IIT Kharagpur UC Berkeley Collaboration

Dear Fellow Alums,

Greetings from UC Berkeley!

Raj Shekhar Singh (Kgp B.Tech, 2009, Biotech, RK) spent 8-weeks at UC Berkeley in the summer of 2008. He worked with Dr. Norm Miller, a principal investigator in the Energy Biosciences Institute, on biofuels research. As a result of Raj's experience, Dr. Miller has agreed to collaborate with Dr. Prasanta Sanyal in the Geology/Geophysics department at IIT Kharagpur.

This is an excellent example of how the collaboration is poised to enable IIT Kharagpur students and faculty to work with leading researchers and world-class research infrastructure. The collaboration has the potential of also being a catalyst in accelerating new knowledge creation,
and bringing new discoveries and innovation to the society. 

In this way IIT Kharagpur can further enhance and differentiate its value in India and around the world. Therefore, we believe that UC Berkeley-IIT Kharagpur collaboration is an important part of building IIT Kharagpur for the 21st Century.

The key components of the collaboration include: 

1. 8-week summer research program for 12-16 IIT Kharagpur undergraduate students at UC Berkeley
   
2. Faculty visits from UC Berkeley to IIT Kharagpur and vice-versa 
3. PhD program at UC Berkeley and IIT Kharagpur
   
4. Joint research among faculty at the two institutions 
   

Raj was one of eleven Kgp students who spent 8-weeks at UC Berkeley in the summer working with leading experts in biofuels, healthcare biotech, physics and geophysics. They had a transformative research and educational experience.

It is the kind of opportunity I wish we had when we were at IIT.

You and I can make this experience available to future IIT Kharagpur students. Your gift will enable students to receive an exceptional research and educational experience, strengthen the UC Berkeley-IIT Kharagpur collaboration and accelerate the possibilities for joint research in areas of strategic importance to the US, India and the global society - energy and healthcare.

In addition, if you are in an energy, biofuels, pharmaceutical, biotech, or medical diagnostics company you could also explore the possibility of your company supporting summer research program students, faculty visits, PhD program students, or research at UC Berkeley or IIT Kharagpur or both.

We are thankful to all the current sponsors of the collaboration - Energy Biosciences Institute, several UC Berkeley faculty members, IIT Foundation, Indo-US Science and Technology Forum, Sunil Gaitonde, Arjun Malhotra, Vasan Raman and Prabha Sinha. You will be pleased to note that Prabha Sinha is also proposing to provide seed funding for a Biofuels Center at IIT Kharagpur! (This is another example of how the collaboration is benefiting IIT Kharagpur)

Buildings are built one brick at a time. Likewise, your contribution, irrespective of the amount, will be a critical brick in building IIT Kharagpur for the 21st Century. You may contribute now by visiting the donation page and choosing "IIT Kharagpur UC Berkeley Collaboration" for your gift.

Please let me know if you have any questions. Wish you and your loved ones a very happy and prosperous 2009! (for more information on the collaboration and the 2008
summer research program please visit:  http://ls.berkeley.edu/?q=node/767 or
http://www.iitfoundation.org/?p=189)

Regards,
Shail Kumar ('87, ME, RK)
Past-President IIT Foundation

Senior Director, External Relations
College of Letters & Science
UC Berkeley

Impact of IIT

Reproduced from Impacting the nation, published under "Inspire Innovate Transform" in Times of India, Bangalore, 11th Dec, with reference to upcoming Pan IIT Meet on 18-20 Dec in IIT Madras

"There have been many myths associated with IIT," begins B Santhanam. "For instance, people believe that there aren't too many IITians becoming entrepreneurs and some who believe that IITians pursue their careers abroad and never return to India. This study was conducted in partnership with the Indian Brand Equity Fund (IBEF) and Zinnov Management Consulting who helped us in both design and management. Through the IIT Alumni Impact Study, we have cleared such misconceptions and delivered an explicit picture with regard to the IIT’s contribution to the nation and the world at large. Through a global web-based survey, the study attempts to map the impact of IITians on the global economy across impact areas like entrepreneurship, scientific and technological achievement as well as social transformation, research and leadership over the last 50 years. From a total of 4,500 responses across seven IITs, there have been many interesting findings and surprising conclusions. Some of the findings are:

1. IIT alumni in senior positions in the industry and government sector across the world today have budgetary responsibility for over USD 885 billion, that's close to 90% of India's GDP
2. Prior to 2001, four out of 10 alumni, were managing top leadership roles in corporations, educational institutions, research labs, politics and as entrepreneurial heads of their companies
3. IIT alumni contribute over USD 450 billion (close to 50% of India's GDP) to the economy.
4. Seven out of 10 alumni are currently based in India and two out of 10 alumni return to India after their stint in other parts of the world.
5. 54% of the top 500 Indian companies currently have at least one IIT alumnus on their Board of Directors. That apart, these companies have a cumulative revenue which is ten times greater than other companies that IITians are not a part of.
6. One in 10 IIT alumni has started their own company, with over 40% of them being serial entrepreneurs and 42% of the senior alumni are in top leadership roles.. Of these, twothirds of the companies founded are in India which again re-affirms the contribution of IITians towards the nation-building process
   

Chhedis

Reproduced from http://sheermelody.blogspot.com/2006/11/chhedis.html

Chhedis in a village like KGP is an institution. Sometimes a lot more than that.

How does one describe it? A quaint version of a tea-stall which does not server much food, but is a source of sustenance for KGPians in a perpetual state of abject penury? Maybe that’s the best description it could get…

Chhedis is a ramshackle establishment just outside the main campus of IIT KGP on the side of the Puri Gate. There are other stalls in this area, mostly serving Bengali food in squalid, depressing surroundings. Most famous among the other ones was Ashok-Da, who served delectable mutton curry on Saturday and Sunday mornings. However, Chhedis was special. The first time you come to Kharagpur, there is a pretty high chance that you would miss it. But the orientation is quick, and soon you are a regular in the establishment. And things are better if you stay in RP Hall, the hostel closest to the institute gates.

Chhedis, in essence, is just a tea-stall. Which serves food. By food, I mean – Maggi (various forms of it – Egg maggi, Plain maggi, Top Ramen Curry which is a spicier version of the normal maggi but pretty nice, Egg Curry), and the ubiquitous Tinku. For the uninitiated, the Tinku is the KGP version of an egg burger, consisting of a bun cut in half, stuffed with a poached egg and splattered with spicy red masala and a few onions. The first time with Tinku is never a great one, and you wouldn’t like it in all probability. But gradually, with decreasing finances and an all-encompassing time-crunch, Tinku becomes a way of life, and you crave for it, ache for it, and finally, there is a time when a day does not pass without the Tinku. Towards the later years of my stay in the village, things improved (some say they worsened) in Chhedis. It got a brand new look, a fan was installed in the main-area, it got tube-lights for a less shady and a little brighter ambience, and Chhedi bhai started making great samosas.

More than the food, Chhedis was important because it was a meeting place – a place for the infamous adda. It is tough to define adda. Some say it’s an inherently Bengali tradition. Put very simply, it is the act of sitting with friends, normally with a glass of tea in one of your hands, and a Wills Navy Cut cigarette in the other, and discussing about anything under the sun. Chhedis was a hotbed of adda and pseudo-intellectual discussions. The term hotbed probably gives the wrong impression about the place but I guess that’s what it was in essence. Anything could be a topic of conversation, starting from the relentless tyranny the professors wreaked on the hapless students to the seeming scarcity of all things modern and human in this village far removed from civilization and any remnants of it. Topics ranged from good food to mess food, admit cards to HMC politics, BC Roy Hall and its chicken curry to Rabindra Sangeet, Bapi-giri to the next ETMS production, and from WTMS with its deep under-currents to recent developments in the political scene. KGP wasn’t a very happening place, and it was discussion and meaningless conversation which kept us a few feet away from insanity and senility. It was this meaninglessness which meant a lot to each one of us, far from worldliness, far from pleasures, in a seemingly bottomless void.

Chunnu was the cigarette-shop guy just adjacent to Chhedis. He was Chhedi bhai’s son and a nice man. Chunnu had the concept of a khata which was very similar to a credit roster, with no interest. Chunnu never refused a cigarette when you were broke and still wanted one, and never refused you money when you were broke and wanted to drink in Park. The khata solved myriad problems in life, and created several others at the end of the month when the bill frequently touched the thousands. This invariably led to tremendous tantrums at home, punctuated by mindless quarrels and unending lectures on the insensitivity of the younger generation towards the important and value of money as an entity.

All said and done, Chhedis and Chunnu were integral parts of our existence in the haven that KGP was. It was a place to hangout, catch up with old acquaintances who had shifted to different hostels, a place to relax and unwind after a harrowing day at school, it was the place for a steaming hot cup of tea to calm your nerves after an all-night binge on a freezing winter night, and most of all, it was a place where you could go and leave your troubles behind. It had a way about it which endeared itself to you, in spite of everything.

This documentary has some info about chhedis and is worth a watch.