June 2010
Indian Institute of Technology
Bombay
Top : Ananta (Faculty House)
Center : Hostel 12
Bottom : Main Building
u p d a te
Dear Alum,
Greetings from your alma mater. I hope the
cricket fans amongst you enjoyed all the IPL
action, particularly that on the field. Though the
Mumbai team lost in the finals, it had mainly to
do with the toss.
For us at IITB, this past year has been a time of
sobering challenges. With the student population
expected to reach 8000 in another three years,
one and a half times from that three years ago, we are stretching every
available resource to cope. Thanks for your continued and generous
support to IIT Bombay. It is worth mentioning that this has resulted in a
30% increase in contributions over the previous financial year.
It is heartening to note that the alumni initiatives are starting to make a
difference. Among the most successful is the YFA (Young Faculty Awards
– Joining bonus). This was started by C82 and is being also supported by
C83 & C84.You may want to visit the 'YFA page'
http://www.iitbombay.org/initiatives/young-faculty-award/home
to see the excellent young people who have joined us recently. Another
initiative that has been very helpful is the Financial Assistance Program
(FAP), launched by C81. This is now gaining popularity with alumni in
general. One more notable initiative is HATS, started by H7, followed up
by H4, and now being extended to all hostels. Some of the champions of
these programs were among those conferred Distinguished Service
Awards on Alumni Day in December. Distinguished Alumni Awards
were given on 10 March – Foundation Day. We have included the
biographies of the DAAs in this issue of the Update.
As you might remember, IIT Bombay started the “Chair Professorship”
program during our Golden Jubilee year, 2009-'10. We have named 19
chair professors, so far. This is the highest recognition for our faculty for
their research, teaching and other contributions to the Institute. We
have included the profiles of some of our “Chair Professors” in this issue
of the Update.
We have just brought out a book of caricatures and cartoons on life on
the campus, 'Salt 'n Pepper' by Arun Inamdar. Get your copy and relive
the exasperating but hilarious time you had on campus. Arun has
provided a caricature of Nandan, the iconic IITian, who is trying to give
each one of us in India a unique ID. We plan to bring you more of these
(caricatures, not IDs) in the coming months and look forward to a
continuing dialog with you.
Best wishes
Prof. A. Q. Contractor
Dean Alumni & Corporate Relations
alumni@iitb.ac.in
 2010 Distinguished Alumnus Awards
IIT Bombay gave “Distinguished Alumnus Awards” on its 51 st Foundation
Day (March 10 th 2010). Following alumni were recognized this year :
Dr. Nitish Thakor
(B.Tech., Electrical Engg.,
1974)
Professor, Johns Hopkins
University, USA
Dr. Nitish Thakor received his B.Tech. degree from the
Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Bombay. Later,
he obtained his M.S. in Biomedical Engineering (1978)
and Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering (1981)
from the University of Wisconsin, USA.
He has served on the faculty of the Electrical Engineering
and Computer Science departments of the Northwestern
University from 1981 to 1983. He joined the Johns
Hopkins University in 1983 where he is currently a
Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Electrical and
Computer Engineering and Neurology.
He is actively engaged in developing international
scientific programmes, collaborative exchanges, tutorials
and conferences in the field of Biomedical Engineering.
He is the conference chair for the first American Medical
Association and IEEE Conference on Individualized
Health Care and the organizer of the IEEE Workshops on
"Grand Challenges in Neural Engineering" and "Beyond
Brain Machine Interface". He is currently the Editor-in-
Chief of IEEE Transactions on Neural and Rehabilitation
Engineering.
He is the Editor-in-Chief of PiTech, a Pan-IIT Technology
Review magazine of the IIT alumni devoted to
highlighting the accomplishments of IITians and Indians.
He is also a co-founder of the Faculty Alumni Network of
IIT Bombay devoted to serving the faculty of the institute
and assisting with teaching, mentoring, research, and
recruiting missions.
Dr. Thakor is a recipient of Presidential Young
Investigator Award, National Science Foundation and
National Institutes of Health Career Award. He was given
a Distinguished Service Award by the Indian Institute of
Technology - Bombay, and a Centennial Medal by the
University of Wisconsin, School of Engineering. He is also
an IEEE Fellow, Founding Fellow of Biomedical
Engineering Society, and a Fellow of the American
Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering.
If there's one singularity which over IIT's first five decades or so has characterized the
entry of students to the degree programmes, it is the uncompromising criterion of merit.
R Chandrashekhar, IAS
(M.Sc., Chemistry, 1973)
Secretary to the
Government of India
(Department of Information
Technology)
Mr. Rentala Chandrashekhar received his M.Sc. degree
from the Department of Chemistry, IIT Bombay. Later,
he joined the Government of India in 1975 as a member
of the Indian Administrative Service. He also holds an
M.S. in Computer Science from the Pennsylvania State
University, USA.
He was the man who established the first Department of
Information Technology in the country in Andhra
Pradesh, and also heralded some of the most innovative
efforts including the public-private partnership (PPP)
concept in e-Governance projects. He masterminded the
conceptualization, planning and implementation of
various key initiatives in the state in the field of
Information Technology. The framework that was
evolved was widely regarded as path breaking and
catapulted the State of Andhra Pradesh to the forefront of
IT development in the country.
He has been with the Government of India since 2002
onwards – first as Joint Secretary (e-Governance) and
then as Additional Secretary and Secretary, Department
of Information Technology. He played a leading role in
the formulation and adoption by the government of India
in 2006 of the National e-Governance Plan. This Plan set
the e-Governance agenda of the country and gave it a
citizen and business service orientation.
Mr. Chandrashekhar has received several prestigious
awards. Among those are the Prime Minister's Award for
excellence in Public Administration for the year 2007-'08
for his outstanding contribution to the MCA21 e-
Governance Project; the Award of Distinction by the Post
Media Group, Silicon Valley, USA in 1998 for outstanding
Public and Community Services and for being a Pioneer in
developing Information Technology in the State of
Andhra Pradesh; and the Dataquest Pathbreaker Award
2005 for initiating a model of Public Private Partnership to
drive the country's e-Governance agenda.
- Monastery, Sanctuary, Laboratory
(50 years of IIT Bombay).
 2010 Distinguished
Alumnus Awards continued ...
Adil Zainulbhai
(B.Tech., Mechanical Engg.,
1977)
Managing Director,
McKinsey India
Mr. Adil Zainulbhai obtained his B.Tech. degree from the
Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay. He
also holds a Master's degree in Business Administration
from the Harvard Business School.
He is currently the leader of the Indian Practice of
McKinsey & Company, Inc. He moved back to India in
2004 after 24 years with McKinsey in the United States,
where he started the Minneapolis Office and led the
Washington D.C. office. Since joining McKinsey in 1979,
he has served a wide range of clients including large
corporates, MNCs, PSUs, and family-owned businesses
across sectors covering telecommunications, consumer
electronics, energy, banking, infrastructure, and health
care.
Over the last five years, he has led McKinsey in India
through a phase of significant growth and helped it
maintain its status as the employer of choice and its
reputation as the leading management consulting firm.
Mr. Zainulbhai advises not only the CEOs of current and
emerging industries, but also several government agencies
on issues related to nation building.
He has addressed various Indian and International forums
like the World Economic Forum summits in Belgium,
USA, Scandinavia, Japan, etc. He has served on the
Boards of Indian CEO High Tech Council and The Indus
Entrepreneurs, and is currently on the Boards of
American India Foundation and Saifee Hospital, Saifee
Burhani Upliftment Trust and Wockhardt Foundation. He
has also served on the Advisory Board of the Indian
Institute of Technology Bombay.
In his free time, Mr. Zainulbhai enjoys sailing and trying
out the latest gizmos, but most of all he likes to go on
skiing and other fun vacations with his wife Makduda and
his four sons.
IITs are meant to provide scientists and technologists of the highest calibre
who would engage in research, design and development to helping
building the nation towards self-reliance in her technological needs.
Mr. Madhu Pandit Dasa
(B.Tech., Civil Engg., 1981)
Chairman, The Akshaya Patra
Foundation
Chairman, The India Heritage
Foundation
President, ISKCON-Bangalore
Mr. Madhu Pandit Dasa, formerly known as
Madhusudhan Sivashankar, obtained his B.Tech. degree
from the Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Bombay.
Having found the path that answered his quest for the
Absolute Truth right after his days in IIT-Bombay, Mr.
Madhu Pandit Dasa dedicated his life to serving the
mission of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Prabhupada.
He is a dynamic visionary, an able leader and a thought
engineer. He has demonstrated his risk-taking ability in
achieving organizational excellence and is held in high
esteem for his spiritual, cultural and humanitarian
contribution to society. He has been instrumental in
conceiving and implementing many initiatives that have,
are and will change the presentation of the heritage and
culture of India.
Inspired by the idea of simple living and high thinking, Mr.
Madhu Pandit Dasa envisioned an eco-friendly and
sustainable organic farm. His initiatives led to creating the
Hare Krishna Nature Farm, in Mysore. This concept of
impacting rural development through sustainable
agriculture was conceived by him long before the
organized sector realized its potential. The Hare Krishna
Nature Farm grew to be a model farm and a case study in
sustainable and organic farming in Karnataka, specific to
the farmers of dry lands. Thousands of farmers all over
India have benefited from this project.
The Akshaya Patra programme initiated by Mr. Madhu
Pandit Dasa has, in a short span of seven years, grown by
leaps and bounds and been honoured with several
prestigious awards. A Harvard Business School case
study, Akshaya Patra is one of India's best conceived,
technology-intensive social sector initiatives, strategically
intervening in the education of underprivileged children
by providing unlimited, free and nutritious mid-day meals
to them.
- Jawaharlal Nehru 03
 2010 Distinguished
Alumnus Awards continued ... Name Year Of
Graduation

Dr. S. Rama Iyer 1962

Mr. Colin H. Gonsalves Mr. J.K. Tandon 1962
(B.Tech., Civil Engg., 1975) Prabodh V. Banavalkar 1962
Founder, Human Rights Dr. N. Radhakrishnan 1962
Law Network
Dr. Dhirendranath N. Buragohain 1963
Dr. Bharat Shiralkar 1963
Dr. R.K. Bhandari 1964
Wg. Cdr. R. Raghavan (retd.) 1964
Mr. Arun Hastimal Firodia 1965
Mr. Colin H. Gonsalves received his B.Tech. degree from
Mr. Sharad Kumar Tak 1966
the Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Bombay. He
began working as a civil engineer, but was drawn to the Mr. Lakshminarayanan R. Subramanyan 1966
law through union work and concerns over labour issues Dr. S. Banerjee 1966
and exploitation. In 1979, he started studying law at night
Mr. Edul Minoo Daver 1966
school.
Dinesh Mohan 1967
He is a fighter for social justice and a champion of the
exploited. He has fought against government and big Mr. P. L. Bongirwar 1967
business interests. The Human Rights Law Network, Mr. Shiv Narain Mathur 1967
founded by Mr. Gonsalves, has built 28 litigation centers Dr. Arun N. Netravali 1967
in India. Through this Network, he has represented
children in danger, villagers on the brink of starvation, Mr. Kanwal Rekhi 1967
and prisoners rotting in jails without the due process of Mr. Anuvrata (Dunu) K. Roy 1967
law. After hearing a petition filed by this Network, the
Mr. Vikram V. Rajadhyaksha 1967
Supreme Court directed central and state movernments to
implement several food security schemes. Mr. Gonsalves Mr. Suresh Satramsingh Lulla 1967
argued before the court that Article 21 of India's Dr. Suresh Pal Sethi 1967
Constitution enshrines the right to life, which can be
Mr. Rajiv L. Gupta 1967
broadly interpreted as the right to food, work and fair
wages. Today, children in school get Dr. Jitendra Bhatia 1967
mid-day meals. Dr. Uday G. Karmarkar 1968
He pioneered public interest law in India by setting up a Mr. Ramesh Chandra Agarwal 1968
network of 200 lawyers around the country and is one of Mr. Shashikant D. Limaye 1968
its most prominent human rights litigators. Disability laws,
women's rights, domestic violence, child labor and sexual Jagmohandas Mundhra 1968
harassment issues have all been revisited by his growing Mr. Sharad Kumar Saraf 1969
army of public interest lawyers, who act as a frontline or
Mr. Shailesh Ramkumar Gandhi 1969
the eyes and ears for the Human Rights Law Network Mr.
Gonsalves was honoured in 2004 by American Bar Dr. Ramani Ayer 1969
Association with the International Human Rights Award Mr. Venkatesh Kasturirangan 1969
for his extraordinary contribution to the causes of Human
Rajeev Arora 1969
Rights, rule of law and promotion of Access to Justice.
Dr. Romesh Wadhwani 1969
Parag Rele 1969
Dr. Dileep Bhandarkar 1970
The exploits of these IIT Bombay Dr. Manthiram Natarajan 1970
products have turned IIT into something
Mr. Victor J. Menezes 1970
of a 'brand name' the world over.
Mr. Sudhakar V. Shenoy 1970
- Monastery, Sanctuary, Laboratory
(50 years of IIT Bombay). Dr. Bharat T. Doshi 1970
Dr.Sudhir P. Mudur 1970
Prof. Narendra Kumar 1971
Mr. Deepak M. Satwalekar 1971
 IIT Bombay has given Distinguished Alumnus Awards (DAAs) since 1983. The following
alumni have received DAAs in the past. We have listed them in order of their graduation year.

Name Year Of Name Year Of

Graduation Graduation

Dr. Shailesh J. Mehta 1971 Avinash Manudhane 1975

Dr. Sundaresan Asokan 1971 Dr. Vivek S. Borkar 1976
Mr. Rajeev M. Pandia 1971 Mr.Atul Vijaykar 1976
Pramod Madhukar Chaudhari 1971 Satish Balram Agnihotri 1976
Dr. Behruz Sethna 1971 Mr. Ajit Shelat 1977
Mr. Alexander Luke 1971 Dr. Shankar Sastry 1977
Dr. Sheel Kant Sharma 1971 Dr. Rajeev Vasant Joshi 1977
Dr. Yogen Kantilal Dalal 1972 Prof. Pramod P.Khargonekar 1977
Mr. Achyut S. Godbole 1972 Mr. Ramesh Vaikuntanathan Vangal 1977
Prof. Dr.-Ing Bharat Balasubramanian 1973 Subramanian S. Iyer 1977
Dr. Badri Prasad 1973 Mr. Nandan Mohan Nilekani 1978
Mr. Ravindra Sitaram Gupta 1973 Mr. Manohar Parrikar 1978
Dr. Satish Ramnath Shetye 1973 Mr. Rakesh Mathur 1978
Mr. Suhas S. Kakde 1973 Dr. Narendra K. Karmarkar 1978
Rohini M. Godbole 1974 Dr. Ajit Keshav Ranade 1982
Ashank Desai 1974 Dr. Chetan Chitnis 1983
Dr. Ravindran Kannan 1974 Mr. Girish Jayawant Gaitonde 1983
Dr. Sadanand D. Joshi 1974 Prof. Nitin Nohria 1984
Prof. Sharad S. Sane 1974 Dr. Kota Harinaryana 1984
Bharat N. Desai 1975 Prof. Chaitan Khosla 1985
Mr. Prashant Narayan Ranade 1975 Mr. Ravi Venkatesan 1985
Dr. Jairaj Moreshwar Phatak 1975 Dr. Arunava Majumdar 1985
Mr. Jairam Ramesh 1975
Mr. Rajesh Mashruwala 1975 Please visit
http://www.alumni.iitb.ac.in/distinguish.htm
Krishnanand Prabhu 1975
for information about above alumni.

An excerpt
from the book

SALT'n PEPPER
by
Dr. Arun Inamdar
To order a copy please contact
Dean ACR on the address
mentioned on the backcover.

05
Chair Professors at IIT Bombay Chair Professors at IIT Bombay
A Chair Professorship is a distinguished academic position in the Institute.
The following chair professorships have been established at IIT Bombay with generous
donations from alumni, corporations and other friends of IIT Bombay.
1st Batch (Class of 1962) P K Kelkar Chair Bajaj Group Chair
L & T Chair Major Bhagat Singh Rekhi Chair
Forbes Marshall Chair J R Isaac Chair
Rahul Bajaj Chair Shailesh Mehta Chair
G K Devrajulu Chair Vijay & Sita Vashi Chair
Kamalnayan Bajaj Chair MHRD IPR Chair
Ramkrishna Bajaj Chair Dhrumil Gandhi Chair
D L Shah Chair Romesh Wadhwani Chair
Pramod Chaudhari Chair Madhuri Sinha Chair
Praj Industries Chair
S M Nilekani Chair

In addition to the above, the Institute has setup a number of “Institute Chair
Professorships”. As of now, IIT Bombay has appointed 18 chair professors :
Dr. Santosh Gupta, Chemical Engg. L & T Chair Professor
Dr. H. Narayanan, Electrical Engg. Kamal Nayan Bajaj Chair
Dr. J.M. Vasi, Electrical Engg. 1st Batch (C'62) P.K. Kelkar Chair
Prof. U.A. Athavankar, IDC Ramkrishna Bajaj Chair
Prof. A.G. Rao, IDC D.L. Shah Chair
Dr. S.K. Maiti, Mechanical Engg. G.K. Devarajulu Chair
Dr. A.W. Date, Mechanical Engg. Rahul Bajaj Chair
Dr. G. Mukhopadhyay, Physics Institute Chair
Dr. N.K. Naik, Aerospace Engg. Institute Chair
Dr. V.D. Sharma, Mathematics Institute Chair
Dr. Ravi S. Kulkarni, Maths Institute Chair
Dr. D.M. Dhamdhere, CSE Institute Chair
Dr. S.L. Dhingra, Civil Engg. Institute Chair
Dr. Tarun Kant, Civil Engg. Institute Chair
Dr. Deepak Phatak, CSE S M Nilekani Chair
Dr. Ashwin Gumaste, CSE J. R. Isaac Chair
Dr. Krithi Ramamritham, CSE Vijay & Sita Vashee Chair
Dr. Aluru, CSE Bajaj Group Chair

Appointments to the Chairs are made by a committee headed by the Director of IIT Bombay, field
experts, Institute functionaries and a nominee of the donor as an observer. Selection is based on peer
reviews of overall research achievements and particular, research achievements in the recent past.
Contributions made to the growth of the Institution are given due weightage. The term of a Chair
Professorship is usually 3 years for full time faculty of the Institute or for full time faculty employed on
contract.
A few Chair Professors ...
Prof. J. M. Vasi :
st
1 Batch (1962) P. K. Kelkar
Chair Professor for
Nanotechnology
Electrical Engineering
Academic Background
B.Tech., Electrical Engineering, IIT Bombay, 1969
Ph.D., Electrical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University,
Baltimore, USA, 1973
Research Interests
l
Nanoelectronics
l
Flash memory devices
l
Nanoscale CMOS devices for ULSI applications
l
Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) MOS devices
l
Reliability of nano-scale CMOS devices
l
Modeling and simulation of nanoscale CMOS devices
About Prof. Vasi
Prof. Vasi has played an important role in the initiation
and growth of Nanoelectronics at IIT Bombay and in the
country. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Indian National Academy
of Engineering (INAE), and Institute of Electronics and
Telecommunication Engineers (IETE). He was elected to
The Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars in 1993.
He has received IIT Bombay's Award for Excellence in
Teaching at IIT Bombay twice, as well as the Mathur
Award for Excellence in Research. He was awarded the
National Sreenivasan Memorial Award of IETE in 1997,
and the TechnoVisionary Award of the India
Semiconductor Association in 2008.
Prof. Vasi has been a faculty member at IIT Bombay since
1981. Before joining IIT Bombay, he taught at IIT Delhi
and Johns Hopkins University. He has been an Editor of
the prestigious journal “IEEE Transactions on Electron
Devices” and a Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE
Electron Devices Society. He is a member of the Scientific
Advisory Committee to the Cabinet of the Government of
India.
Prof. Uday A.
Athavankar
(Ramkrishna Bajaj Chair
Professor)
Industrial Design Centre
Academic Background
B.Arch., University of Mumbai, 1966
Research Interests
l
Product Design
l
Metal Imagery and Visualisation
l
Communication Theory
l
Design Process and Methods
l
Product Planning
l
Product Semantics
l
Design and Culture
About Prof. Athavankar
Prof. Athavankar has received the Award for Excellence
in consultancy, from the President of India in 2004; the
third prize for Edugame Design competition, Israel, in
1973 and Best Paper Award, Conference in Vienna in
1996.
He has been a faculty member at IIT Bombay since 1970.
He has been working on a range of institutional and
consumer products. His current projects are in the field of
localization (India and Asia Pacific) of global products
from companies such as NCR, Unilever, Samsung and
Nokia. The products he is working on include robotic
toys and thinking games for children. He has also
collaborated on the development of a personal locket that
collects ECG data, a table top small ECG machine, a bio-
metric authorization device, a variable frequency light
table and night vision goggles for the vision impaired.
In his research, he has been exploring the relationship
between cognitive science, linguistics and design decision.
Using cognitive theories as a framework, he has focused
on areas like 'product semantics' and 'object and culture
relationship'. His current work also includes exploring the
role of mental imagery, spatial intelligence and visual
thinking in design problem solving. Besides research
publications, he is on the editorial board of two
international journals on design research.
07
 Prof. A. G. Rao Prof. A. W. Date
D. L. Shah Chair Professor for Rahul Bajaj Chair Professor
Innovation
Mechanical Engineering
Industrial Design Centre

Academic background: Academic Background

B.E., Mechanical Engineering, 1961-66
Post Grad Dip. in Industrial Design, NID, Ahmedabad
Research Interests
l
Product Design,
l
Creativity and Problem Solving
l
Bamboo Crafts
About Prof. Rao
Has been a faculty member at IIT Bombay since 1970 and
has been involved in shaping the M. Des programme from
its inception. He has studied Creativity and Problem
Solving at MIT (Cambridge) and other places in USA for
9 months under a UNESCO fellowship. Prof Rao has
published two books through IDC: IDC a decade of
Design and Bamboo Craft Design.
He has designed over 20 products for industry including
Electronic Voting Machine. He has published several
papers in National and International Conferences.
Additionally, he studied bamboo craft in the North East
during a year's sabbatical leave and developed tools and
small technologies for bamboo craft under a UNDP
project. Prof. Rao has conducted over 30 workshops in
Bamboo Craft all over the Country and started a 'Bambu
Studio' at IDC. He is a Member of the International
Journal of Bamboo and Rattan and has incubated a
company 'AG Bambu Style' under the Society for
Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE), IIT Bombay.
B.E. from VJTI, Bombay University, 1967
M.Sc. (Tech.) University of Manchester Institute of
Science and Technology, U.K, 1969
Ph.D. (DIC), Imperial College of Science and Technology,
London, U.K, 1973
Research Interests
l
Enhanced Heat Transfer
l
Computational Fluid Flow and Heat/Mass Transfer
l
Computational Solidification and Melting
l
Energy Systems
l
Choice of Technology
About Prof. Date
Prof. Date is a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of
Engineering (FNAE), 2001. He received the Excellence
in Teaching Award, IIT Bombay in 2006.
He has made outstanding contributions to fundamentals
of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and has written
an important text book in the area. The book is published
by Cambridge University Press. He was also invited to
contribute a chapter on CFD in the Kirk-Othmer
Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology (2008 edition).
Prof. Date has been a faculty member at IIT Bombay since
1973 He is the founder and current head of the Centre for
Technology Alternatives for Rural Area (CTARA). He
has made important contributions in the field of “rural
technology development” and has inspired several
generations of students to work on problems of rural areas.

Heading Back to Old Haunts: HATS & You

HATS (Hostel Alumni Team Stewardship) is an alumni driven initiative that facilitates reconnect with your hostel - with old
friends and new students. Now you can do your bit for the continued welfare of your hostel by contributing towards infrastructure
improvements, welfare of mess workers and support of student research projects. The initiative was pioneered by alumni of Hostel 7
and subsequently taken up by Hostel 4. They have collectively raised Rs. 60 lakhs from about 80 donors. So far, funds have been
disbursed for infrastructure improvements and retired mess workers have been given sums of up to Rs. 1 lakh, as a mark of gratitude.
To learn more about HATS please visit https://www.iitbombay.org/initiatives/hats.
HATS is now launched in all hostels. Those interested in being a part of the process or in donating to this cause may write to
Hemant Patel <h4patel4@gmail.com> or Bakul Desai (C82) <bakuldes@hotmail.com> or Damayanti Bhattacharya
<db.iitbaa@gmail.com>. You could also call IITBAA at 91- 22- 2576- 7086 for more details.
 Prof. Ashwin Gumaste
James R. Isaac Chair
Assistant Professor,
Computer Science and
Engineering
Academic Background
B.E., Mumbai University.
M.S., Univ. of Lousiana, 2000.
Ph.D.(EE), University of Texas, Dallas, 2003.
Research Interests
l Metro and access optical networks.
l PBB-TE, MPLS-TP, 100 Gigabit Ethernet, multi-
degree ROADMs
l GPON, NGPON, Data Centers, Cloud Computing,
Telepresence.
About Prof. Gumaste
Prof. Gumaste was a Visiting Scientist with Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, USA in the
Research Laboratory for Electronics, Claude-E-Shannon
group from 2007 to 2009. He was previously with Fujitsu
Laboratories (USA) Inc as a Member of Research Staff in
the Photonics Networking Laboratory (2001-05). He has
also worked in Fujitsu Network Communications R&D
and prior to that with Cisco Systems in the Optical
Networking Group (ONG). His work on light-trails has
been widely referred, deployed and recognized by both
industry and academia. He has 17 granted US patents and
has over 30 pending patent applications. Prof. Gumaste
has published about 120 papers in referred conferences
and journals.
He has also authored three books in broadband networks
called DWDM Network Designs and Engineering
Solutions (a networking bestseller), First-Mile Access
Networks and Enabling Technologies and Broadband
Services: User Needs, Business Models and Technologies
for John Wiley. He has served Program Chair, Co-chair,
Publicity chair and workshop chair for IEEE conferences
and as Program Committee member for IEEE ICC,
Globecom, OFC, ICCCN, Gridnets etc. Ashwin is also a
guest editor for IEEE Communications Magazine, IEEE
Network and the founding Editor of the IEEE ComSoc
ONTC? s newsletter Prism. He is the Secretary of the
IEEE Communication Society's Technical Committee on
High Speed Networks (TCHSN). He has been with IIT
Bombay since 2005 where he convenes the Gigabit
Networking Laboratory: www.cse.iitb.ac.in/gnl
It would be the rare soul who has passed through the Institute's
acres whose memories of it aren't bathed in the warmest of tints.
- Monastery, Sanctuary, Laboratory
Prof. Srinivas Aluru
Bajaj Group Chair Professor
Computer Science and
Engineering
Academic Background
B. Tech. (CSE), IIT Madras, Chennai, 1989
M.S. (CSE), Iowa State University 1991
Ph. D. (CSE), Iowa State University 1994
Research Interests
l
Bioinformatics and Computational Biology |
Computational Genomics, and Computational
Biology.
l
Parallel Algorithms and Applications
l
Combinatorial Scientific Computing – Spatial
Domain Decomposition Methods, Fast Multi-pole
Method, Computational Electromagnetics.
l
String Data Structures and Algorithms.
About Prof. Aluru
Prof. Aluru is a well known authority in two major fields:
Parallel Computing and Bio-informatics. He is one of a
very small group of people who has used massively parallel
computers to solve complex problems with innovative
algorithms and data structures. He has also developed
collaborations with Biologists to the extent that he has
several papers in the Biology literature and teaches course
with solid Biological content. This work has led to very
serious use of parallel computing in the Bio-informatics
arena.
He has published two books and more than 90 technical
papers in journals and peer-reviewed conferences. He is a
recipient of the NSF Career award (1997), IBM faculty
award (2002), Iowa State University Foundation award for
mid-career achievement in research (2006), Warren B.
Boast Undergraduate Teaching Award (2005), two best
paper awards (IPDPS 2006 and CSB 2005), and two best
paper finalist recognitions (SC 2007 and SC 2002). He
co-chairs an annual workshop in High Performance
Computational Biology and has edited a comprehensive
handbook on computational molecular biology, published
in 2006. Prof. Aluru has been a faculty member at IIT
Bombay since 2009.
(50 years of IIT Bombay).
09
 Prof. Krithi SARC
Ramamritham (Students Alumni Relationship Cell)
Vijay and Sita Vashee Chair April 2010 Report
Professor
Computer Science and Arpit Oswal, third year Dual Degree student of MEMS
Engineering department was elected as the new Institute Alumni
Secretary. Prior to being elected as the Institute Alumni
Secretary, Arpit Oswal worked for SARC for 2 years. He
has volunteered in five Phonathons and has participated
Academic Background in over 100 conversations with alumni.
B.Tech. in Electrical Engineering, IIT Madras, 1976 With the aim of enhancing student alumni relationship,
M.Tech. in Computer Science, IIT Madras, 1978 The Alumni Student Mentorship Program was launched
on 30th January, 2010 by SARC. The aim of mentorship is
Ph.D. in Computer Science, University of Utah, 1981 twofold - to provide the alumni a platform to interact one
on one with the current students of IIT Bombay and
Research Interests secondly, to provide the students with mentorship so that
l
Real time systems, they can make important decisions regarding their careers.
l
Databases So far, 439 students and 148 alumni have registered for
the first phase of mentorship. More Alumni are welcome
l
Distributed applications to take part in the mentorship program, the details of
which can be found at
About Prof. Ramamritham http://www.iitb.ac.in/sarc/mentorship.php
Prof. Ramamritham has received a Distinguished For more information on SARC activities and SARC team
Alumnus Award from IIT Madras, Doctor of Science members see http://www.iitb.ac.in/sarc/
(honoris causa) from The University of Sydney, Australia
and IBM Faculty Award.
Prof. Ramamritham is a Fellow of Institute for Electrical
and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), a Fellow of Association
for Computing Machinery (ACM), a Fellow of Indian
National Academy of Engineering (INAE), and a Fellow
of Indian Academy of Sciences.
His research explores timeliness and consistency issues in
computer systems, in particular, databases, real-time
systems, and distributed applications. His recent work
addresses these issues in the context of Dynamic Data in
sensor networks, embedded systems, mobile environments
and the web.
For the last few years he has been interested in the use of
Information and Communication Technologies for
creating tools aimed at socio-economic development.
Prof. Ramamritham has been a faculty member at IIT
Bombay since 2000.
National Center for Mathematics
Sixty mathematicians assembled for a workshop
convened by Profs. C. S. Seshadri and M. S.
Raghunathan, in October 2006 at the National Institute
of Advanced Studies, Bangalore to discuss development
of mathematical research, education and requirements
of use agencies and industries. The workshop resulted in
a document outlining a plan of action for a major boost
to mathematics education and research in India.
This report lists setting up of two institutes similar to
the Mathematics Research Institute of Oberwolfach
(Germany). Inspired by this proposal, a team of
mathematicians from IIT Bombay and TIFR have
proposed setting up a National Center for Mathematics
(NCM) in the picturesque surroundings of lakes and
hills at IIT Bombay.
The NCM is planned to be a major center for
organization, throughout the year, of short term courses,
workshops, national and international conferences for
researchers in mathematics and its applications. Its
programmes will give a major boost to training
researchers in all age groups in frontier areas of
mathematics.
The vital importance of mathematics for science and
industry is now realised by all. With increasing
globalization, several leading universities in Europe and
America are sending delegations to institutes like IITs
and TIFR for possible collaboration. Currently, for
organising various national conferences and workshops,
it takes a great deal of effort for the organisers to locate
a suitable venue and then spend considerable energy in
organizational matters like accomodation, local
transport, food, etc. The proposed research institute on
the campus of IIT Bombay will eliminate these
difficulties once for all.
IIT Bombay and TIFR will together establish NCM and
run its programmes. For this purpose, a multipurpose
building with a 100 seat state of the art auditorium,
several seminar halls, cafeteria, library, a guest house
with fifty rooms and twenty offices is envisaged

11
 Punctuation - A photographic
journey through the IIT Bombay
campus, was published on the
occasion of our Golden Jubilee
year. In addition to the physical
view of the Campus, it gathers
bits and pieces of the everyday
life of the Institution's past.
Punctuations endeavours to
capture faces, expressions, habits
and attitudes and their flow. It is
a stroll through the Campus in
space and time, halting now and
then to record moments, both
the humdrum and the
flamboyant.

Punctuations Our Upcoming Events

yogesh@vimaloffset.com
(A photographic journey through August 6 Convocation for B. Techs & Dual Degree
IIT Bombay Campus) students
Alumni in India can send us August 7 Convocation for M. Techs & Ph. Ds
Rs. 1000 donation by

l
DD/Cheque in favour of September 6 Teachers' Day (to be confirmed)

vimal offset 2578 0490

"Registrar IIT Bombay" and have Sept. 25 & 26 IIT Bombay / Heritage Fund meetings &
a copy shipped. Alumni in USA FAN (Faculty Alumni Network) event in
can send $ 50 via iitbombay.org California

October 29 to 31 PanIIT2010 in Noida

November 1 National Education Day at IIT Bombay

December 20 to 23 Mood Indigo

December 26 Alumni Day at IIT Bombay

Dean ACR Contact Information

1st Floor, Main Building, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay,
Powai, Mumbai 400 076. India.
Tel. : 91-22-2576 4889 l 2576 7023
Email : diptidatye@iitb.ac.in

Published by : Dean Alumni & Corporate Relations, IIT Bombay,