IIT Kharagpur
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IITKGP ka tempo high hai!

Empowering Global Research Dreams: IITKGPF USA supported 29 International Research Internships in Summer 2025

This summer, alumni generosity translated directly into opportunity. Through the IIT Kharagpur Foundation USA (IITKGPF USA) and our partner, the Guru Krupa Foundation (GKF), 29 IIT Kharagpur students earned funded placements in leading laboratories and universities worldwide, receiving a combined $130,820 in scholarship support. That total includes 17 IITKGPF USA scholarships ($79,280) and 12 GKF scholarships ($51,540)—each gift turning talent and ambition into real-world impact.

Intern Devodita Chakravarty @ Carnegie Mellon with Prof. John Dolan (left) and with my mentor Yiwei Lyu (right)

Why this matters

International research experiences do more than add lines to a résumé. They place KGPians inside high-performing teams, expose them to new methods and cultures, and seed collaborations that endure long after summer ends. These students returned with publications in progress, open-source tools under development, and—just as importantly—new confidence about what they can build next for India and the world.

Two snapshots of impact

1) Robotics that learns across sensors — University of Freiburg (Germany)
Aerospace student Nageswar Lakshmikanth spent the summer in the Robot Learning Lab developing cross-modal calibration between thermal cameras and LiDAR—critical for autonomous robots that rely on multiple sensors to navigate safely. He trained GAN- and diffusion-based models to synthesize thermal imagery and used uncertainty-flow methods to match thermal images to LiDAR scans, achieving a median calibration error of 2.6%. 

2) Safer, more cooperative autonomous driving — Carnegie Mellon University (USA)
Computer science student Devodita Chakravarty joined CMU’s Robotics Institute (DRIVE Lab) to study how autonomous vehicles can influence human driver intent—much like skilled human drivers do—using a belief-aware control framework. In simulations of complex merges, the approach raised success rates from 60% to 90% while reducing average time to merge from 9.76s to 2.13s, with clear interpretability benefits. 

What students worked on

Across continents and disciplines, KGPians tackled problems that matter:

• Energy & climate: CFD analysis of hydrokinetic turbines at the University of Michigan; trustworthy AI tools for power-system dynamics at DTU.
• AI & autonomy: Conformal-prediction safety for multi-agent planning at UCLA; real-robot locomotion learning at NUS; safe RL at UC Berkeley.
• Health & life sciences: Network models of chemotherapy–microbiome interactions at the University of Szeged; GUI tools that make 3D single-molecule imaging accessible at Max Perutz Labs/Vienna.
• Manufacturing & society: Digital forensics for 3D printing at Warwick Manufacturing Group; price-forecasting models to support farmers across West Bengal at University of Warwick.

Each of these projects began with an alumni-funded flight and a student brave enough to step into a new lab, a new city, and a new way of working.

Where they went: Summer 2025 host institutions

Students were welcomed by an inspiring range of universities and research centers around the world, including:

• University of Freiburg (Germany)
• King Abdulaziz University (Saudi Arabia)
• University of York (UK)
• University of Stuttgart (Germany)
• Deakin University (Australia)
• University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (USA)
• University of Birmingham (UK)
• University of California, Berkeley (USA)
• National University of Singapore (Singapore)
• University of Warwick & WMG (UK)
• Technical University of Denmark — DTU (Denmark)
• Bolyai Institute, University of Szeged (Hungary)
• Cambridge Judge Business School (UK)
• City University of Hong Kong (Hong Kong SAR)
• Carnegie Mellon University (USA)
• University of Neuchâtel (Switzerland)
• University of California, Los Angeles — UCLA (USA)
• Yale University (USA)
• Delft University of Technology — TU Delft (Netherlands)
• Maejo University (Thailand)
• The University of Tokyo (Japan)
• The University of Auckland (New Zealand)
• University of Vienna / Vienna BioCenter (Austria)

This list reflects placements supported by IITKGPF USA scholarships and by our partner GKF’s scholarships in Summer 2025.

The numbers you made possible

• Students supported: 29 (17 via IITKGPF USA; 12 via GKF)
• Total scholarship funding: $130,820 (IITKGPF USA: $79,280; GKF: $51,540)

A virtuous cycle—how alumni support multiplies

For many recipients, these internships became the launch pad for graduate applications, papers in preparation, and continuing collaborations. Several projects are evolving into conference submissions and open-source tools with global users. Each success story also strengthens IIT Kharagpur’s reputation—opening doors for the next cohort of KGPians to learn, contribute, and lead.

Call to action

If you’ve ever wondered how to “pay forward” your KGP experience, this is one of the highest-leverage ways to do it. A few thousand dollars can turn an acceptance letter into an experience that changes a student’s trajectory—and, with it, the impact they’ll have in labs, startups, and public service. Let’s resolve to support more internships. Your gift travels farther than you think.

Hymn to IITKGP

… by Puran Dang, IITKGP/1959

From distant states, from fortune’s heights and shadowed plains, they came—
Bearers of talent, seekers of flame;
Upon KGP’s consecrated ground they trod,
Ordained as doers, stars in the firmament of God.

With minds afire and patient toil refined,
They carved their glory on the tablets of time;
Destined from birth to ascend and to rise,
Their labor sang hymns beneath eternal skies.

Within the noble halls of brotherhood they dwelt,
Where laughter rang and fellowship was felt;
In bonds unbroken, their spirits intertwined,
A nation’s future by such souls defined.

Guided by sages, steadfast, wise, and true,
Whose love of knowledge ever brightly grew;
Unfettered by envy, by discord unswayed,
They pledged to serve—undaunted, unafraid.

O live, O Institute, source of radiant light,
Whose children are jewels—resplendent, pure, and bright;
India’s pride, the world’s enduring song,
To serve humanity in truth their whole life long.

Empower. Inspire. Support.