IIT Roorkee confers distinguished alumnus awards and distinguished young alumunus awards 2019 on foundation day

New Delhi, November 26, 2019: On 25th November 2019, IIT Roorkee celebrated Foundation Day and also conferred the Distinguished Alumnus Awards 2019 to the alumni of IIT Roorkee. The event was held at the MAC auditorium, IIT Roorkee campus. Mr.Mohinder L.Nayyar, who is a graduate of 1966 batch and a Distinguished Alumnus Awardee of 2016, was the chief guest at the event. The event was also attended by more than 140 alumni of 1969 batch and their family members who are on the campus to celebrate their Golden Jubilee Reunion. The history of Foundation Day is very interesting. On 25th November 1847, the Notification of Government of the North-Western provinces was signed establishing the Roorkee College, later named the Thomason College of Civil Engineering, designed to give theoretical and practical instruction in Civil Engineering with a view to train personnel for employment in the public works of the country. Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, presented the Charter in 25th November 1949 elevating Thomason College of Civil Engineering to the First Engineering University of Independent India, thereafter it has been celebrated as Charter Day. When the University of Roorkee joined the club of IITs, later this day was approved as the Foundation Day by the BOG of IITR. On the Foundation Day, IIT Roorkee confers the Distinguished Alumnus Awards to its alumni who recognize its alumni who have distinguished themselves in their chosen field of work and made the institute proud. The Distinguished Alumnus Awards were instituted in 2005 and are awarded annually. Since the inception of the awards, 62 alumni have been selected for the award. This year, the awards have been bestowed on 9 distinguished alumni in recognition of their outstanding professional contributions, which include 3 young alumni below 40 years in the category of Distinguished Young Alumnus Awards (DYAA) which have been started from this year only. The DAA winners for this year are: Academic Excellence: 1. Prof Vishwani D Agrawal (1964- B.E. Honours- Electronics & Communication Engineering) 2. Prof. Subhash Suri(1981- B.E. Honours- Electronics & Communication Engineering) Excellence in Engineering Innovation 1. Mr. Rajiv Kumar (1990- B.E. Computer Science and Engineering) Managerial Excellence 1. Mr. Dinesh C. Paliwal (1979- P.G. Diploma- Pulp and Paper Technology) 2. Mr. Sushil Chandra (1977- B.E. Civil Engineering) Entrepreneurial Excellence 1. Mr. Mohit Saxena (1997 B.E.- Metallurgical and Materials Engineering) The DYAA winners of this year are: 1. Mr. Ketan Kapoor (2001 – B.Tech- Industrial Engineering) 2. Mr. Harshil Mathur (2013- B.Tech – Mechanical Engineering) 3. Mr. Shashank Kumar (2012- Computer Science and Engineering) On this occasion Prof. Ajit K Chaturvedi, Director, IIT Roorkee said “This award is a token of our appreciation for the alumni who have achieved great heights in their careers and brought laurels to the institute. It is a pleasure to confer these awards on the Foundation day. We believe such occasions help us improve our connect with alumni and may also inspire some of them to go the extra mile in their chosen careers. Distinguished Alumnus Awards (DAA) and Distinguished Young Alumnus Awards (DYAA) of IIT Roorkee Nominations for the award are invited from all over the world. Under DAA, at most two awards in each category i.e. a maximum of 10 awards can be given each year. Whereas, up to five DYAAs can be given. The nominations are processed by the office of the Dean of Resources and Alumini Affairs. The winners are selected by a committee chaired by the Director, and comprising of the Dean of Resources and Alumini Affairs, two persons of eminence (nominated by the Board of Governors) and one Institute Chair Professor (nominated by the Director).