Dear Friend,

Greetings from IIT Bombay!

The month of June has brought the fresh air of vacations for the fresher’s, while the sophomores and third-year students engage in their internships and projects to pave way for their future endeavours. Some students feel the surge of excitement and nervousness as they are about to get exposed to the corporate world, while others are headed home with the welcoming holidays. This month marks the joining of another batch of alumni as our ambassadors to the world. We wish all of them a great and successful life ahead. The Institute, not so crowded as it had been the last month, makes a home for only the very exciting ones engaging themselves in multiple activities even in the summers, while it’s an altogether different view when we look at our Master’s and Ph.D. students.

I take this opportunity to inform you about the change of command of the Director, Dean Student Affairs (SA) and Associate Dean SA of IIT Bombay. On April 18, Prof. Devang Khakhar officially handed over the charge to Prof. Subhasis Chaudhuri, Department of Electrical Engineering, after completing two terms as Director. On May 16, Prof. Soumyo Mukherji handed over the charge of Dean of Student Affairs to Prof. Tapanendu Kundu of the Department of Physics. The Associate Dean of Student Affairs, Prof. Harish Pillai too handed over the charge to Prof. George Mathew of the Department of Earth Sciences. I thank Prof. Khakhar, Prof. Mukherji and Prof. Pillai for their commendable work and service to the Institute and wish Prof. Chaudhuri, Prof. Kundu and Prof. Mathew a hearty congratulations and all the luck for their future endeavours.

On May 3, IIT Bombay held its annual ‘Institute Valedictory Function’ at the Victor Menezes Convention Centre to herald the graduation of the latest batch of students - the class of 2019. Two of our eminent alumni, Mr Abhay Pandey (CSE B.Tech., 1993), General Partner at A91 Partners and Mr Gagan Bhalla (Civil Engineering B.Tech., 1996), CEO of Apollo Sugar and COO of Apollo White Dental, graced the occasion with their presence and motivated our passing out batch with their inspirational words.

The Department of Civil Engineering at IIT Bombay organized the 15th World Conference on Transport Research (WCTR) from May 26 - 31, 2019 at the campus, which aims to bring together academics, practitioners, managers, and policymakers from all parts of the world, to share cutting-edge research and advanced state-of-practice, and provide a unique opportunity to experts to exchange their ideas in all areas of transportation research.

IIT Bombay Sports successfully undertook two very important events in the Institute. They marked the celebration of World Athletics Day on May 5 by unveiling “Freedom The Wall”: a world-class climbing facility set up by IIT Bombay in collaboration with Girivihar Club. Mr Praveen C.M., fourteen times national climbing champion and the only man to have summited the 5850 m Mount Zumbala in Siachen Glacier, graced the event with his esteemed presence. Our previous Dean SA, Prof. Soumyo Mukherji was also present at the inauguration and showed great enthusiasm. IIT Bombay Sports also conducted the 30th edition of the biggest, the longest and the most anticipated event of the swimming calendar, Swimathon, a 12-hour non-stop swimming marathon on May 4 at the New Swimming Pool to test the skills, patience and endurance of the swimmers of our Institute. Many students, faculty and other residents of the campus participated in the event.

On a separate note, enthusiastic teams will return to the Institute by the first week of June to transform their ideas into technical projects through Institute Technical Summer Projects (ITSP), organized by the Student Technical Activities Centre (STAB). In addition to this, the Career Cell will also organize The Learner’s Space, which provides the students with the opportunity to learn various courses under NTSS (Non-Technical Summer School) and TSS (Technical Summer School) through various boot camps. In order to boost the cultural skills of the students, IIT Bombay Culturals introduced Institute Cultural Summer Projects (ICSP) for the first time ever, where students can take up projects in various genres like film, photography, music, dramatics, design and fine arts.

A 10-day long telephonic marathon, the PHONATHON will be organized by the Student Alumni Relations Cell (SARC) from May 31 – June 9, 2019, to give volunteer students the opportunity to interact with our alumni over a phone call to inform the alumni community about our student initiatives and events over the year. I thank all of you who agreed to talk with our students during the Phonathons. I also request you to participate in the various programs discussed by our team during the Phonathon.

I am delighted to inform you that IIT Bombay signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, Canada and the University of Victoria, B.C., Canada, in order to promote future Institutional cooperation and carry out collaborative activities in different academic and educational fields.

The generous contributions received from our alumni, corporate entities, and other friends of the Institute help 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