Contents 1. From Director’s Desk 2. Dean AER Speaks 3. GS SAIL Speaks 4. Convocation 5. 6. Placement Statistics 7. Inter IIT Sports 8. Inter IIT Tech 9. Inter IIT Cult 10. Udgam 11. Spirit 12. 13. Student Achievements 14. Faculty Achievements 15. Alumni Updates 16. Institute Achievements 17. Global Footprints of IITG We would like to award the achievers of IIT Guwahati, Distinguished Alumnus Awards (DAA) every year starting from 2020, the Sil- ver Jubilee year, to those who have reached positions of eminence in the areas of Busi- From Director’s desk ness, Academics, Research, Governance, So- ciety, Public service and Entrepreneurship. I Dear IITG Alumni, Student Alumni Interaction Linkage request you all to send nominations to Dean (SAIL) Team, and Stakeholders, Greetings from the desk AER by email, and the details will be shared of the Director, IITG. On the occasion of the Silver Jubi- with you all soon. lee year of IITG (2019-2020), I’m delighted to present the The institute also requests its distinguished newsletter to you all. IIT Guwahati has completed 25 years alumni to support generously for any specif- of its glorious existence. Within this short span, IITG has ic cause of students’ advancement and insti- been the only academic institution from India that occu- tutional development. We invite our alumni, pied a place among the top 100 world universities – under corporate entities, and other friends of the in- 50 years of age –published by London based Times Higher stitute to contribute to the institute’s better- Education (THE) and continues to do this even today in ment through which we would like to bring various International Rankings. It is strongly believed that significant difference to our en- IIT Guwahati has been able to fulfill the aspirations of the deavor in pursuit of excellence. people of the North East region to a large extent since its Your contribution towards rev- inception through the Assam Accord signed in 1985. The enue generation will be utilized institute has been working very hard to excel in academ- for Infrastructure Development, ics, as well as in R&D, and continues to attract outstanding Young Faculty Awards, Chair Pro- talent in the form of new faculty members in every disci- fessorships, Hostel Development, pline. As part of silver jubilee celebrations, a large number Student Development, and for of events, including conferences, workshops, and semi- the general betterment of the nars, were organized throughout the year. institute. I eagerly look forward The first IITG Alumni event of this decade is planned to meeting you all at our events on campus along with the Research Conclave, on 20-22 and, in particular, the Alumni March 2020. This event would provide the alumni with a Event in March 2020, and while unique opportunity to connect with the existing gradu- you flourish in your careers, I hope ates of the institute, and we eagerly look forward to your that you will continue to walk the participation. IITG is currently inviting nominations for Dis- journey of growth and prosperity tinguished Alumnus Awards and Young Alumni Achiever with IITG in the future. Awards 2020 for consideration, and the same would be awarded during convocation in 2020. Prof. T. G. Sitharam Director, IIT Guwahati

1 2 Dean AER Speaks GS Sail speaks

‘Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming ‘Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most cer- them is what makes life meaningful’ tain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.’ – Joshua J. Marine. - Thomas Edison

Team SAIL is working harder than ever to ac- Kudos to all alumni community! complish the vision laid out by the seniors As we travel towards 25 glorious years of IIT and aims to bridge the gap between our Guwahati, several enchanted and everlasting Alumni and their Alma Mater. New initiatives memories flaunt by our eyes. The journey has like the Alumni Mentorship Programme are encompassed around 15,000 graduates and being taken and there has been a substantial is ready to nourish many more talents in the increase in the frequency of student-alumni future. As we envision the graduates moving interaction through regular alumni webinars, out with their degrees in hand towards new talks, and blogs. Above all, an Alumni Meet is beginnings, it would be inspirational to lend being organized to mark the Silver Jubilee of our ears to lots of untold struggles and sto- our institute. We have so many people from ries. So, here we bring for you, the 1st Alumni different backgrounds and professions striv- Meet at our beautiful campus, bringing forth ing together to bring glory to the institute. events like personality development sessions, We consider it our responsibility to show- start-up showcases, exhibitions, department/ case all our achievements, successfully or- center visits, and other recreational activi- ganized events and competitions, nostalgic ties. As a part of the IIT fraternity, we look for- moments, and developments made in the ward to your active participation and support. past academic year to our extended family. Above all, reliving those memories at your Thus, we’ve worked hard for the compilation alma mater would definitely be relishing for of the above in the form of a booklet, and each one of you. it gives me immense pleasure to present the Alumni Newsletter 2020 to the campus and the Alumni fraternity of IIT Guwahati. Prof. Rakhi Chaturvedi `` Dean, AER Mayank Singla General Secretary, SAIL

3 4 Convocation

On June 12, 2019, IIT Guwahati held its 21st con- vocation. For the batch of 2019, it was a day full of emotions and delights, as they achieved things many can only dream of. There is a reason we call these ceremonies ‘commence- ment exercises’ because graduation is not the end, it’s the beginning. It was the day when around 1500 students got what they were striving for. The chief guest of the event was DR. K. Radhakrishnan, Honorary Distin- guished Advisor - Department of Space/ISRO, and the function preceded in the presence of Prof. S. K. Srivastava and Prof.Gautam Biswas, Director, IIT Guwahati. The 21st Convocation Ceremony handed over degrees to 1404 stu- dents including 572 Bachelor of Technology, 45 Bachelor of De- Dr. K. Radhakrishnan awarded The President of India Gold sign, 30 Master of Medal to the Institute topper of the B-Tech and B-Des pro- Arts, 119 Master of gram to Mr. Anup Agarwal of the Computer Science de- Science, 324 Master partment. Being adjudged as Best in general proficiency, of Technology, 24 Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma Gold Medal was awarded to Mr. Master of Design, 10 Sarath Chandra Neriyanuri of Chemical engineering by Master of Science by the director Gautam Biswas. The ceremony started with Research, and 232 the arrival and robing of the chief guest. Director Prof. Ph.D. students. Gautam Biswas congratulated the entire batch for the successful completion of their journey and urged them to strive to be an exemplary citizen of this country.

5 6 Techniche

IIT Guwahati was back with 21st edition of its annual tech- no-management festival-Techniche, with unmatched zeal and vigor. This grandeur, with a footfall of over 60,000, was witnessed from August 29 to September 1, encompass- ing a wide range of events from various facets of modern technology. This year, Techniche hosted a brand new manage- ment conference, which was a diversification of the previously flourishing Industrial Conclave with speakers Sanjay Bahadur (Principal Director, Income Tax Amidst brainstorming and rig- Dept.), Durga Naveen Kandregu- orous technical activities, add- la (CEO, COIGN), Sachin Phan- ing to the fun element were the sikar (COO, Business Standard). Funniche and the Pronites. Every evening, a wave of excitement flowed in to experience the cap- In addition to its techno-man- tivating performances by distin- agement events, Techniche’19 guished artists including Nishant walked its way in spreading Suri(Comicstaan winning come- awareness and contributing to dian) and Bollywood singer, Amit social development through ini- Mishra. tiatives such as Wake up and Vote, Guwahati Half Marathon Techniche’19 was indeed a per- and many others. By conducting fect amalgam of technology, workshops, harboring events like management, and fun. Robocalypse and Nitro Rally, and hosting a variety of competitions from a range of modules, Tech- niche’19 witnessed its greatest edition ever.

7 8 Placement Statistics Inter IIT Sports

The 1st of December, 2019 marked the start of the place- The Inter IIT Sports Meet keeps raising the bar ment session at IIT Guwahati. After years of rigorous work, every year, and this year was no different! Its which included a number of exams, projects, and assign- the longest-running inter IIT meet of all three, ments, at this point, these students are ready to begin a namely, Sports, Cultural, and Technical. This whole new chapter of their life. Dressed in formal suits and year it was held in three phases and co-host- ties, hearts full of dreams and eyes filled with enthusiasm, ed by two IITs, IIT Bhubaneswar(Indoor Sports) the batch of 2019 was all ready for the commencement of and IIT Kharagpur(Outdoor Sports) for the the placement session 2018-19. first time. IIT Kharagpur emerged victorious yet again, followed by IIT Delhi and IIT Madras A total of 170 companies from various sectors participated as the first and second runner-ups. IIT Guwa- in the recruitment process. The total number of students hati stood 8th in the men’s category while 7th registered for campus placement in the year 2018-19 was in women’s category and 8th overall. IIT Gu- 1018. The overall placement of B.Tech and B.Des students wahati bagged a bronze in Men’s as well as was 84.30%. For B.Tech and B.Des, a total of 478 job of- Women’s tennis modules. fers were given, out of 567 students.The average package offered for B.Tech and B.Des. students were ₹17.82 LPA. The overall placement of M.Tech and M.Des students was There were wins, losses, moments 52.17%. For M.Tech and M.Des, there were 168 job offers for of happiness and heartbreaks, 322 students. but in the end, it is part and par- cel of sports and life in general. The average package offered for M.Tech and M.Des. stu- What matters is the display of dents were ₹12.41 LPA. Placement sessions were also extraordinary grit, perseverance, extended for MSc., MSR, and Ph.D. students who have and sportsmanship from the received offers primarily in the Education & Research sec- participating students. The scale tors. Overall, the placement session of 2018-2019 was suc- and the impact of this biggest cessful with enthusiastic graduates ready to venture the and oldest Intercollegiate sports globe and make their dent in the world. meet of India continues to rise and achieve new heights.

9 10 Inter IIT Tech Inter IIT CULT

The Inter IIT Technical Meet was conducted successfully IIT Bombay hosted the fourth edi- for the eighth time. The three-day event witnessed cut- tion of the Inter IIT Cultural Meet. throat competition in all events with IIT Roorkee emerg- IIT Guwahati grabbed the 7th po- ing victorious, while IIT Kharagpur and IIT Kanpur grab- sition among 23 IITs. bing the second and third positions respectively with IIT Guwahati coming a close fourth. All events were catego- Some of the highlights from the rized according to their preparation levels. Among the meet from our students included high preparation events, IITG bagged Gold in Ashoka’s the 1st position in ‘Do-it’ dance Tech for Change, Silver in DIC Terrace Farming Robot, and event, 2nd position in Hindi sto- DRDO’s UAV Fleet Challenge. ry writing, 3rd position in still, life sketching, Standup Comedy, and Among Medium preparation StagePlay( Dramatics ) and the events, we nailed a gold in the 4th position in the Monoact, Im- BOSCH Route Optimisation chal- prov comedy, English story writ- lenge while getting a silver in the ing, and the fashion show events. Bitgrit Data Science challenge, whereas getting gold in the Cod- ing Hackathon and another sil- The competitions were judged by ver NeenOpal’s Case Study Com- renowned artists and performers petition for the low preparation from various fields taking the cul- events. The meet saw an innova- tural meet to a whole new level! tive and awe-inspiring display of It was a cultural extravaganza the creativity of the students. The Inter IIT Tech meets stir that left everyone touched by the up the technical prowess among the students and helped beauty and finesse of talent, hard them bring out the best by inspiring them to work for work and preparations put up by solving today’s problems using the most useful tools in the students. Rightly said, Technology. The hosts ‘IIT Roorkee’ did an excellent job in “Art washes from the soul the organizing such a massive event smoothly. dust of everyday life”.

“It is not that we use technology; we live technology.”

11 12 Udgam Spirit

Udgam, the Annual Entrepreneurial Summit of IIT Gu- This year Spirit 2019 was back with a bang after a break wahati conducted by the E-Cell, IITG, was held from 17-19 of one year due to inter IIT Sports meet 2018. It was held January 2020 to give the contestants a taste of product from the 26th to the 28th of September of this year. It had management and also to provide a platform to innovate 13+ events, 60+ institutes, and 3000+ participants. There by working on real industry prob- was a Cycling Stunt pro-show followed by a DJ night by lems. Strategy Storm 2020 was during the night. taken to a whole new level wit- Mr. Durga Boro, who plays striker nessing the highest number of at Ozone FC, was the chief guest participants since its inception, of Spirit 2019, and Miss Vaishna- including international participa- vi Patil added life to the night tion for the first time. The Lecture through her power-packed per- Series’20 was among the most in- formances during the opening sightful events of Udgam 2020. It ceremony. All the events were included lectures by personalities successful, attracting a lot of par- including founder of HackerEarth ticipants from all over the north- Vivek Prakash, Bruce Schwack east. The three days of Spirit were CCO of Netmeds.com, Vaibhav power-packed and showed great Sisinty Head of Marketing at sportsmanship and positive ener- Klook India and our very own gy. Spirit 2019 concluded with the alumni Mr. Raghav Mittal giving Convenor’s vote of thanks and a session on personal finance. mesmerizing performance by Workshops on stock markets and Tanay Malhar (Winner of Dance design thinking were conduct- plus 2). ed. Udgam was developed and conceptualized to let the entre- preneurial bug bite the students of the northeast and serve as a launchpad for their success, and Udgam-2020 did it rightfully, leaving no stone unturned

13 14 Also, for the first time, we had a vibrant coloured giant hot air Alcheringa balloon flying high in the sky in our very own campus under the Year after year, Alcheringa raises the bar of madness to event Flickeringa. a whole new level. This year was no different. Alcheringa 2020 was themed as Gala De Janeiro, taking inspiration For Juggernaut, we had Ritviz, from elements of various Carnivals around the world. Kaambhari, and Spitfire. For Cre- Alcheringa 2020 was scendo(aka Bollywood Night) - we held from 30th Jan- had an amazing heart-wrenching uary to the 2nd Feb- performance by the well-known ruary, with around bollywood artist and our favour- 80 events, over 450 ite Jubin Nautiyal. For Blitzkrieg, colleges participat- we had DJ Ola Ras, all the way ing, and witnessing from Ukraine and DJ Shaan, the Alcheringa has such a larger than a footfall of over 100 first Indian DJ to play at the pres- life picture that writing its sum- thousand. This year tigious Tomorrowland. mary would take pages; this is Team Alcheringa had just a mere description of what a few additions to had happened over those four their events list, in- gala nights. cluding Rap Battle, Flickeringa, and Creators’ Camp. Coming to the Pronites lineup, Alcheringa 2020 had some of the best artists performing. Saaz - The Classical Night, had world-re- nowned Mohini dey, Mandolin U Rajesh, Ghatam Giridhar Udupa, Mukul Dongre, Hafeez Ahmed Alvi, Nandini Shankar.

15 16 Student Achievements Faculty Achievements

1. Mr. Pratik Nag, Dept. of BSBE, was selected for the Prime 1. Prof. Rakhi Chaturvedi, Department of Bioscience & Bioen- Minister’s Research Fellowship (PMRF). gineering, and Prof. Vimal Katiyar, Department of Chemical Engineering are awarded Visiting Professor at Gifu Universi- 2. Mr. Shivram N Gowtham, 4th-year B.Tech. CSE & Mr. Aay- ty, Japan. ush Sanjay Agarwal, 3rd year B. Tech. CSE was selected for the prestigious Tower Research Capital Scholarship 2019. The 2. Prof. Arun Chattopadhyay has been elected as a Fellow by scholarship amount is ₹2,00,000/- per student per year. the Indian National Science Academy for his fundamental contributions to nanoscale material science and technology. 3. Janani G, Dept. of BSBE has been awarded the “Fulbright Nehru Doctoral Research Fellow” and visited the University 3. Prof. Biman Mandal, Department of Bioscience & Bioengi- of Pittsburgh for 9 months. neering has been awarded the Young Scientist Award 2019 by the Asian Polymer Association (APA). 4. Mr. Kushagra Agrawal, research scholar, Dept. of Chemical Engg., was awarded first position, research scholar category 4. Dr. Debapriya Basu, Dept. of HSS, was awarded the Moore at the International Conference on Recent Advances in Fluid Institute Fellowship 2018–19 at the National University of Gal- and Thermal Sciences (iCRAFT 2018) in Dubai. way, Ireland.

5. Sanjay Shukla (MSc, Physics), Debasmita Paul (MSc, Chem- 5. Dr. M. Sarma, Dept. of Chemistry has been selected as As- istry), Deepa Antony (MSc, M&C), Srijani Roy (MA, Develop- sociate Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry (AMRSC), ment Studies) have received the Jadav Prasad Chaliha Award November 2018. for Academic Excellence. Mayank Prasad (B.Tech., CL) has received the Jadav Prasad Chaliha Award for the Differently 6. Prof. Parameswar K Iyer, Dept. of Chemistry, has been se- Abled for the year 2018. lected to receive the MRSI Medal for 2020 at the Annual Gen- eral Meeting of Material Research Society of India to be held 6. Gaurav Agarwal, B.Tech (Mechanical Engineering), has at Kolkata, during 11-14 February 2020 been recommended by the Institute for the prestigious ONGC Gold Medal. The ONGC Gold Medal is awarded to the 7. Prof. Pradeep Yammiyavar, Dept. of Design was awarded topper of B.Tech, Mechanical Engineering branch. the National Award for Teaching Innovation of MHRD—GOI for Innovation in Higher Education under PMMMNMTT.(Se- 7. Dr. Prodyut Dhar, Dept. of Chemical Engg., has been select- lected in 2016–17. Conferred on Jan 14, 2019) ed for ‘Graduate Student Award’ for his Ph.D. research work on ‘Cellulose Nanocrystals’ by American Chemical Society.

17 18 Alumni Updates

1. Prem Kumar Vislawath is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Marut Drontech and an alumnus of IIT Guwaha- ti. He received the Emerging Technology Award for Drones and AI for Mosquito eradication and disease prediction for Malaria and Dengue at the 6th Annual Nasscom Technology Conference 2019.. 7. Myelin Foundry, a deep tech product startup, co-found- 2. Samarjit Das(BTech ECE, 2006), currently working as a ed by Aditi Olemann (IITG batch of 2013) has raised a $1 Principal Scientist at Bosch Corporate Research, USA, led a million seed funding round led by Endiya Partners. team of scientists who are using sound to check equipment on the International Space Station. 8. Mr Aakash Chouksey, B.Tech 2018, Department of Civil Engineering secured AIR 1 in GATE 2018 3. Mr Akshat Jain, B. Des., 2017 of Department of Design, IIT Guwahati has secured an All India Rank 2, and Mr. Deepak 9. FreshVnF, a startup co-founded by Aashish Krishna- Tiwari from the batch of 2013 has secured an All India Rank tre(IITG batch of 2015) has raised $2 million funding by 47 in the UPSC Civil Services Examination, 2018. Equanimity Ventures. Singapore-based foodtech startup Ai Palette founded by Himanshu Upreti (IITG/2015) raised 4. Forbes magzine recognized Ms Richa Singh, Co-founder $1.1 million led by Decacorn Capital. and CEO of YourDost and featured her in its Asia edition of 30 under 30 achievers in the area of healthcare and science. 10. Zilingo, a e-commerce marketplace startup co-found- ed by IITG alumnus Dhruv Kapoor raised Series D funding 5. bhasha.io, co-founded by Gaurav Rathi (BTech, CSE, 2013 of $225 million in a round led by Sequoia Capital. Batch), is one of the 16 companies chosen for the IIGP 2.0 (In- dia Innovation Growth Programme). The company provides language learning solutions for Indian languages. Announcement:

6. Mr Namit Jain, B.Tech 2015 batch of Civil Department, se- Do you want us to feature your achieve- cured AIR 1 in UPSC ESE, 2017. ments in next edition of our newletter? Reach out to us at “[email protected]” with the subject as “Alumni Updates.”

19 20 Institute Achievements global footprints of iitg

1. NIRF 2019: 7th in Engineering and 9th in Overall. 1. IITG now offers three new joint degree programs with Gifu University, International Joint Master’s & PhD in Food Science 2. Swachhata Ranking 2019: 3rd in Higher Educational Insti- and Technology and International Joint PhD in Integrated tutions (1st Among CFI). Mechanical Engineering.

3. QS Rankings 2020: 10th in QS India Rankings 2020. 2. IIT Guwahati houses 58 full time foreign students and 90+ international exchange students. 4. “THE” Rankings 2019: 151-200 in Young University Rankings 2019 . 3. IIT Guwahati introduced joint PhD programme with Hei- delberg University, Germany, and joint supervision with Cur- 5. HackerRank: 1st in Asia Pacific Region under “Problem tin University, Australia and Shantou University, China. Solving” Category. 4. IITG also offers Summer, Spring and Winter school pro- 6. Nature Index 2019: 20th in Top 50 young universities in grams with Hanyang University South Korea, Gifu University chemistry. Japan and NTHU Taiwan, respectively.

7. IIT Guwahati improved in Overall-Engineering and Tech- 5. IITG is the member of International Consortia and Col- nology Subject Category to 233 in 2020 from 278 in 2019. laborations: NAMASTE+, SATU, SAKURA, SICI, IAP, Heritage Network, ATU-Net, BRICS multilateral research and develop- ment group, RTF-DCS, ASEAN-Indian research training fel- lowship, SPARC.

21 22 Credits Content: Krishna Priyatam Somya Agrawal Utkarsh Ujjain Amey Varhade Anubhav Rishikesh

Design: Ayush Prajapati Shiva Sah

Advisors: Mayank Singla Pankaj Chandravanshi Omkar Desai

Office Support: Prof. Rakhi Chaturvedi Dean, AER

Prof. Aditya N. Panda Associate Dean, AER

Mr. A. Wanshai Shynret Assistant Registrar

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