Dear Friend,

Greetings from IIT Bombay!

Hope you had a great start to 2017.

It gives me immense pleasure to welcome you as Dean of Alumni & Corporate Relations after Prof. Ravi Sinha who successfully completed his tenure.  

The beginning of the new spring semester in January saw students returning back to the campus with joy and excitement. On 26th January, IIT Bombay proudly celebrated the nation’s 68th Republic Day. The event included a ceremonial parade followed by a series of entertainment programmes at the Institute Gymkhana Grounds. 

Institute also witnessed one more transition apart from Dean Alumni & Corporate Relations. Prof. Swati Patankar, Dept. of Biosciences & Bioengineering was appointed as the new Dean of International Relations after Prof. Rajiv Dusane’s tenure. 

The Entrepreneurship Cell (E-Cell) of IIT Bombay organised their annual flagship event E-Summit on 27-28th January. This year’s theme for esummit was “Zenith of Innovation”. It was a melange of networking events, speaker sessions, panel discussions, hackathons, competitions, workshops, exhibitions, etc. The two day event saw participation from many aspiring entrepreneurs across India. Keynote session included talks by esteemed personalities like Bhavish Aggarwal, Co-Founder and CEO Olacabs; Divyank Turakhia, Co-Founder Directi; Kanan Gill, Standup Comedian; Arundhati Bhattacharya, Ex-Chairman, State Bank Of India and Patrick Bet David, Entrepreneurship Coach. 

Along with the entrepreneurial atmosphere in the Institute this month, IIT Bombay’s social activities body “Abhyuday” organised its 5th version of social festival on 21-22nd January. This year’s annual fest was based on the theme “Enabling Humanity with Human Rights”. The festival included various impactful events, exhibitions, lectures, workshops and competitions and instilled a sense of responsibility in the youth towards the society and to create awareness about basic human rights. The key speakers included Dia Mirza, Actress and UN Environment Goodwill Ambassador, Medha Patkar, a well-known social activist and Ujjwal Nikam, a prominent public prosecutor.

Institute’s dance club Insync organized its 13th edition of Annual Insync's Dance show (AIDS). With 10 performances and 170+ dancers, it was truly the biggest dance extravaganza of the year. 

This month also witnessed several intellectually stimulating lectures which were based on a whole range of topics like ‘Technological Innovations for Sustainable Development’ by Prof Arnulf Grubler and on ‘Indian Constitution’ by Dr. Colin Gonsalves.

Institute also continues to strengthen its international relationship. We have signed Memorandum of Understanding with Hokkaido University, Japan; Indiana University, USA and Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology for felicitating exchange of both undergraduate and graduate students as well as to further developments in terms of research and academics. 

The Institute continues to attract outstanding talent as new faculty members. We are pleased to bring a short introduction of Prof S Shankaranarayanan in the article below.

The generous contributions received from our alumni, corporate entities, and other friends of the Institute helps in making an important difference in our endeavour to pursue global excellence. The contributions towards Institute Development, Infrastructure Development, Young Faculty Awards, Chair Professorships, Hostel Development, Student Development, etc. are examples of utilization of these funds for the betterment of the Institute. We invite you to contribute to the Institute’s betterment to the best of your ability.

Suhas Joshi

Dean, Alumni and Corporate Relations

Tel: +91-22-2576-7023, E-Mail: dean.acr.office@iitb.ac.in