Saturday November 24, 2012

IIT ALUMNICANADA

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IITAC Annual Dinner 2012

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Vinod MunshiPresident

A warm welcome to you all to the 2012 IITAC Annual dinner.

The Indian Institutes of Technology Alumni Canada (IITAC), an association of seven Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) is a Canadian ‘not-for-profit Corporation’. IITAC is part of Global PAN-IIT with over 110,000 Engineers, Scientists, Management and Business leaders working and making a difference all over the world. Graduates of 10 more new IITs will also join the Alumni association over the coming years. IITAC and City of Markham are supporting Pan-IIT2012 at Kolkata and will participate at the Pan-IIT2013 at Houston.

IITAC over the years has made big strides and is increasingly being recognised as a premium professional organization in Canada. IITAC through the “IITAC lecture series” promotes and engages membership to critical thinking by inviting distinguished guest speakers and subject matter experts. The current board has hosted Pierre Tremblay, COO of Ontario Power Generation; Prof. Kundan Kumar, University of Toronto; Dr. David Naylor, President of University of Toronto; Peter Sutherland, former High commissioner of Canada in India; Suneet Tuli, CEO of Datawind (Akash Tablet); Prashant Pathak, a distinguished IITian and Managing Partner Reichmann Hauer Partnership; David Phillips, a senior climatologist from Environment Canada and the Mayor of Markham, His Worship Mr. Frank Scarpitti.

Many Canadian Universities have signed MOUs with different IITs. Recently, IIT-Bombay signed MOUs with three Canadian universities. IITAC members living in Canada have donated to IITs, Canadian Universities and charities like CNIB. IITAC supports and promotes IITs and I encourage our members to donate to our Alma Maters and also to the Canadian charities in this the ‘Season of giving’.

IITAC also hosted a dinner for IIIT-B delegation lead by Dr. Devang Khakhar, Director IIT-B and the MOU signing ceremony with Sheldon Levi, President Ryerson University. IITAC supports new Canadians including summer interns from IITs through the IFI (IITians for IITians) program. Supporting members is one of the core objectives of IITAC.

This year IITAC has established the ‘IITAC Lifetime award’ to recognise the contributions of our Alumni to IITs, and to the fraternity in Canada. IITAC proposes to establish a Distinguished Alumni award to recognise excellence of our Alumni in Canada.

While IITAC and brand IIT in Canada have come a long way, we have to increase our efforts to claim our rightful place amongst the Canadian professional and business organisations and also the policy makers. The many activities that IITAC has undertaken to date and the Souvenir that is published as a pilot have set the wheels in motion that would lead to newer programs for the membership and for creating greater linkages between our members and between India and Canada

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IITAC Board 2012

Vinod Munshi, PresidentDr. Khaliq Zaman, Vice President, Admin.Alok Sinha, Vice President, FinanceBrij Sharma, Vice President, IFI

List of Directors:

Vijay AivaliDr. Bibhu MohantyVishwas DhekneySonia NagrareDr. Shipra AhluwaliaHardev RandhawaAjay SinhaDr. Srinivasan Venkatesh, Immediate Past PresidentChander Dhawan (2011 IITAC Board)

IITAC Board 2013- 2014

Vijay AivaliVishwas DhekneyRaju GotetiDr. Bibhu MohantyVinod Munshi Sonia NagrareAshok RanadeDebashis SarkarBrij SharmaAlok SinhaPradeeep SrivastavaDr. Srinivasan VenkateshDr. Khaliq Zaman

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Program

6.00 Registration

6.30 Snacks & Networking

7.15 Welcome by IITAC President

7.25 Entertainment – Part-1

8.30 Dinner & Networking

9.30 Presentation of Lifetime award to Jogendra Singh.

9.40 Entertainment Part-2

10.30 Vote of thanks

10.35 Digest the Dinner with Dancing till Midnight

Cover Page sponsored by an anonymous distinguished Alumnus

Jewels in the crown

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The Indian Institutes of Technology Alumni Canada (IITAC)

The Indian Institutes of Technology Alumni Canada or IITAC is an organization comprising the alumni of the Indian Institutes of Technology (more commonly known as the IITs) who are based in Canada. The IITAC is a “not-for-profit” corporation based in Toronto, Canada. IITAC is a part of an umbrella organization of PAN-IIT – a world-wide organization of IIT alumni spread throughout the world, including India.

About the IITs

First established in 1950, IIT has become synonymous with excellence in technology and engineering education. As of 2009, there were seven IIT campuses in India located in Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Roorkee and Guwahati. In 2011-12, a number of additional IITs were added to this group of seven. Admission to these programs is through a national-level entrance examination. Apart from the world-class facilities and quality of education, the diversity of students in terms of socio-economic background, culture, language and religion, gives a unique advantage to IITians - the ability to manage, and thrive in the diversity of the rapidly evolving global economy. Today, IIT offers undergraduate, integrated post-graduate and post-graduate degrees in over 25 different engineering, technology and business/management disciplines.

Advanced Research and Centers of Excellence in Emerging Technological Disciplines in the IIT System

In the past, IITs have concentrated on traditional engineering disciplines for teaching and research producing some of the finest technology and business leaders. However, for the past several years, IITs have started doing cutting-edge research in advanced science and technology disciplines. A number of Centers of Excellence have been opened in IITs e.g. in nano technology, biomedical engineering, wireless and telecommunications. A clean technology energy center and advanced health technology centers are planned as well.

About the IITAC

While the IIT alumni has been operating informally in Canada since 1960s, the Indian Institutes of Technology Alumni Canada (IITAC) was formally established in 1994 and was incorporated as a “not-for-profit” corporation in 2006. It has over 800 alumni located mostly in and around the Greater Toronto Area, and about 2000 in Canada. The IITAC alumni are working in academia, government and a variety of private industries in Canada in a number of engineering disciplines and business functions – civil, electrical, telecommunications, mechanical, chemical, metallurgical, software engineering, information technology, finance and business management. Many enterprising alumni have set up small, medium and a few large businesses creating hundreds of jobs.

Objectives of IITAC

The objectives of IITAC are :• To foster a sense of belonging, friendship and family ties amongst IITians;• To enhance the IIT brand image in Canada and encourage integration with the mainstream Canadian professional and business community; and • To help new immigrants and other members to settle down in Canada, by assisting them with job search and employment opportunities, etc. • Our Social & IFI Activities

IIT alumni hold a number of activities – both social and professional. We hold an annual dinner with family and friends as also an annual picnic. This allows members to renew old friendships and foster new ones in Canada. Another important activity is IFI – “IITians For IITians”. IFI activities provide support to new IIT alumni in settling down. The association provides mentorship to new immigrants. Recently, activities of IFI have been opened to engineering professionals from other countries as well through organizations like TRIEC - Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council.

Our Professional Activities

As another regular feature, the IITAC holds an annual Professional Day during one of the spring months that features, as speakers, prominent professionals from Canada, United States and elsewhere. Beginning in 2011 an additional such event in one of the fall months was added and the two events renamed as the IITAC Lecture Series. Past speakers in these events have included, amongst others, Dr. Indira Samarasekera, President of the University of Alberta, Dr. David Johnston, President of the University of Waterloo (presently Governor General of Canada), Dr. David Naylor, President of the University of Toronto, Mr. Sankar Das Gupta, CEO of Electrovaya, an innovative Ontario company that has developed batteries for use in electric cars, Dr. Brij Khorana, former COO of Rose Hulman Ventures of Terre Haute, Indiana, Dr. Mohanbir Sawhney, a well-known IITian from Kellogg School of Management, in Illinois. In 2005, Mr. Pradeep Khare, Director General, Environment Canada and Mr. Peter Sutherland, Former High Commissioner of Canada to India. In 2006, IITAC organized a North American Regional Conference in Toronto that featured as invited speakers Presidents or Vice-Presidents form the universities of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier, York, Ryerson, Concordia and CEOs from many main-stream Canadian, U.S. and Indian companies.

The 2012 Lecture Series speakers included Mr. Suneet Tuli, Founder and CEO Datawind, makers of the highly affordable Aakash tablets; Mr. Frank Scarpitti, Mayor of City of Markham; Mr. Prashant Pathak, Managing Partner, Reichmann Hauer Capital; and Mr. David Phillips, Senior Climatologist, Environment Canada.

Some of Our Distinguished Alumni

IIT alumni have created a great name and brand image for themselves in North America. Our alumni are holding senior positions as heads of some of the largest corporations and research labs in USA. According to a Duke University study, 25% of technology startups in Silicon Valley during the last 10 years had an IIT alumnus as one of its founders. As a result, in 2005 US Congress passed a special resolution lauding the contribution of IIT alumni to US industry in creating new technologies. IIT Alumni are also among ministers serving in the central government in India

In Canada as well, our alumni have done well. They are occupying important position in universities, government and industry. Enterprising IITAC alumni have created thousands of jobs in Canada. The chairman of one of the largest insurers in Canada (Fairfax) is an IIT alumnus. An IIT alumnus heads Alpha Labs – a 300 person company in Toronto while another alumnus heads INSCAPE, a furniture manufacturing company listed on TSX. Today, our alumni are representing Canada in international scientific forums like nuclear or as Presidents of professional bodies like the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. Other alumni are in important academic positions, such as deans, associate deans of engineering and business schools as also chairpersons of research centers. Still others have set up small and medium size businesses. Indeed IIT alumni have excelled wherever they are and continue to contribute vigorously to the Canadian economy.

For additional info on IITAC, go to http://www.iitalumnicanada.com or contact executives of the organization listed there.

Prepared by: Chander Dhawan and Srinivasan Venkatesh

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IITAC Lifetime Award

The “IITAC Lifetime Award” is presented to Jogendra Singh for his more than 30 years of dedicated service to the Indian Institutes of Technology Alumni Canada. IITAC is proud to make him an Honorary Life Member of IITAC.

Jogendra Singh was born in 1932 at Gurdaspur, Punjab. He received his B.Tech. (Hons.) degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, the M.B.A. degree from the University of Delhi and the M.Sc. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada.

In 1955 he joined the Central Water and Power Commission (Power Wing)(now called Central Electricity Authority), New Delhi and then in 1963 moved to the Delhi Electric Supply Undertaking, where he rose to the position of superintending engineer responsible for the management of sub-transmission and distribution systems of the South Delhi and later the North Delhi Circles.

In 1975 he emigrated to Canada and joined the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon for the M.Sc. degree in electrical engineering, which he received in 1978.

He joined Ontario Hydro in 1978 and worked in the System Planning Division on studies to determine the most economic alternative of augmenting the existing facilities and providing new facilities. He retired from Ontario Hydro in 1997. Ever since his move to Toronto in 1978, Jogendra has been an active participant in and an ardent supporter of IITAC. He is the senior-most IITian in Canada and for that matter one of the senior-most if not the senior-most in the world. Soon after arriving in Ontario, he took an active part in organizing IIT alumni in his basement for social networking. He is the longest-serving though “informally appointed” President of the Alumni before the IITAC got formalized. He fondly remembers the start of the IIT system in Hijli jail where India’s freedom fighters were jailed. He recalls, “On the very first day, we were told that no mercy will be shown to us, and no mercy was shown. That’s how IIT standards were set’’. You can find more of his fascinating memories about the IIT system at the following link:https://www.iitkgp.org/index.php/news/kgpians-in-news/838-kgpian-jogendra-singh-narrates-how-iits-became-a-global-brand

Jogendra’s wife, Jaswant Kaur, has been by his side, as a source of strength, for the last 54 years. They have two children- a son, Damanjit Singh and a daughter, Navjit Ohson and three grandsons – Simran, Taran and Gagan.

IITAC wishes Jogendra Singh and his family the Very Best for the Future and we look forward to his continued participation in and counsel for IITAC.

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Some of the 2011-12 IITAC Board members

2011 Professional Dinner Speakers

2012 Spring Lecture Series Speakers

David Phillips of Environment Canada speaking at the IITAC 2012 Fall Lecture Series

Some of the Summer Interns from IITs ( MITACS students) at the 2012 IITAC Picnic in Toronto

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2012 MITACS Conference at Ottawa was attended by Vinod Munshi (IITAC) and some IIT student interns

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Visit us atwww.iitalumnicanada.org

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