November 25, 2024: Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IIT Roorkee) celebrated its Foundation Day with the theme “Empowering India: Nurturing Education, Innovation, and Cultural Legacy.” The event was marked by the launch of the IITR Vision Document, outlining the institute’s roadmap for fostering interdisciplinary research, technological innovation, and sustainable development. The celebration also highlighted IIT Roorkee’s enduring commitment to driving impactful initiatives in education, research, and societal transformation, reflecting its vision of empowering the nation through excellence in science and technology. The celebration also recognized outstanding Alumni through the presentation of the Distinguished Alumnus Awards of 2023. The DAA are given to alumni of the University of Roorkee (UOR) or IIT Roorkee (IITR) to recognize their exceptional contributions in six categories. Nominations for DAA are invited from all over the world. The contributions should be self-evident to the peers in the category, namely Academic or Research Excellence, Excellence in Engineering or Technology Innovation, Excellence in Leadership in the Government or Public Sector, Excellence in Leadership in the Private Sector, Entrepreneurial Excellence, Excellence in Service to the Society. The Distinguished Young Alumnus Award (DYAA) is conferred to IIT Roorkee Alumni below 40.
The Outstanding Service Awards (OSA) recognizes Excellence in Academics and Research by strengthening the IIT Roorkee community’s academic, research and development efforts. By enabling faculty and students to showcase and promote their work nationally and internationally. And by promoting Sponsored Research and Industrial Consultancy from State or Central Government or private industry. Nominations for DA Awards are invited from all over the world.
This recognition took place against the backdrop of the tranquil surroundings in front of the iconic Main building, creating a serene ambience for the occasion.
Distinguished Alumnus Awardees:
Prof. Bhim Singh (1977 – B.E. – Electrical Engineering): Prof. Singh has been ABB Chair Professor from September 2007 to August 2012. Prof. Singh has been CEA Chair Professor from September 2012 to August 2017. He has been Head of Department of Electrical Engineering at IIT Delhi from July 2014 to August 2016. Prof. Singh has been Dean, Academics at IIT Delhi from August 2016 to August 2019. He has been JC Bose Fellow of DST, Government of India from December 2015 to June 2021. He is currently serving as a SERB National Science Chair and an Emeritus Professor at IIT Delhi since July 2021.
Prof. Ayodhya Nath Tiwari (1980- M.Sc. – Physics): He is a multifaceted personality as an outstanding scientist, successful entrepreneur, educationist/teacher and provider of frequent advisories to various institutions/agencies. He is the Chairman and Cofounder, SOLTIWA AG company in Switzerland. Prof. Tiwari was head of the Laboratory for Thin Films and Photovoltaics, Empa-Swiss Federal Laboratories for Material Science and Technology.
Shri Yuvraj Mehra (1971 – B.E. – Chemical Engineering): He is a licensed professional engineer and is currently serving as Managing Principal Consultant for Mehra Consulting Services, LLC since 2012. Through MCS provided contracted process engineering consulting services to PetroSkills, Hellervik Midstream LLC, and Saudi Aramco. Mr. Mehra retired from Saudi Aramco (2000-2011) as Gas and Light-ends Process Engineering Consultant in the Process & Control Systems Department.
Dr. G. Madhusudan Reddy (1987 – M.E. – Mechanical): Dr. G. Madhusudhan Reddy obtained his bachelor’s degree from Kakatiya University in 1985, his master’s from IIT Roorkee in 1987, and his doctoral degree from IIT Madras in 1999. He formerly served as the Director of Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory (DMRL), DRDO Hyderabad, where he led a strong team in the domain of critical advanced materials & technologies in defence systems. His inspiring leadership enabled DMRL to be recognized as best Science Laboratory in the form of ‘Titanium Trophy’ by Defence Minister on 18 Dec 2020. Currently, he is an Adjunct Professor at Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, NIT Warangal.
Shri Sanjay Kumar Agarwal (1987 – B.E. – ECE): Shri Sanjay Kumar Agarwal joined the Indian Revenue Service (Indirect Taxes and Customs) in 1988. He is currently Chairman of Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India. The Department he is heading is engaged in collection of Indirect Tax revenue for the Union Government from GST, Central Excise and Customs duties and the task of border control for goods and passengers. He has worked in various capacities in Customs, Central Excise, Service Tax and GST field formations in the States of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madya Pradesh, Delhi and Tamil Nadu.
Shri Vikas Kumar (1987-B.E.-Electrical): Dr. Vikas Kumar, is a graduate in Electrical Engineering (1987) from University of Roorkee (now IIT). He did his Masters from IIT/Delhi in Opto-Electronics & Optical Communications. He belongs to 1988 batch of Indian Railway Traffic Service. He has more than 34 years of experience in all phases of Rail based Urban Transportation Projects including 20 years of experience with DMRC, the largest MRTS system in India having 286 stations (390 KMS network). In Delhi Metro, he has worked in various capacities viz. Dy/Addl. General Manager, General Manager, Executive Director and Director/Operations before being elevated to the apex level. Presently, he is heading the organization as its Managing Director.
Shri Anand Ramamoorthy (1996 – B.E. – Metallurgy): Mr. Anand Ramamoorthy (1996 – B.E. – Metallurgy) is a seasoned, well-rounded technology executive with over two decades of global experience building high performance teams, introducing flagship products, scripting executable strategies, driving nonlinear business growth, and leading organizational transformation. Mr. Anand is currently Managing Director at Micron India and is responsible for R&D, engineering, operations and sales. Micron is a $30B global leader in semiconductor memory and storage chips.
Shri Sandeep Garg (1981 – B.E. – Electrical): Shri Sandeep Garg is a Bachelor of Technology from IIT Roorkee and an alumnus of Harvard Business School. He has over 37 years of experience in core infrastructure sectors and is currently the Managing Director of Welspun Enterprises Limited. He also serves as Managing Director of Adani Welspun Exploration Limited. He has been associated with the Welspun Group since July 2012. In his current role at Welspun, he, along with his team, has been instrumental in driving the company’s remarkable turnaround. Notable achievements along this journey include receiving the prestigious Gold award from the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways for Excellence in Project Management for the Delhi-Meerut Expressway.
Shri Ravi Kant Gupta (1981 – B.E. – Civil): He started his initial career in Larsen & Toubro Limited and Engineers India Limited. In 1983, he joined UP State Bridge Corporation as Assistant Engineer and had an illustrious career, while leading a team of Engineers for many prestigious Bridges and Building projects. Some of the projects handled by him include construction of Twin Bridge on NH-17 over River Periyar and Chandrasekhar Nayak Stadium with a sitting capacity of 30,000 at Thiruvananthapuram which was completed in a challenging time schedule of 120 days, from start to finish. In recognition of this exceptional achievement, CM of Kerala awarded a Gold Medal to Er. R.K. Gupta.
Shri Sunil Goyal (1989 – B.E. – E&C): He heads the India operations of Sopra Steria, in the capacity of Dy. Chief Executive Officer. Under this capacity he is responsible for all business, delivery and enabling functions. The organization is a part of Sopra Steria Group, a €5.8 billion conglomerate, headquartered in Paris and one of the top 5 French IT Services company in France having a strength of 60,000 professionals worldwide operating from 30 countries. Mr. Sunil started his career as a telecom support professional at Unitel post which he got into managing sales at Wipro. He then decided to become an entrepreneur and co-founded Momentum India in the year 1993 with almost no seed capital, along with his senior from college.
Dinesh kumar Likhi (1981 – B.E. – Metallurgical Engineering): has an illustrious career of nearly four decades culminating in the highest position of Chairman and Managing Director of a Defence Public Sector Undertaking, Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited: MIDHANI, from 2015 till 2020 and CEO & Director of Utkarsha Aluminium Dhatu Nigam Limited from 2019 till 2020. He has also contributed to the growth and turnaround strategy of Steel Authority of India Limited (2000-2010). He is a nominated Director on the Boards of Bhilai JP Cement Limited and Jaiprakash Power Limited. In addition, he is a strategic advisor to special steel companies viz. Jindal Stainless Steel and Sarloha Advance Materials (Kalyani Group company). Dr. Likhi has also incorporated two startups in the field of consultancy and services with India as a focus country.
Distinguished Young Alumnus Awardees:
Mr. Puneet Jaggi (2010 – B.Tech. – Chemical Engineering): Mr. Puneet Jaggi (2010-BTech-Chemical Engineering) is the founder, Gensol Group, and Co-Founder of BluSmart, India’s first born-electric, full-stack, vertically integrated EV ride-hailing service and EV charging infrastructure network. Mr. Puneet’s journey in clean energy and sustainable mobility is rooted in his background as a Chemical Engineer from IIT Roorkee. Transitioning from the traditional Oil and Gas sector, he pursued his passion for clean energy, co-founding Gensol along with Anmol Jaggi.
Mr. Sourabh Gupta (2016 – B.Tech. – Metallurgy): Mr. Sourabh Gupta touchstone of a true leader is the disruptive potential of the enterprise he/she leads. Sourabh Gupta, the CEO and Co-founder of Skit.ai had a big hairy audacious goal (BHAG) when he embarked on the journey of creating an AI-based technology solution that will revolutionize contact center support across industries, the globe, and forever. He co-founded the company during the final year of engineering, along with Akshay Deshraj, his batchmate, the CTO at Skit.ai.
Mr. Abhishek Agarwal (2016 – B.Tech. – Mechanical Engineering): He is a passionate entrepreneur with a strong focus on social impact. He is the founder of Farmley – a new age healthy snacking brand specializing in dry fruits & nuts. Over the past 6 years, Abhishek and his team have worked consistently to establish deep backend linkages with over 5000+ farmers across India and even internationally. This has enabled the farmers to have much better market access, resulting in higher incomes.
Ms. Pooja Devi (2010 – M.Tech. – Nanotechnology): She is a Principal Scientist, Materials Science and Sensor Applications (MSSA) in CSIR-CSIO, Chandigarh. Her major research interest includes materials and devices design for Hydrogen production, water/air pollutants degradation, and water pollutants monitoring. She has established methods for synthesizing various materials such as metallic nanostructures, transition metal oxides, semiconductors, carbonaceous nanostructured materials, 2D materials, MXenes, etc. She has published around 72 research papers in high-impact journals, edited 05 books as lead editor, published 18 book chapters.
Mr. Ghanshyam Pilania (2007 – B.Tech. – Metallurgy): He works as a Senior Engineer in the Probabilistic Design and Materials Informatics team at GE Global Research (GE Aerospace) at Niskayuna. His current research portfolio highlights technical efforts on informatics-driven design and optimization of functional and structural materials, materials for sustainability and probabilistic analytics for strategy.
Outstanding Service Awardees:
Shri Aditya Gupta (1974 – B.E. – Mechanical Engineering), (1976 – M.E.- Machine Design): He has been providing social services to our society – especially to IITR alumni, and the institute since 1996. Over the past 27 years, Aditya has worked tirelessly to generate belongingness and cohesiveness among IIT Roorkee Alumni in North America and California, home to the largest alumni concentration in USA. His efforts gave birth to IIT Roorkee Heritage Foundation (IITRHF) in 2007. He is part of founding team and board member of IITRHF since its launch in 2007, and serving as current President of this non-profit tax-deductible charitable organization.
Shri Vivek K. Varma (1983 – B.E. – Industrial Engineering), (1985 – M.E. – Mechanical Engineering): He is a globally recognized business technology executive, active alumnus and servant-leader with over 30 years of proven track record in India, Australia, and the USA. He has excelled as an academician, public servant, researcher, consultant, entrepreneur, and innovator. After teaching in the Mechanical & Industrial Engineering Department and engaging in public service, Vivek earned a Ph.D. in the field of Decision Support Systems from The University of Melbourne, Australia. He then moved to the USA to pursue a career in technology innovation and consulting.
Shri B.V.R. Mohan Reddy, Chairman, Board of Governors, IIT Roorkee, expressed his deepest gratitude, “Our alumni embody the legacy of IIT Roorkee, driving progress through their innovation, leadership, and technology acceleration. Their remarkable achievements across diverse fields reflect the core values of our institution. Today, we honor their successes and their enduring bond with their alma mater. Congratulations to all the awardees—may they continue to inspire future generations.”
While congratulating the awardees Prof. K.K. Pant, Director, IIT Roorkee, said: “It is a moment of immense pride for IIT Roorkee to honour these extraordinary individuals who have distinguished themselves through exemplary accomplishments and transformative contributions. These awards not only recognize their remarkable achievements but also reaffirm the impact of IIT Roorkee’s education and values. I congratulate all the awardees and look forward to their continued association with the institute in building a brighter future for society.”
Prof. R.D. Garg, Dean of Resources & Alumni Affairs, IIT Roorkee, said, “Our alumni represent the lifeline of IIT Roorkee, enriching our legacy through their outstanding achievements and global impact. The Distinguished Alumnus Awards and Outstanding Service Awards are a testament to their excellence and dedication. I thank the awardees for their invaluable contributions and support to the IIT Roorkee community and congratulate them on this well-deserved recognition.”
Mumbai, 25th November 2024: Richard Ginioux, former Managing Director of the renowned FERRANDI Paris hotel school, took over from Pascal Capellari as Dean of Excelia Tourism School on 4th November 2024. As a graduate of both ESSEC Business School and Sciences Po Bordeaux, Richard has extensive experience in the luxury hotel industry (Le Meurice and Le Bristol) and in the hospitality education sector (École Supérieure Internationale de Savignac, FERRANDI Paris).
