program identifies exceptional, second-year college students and provides them with training that will enhance their leadership abilities. Thee four students are among the 29 Global Leaders selected from top 10 universities of India and among the 150 students selected worldwide from close to 100 top universities and colleges. Each student will be awarded US$3,000, and given the title of Goldman Sachs Global Leader in the Regional Recognition Ceremony at Mumbai. In the next round, 15 of them shall be selected through personal interviews at Mumbai to represent India at the annual Global Leadership Institute in New York. During the week long stint at the Institute, students shall participate in leadership training and seminars on timely international issues. Last year, six students from BITS, Pilani won the Global Leader title taking the tally to 10 in two years. Goldman Sachs Foundation conducts the Goldman Sachs Global Leaders Program with the motive to train and develop tomorrows educators, policy makers, business leaders, research scientists, social entrepreneurs, AND other professionals AND TO CREATE an international network through which they can share ideas, WORK collaboratively, AND BEGIN TO change the world, together.

The top 10 universities which were shortlisted from India can be found here:

http://www.iie.org/programs/global_leaders/universities.htm

Birla Institute of Technology and Science
Fergusson College
Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur
Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi
Loyola College, Chennai
Mt. Carmel College, Bangalore
The National Law School of India University
Nizam College
Presidency College, Kolkata
St. Stephen's College, Delhi
St. Xavier's College

It is a proud moment for us all. Best of luck to these future leaders!

BITSAT: Selectivity of 1.71%, 2008-2009!

2008-02-27T02:47:00.000-08:00

You can read the original article here:

http://discovery.bits-pilani.ac.in/NewsModule/detail_page.aspx?id=196

For the first time in India, in 2005,BITS Pilani introduced a computer based online admission test known as BITSAT (BITS Admission Test). BITSAT has been witnessing a phenomenal increase in the number of applications. BITSAT 2008 has received 1,16,980 applications for 2000 seats ( 800 in Pilani and 600 each in Goa and Hyderabad Campus). As compared to last year, the number of girl-applicants has increased by 4% and this year it is 32% (37460). Last year the test was conducted in 16 centres across India. To cater to the increase in number of applications BITS has announced three new centers ( making the total number of centers 19 )in Delhi , Bhubhaneswar and Nagpur. BITSAT2008 will be offered from 9th May to 12th June. Another significant change BITS has introduced this year is that it has allowed students with Physics Chemistry and Biology also for BITSAT-2008 and they are eligible for its M.Sc(Hons) Biologial Science and B.Pharm(Hons) programmes.

A selectivity percentage of 1.70969% in 2008-2009. Perhaps the best in Asia. The statistics on the other university(s) with best selectivity (IITs) are here: http://wapedia.mobi/en/Indian_Institute_of_Technology_Joint_Entrance_Examination?t=3.

(Their authenticity needs to be verified) according to which for 2006 their selectivity is close to 1.81%. (I am unable to include 2008-2009 data here, since I don't have access to it. Can someone help me here?) I have included IT-Bhu and ISM-Dhanbad because:

1. ISM and BHU have long been admitting students by JEE. They definitely deserve to be in the list.

2. Due to the more technical problem of all 300000 students giving JEE for all the IITs, ISM and BHU. If I count only 4078 seats for IITs, then the number 300000 should also be reduced to an appropriate number which I am unable to estimate correctly.

Here are the acceptance percentages for various US universities:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2006-11-02-collegerates_x.htm

HARVARD UNIVERSITY

19,690 2,054 10.4%

STANFORD UNIVERSITY

19,172 2,486 13.0%

MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

10,466 1,665 15.9%

DUKE UNIVERSITY

17,749 3,804 21.4%

I'd like to add that best selectivity does not mean the best input of students. Nevertheless, the input in BITS has always been one of the best in the country and that is proven by the amazing distinctions which BITSians have held over time.

Finally!

2008-02-27T02:16:00.000-08:00

Ahh! It's two in the night, I have lots of work to do and have office tomorrow. But I have something sacred to do! I am writing this post! Why you ask?!

Well, I love BITS-Pilani and this has been the blog I've always wanted to write/compile! I am damn proud to be a BITSian (some people tell me that i'm infatuated with it!) and I just love it when I read news about BITS! I've always wanted to compile it all under one roof and this blog is an effort exactly to do that. And of-course as long as you are related to BITS, you are invited (read: urged!) to contribute. Just send a mail to akaash[dot]bits[at]gmail[dot]com and I will add you in the authors list.

The journey begins here...