Indian Institute of Technology, Madras celebrated its 59th Institute Day on April 26. The occasion was extra-special as the institute was adjudged as the best engineering institution in the country for the third consecutive year. It also stood second in the overall category (for the second year in a row), judged by National Institutional Rankings Framework (NIRF) 2018, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, next only to the Indian Institute of Science.
The day was celebrated by recognising the achievements of students, faculty and staff, who excelled in their endeavours, as well as by felicitating a select few alumni. Twelve ‘Distinguished Alumni’, who were recognised this year, carved out a name for themselves in academia and industry, through their research contributions, as entrepreneurs, or by developing key technologies for the welfare of the country.
Chief Guest of the Institute Day, B Santhanam, President and Managing Director of Saint Gobain India Pvt. Ltd., is himself a ‘Distinguished Alumnus’ awardee. Speaking on the occasion, Santhanam said, “In the last decade, IIT Madras has become more global, agile, raised its standard and output in research, deepened industry connect, leveraged the alumni network and enhanced its reputation.”
Addressing the graduands, he added, “I have put certain principles together into what I call the ‘STAY’ framework. It offers four simple verbs to guide you to:
~ STAY Immersed — Let the power of compounding and deliberate practice work in your favour
~ STAY Organised — Eliminate distraction, perform deep work as you build your expertise
~ STAY Relevant — Be curious and seek width and breadth simultaneously. Connect the dots through a broad understanding of adjacencies, coupled with depth of expertise in specific areas.
~ STAY Connected — Systematically build your network and leverage the IIT Alumni community.”
He also bestowed the institute R&D Awards, Award for Excellence in Teaching and Non-Academic Staff Recognition Awards.
Delivering the Presidential address, Prof Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director of IIT Madras, said, “With this year’s Institute Day, we enter the sixtieth year of our institute’s life. Sixty is young as far as universities go, but we have already carved out a name for ourselves nationally and globally. We have also made our mark as a key contributor in building our nation.”
Commenting on various aspects that make IIT Madras unique, he said, “We are probably the first institute to have set up a full-fledged Development Office three years ago to raise resources. Several key positions in this office are held by alumni, and working together with the IIT-M Foundation, the funds raised have been growing at a CAGR of more than 30 per cent. We are very grateful to the donors who came forward to contribute generously in large numbers, and assure them that the funds will be put to good use.”
He added that the Centre for Innovation continued to be a beehive of activity for students. Seven teams competed at various international challenges, and often ranked among the top 20 teams!
The Director presented the Distinguished Alumnus Awards and the Institute Research Award (Academic Awards) to 21 research scholars in appreciation of the quality and quantity of their research. The award consist of a merit certificate and a cash award of ₹20000. Around 62 Institute Day prizes presented on this occasion were funded by IIT-M alumni.
‘Extra Mural Lecture’ (EML) Yearbook, which contains activities of previous year and personalised messages of speakers who were invited as part of EML (a student managed group organising lectures) was also released. The money collected through Saarang 2018, IIT Madras’ cultural fest, was donated to Deepam Trust (₹50,000) and Chudar Foundation (₹80,000).