Alumnus Awards

Dr. Chellapandi obtained an M.Tech. in 1983, and a Ph.D. in 1995 in Applied Mechanics from IIT Madras.

Dr. Chellapandi is currently Director, Safety Group and Associate Director, Nuclear Engineering Group, Indira Gandhi Center for Atomic Research (IGCAR); these Groups are responsible for designing Fast Breeder Reactor components and ensuring safety of the structures, components and plant.

Dr. Chellapandi started his career in IGCAR in 1979. Having specialized in design, analysis and qualification of Nuclear Reactor Components, he provided design support to the 40 MW Fast Breeder Test Reactor, conceptual design of 500 MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR), detailed analysis of various structural mechanics failure modes and design validation. He was instrumental in developing a unique Structural Mechanics Laboratory at IGCAR. He is the convener of the Task force responsible for manufacture and erection of reactor assembly components of PFBR, under construction at Kalpakkam. Recently, the main and safety vessels were successfully erected at the site, which is an international benchmark for such structures.

Dr. Chellapandi has executed several projects in collaboration with R & D establishments such as SERC – Chennai, CBRI – Roorkee, and TBRL – Chandigarh. He played a key role in initiating the IITM-IGCAR Cell in addition to IISc-IGCAR cell, and the IITK – IGCAR R & D cell. He is an active member of all the Joint Policy Committees.

Dr. Chellapandi is a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering, Professor at the Homi Bhabha Institute, Adjunct Professor at PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, and at Satyabama University, Chennai. He is a member of the Technical Working Group on Fast Reactor in International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna. He has to his credit 47 journal papers and has published 162 papers in International Conferences, 122 in National Conferences and Symposia. He has also authored five book chapters and 9 IGC Newsletter Articles. Dr. Chellapandi has won many awards, notable among them being the National Design Award in Mechanical Engineering in 2006 from Institution of Engineers (India). Other awards include: Homi Bhabha Science & Technology Award for 1997; Indian Nuclear Science Award in 2005; DAE Group Achievement Awards in 2006, 2007 and 2008 for Design of PFBR Main Vessel and Seismic Design & Qualification of PFBR Components, and Agni Award for Excellence in Self-Reliance from DRDO.

In recognition of his outstanding professional accomplishments and his significant and sustained contributions to the Nuclear Engineering Group of IGCAR, IIT Madras and its alumni are proud to confer this award on him.

Mr. R. Sri Kumar after his schooling in New Delhi received his B.Tech. degree in Electrical Engineering (Power) from IIT Madras in 1970. He later received a Master’s degree in Business Laws in 2003 from National Law School of India University, Bangalore.

Mr. Sri Kumar retired as the Head of the Police force in Karnataka in the rank of DG & IGP in January, 2009. Post retirement, he is assisting the Confederation of Indian Industries in the Southern Region as Head of its Task Force on Internal Security. He is also the Chairperson of the Karnataka Chapter of Cyber Society of India. A public charitabletrust called ‘Indian Centre for Social Transformation’, set up by him, offers e-governance initiatives through use of appropriate and affordable technologies. 20, 000 publicly financed projects in Bangalore City being executed by the Municipal Corporation are under real–time stakeholder scrutiny through a portal established by ICST. This visibility and transparency has helped completion of many projects with minimum cost or time overrun using the principles of professional project management. He is also a member of the Government of India’s committee on Bank Frauds and Capacity Building of IPS Officers in the country.

A motivated and committed Police Officer, Mr. Sri Kumar worked by the rule book in the system for thirty six years, amidst attempts at making the police pliant. A technocrat who joined the Indian Police Service in 1973 by choice and had the singular opportunity of serving for about a decade each in the States of Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka, and in the Central Bureau of investigation, he is known as a person with a penchant for continuous learning and continual improvement. An ace investigator who dealt with terrorism, organized crimes, economic crimes as well as several politically-sensitive cases, Mr. Sri Kumar has proved time and again to be a perceptive inquirer who goes to the root of the matter and has been responsible for many perpetrators of crime being punished in courts of law.

Some of Mr. Sri Kumar’s significant accomplishments include: setting up the country’s first Cyber Crime police station in Bangalore, obtaining ISO quality, environmental and Green Building certification for the Karnataka State Police Housing Corporation, playing a vital role in the successful investigation of several important cases such as Rajiv Gandhi assassination, Harshad Mehta Bank Scam, Telgi Stamp Paper Scam, St Kitts case, etc.

In recognition of his outstanding leadership qualities and contributions to excellence in public service, IIT Madras and its alumni are proud to confer this award on him.

Prof. Subbarayan Pasupathy received his Bachelor’s degree in Telecommunications from the University of Madras (now Anna University) in 1963. After graduating with first rank in the first batch of M.Tech students of IIT Madras in 1966, Prof. Pasupathy obtained M.Phil and Ph.D degrees in Communication from Yale University, in 1970 and 1972, respectively. Prof. Pasupathy is at present a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Toronto, Canada.

An abiding interest in teaching, developed at IIT Madras while he was a Research Student and Part-time Lecturer (1965-67), led Prof. Pasupathy to choose an academic career spanning more than 35 years in undergraduate and graduate teaching and research at the University of Toronto (1972-2007). Starting with his first publication in 1966, based on his M.Tech thesis at IIT Madras, Prof. Pasupathy also developed a great passion for research, and one his great accomplishments is the large number of graduate students and postdoctoral students he has trained over the course of 35 years.

Prof. Pasupathy is an international authority on the application of statistical communication theory and techniques to the design of digital communication systems. He was the first Canadian Professor in the area of communications to be listed in the prestigious “highly cited researchers” list of ISI Web of Knowledge (ISIHighlyCited.com), attesting to the widespread influence his research has had on both theory and practice. He has contributed high-quality, scholarly work to leading journals and conferences — in fact, more than 275 articles and contributions to 3 books. His contributions have been cited in more than 100 patent applications. Prof. Pasupathy’s specific influential-contributions lie in the area of bandwidth-efficient digital communication systems and application of statistical communication theory to a wide spectrum of areas such as array processing, computer algorithms for signal processing, DNA sequencing, advanced transceiver structures, mobile cellular networks, and coding algorithms and architectures.

He is a Fellow of IEEE Engineering Institute of Canada, and Canadian Academy of Engineering, and received the 2003 Award in Telecommunication from the Canadian Institute of Information Theory. For over fourteen years, he wrote the humour column “Light Traffic”, a feature of the IEEE Communications Magazine. Prof. Pasupathy is a student, by choice, of Tamil literature, and poetry. His poems and articles have appeared in several reputed magazines such as “Kalaimagal”, “Amudhasurabhi” and “Gopura Darsanam, and in Internet magazines such as “Thinnai” and “Hub”. He is a moderator and an active participant in many Yahoo and Google groups promoting Tamil literature.

In recognition of his outstanding contributions to the field of digital communications, Science and Engineering, IIT Madras and its alumni are proud to confer this award on him.

Prof. Suresh Garimella received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley in 1989, his M.S. from Ohio State University in 1986, and his Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, in 1985. He holds the prestigious R. Eugene and Susie E. Goodson Distinguished Professorship of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University, where he is also Director of the National Science Foundation Cooling Technologies Research Center. Prior to his appointment at Purdue University, he held the Cray Research Named-Professorship at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee from 1990 to 1999.

His research interests include thermal microsystems, energy efficiency in computing and electronics, micro- and nano-scale transport phenomena, high-performance compact cooling technologies, solar thermal energy storage, waste heat recovery, and materials processing. Prof. Garimella has supervised or is currently supervising 35 PhD and 32 MS students, and has worked with 27 visiting scholars and post-doctoral researchers.

Prof. Garimella is a Fellow of the ASME. His efforts in research and engineering education have been recognized with the inaugural 2009 ASME Allan Kraus Thermal Management Medal for outstanding achievements in thermal management of electronic systems and commitment to the field of thermal sciences; 2009 Harvey Rosten Award for Excellence, for outstanding work in the field of thermal analysis of electronic equipment; 2004 ASME Gustus L. Larson Memorial Award for outstanding achievements in Mechanical Engineering within 10 to 20 years following graduation; 2006 K16 Clock Award in the ASME Heat Transfer Division; Ruth and Joel Spira Award, 2009 for outstanding contributions to Mechanical Engineering, and for inspiring students and fostering excellence in commercial or defence product realization; Graduate School/UWM Foundation Research Award in recognition of outstanding research and creative activity, 1995; Purdue University Distance Teaching Award, for excellence as a distance instructor, awarded by Engineering Professional Education, 2009; UWM Distinguished Teaching Award in recognition of demonstrated dedication to excellence in undergraduate instruction, 1997; and Society of Automotive Engineers’ Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award, 1992.

Prof. Garimella is also a Fellow of the Center of Smart Interfaces at the Technical University of Darmstadt, an Honorary Guest Professor at Xi’an JiaoTong University in China, and was Honorary Visiting Fellow at the University of New South Wales in 1995. He also serves as a Member of the Scientific Council, International Centre for Heat and Mass Transfer (ICHMT).

In recognition of his outstanding contributions to the field of thermal sciences and micro-systems,
IIT Madras and its alumni are proud to confer this award on him.

Prof. Ramamurthy received his M.Sc. in Chemistry from IIT Madras in 1968, and a Ph.D. in Chemistry in 1974 from the University of Hawaii, Honolulu.

Prof. V. Ramamurthy is an internationally acclaimed pioneer and leader in organic photochemistry. His contributions have provided new theoretical and experimental paradigms for the fields of supramolecular photochemistry, modern mechanistic organic photochemistry and organic photochemical reactions in constrained media. This is evidenced by his very large number of research publications (about 310 as of now), most of them in the highest-rated journals, and 34 students who have received their Ph.D degrees under his direction. His significant achievements in, and substantial contributions to, chemistry include: pioneering developments in the fields of controlling chemistry in crystals, mechanistic organic photochemistry, photochemistry of thio compounds, general theory of organic photochemistry, asymmetric photoreactions, zeolite photochemistry, direct spectroscopic detection and characterization of reactive intermediates within confined environments, organic photochemistry in micelles, and control of reactivity through supramolecular effects.

Prof. Ramamurthy has made an immense impact on the education of recent generations of physical organic chemists and photochemists (nationally and internationally). His book ‘Photochemistry in Constrained Media’ is a standard text in the field for the last sixteen years. He is one of the co-authors of the text book ‘Modern Molecular Photochemistry of Organic Molecules’, a recently (2009) revised version of Turro’s “Modern Molecular Photochemistry” considered as the bible in thefield of photochemistry since its publication in 1978. The “Molecular and Supramolecular Photochemistry” series, consisting of 14 volumes co-edited by Prof. Ramamurthy, are considered essential reference sources in photochemistry.

Prof. Ramamurthy is a Senior Editor for Langmuir, the American Chemical Society journal devoted to Chemistry at Interfaces. In addition, he also serves on the editorial board of some of the leading journals in chemistry. He has received the Grammatikakis?Neumann Prize of the European PhotochemicalSociety, the LAS Faculty Research Award and Cooper Fellowship from the University of Miami. He was elected as a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences in 1986. He was on the faculty at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore from 1978-87, and was ICOS Visiting Professor and Fulbright fellow at the same Institution during 2002-2003.

In recognition of his sustained excellence in, and outstanding contributions to, the field of Organic Photochemistry, IIT Madras and its alumni are proud to confer this award on him.

Dr. Jagadeesh S. Moodera received his Ph.D in Physics from IIT Madras in 1978. He obtained his M. Sc (Physics) degree from Mysore University.

Dr. Jagadeesh S. Moodera is presently a scientist and leads the Thin Film Magnetism, Tunneling and Nanospintronics group at the Francis Bitter Magnet Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA. Prior to joining MIT, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at West Virginia University, Morgantown.

Dr. Moodera’s contribution to academics revolves around both fundamental and applied aspects of Physics. He pioneered research on spin polarized tunneling, transport and thin film magnetic structures. Among other research accomplishments, his (patented) work on room temperature tunnel magneto-resistance is considered to be a path-breaking discovery that has already revolutionized high-density magnetic data storage and nonvolatile magnetic random access memory devices are being developed for future technology. In the field of spin transport, Dr. Moodera is considered a world leader, and several groups around the world are collaborating with him.

Dr. Moodera is passionate about motivating young minds to engage in cutting edge research. Dr. Moodera is recognized as an extremely effective and inspiring team leader. His recent publications, which include 5 in Physical Review Letters in 2008 alone, are a reflection of his sustained zeal towards research. He has contributed over 150 papers in peer reviewed journals, and delivered over 170 invited talks, colloquia at national and international conferences, universities and companies in more than 12 countries. He has more than 5000 scientific citations and has been serving as a member of advisory boards in several research bodies including NSF, USA.

Dr. Moodera has been the recipient of several honors and awards including the prestigious American Competitiveness and Innovation (ACI) Fellowship by National Science Foundation, and the Buckley Prize in Condensed Matter Physics of American Physical Society in 2009.

In recognition of his outstanding contributions to the field of fundamental and applied Physics, IIT Madras and its alumni are proud to confer on him this award.

Prof. L. Mahadevan received his B.Tech (Mechanical Engineering) degree from IIT Madras in 1986, Masters (Engineering Mechanics) degree from University of Texas at Austin in 1987, Masters (Mathematics) degree and PhD from Stanford University in 1992 and 1995, respectively.

Prof. Mahadevan is presently England de Valpine Professor of Applied Mathematics in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University, Cambridge, USA, and is also affiliated with the Department of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School. Prior to joining Harvard University, he was the inaugural holder of the Schlumberger Chair in Complex Physical Systems in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at Cambridge University and Professorial Fellow at Trinity College. He started his academic career at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1996 and is currently Schlumberger Visiting Professor of Mathematics at Oxford University and Distinguished Visiting Professor at the National Center for Biological Sciences, Bangalore.

Prof. Mahadevan uses quantitative approaches to understand the non-linear and non-equilibrium mechanical behavior of living and nonliving matter. Much of the inspiration for his work arises from simple curiosity about what might be deemed familiar phenomena but are nevertheless broadly relevant to questions in a variety of fields. His approach is a very practical one - using whatever it takes to understand a problem: experiment and theory, analysis and computation, mathematics, physics, chemistry, engineering, biology... His research on how a Venus flytrap works is a typical example of this, as are his studies on problems such as the dynamics of occlusion and rescue in sickle cell disease, the crumpling of paper, the drying of mud, the patterns in flowing liquids, the mechanics of DNA, etc.

Prof. Mahadevan has more than a hundred publications to his credit and has received many awards and given many named lectures. These include the Society of Engineering Science's Young Investigator Medal (2000), MIT's Edgerton award (2000), the G I Taylor Lectureship at the Cambridge Philosophical Society (2001), a Chaire Condorcet at Ecole Normale Superieure-Paris (2001), the Alan Tayler Lectureship at Oxford University (2003), Harvard's Ledlie prize (2006), a Guggenheim Fellowship (2006), a Miller Visiting Professorship at the University of California, Berkeley (2007), an Ig-Nobel prize (2007), the Penner Lectureship at the University of California, Sa Diego (2008), and most recently, a MacArthur Fellowship (2009), for work exhibiting outstanding creativity and promise.

In recognition of his outstanding contributions to the field of Applied Mathematics, IIT Madras and its alumni are proud to confer on him this award.

Mr. Shrikumar Suryanarayan received his B. Tech (Chemical Engineering) degree from IIT Madras in 1982 and M. Tech (Biochemical Engineering and Biotechnology) degree from IIT Delhi in 1984.

Mr. Shrikumar is presently the Director General of the Association of Biotechnology-Led Enterprises of India (ABLE), Bangalore, Advisor to the Department of Biotechnology and to the DBT UICT Center for Energy Biosciences, Mumbai and Member of the Scientific Advisory Board for Biocon Limited.

His professional career with Biocon Limited started in 1984 with the establishment of the R & D division and rose to the level of President, R & D. During this period, Mr. Shrikumar was responsible for development of many processes for industrial enzymes, the design and construction of a novel bioreactor for Solid State Fermentation, that was described as an outstanding innovation in the field of fermentation technology by Prof. Charles Cooney of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The invention also received the 2001 Biotechnology Process Development award from the Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India.

He was also responsible for development of several processes for the development of pharmaceutical small molecules by fermentation and synthetic chemistry, and a Bio-therapeutics program which included injected and oral insulin, several recombinant therapeutics and monoclonal antibodies. He was instrumental in seeing Biocon grow from a small company manufacturing industrial enzymes to a specialized biopharmaceutical company with market capitalization in excess of a billion dollars, currently ranked seventh largest employer globally among biotechnology companies.

Mr. Shrikumar has made significant contributions to the development of biotechnology education in India and abroad. He has been visiting faculty at Karolinska Institute, Stockholm Sweden and is currently an adjunct faculty with the Department of Biotechnology, IIT Madras. He is also member of the Research Advisory Committee for the Department of Biotechnology and is a Board Member of IIT Madras Research Park.

Mr. Shrikumar has recently established two post doctoral fellowships at Biotechnology Department IIT Madras, and has funded student participation in MIT’s International Genetically Engineered Machines 2008 competition.

In recognition of his professional accomplishment and his outstanding contributions to the field of Biotechnology, IIT Madras and its alumni are proud to confer on him this award.

Mr. D. Chandrasekhar (DC to friends and well-wishers) obtained his B. Tech. (Metallurgy) from IIT Madras in 1970, and spent 18 months in training in the aluminum aerospace industry in Germany.

He is known as an entrepreneur with the Midas touch. He began as a first-generation entrepreneur with zero capital in the small-scale sector way back in 1974 and made a success of many companies in different areas of engineering: machine-building, aluminum foundry, electro-less nickel coating, light chemicals. He holds an enviable record in industrial harmony — 34 years as entrepreneur and zero hours lost!

His products have found useful applications far and wide. UNICEF uses his salt-testing kits for checking iodine content in iodized salt in more than 120 countries he is the single global supplier. He exported and commissioned over 150 salt iodization plants in 12 countries. His low-cost application for gold-plating on metallic and non-metallic surfaces led to more glittering Gopura Kalasams, in great temples such as Kapaleeswarar temple. It also has many domestic and retail sector applications.

Mr. Chandrasekhar has been associated with coffee he was part of the team Qwikys that set up India’s first coffee cafe chain. He has twice won the Regional Export Award of the Government of India’s Engineering Export Promotion Council.

Mr. Chandrasekhar has played Good Samaritan in the social sector, particularly in the areas of education and health services. To illustrate: he was in the managing committee of the Ramakrishna Ashrama for over 25 years. Founder member of the Madras Dyslexia Association, he has been its President for the past six years. He is founder-trustee of the Rotary Central TTK-VHS Blood Bank; founder-member of the VHS Institute of Cardio Vascular Sciences; secretary (1995) of the IIT Madras Alumni Association; secretary of the IIT Madras Alumni Charitable Trust and IIT Madras Research Foundation; Chairman – Finance Committee of the PanIIT 2008 Alumni Global Conference.

In recognition of his entrepreneurial excellence and outstanding contributions to society, IIT Madras and its alumni are proud to confer on him this award.