IIT Kharagpur
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IITKGP ka tempo high hai!

IIT Kharagpur Foundation (USA) NEWSLETTER

Volume: 1.20.2024

Dear Reader,

Leadership from IIT Kharagpur at PANIIT2024

A delegation from IIT Kharagpur, comprising of Prof. VK Tewari (Director), Prof. Rintu Banerjee (Dean R&D), Prof. Debashish Chakravarty (Associate Dean of OAA & IR), Prof. K L Panigrahi (Dean HR), Prof. Arkopal Goswami (Chair of the Ron & Chitra Gupta School of Infrastructure and Design), and Prof. TK Bhattacharya (Professor of Electrical Engineering), attended the PANIIT 2024 conference in Washington DC from January 12-14th, 2024.

The PAN IIT event proved to be a tremendous success, featuring exceptional keynote talks, Prof. Tewari's panel on the future of IITs, and Asoke Deysarkar’s (President IITKGPF) panel on Energy Innovations. IITKGPF board member Arjun Malhotra facilitated a conversation with Vinod Khosla of Khosla Ventures, and there was a high demand for photos with him from numerous young alumni. IITKGP alumni constituted one of the larger contingents at PANIIT this year, providing ample opportunities to connect with both seasoned and recent graduates. In the concluding alumni only session, Director Tewari outlined his vision for the future of IITKGP, aiming for a top-ten QS ranking in the next decade. IITKGPF board member Partha Ghosh presented a comprehensive analysis of IITKGP’s strengths and infrastructure assets, proposing a forward-looking vision and ideas for new areas to enhance the institute's global reputation and QS ranking. The IITKGP booth manned by the visiting IITKGP professors, showcased faculty and student research accomplishments along with a variety of IITKGPF promotional materials. The booth received visits from many alumni, other IITians, and even NDTV! All in all, everyone was highly positive and truly interested in the well-being and reputation of their alma mater. The IITKGP Ka Tempo spirit was truly high during the last three days! 

The conference hosts, which included Ron Gupta, PANIIT President and board member of IITKGPF, along with notable IITKGP alumni like Sid Chowdhury (Chair, PANIIT2024), Ramit Ghosh (Finance & Event Chair for PANIIT2024), TK Das, TK Mukherjee, and several others, were exceptional hosts for the conference and IITKGP delegation.

Click to view slideshow

Following PANIIT2024, the IITKGP professors headed to New York City on the 15th for a special event where they ceremonially conferred the DSc (Honoris Causa) upon distinguished IITKGP alumnus Ajit Jain. Born in Sundargarh, Odisha, Ajit Jain attended Stewart School in Cuttack. He graduated from IIT Kharagpur in 1972 with a B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering. In the early part of his career, from 1973 to 1976, Jain served as a salesman for IBM, focusing on their data-processing operations in India. In 1978, he relocated to the United States, pursued an MBA from Harvard University, and joined McKinsey & Co. Subsequently, in 1986, Jain left McKinsey to contribute to insurance operations under Warren Buffett. Buffett, in an annual letter to shareholders, expressed high regard for Jain, stating that if faced with a sinking boat scenario, one should "swim to Ajit." Presently, Ajit Jain holds the position of Vice Chairman of insurance operations at Berkshire Hathaway and is a member of Hathaway's board of directors.

IITKGP Ka Temp High Hai!

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