BITS ECHO Mar 2020

BITS
ECHO PILANI | DUBAI | HYDERABAD | GOA
VOLUME : 3 || ISSUE : 3
BITS WOMEN
LEADING THE WAY
BITS
ECHO
TABLE OF CONTENTS
MESSAGES 01
COVER STORY 02
BITS PILANI: DESTINATION FOR 04

YOUNG WOMEN
ALUMNI SUCCESS STORY 05
REMINISCENCES 12
ALUMNI MEET 13
BITSAA GLOBAL MEET 16
STUDENT ALUMNI MEET 17
ALUMNI EVENTS 19
ALUMNI IN NEWS 21
LETTERS TO BITS 25
Disclaimer : The information contained in this

publication is correct as at April 2020.
© 2020 BITS Pilani. This Publication is Copyright.
BITS
MESSAGES ECHO
Dear Alumni,
At the outset, let me share with you all the sense of delight and pride in having become a part of BITS Pilani frater-
nity. I keep following ardently the contributions and the milestones that all of you have been achieving in your re-
spective domains world over. I am truly proud to see our BITS women also achieving great heights of glory - be it
academia or industry or civil services or entrepreneurship, they have always been at the forefront of national and
international distinctions. Since this edition has been dedicated to BITS women, I salute all the women members
of our alumni who have made a difference in the society with their perseverance, power and poise. It is the glori-
ous deeds of their predecessors that will inspire the young girls on campus and spur them on their way to translat-
ing their dreams into reality.
Striding forward on this glorious march, I wish to share with you that BITS Pilani, your alma mater, has a strong action plan on all the fronts
such as academic, research, innovation and incubation, state of the art infrastructure and labs so as to become one of the world’s top ranked
universities. None of these activities would succeed without our alumni community’s support and we look forward to working with you all and
exploring all the possibilities in expanding your involvement with your alma mater and further consolidating the bonding between the alumni,
the existing students, faculty and staff members. Maintaining excellence, creating opportunities for an all-round sustainable development,
seeking faculty research support, attracting foreign students and improving university rankings, would be some of the other goals that we may
consider worthy of our pursuance in the years to come.
I am sure that in this voyage you, as you have always been, would be with us and help us script more illustrious chapters in the glorious histo-
ry of this institute of eminence with your continued support, engagement and advocacy.
I thank you for your invaluable contribution in the making of this great institution and look forward to your robust contribution in the further en-
hancement of its glory.
Sudhirkumar Barai
Director, Pilani Campus, BITS Pilani
Over the past 30 years, women have risen to great heights as teachers, doctors, engineers and pretty much all
the professions there are.
One inspiring story is on the auto rickshaw driver Raji Akka in Tamil Nadu who has made a mark in a male domi-
nated business. Hailing from a family of auto drivers and residing in Perambur, Akka takes great pride in doing her
job. Apart from Uber, she rides the streets at night, helping women who are alone. She is also a great talker and
can talk about anything under the sun, right from politics to water crisis.
The other inspiring story of support which I like very much is when it was time for Shanta Bai in Maharashtra, the
first known female barber of India who stepped into her husband’s shoe when he passed away suddenly. Choos-
ing not to commit suicide with her daughters but to live life was possible only with the support of her village
pramukh. Today at 70. Shantabai has married off all her four daughters without taking financial help from anyone. She is a grandmother of 10
today. What inspires women to break barriers, find new boundaries and set tall examples vary, but her inherent strength, her natural ability to
nurture and a support from the society around her can help her come far. In the corporate world, women leaders are fast emerging as a ne-
cessity, so that gender parity, a balance and new perspective can be achieved in company boards.
The divine feminine is a warrior and healer in a womanly package. The Divine Feminine is on the rise. But what does this actually mean and
how can each one of us help play a part in this rebalancing act ? The world till now has greatly been led from a masculine based thought
form. Action, conquering, logical thinking, rationality, competition, survival, and strength are defining masculine qualities. As human beings,
we carry both the aspects of the Divine masculine and feminine energies. But as we can observe by the state of the world the mass populous
is severely out of balance. We have learned to lead with the masculine while suppressing the feminine aspects we inherently possess. The
Divine Feminine is the manifestation of the purest form of feminine expression and qualities. However, due to the patriarchal system that has
developed throughout time, the Feminine energy has been sadly suppressed, devalued, demeaned and looked down upon. But as we start to
wake up from our deep slumber there has been a resurgence in the need for the devotion and commitment to the Feminine and what it really
represents for us as a whole. A balance of both energies will be necessary to continue our evolutionary process. We each carry a complex
emotional and psychological makeup of past experiences learned behavior and external conditioning that contributes to one’s internal well-
being and external reality. This can cause one or both energies to be out of balance, stagnant, suppressed, confused, or disrespected in
some manner.
Sandhya Prakash
Chairperson BITSAA International
Echo Page-1 https://www.bits-pilani.ac.in/alumni

Cover Story
Leading
The
Way
From doing wonders in the area of science to making inroads into entrepreneurship. BITSian
women have proven time and again that science and business can go hand-in-hand. Today the
successful Women BITSians are the role models for every young BITSian.
In this Edition, we have brought success stories of some of the most influential women from BITS
Pilani alumni community. They have stood out in the race, thanks to the dedication for their job,
excellence in their work and their trailblazing approach that made them the superwomen not just
in India but at the global level.
Here are the BITSian women who are making ripples in their spheres and driving positive change
in our world and motivating others to take the lead.
Powerful Business Women Influential Women Entrepreneur

Revathi Adivaithi Richa Kar
CEO, Flex CEO and Founder , Zivame
Pilani, ‘90 Pilani, ’02
Revathi Advaithi has been Zivame founder Richa Kar is
named as one of Fortune Mag- known as one of the most in-
azine's the Most Powerful fluential women entrepreneurs
Women in Business. In Sep- of the country. She has
tember 2019, Fortune Maga- changed the face of lingerie
zine (the 50 most powerful "I always did something I was a shopping for women through “My advice to upcoming BITSian
businesswomen in the US) little not ready to do. I think that’s their first start-up, Zivame. Ziva women entrepreneurs is to dream
featured her as the single Indi- how you grow. When there’s that -me implies ‘radiant me’. By
an-origin CEO out of 50 most big. When you are your boss you
moment of ‘Wow, I’m not sure I her hard work and determina- have to be ready to do the oddest
powerful businesswomen. tion, she built Zivame, a lead-
Advaithi took over as CEO of can do this,’ and you push and smallest of jobs as and when
through those moments, that’s ing online lingerie store of In-
Flex in February 2019. Before dia.
required. Always hire people who
joining Flex, Ms. Advaithi was when you have a breakthrough. Company offers a variety of are better at what they do than
President and Chief Operating Be passionate about whatever 5,000 styles, 50 brands you because they will help you
Officer, Electrical Sector, of you aspire to be and excellence and 100 sizes with a valuation grow faster. I believe that if you
Eaton Corporation Plc, a pow- will just follow you. BITS Pilani of $100 million. Before enter- are strong, focused and passion-
er management company. She provides you the sea of opportu- ing in start-up world Richa ate about what you want to
has brought glory to her alma nities and confidence. Just be- was working with Spencers
mater through her consistent
do, everything else falls into
lieve in yourself.” Retail and SAP as a retail con- place.”
high level of success. sultant.
World’s Analytics Expert Aiding Social Change
Pramad Jandhyala Aarti Mohan

Co-founder, LatentView Co-founder, Sattva
Pilani, ‘93 Pilani, ‘02
Pramad Jandhyala is an Aarti is a Co-founder at Satt-

accomplished entrepreneur, va and she also heads the
speaker and analytics ex- Research Advisory Practice
pert. As Co-Founder & Di- at Sattva, which informs bet-
rector of LatentView Analyt- ter decision-making and ac-
“BITS Pilani is a place where you tion through rigorous re- “BITS Pilani was one of the best
ics, Pramad Jandhyala get the first taste of entrepreneur- decisions I’ve made in my life. It
leads the company's initia- search and data analysis,
ship. In my days at BITS, a group advisory and stakeholder gave me the strength, values,
tives in finance, talent man- of us set up and managed the resilience and courage to contin-
agement & strategic plan- engagement. Aarti Mohan is
cooperative store completely by also the Chief Editor and ue to move forward in my life and
ning. She has played a key ourselves. It was an enlightening follow my dreams. Every busi-
role in LatentView Analyt- Head, Content, at The Alter-
experience for us. In a start-up, the native, an online magazine ness should have a mission be-
ics's rapid global growth, struggles we faced is same as any yond its immediate operating
and her strategic guidance that strives to make sustaina-
other start-up. Always remember bility a way of life through environment. But they should
and execution led the com- the Mantra of entrepreneurship, have a social mission which
pany recognition in the conversations, everyday
getting out of your comfort zone choices and practices that works on improving the livelihood
Deloitte Fast 50 Company will take you through the best of of people around them. Life is a
in 2015. She has over 17 can lend itself to positive so-
learning experiences. So, work cial impact. She has also led big adventure. You never know
years of experience in the
towards making your dreams come multiple engagements curat- how it unfolds. So, don’t plan it
credit ratings and financial
true and have conviction.” ing knowledge exchanges. too far ahead. Roll with it.” .
services.
The Iron Lady of Administration The Melody Queen of BITS
Rajbala Verma Anuradha Palakurthi

former Chief Secretary of Indian American Singer
Jharkhand Pilani, ‘83
Indian American singer
Ms. Rajbala Verma served Anuradha Palakurthi was in
our nation as an IAS of- news for the ‘Radio Mirchi
ficer in Bihar cadre, and award’ for the Best Inde-
later opted for Jharkhand pendent Music category for
cadre, after the bifurcation her album Jaan Meri, re-
of Bihar and retired as the leased in March 2019 at “Talent always needs training to
Chief Secretary. She “To those who are thinking about MIT’s Kresge Auditorium in
Civil Services as a career option, be structured & polished. It needs
played a significant role in Cambridge. Ms. Palakurthi to be nurtured with formal instruc-
the development of e- I would say, go for it. Those who has been recognized as the
are on the fence, do give it a shot, tions and discipline, which only a
governance in Jharkhand. top-rated singer of Indian
Be clear in your mind, why you teacher or a Guru can impart.
She was known for her origin by industry legends.
want to become an IAS. If it is Once such a knowledgeable
people centric governance, She has performed live with
anything other than service and foundation is set, one can build
surprise checks in govern- Bollywood singers like Ku-
satisfaction, derive from it. Think anything on it. The grammar of
ment hospitals, giving pep mar Sanu, Suresh Wadkar,
twice before starting preparation. Indian music is written easily in
Deepak Pandit and Bappi
talks to school students It has to be only one thing, ser- the classical form. Music enhanc-
Lahiri. She sings in six Indi-
and personal visits in the vice to society, Work hard and es the life. It brings in the harmo-
an languages and has also
rural areas to listen to peo- you will earn success.” ny in our lives.
recorded playback for
ple’s grievances. South Indian films.
“Music is essential for life. India is open to new cultures to
Unveiling Shruthi Vishwanath is a musician and educator.
an extent one could not even imagine a few decades ago.
She divides her time between performing as
age-old one of the foremost folk-classical musicians of Young Indians prefer to listen to music from the West, and
Traditions her generation and working with organizations fewer people are interested in playing or even listening to
as an educator to bridge the gap between
learning science and arts, taking a holistic ap- traditional Indian classical music. It is imperative for the
Shruthi Vishwanath proach to education. Shruthi has performed survival of Indian classical music that young people from
Classical Singer, Educator and around the world, including the Kabir Festival,
all over the world be encouraged to not just listen to but
Composer Indonesia Channel. She teaches classical mu-
Pilani, ‘13 also perform it.”
sic and vocal techniques.

BITS Pilani
Destination for Young Women
BITS Pilani has been a destination of choice for young women for
their pursuit for higher studies. The distinct philosophy and
encouragement to the girl students has resulted in 17-35%
female graduates from BITS during 1998 to 2018.
The process of education coupled with learning outside the
class through participation in different student driven clubs
has resulted in producing highly acclaimed and accom-
plished alumnae across domains and professions. BITS
has produced great female leaders who have given new
direction to different organisations through their acumen,
knowledge, skills across domains. Invariably most of the
female leaders from BITS admire the support received
Prof. Arya Kuman from their spouses and parents in leading a balanced
Dean, Alumni Relations
BITS Pilani
life – personal and professional. Some of the famous
female alumnae from BITS Pilani are Prof. Reena Ag-
garwal (’79): Vice Provost for Faculty at Georgetown University, Dr. B Sandhya
(‘2005): Addditional Director General of Police, Akila Krishnakumar
(’83): Philanthropist and Former President, SunGard India, Anu Hasan (‘88): Tamil
movie actor and anchor of “Koffee with Anu”, Revathi Advaithi (’90): Chief Execu-
tive Officer of Flex, Padmini Chettur (’91): Acclaimed contemporary choreogra-
pher and dancer, Divya Venkatasubramaniam(‘2003): film actress, Ria
Kottamurickal (‘2015): Growth Market Talent Associate, Allianz, Dr. Rajni Aggarwal
(’70): Managing Director of Sears International Pvt. Ltd, Richa Kar (’02): Founder
of Zivame, an online lingerie store, Ruchika Gupta (‘93): Founder-CEO, Border-
less Access Pvt Ltd. Punita Pandey (’84): Founder, NetCustomer Inc and
many more.
The female graduates from BITS Pilani are excelling in different walks
of life and contributing in making happy, healthy and wealthy families
and societies leading to faster and accelerated overall development. It
has been rightly said by Former US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton in
2013 Women in the World Summit, “The world is changing beneath our
feet and it is past time to embrace a 21st Century approach to advanc-
ing the rights and opportunities of women and girls at home and across
the globe.”
90% BITSian Women are Productively

Engaged in Professional Pursuits
BITSian
Women 30% Are Residing Overseas
@
A Glance 60% Are in Managerial Position
Source:
BITS Pilani Alma

connect 1 in 7 Female Students Opting
for Entrepreneurship

Alumni Success Story
“Always be Eager to Learn”

A conversation with DAA 2018 Awardee
Prof. Reena (Garg) Aggarwal (Pilani, ‘79) obtained her MMS degree from BITS and subsequently did her PhD
from the University of Maryland, USA in 1985. She is the Vice Provost for Faculty at Georgetown University and
Robert E. McDonough Professor of Finance at Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business. Among many
achievements, she has been the recipient of “Outstanding Faculty Award" in the Business Week Guide to the
Best Business Schools and voted as the ‘Outstanding Professor’ by EMBA students, and described her as the
Favorite Professor of the ‘Best & Brightest’ Executive MBAs, Poets and Quants. Here are some insights into
her journey.
Women in Academia
What were some of the highlights of your time in
BITS Pilani?
I went to BITS to study Electrical Engineering, however, I
got interested in Finance. I had a talk with my professors
and they allowed me to change my subject. Every day,
even now, I am extremely grateful to BITS for allowing
me to make the change seamlessly, There are tons of
fond memories from my days at BITS: Sunday morning
dosas, cassata ice-cream for Sunday lunch, a special
dinner at Volga, the fun prep. leading up to the annual
fest; all the plays we put on. Most importantly, I cherish
the friendships with my classmates that continues to this
day.
As a professor, how do you feel teaching and the

curriculum has evolved over the years and how do
you keep your students engaged and yourself updat-
ed?
My expertise is in finance, this is a dynamic area that
keep changing all the time and I do real-world cases with
guest speakers in class. For many years, I co-taught a
Private Equity course with the co-founder of one of the best private equity firms. I also serve on the Boards of finan-
cial firms that keep me grounded in the real world. There is a lot more emphasis on experiential learning these
days, BITS was way ahead, we had practice school even in my time. It was a great learning experience.
How did you decide your line of work and what made you stick to it?
Professor J K Mittal ignited my interest in Finance and I got solid quantitative training at BITS, that has been ex-
tremely useful. I enjoy each aspect of my work - I enjoy institution building, in my position as Vice Provost at
Georgetown University, I am responsible for all faculty issues, including the recruitment and retention of the best
faculty. I enjoy teaching students, doing research, serving as the Director of the Georgetown Center for Financial
Markets and Policy, and serving at corporate boards.
What advice would you like to pass on to female students studying in BITS Pilani right now?
I know it’s easier said than done but don’t focus too much on grades, instead focus on learning. Learning happens
both inside and outside the classroom, get involved in clubs and activities that you care about and enjoy. The new
generation will change careers several times in life so they should always be eager to learn, take risks, and try out
new possibilities.

“Read to Succeed”
Akshaya Vijayalakshmi (Pilani, ‘03) is an Assistant Professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmeda-
bad. She is a multi-methods researcher interested in consumer-related issues. She completed her PhD in mar-
keting from Iowa State University. Here’s an insight into her journey so far.
How do you think BITS gave you the necessary skills

to become an academician? Women in Academia
BITS gave me my first taste of freedom and responsibil-
ity in any real sense. The opportunity to meet, interact,
and live with people with impressive talents was a huge
learning experience for me. It set me on a path of lifelong
learning and desire to engage with the world more criti-
cally. Moreover, in BITS, the administration treats you
like an adult holding you responsible for your actions
(e.g., lack of mandatory attendance, student-run OASIS
and APOGEE, etc.) which was helpful. BITS also helped
me meet my husband, who further contributes to my de-
velopment professionally.
Some of the articles written by you reflect your

strong opinions you have regarding several contem-
porary gender issues. What are your views regarding
the representation of women in the corporate sec-
tor? ties besides your professional career? How do you
The numbers clearly show that Indian women have been strike a balance between job and interests?
dropping-off the workforce in the last few years. It is doc- These activities are an extension of my professional
umented that many women pay the “marriage penalty”. work. Most of the articles that I have written so far have
That is, we have a significant number of people who are been related to my research interests or work. So the
educated and qualified, but not present in the workforce. only additional demand on my time is to craft my mes-
Women are not just absent in corporate or business or sage clearly and coherently. I consider writing for the pa-
academic spaces but also in public spaces. You don’t pers as a part of my job, as it makes research more ac-
see women hanging out in parks or footpaths in the cessible. Having said all that, I must admit that these ad-
same numbers as men. Primarily, women are relegated ditional pursuits are very demanding, but in Kon Mari’s
to their houses and even within that, specific spaces. It words- they spark joy.
will take a lot of work to make women more visible in var-
ious spaces. We can begin by pushing for the represen- You pursued your PhD from Iowa State University.
tation of women as members and leaders in our commit- What differences and similarities did you notice in
tees, clubs, and labs. If we start small and early, we will the teaching practices adopted in India and the
go on to see women in boardrooms, parliament, and as west?
Nobel prize winners. I can only comment on PhD education since that’s the
degree I obtained abroad, and I can compare it that to
What advice do you have for a prospective MBA stu- PhD courses at IIMA. The main difference is that in the
dent? Do you think the motivation that a lot of engi- USA, the Business School is part of a University, which
neering students have towards pursuing an MBA is meant that one could take a wide range of courses. For
problematic in any sense? example, I took classes in Statistics and Psychology
Read a lot and as widely as possible is my only advice to from the respective home departments.
a prospective MBA student. I would suggest that stu- There are very few places in India where you can get
dents use their time at BITS to evaluate their higher stud- that kind of education. This exposure to various colleges
ies options and if unclear, maybe work for a short while, and the courses that they offered helped me widen my
as that sometimes provides clarity. research pursuits. Moreover, my roommates during my
PhD program were in non-business disciplines, which
From writing articles and blog posts to featuring on again led me to much broader engagement with re-
podcasts, you seem to be involved in a lot of activi- search and teaching practices.

Key of Success
“Seek Out
Mentors”
What were some of the biggest lessons that you
learnt during your stay at BITS Pilani and how have
they impacted the way you work?
My strength and resilience were one of the first things I
discovered at BITS. I can weather any situation very well
and maintain my calm and perspective without getting
swept away. BITS impacted the way I work - I take this
attitude to my workplace as well. I can keep my compo-
sure when things go awry and that has always helped
me understand the big picture better.
What is your most fond memory of the time you were Women in Finance
in BITS?
Every instance I encountered kindness from my peers.
One of my friends taught me how to ride a bike. There
have been many such moments and I look back at them Ramya Ballamudi (Pilani, ‘01) is the Assistant
fondly till date. Vice President at the Barclays Investment Bank in
How do you find the culture, both academic and non- New York, USA. After her graduation from BITS
academic, at New York University different from that Pilani in Computer Science, she did Masters in
at BITS Pilani? Information Systems from the New York Universi-
As a teenager stepping outside from the comforts of
home for the first time, it was my first experience of how ty. Here are insights into her journey.
the real-world functions when I joined BITS Pilani. Being
a student at BITS Pilani lays a very strong academic Being the Assistant VP at Barclays Capital, what ac-
foundation and analytical skills and instils a very strong cording to you, are some lessons that a college stu-
work ethic. Masters being a 2-year degree and off- dent should work upon to achieve such great
campus, I was at a different place than I was when back heights in the corporate world?
at Pilani. Handling courses at NYU seemed like a breeze a. I feel, ‘Life at BITS’ teaches you a lot of things in
compared to what I had to do during my undergrad class room and outside it - Time management, life man-
years; whether these were technical courses or manage- agement, prioritization and all. No place is better to learn
ment related ones that involved working in groups, it all those things than here at BITS.
came pretty easily. In that sense, BITS Pilani laid the b. Network! your network opens up doors that you
foundation for advanced degree programs. Frankly, the seemed inaccessible earlier. Have friends, engage your-
culture of both places is more similar than I realized. It is
selves in activities apart from academics, they are equal-
my perspective that changed and helped me deal well ly important for one’s well-rounded development.
with life at NYU. c. Seek out mentors. They could be your peers, friends
or seniors. Experience is the best teacher. And having
If you could do it all over again, what would you do someone hold you accountable or to check-in with, is
differently, with regard to your college life? invaluable. This is applicable in professional life as well.
Be more focused on how I handled my coursework and I Love what you do and do what you love. Never compro-
would reach out for help rather than trying to solve it all mise on your ethics, at the end of the day, you have
on my own and work on my networking skills. yourself to answer to.

“Research for Better World”
Shruti Japee (Pilani, ‘90) is a Staff Scientist at the Lab of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Health,
USA. She does research in brain imaging. Her study aims to identify networks in the brain that are active
while performing certain activities like listening or making decisions. Here an interview with her where she
discusses her journey of becoming a successful researcher:
How did your time at BITS Pilani motivate you to pur-
sue research?
I came into BITS to pursue Instrumentation Engineering.
But I always had a soft spot for Biology. So, the natural
choice was to combine the two and do medical instru-
mentation. So, I applied for Biomedical Engineering pro-
grams in the USA and landed at Medical College of Vir-
ginia to do a PhD.
Were you involved in any project at BITS in the field

of biology that could’ve helped you with the admis-
sion procedure for the Medical College of Virginia?
Yes. I did a project at BITS, which was related to Medical
Instrumentation, which I think gave me a boost. I also
think my Statement of Purpose, which I wrote for the ad-
mission, had lots of components of various things I did
here. Whether it was working with ADP or organizing a
dance workshop or doing the project, all of those things
made it appear that I know what I want to do in life and
that I can do it well. So I think that helped.
What was the reason that you chose BITS Pilani?

I wanted to go to medical school but I couldn't get in be- Women in Research
cause in 1990 after we took our final 12th exams, there
was an increase in the reservation policy in Tamil Nadu. special being part of ADP. And because I was doing a
So even though I was school topper, I didn't get . So, I dance workshop, I also performed on stage as part of
had to seek admission elsewhere and BITS seemed like the opening ceremony. All the practices that went into it,
a natural choice. the teamwork we did, it was amazing. My time at Audi
and backstage, are special memories to me.
Can you elaborate about your commitments on cam-
pus and tell us about how they enhanced your life at How important is the role of mentorship in Science?
BITS? Okay, I feel that mentorship plays a huge part in Sci-
Yes. In my first semester, I joined ADP which was my ence. You have to groom the next generation of scien-
first experience working in a big group of people doing tists just as I was groomed by my mentors. I still am in
small little things like painting a square on this big giant touch with them after 25 years. They shaped me. So, I
mural. At first, I felt that it was boring since I was just feel like, I must do the same for the next-gen. And in do-
painting one color in one little area of the mural. But then ing so, I recently received an outstanding mentorship
at the end of it, when they put the mural up, it was like award from my Institute and that was just super special
“Oh, I contributed to that”. So being part of a team and cause to me.
doing a big thing, even though I was playing a small role
in it, that was just a huge experience for me. I also con- How researchers from the BITS Pilani alumni com-
ducted a dance workshop, which helped me communi- munity can help new one?
cate and develop my leadership skills as I worked with I think that it is possible for knowledge sharing. There
groups of people learning to dance. So, that also helped. can be a list of BITS alumni who are in academia or in
the research to whom the BITS Pilani students can con-
Being part of a department might have added some- nect to for help. Basically, through this, you can get more
thing to your Oasis, APOGEE and BOSM memories? information about a certain topic that you need for your
Yes, absolutely. Oasis memories are often a blur for work. I do think that it is needed. I think this space
most people because you don't sleep much. But it was should be tapped well.

The CAT Topper Women scientist
Speed with Accuracy “Be Strong at the

Fundamentals”
is the Mantra to Bell Dr. Shruthi Sridhar Vembar (Pilani, ‘99),
the CAT
Faculty Scientist, Institute of Bioinfor-
matics and Applied Biotechnology, Ban-
galore. Dr. Shruthi started doing her
research during her undergraduate
Vidhi Shah (Pilani, ‘16) scored 99.98 percentile in the Common Ad- days at BITS Pilani.
mission Test (CAT) 2019. She is an All-India female topper in CAT
2019. She prepared for the exam. during her last semester on the
How was Pilani? What was the re-
campus. We congratulate her on this remarkable achievement. search culture back when you were in
Here are a few excerpts from an interview with her where she dis- college?
cusses her experience while preparing for the exam: Research culture was encouraged at
Pilani. The professors at BITS were ex-
tremely encouraging and willing to help.
This was my stepping stone into the
What was your preparation world of research. Most of my batch ma-
strategy, the challenges you tes who have pursued their PhD, are do-
faced and how did you over- ing fantastic work in their respective
come them? fields. One of the earliest projects that I
I started preparing for CAT had worked on in Pilani, was based on
2019 in September, after ‘plasmodium’.
placements. Since I had an
engineering background, I did- What made you go into the field of
n’t feel the need to study for parasitology and specifically plasmo-
the exam as such since two dium?
sections were based on data My experience in Paris propelled me to
interpretation and quantitative study more about plasmodium. Malaria
aptitude. However, I wrote a currently is a pressing issue in our coun-
mock test almost every day in try and this research would go on to con-
the three months before the tribute at least a little in establishing new
exam. to try and figure out my trends for drug targets.
strengths and weaknesses
and rectify the possible errors. What is the scope of CRISPR in India
The preparation stage was fairly smooth since I didn’t have many and how is its application is currently
courses, and I was able to devote around three hours every day to in research?
CRISPR CAS has become more ubiqui-
prepare.
tous in India. Although there is still a long
way to go in terms of accessibility, al-
What made you decide to pursue an MBA? most all major labs in the country apply
I was pretty sure I wanted to do an MBA somewhere down the line these sophisticated techniques and vari-
even before I joined BITS, but I spent the first three years on campus ations of CRISPR regularly.
making sure that I wasn’t interested in pursuing engineering further.
With every passing semester, I realized that an MBA was best suited What do you think, students of our
for the kind of career I wanted to pursue in future. generation should learn?
That anything worthwhile takes hard
What are your views on the Practice School system of BITS work. Research by its very nature re-
Pilani? How do you think it benefits the students? quires perseverance. Every day is a new
The Practice School system of BITS Pilani is a pretty unique con- problem waiting to be solved. Trends
cept. Academic course work is necessary but is not sufficient, and keep changing and one must know what
Practice School allows students to gain industry insights before they is new in the field. It is always good to
make major career decisions. It also gives a lot of flexibility to stu- know several techniques, but it is ex-
dents by allowing them to opt-out of the system or to gain experience tremely important to be strong at the fun-
in companies of their domain. I think we need to use this flexibility for damentals, as this will determine how far
our better carrier advancement. you can go.

The
110%
Proud BITSian
Sherin Kurian (Goa, ‘04) is currently the Chief Executive Officer and
Trustee of BITSAA International. Sherin currently works at Apple in
the Supply Chain Product Planning space. She was part of the first
batch of K K Birla Goa Campus, BITS Pilani. Women in Supply Chain
How would you introduce yourself? can say a combination of analytics and problem solving
My ID no. is 2004C6PS402G. You might be surprised by and decision making which came from my engineering
that. The code and the degree don’t exist anymore. It degree. Thereafter, I worked at Oracle and Marriott In-
was the code for Information Systems. After graduating ternational too. So that was a build-up of the skills along
from Goa Campus in 2008, I joined Oracle and worked with the technical skills I got from BITS. Since I belong
in the retail analytics group for five years, focusing on to the first batch of Goa campus, we laid the foundation
pricing, optimization and inventory planning. And then I for setting-up different clubs that exists on the campus
felt that I need to look at more opportunities. So, I today. And all that, in a way, involved leading teams. So
thought about whether I want to continue or try a differ- any leadership skills I have, I would say a big part of that
ent job or whether I should go for higher studies. I de- is attributed to that opportunity we got as we had a new
cided to pursue an MBA from Duke University. After my campus.
MBA, I got a job with Apple in their supply chain plan-
ning team. Right now, I am looking over the product What motivated you to lead a diverse and varied or-
planning stream of the supply chain space in Apple. ganization like BITSAA International?
There are two things. First, I was associated with
People often describe themselves as being an entre- BITSAA right from my time on campus. I was a founding
preneur or a developer or a dreamer. How do you member of the BITSAA Goa campus chapter. I was
describe yourself as? leading the Sandpaper team, which was the alumni
I think I am more of a doer or maybe a combination of magazine back then. This was by chance that I hap-
dreamer and doer. pened to be part of it. And what I saw at that time was
that I was looking for mentors, too, because we didn't
You started as a woman in Tech, you made a transi- have seniors on campus. So we needed to have that
tion to lead teams in a Trillion-dollar firm like Apple. contact with our seniors at Pilani campus and I saw that
So, how do you explain this transition? as a great opportunity, and that was my motivation to be
When I look back, I probably would have never thought part of BITSAA.
of going outside the country or working in a company You see the people whom you interact with, the values
like Apple. I was just a student at BITS. My goal was to that such interactions are bringing. And you never want
get a job. And that's the end of it. But then BITS has to get out of it. And it's a family-like feeling. So that's
helped me expand the way I think. BITS provided me what kept me going. And also the warmth, the network-
with a network of people who are achievers and dream- ing and all the aspects associated with it. The second
ers. And then it also gave the tools to build upon what I part is that I decided to continue working in BITSAA
wanted to do. So it was a combination of the right net- even after college during my first job. One thing, I no-
work, the right eco-system and luckily the right connec- ticed was that BITSAA allows you to do whatever you
tions to interact with. want.
And it's a great opportunity and great platform to learn
What are some technical and non-technical aspects the different multitude of functions which I don't get in
of your job and what skills you picked up during the my regular job. So there's a selfish motive there. So
journey at BITS that helped you scale up to this po- that's how it all continued. So the underlying motivation
sition? has always been to be giving back to BITS whenever I
My current role, a lot of it has to do with numbers so you get an opportunity. I have no hesitation in doing that.

For the Service of the Nation
T.V. Anupama (Goa, ‘08) is an Indian Administrative Service officer. She served as the 43rd District Collector of
Thrissur. She is currently holding the position of Director, Dept. of Women and Child Development, Kerala.
What made you choose Civil Services as a career? Women in Civil Services
The IAS was a dream for me. My father and uncle had writ-
ten the preliminary exams when they were younger. But One should integrate his/her prepara-
they could not pursue their dream for some reason. I kept tion for all the 3 stages. This will pro-
hearing about the IAS right from my school days. Later, I duce better answers that are balanced
joined BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus. I received two in terms of facts and analysis.
job offers through campus selection before I completed the
program. They were excellent offers with good paychecks. Prelim: Don't overdo things here. For
My mother told me to drop the offers and focus on Civil Ser- GS, find out the areas of your strength
vices. and prepare thoroughly (I studied geography, polity, mental
ability, current affairs and Biology). For optional, focus on
How should one assess oneself before deciding to opt concepts first and then take up facts. One should also keep
for Civil Services as a career? in mind Main's pattern.
One's longing for this service can be the sole guiding factor
when one pursues this goal. Therefore, passion and deter- For Mains: Prepare notes and revise, Practice answer-
mination are very important. One should make up one's writing. For Optional, use standard textbooks, plan your an-
mind to put the efforts as required for this examination. swer. For GS, list out the probable topics and prepare thor-
oughly. Unlike Prelim, try not to leave out any question.
In your opinion, how crucial is the selection of optional Interview: Develop a balanced opinion about the current
subjects for success in the examination? events. Take the help of newspaper editorials and multiple
It is the most important step to succeed in this examination. magazines. Prepare bio-data thoroughly. Be truthful while
filling up the bio-data form.
What should be the criteria for selecting them?
One's interest should be the sole criterion. I used NCERT The message for young UPSC aspirants
books, notes and problem solutions, UPSC syllabus and You have to give a clear answer on why you want to join the
Main's previous years question papers to make my choice. Civil Services. You have to be able to say that you want to
serve people. It should be an honest ambition. Never take
How should one prepare for Prelim, Main and Inter- up this profession for recognition.
view?
Be more Assertive Women in Tech

What were your favourite hangout places at BITS
& Confident of Pilani and your most fond memory of your col-
lege life?
Favourite hangout places - Sky Lawns and Muse-
Your Abilities um Lawns. Several fond memories! Foremost

amongst them would surely be all the fun times spent
with friends, and the bird watching trips inside the
campus and the farms near the Gliding Club.
Veena Deshpande (Pilani, ‘87) is the Senior Director at
Capgemini. With BITS Echo she discusses the growth of Being the Senior Director at Capgemini, one of
the biggest technology services and consulting
technological services and her experiences: firms, what are the challenges that you encoun-
tered at the beginning of your tenure and how did
How do you think the technology services and con- you overcome them?
sulting industry has changed in the past 5 years? Applying what you have learnt in business context is
What are the relevant skills that one should learn to the biggest challenge. Our focus is usually only on
pursue this field? technology, but it is important to remember that tech-
Today, we have an unprecedented rate of change in the nology is an enabler for us to find solutions to busi-
world around us ! This digital world requires us to con- ness problems. Focus on understanding customer’s
stantly update our knowledge and skills on the emerging business problems helps in coming up with better
and the next new technology areas, newer business do- solutions.
mains and business models, as also newer delivery meth- Is there any advice you’d want to give to your
ods such as Agile Safe and DevOps, and solution ap- younger self when you were in BITS Pilani?
proaches such as Design Thinking, etc. Be more assertive and confident in your abilities!

“Roughest
What excites you from my vocation at that point. Soon after, I got into con-
right now in your sulting and worked with McKinsey. I developed a strong
personal or pro- foundation in business and strategy while working there.
Roads Lead fessional life?
Challenges. In both
It’s a great place to get exposure to a wide domain of
clients and industries. In 2012, I joined InMobi. It was an
to the Top” my personal and
professional life, I
unconventional move and a leap of faith to join a startup
but a great decision in hindsight. I got the opportunity to
find a new chal- try different roles from founders’ strategy team to product
Vasuta Agarwal (Pilani, ‘03) is lenge to be the most management to setting up new business units and lead-
Managing Director, Asia Pacific exciting. It can be ing Business development for some markets.
at InMobi. She shares her jour- anything from a new
role or a new oppor-
What is the one of your defining moments in your
career/personal space?
ney from BITS Pilani to leading tunity that is differ- The move from consulting to InMobi was a big one for
the corporate world. ent and pushes me me – to move from an established large company to a
to grow. When I startup. It’s a decision I’ve never regretted. I worked in
started my current role, the India business in InMobi, I various roles which made me realize that my passion is
was definitely out of my comfort zone which both excited in business side of things which provided me an insight
and scared me. However, I think we often reach a stag- how the organizations work.
nation point, and challenges make sure that we leave our
comfort zone and learn and grow more. Roughest roads What advice would you give to young people just
lead to the Top. starting their careers in your field?
Make the most of the roles you are in and go above and
What’s your professional story? beyond the ‘Job Description’. You have to make sure
After doing my engineering from BITS Pilani, I joined In- that you are heard. I think women often shy away from
tel as a Chip Design Engineer in 2005. I went on to do this and I would advise young women not to do that.
my MBA because I realized my interests were different Make sure your presence is felt.
REMINISCENCES
Anecdotes about the Curfew

Days in the Girls Hostel
R.S.Surya (Goa, ‘15) Junior Research Fellow in Department of Condensed Matter Physics and Materials
Science, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai. She writes down her memory of those Curfew
days in Hostel.
The girls’ hostel curfew was taken very seriously by us. This meant that at about 12.15 am
on our campus, all the girls outside the hostel would abruptly get united so as to reach the
girl's hostel before 12.30 am. And any girl late by even a couple of minutes had better come
up with good reasons for being late. Well, one of my friends had told the guard that she got
so lost while eating the food at the Night Canteen and got delayed! The guard was so
amused by the absurdity of the explanation that he let her in. Not everyone was so lucky
though. Sometimes, if a girl returned to the hostel too late, the hostel warden would be
called. And she would be scolded sternly till she felt miserable .
The curfew also meant that girls were given top-most priority at the Night Canteen. Our or-
ders were brought out first, and we also had special ‘deliveries’ of the Night Canteen food to
our hostels. This was a bone of contention to many boys; they had to walk to the mess (a couple of meters away)
to get their food. But all these ‘privileges’ didn’t make up for the lack of curfew in our opinion, as we would routinely
retort to any boy who would begrudgingly raise the topic of preferential treatment that NC workers would give the
girls.
The curfew was revoked in my second year…and it was brilliant. I remember going out for a ‘victory walk’ with my
friends at 4.00 am after it was revoked; it felt out of the world. Mornings seemed so much more beautiful when one
was outside the building to experience it! Lifting the curfew helped us girls immerse ourselves in the college experi-
ence fully. Although our nights certainly lacked that thrilling dash back to our hostels we would normally have with
the curfew, I can’t say I ever missed it during the rest of my college stay.

ALUMNI MEET
1965-70 Batch Celebrated 50 years of their Graduation
Alumni Take BITS Back to 60’s
The 1965-70 batch of BITS Pilani celebrated 50

years of their graduation at the Pilani campus on
February 22, 2020. The batch recreated their jour-
ney through an interactive light and sound laser
show at the backdrop of the iconic clock tower,
signifying timeless bond with their alma mater.
The first-of-kind professional 3D laser show nar-
rated the story of alumni from 1965-70 at Pilani, a
quaint village away from urban cities. The reunion
saw participation from more than 90 alumni ac-
companied by their spouses. This was 9th such
reunion organized in the last 3 months.
Speaking at the interactive session, “Guru-
Shishya Milan”, K. K. Gupta an alumnus of the
batch said, “we have been meeting ever since we
graduated, and we shall keep meeting”. The batch
has planned its next reunion in February 2022.
“We feel extremely proud to have studied in BITS
and are pleased with the efforts of BITS leader-
ship to make it an even better place for the stu-
dents”, added K Vijay Rao, another alumnus from
the batch. The batch proudly recounts Padma
Bhushan Babasaheb Kalyani, Chairman and
President of Bharat Forge, as one of its members.
The batch announced a pledge of Rs. 2 Crore to
BITS Pilani for building a state-of-the-art conven-
tion centre and guest house.
On this occasion, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Sou-
vik Bhattacharyya said, “It is heartening to see the
love and joy from our alumni even after 50 years.
It feels gratifying to be able to provide education
to the young students, who go on to become lead-
ers, contribute to building society, corporations
and most importantly, the nation”.

ALUMNI MEET
The BITSian Way of Giving

1970-74 Pharma and 1970-75 Batch celebrated their Reunion
It was the clarion call of good old days and to reconnect with alma mater. The
batch of 1970-74 Pharma and 1970-75 batch celebrated their Golden Jubilee
Reunions on February 8th, 2020 at Pilani Campus. More than 110 alumni came
to join this reunion from across the world.
One of the major highlights of the event was Gurudakshina which was organised
by the BITS 75 Trust to felicitate 10 prominent teachers who had taught, inspired
and encouraged them during their studies at Pilani. The batch started this event
in 2009 and since then they have honoured 40 faculty members under
Gurudakshina, and at Pilani by honouring 10 more Gurus this time, they have
completed the magic number of 50.
A glittering function was held at NAB Auditorium which was attended by a large
number of alumni with the leadership team of BITS Pilani. Gurus were honoured
with a citation, a shawl and Rupees 1 lakh as a token of appreciation by the
BITS 75 Trust.
Prof. Souvik Bhattacharyya, Vice-chancellor, BITS Pilani welcomed the alumni back on campus and shared the development at institute and
especially a new and distinct impetus being given to connect with alumni for strengthening ties for growth and development of the institute.
Prof. Arya Kumar, Dean Alumni Relations and an Alumnus of BITS Pilani, applauded the effort of honouring the gurus and contributing back to
their alma mater. The memoirs of yesteryears were rejuvenated as they all shared their memories of those olden, youthful and cheerful days.
ALUMNI MEET
A Walk Down the Memory Lane

Hyderabad Campus : 2010 and 2011 Batch Reunion Celebration
College is a phase of life that nobody can forget. 4 years of camaraderie, last-minute exam preparations, late-night talks, and countless other
memories. The graduates of the 2010 and 2011 joining batch of Hyderabad campus, had a chance to cherish those memories again. The an-
nual alumni reunion was held on January 25th, 2020 and which was attended by over 100 alumni and a few special guests.
The reunion started with a pleasant lunch followed by cake cutting as a token of love and respect, post lunch, each of the batches planted a
sapling along the path leading to H block. After that, a session was held in the auditorium which featured address by Prof. G. Sundar, Director,
Hyderabad Campus, Prof. Arya Kumar, Dean, Alumni Relations, Mr Mansoor Khan, Head, BITSAA Silicon Valley Chapter and Mr Sanjay
Khendry, the BITSAA Hyderabad Chapter. It was followed by high Tea, where people caught up with each other and all shared their fond
memories.
Picnic in Sydney On March 1st 2020, BITSAA

Sydney Chapter organized an 1980 Batch Alumni
annual picnic at a recreation Ruby Reunion at Goa
park. It was a beautiful Autumn
day, there were plenty of
laughs, stories from the recent
reunions told & retold. The
songs at the karaoke session
took everyone down the
memory lane. Women BITSians
have been active in organizing From the 1980 batch, 52 batch mates and 26
networking and social events in Sydney. Sandy Naidu, Divya Lingala, Tripti Wani, Pri- spouses from different continents celebrated their
ya Venkatachilam, Archana Srivastava, Asha Priya Potla, Jayapriya and Shanti Vi- Ruby Union at Longuinhos Beach, SPA and re-
jaykumar have taken initiative and shown leadership in organizing past events. sorts, Colva, Goa during January 15–17, 2020 just
On that occasion the coordinator of the before Goa BITSAA Global Meet (BGM) 2020 to
event Smarajit Dey shared about the batch mark their togetherness for 40 years from their
initiative. He said, "I would also like alumni year of admission to BITS Pilani, which has been
to know about a batch initiative we have given the status of Institute of Eminence (IOE).
called Pilani Atmanirbhar Resource Centre The Opening day was un-filled as it kicked off with
(PARC) that is a resource to enable NGOs intro session over high tea followed by a musical
to engage in developing the community in evening with karaoke from fellow batch mates and
Pilani. A piece of land was given by BITS dance by enthusiasts. The next day the first half
in 2008 on which this resource centre was built by our batch with support from 1976- was spent with fun at the beach and the second
81 batch. All alumni visiting Pilani should visit this centre and discover this hidden half with a mentoring and interactive session with
gem of alumni engagement in giving back to Pilani." BITS Pilani KK Birla Goa campus students.
BITSAA GLOBAL MEET 2020
Rendezvous with Alma Mater

1100 Alumni Participate in the Global Event
BITS Alumni Association BITSAA, with their alma mater BITS

Pilani, organized the 4th edition of Global Meet of its alumni at
the K K Birla Goa Campus, BITS Pilani. BITSAA has over 60000
alumni spanning over six decades. BGM which was held during
January 17-19, 2020 and was attended by over 1100 alumni of
all the four different campuses of BITS Pilani. This BGM followed
the footsteps of the three previous successful BGMs which were
held in Delhi, Hyderabad and Dubai starting from 2011 at an in-
terval of three years. The current edition of the event was unique
as it has many firsts to its credit.
The educator, innovator & ecowarrior, Sonam Wangchuk set the
tone for the event with an inspiring vision of simplicity and sus-
tainability in his keynote address. The event matched his vision
of environmental consciousness in the best way as it was eco-
friendly and used no disposables or single-use plastics and in-
stead used steel bottles, water dispensers and reusable crock-
ery.
The Chancellor, Dr. Kumar Mangalam Birla in his welcome mes-
sage called upon alumni as brand custodians to “come together
as an active entity to infuse new ideas and possibilities” and to
benchmark themselves with the alumni of the most prestigious
schools globally.
The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Souvik Bhattacharya exhorted the
alumni to work together on the journey to excellence in his wel-
come address. An alumnus of the institute, Revathi Advaithi,
CEO of Flex, a US 25-billion-dollar company with over 177,000
employees and ranked amongst the top 50 most powerful wom-
en, presented great insights into managing businesses - with
repeatable processes and consistent goals, inspiring the girls to
break all ceilings and students to pursue their dreams. The artic-
ulate cricketer and engineer Anil Kumble enthralled the audience
with his journey of plan B i.e Cricket. Plan A, of course, was en-
gineering. Interaction with the current Directors of all campuses
and the alumni relations team gave an insight on the current
plans and developments of the institute. The event ended on a
high note with an electrifying live drum show.

Alumni Event STUDENT ALUMNI MEET Pilani Campus
“Believe in yourself
Be an Innovator”
Babasaheb Neelkanth Kalyani Gave Tips to Students
The NAB Auditorium at BITS Pilani was at its full capacity, as more than 300 BITSians
turned up to listen to Padma Bhushan Awardee, Managing Director of Bharat Forge
Babasaheb Neelkanth Kalyani. On Saturday, February 22, 2020, an Alumni-Student
interactive session with Mr. Baba Kalyani was organised by Alumni Relations Cell
(ARC) of BITS Pilani, Pilani campus. "Believe in yourself, have a passion and be an
Innovator ", this was the success Mantra given to all BITSians by Baba Kalyani. He
shared his extensive experience related to entrepreneurship and interacted with stu-
dents about becoming successful in life. He further added, “There is no substitute for
hard work. But, when you love what you do it doesn’t feel like work and as your love
grows you’ll find yourself doing better and better”. Highlighting the importance of val-
ues in life, he said, success comes from dedication, commitment, integrity and hones-
ty. No matter what level of job you are at, approach your work with these values. He
also described the ‘disruptions’ that are witnessed within an economy and how new
technologies replace the existing ones.
Start-up or Job?”, “How to decide what career path to choose ?”, “Which group to
join?”, "Current market situation?" and many such questions were asked by the stu-
dents and Baba Kalyani engagingly answered them. He talked about his journey from
being a student at BITS, Pilani to becoming a Global Business leader. His inputs were
inspirational and informative. The entire session lasted for over an hour and was ex-
tremely interactive. Students left the room excited, encouraged and determined to
work on the points that Mr baba Kalyani shared with them.
Alumni Research
Talk L.K Maheswari
Foundation Awards
Prof. L. K. Ma-
heshwari Distin-
guished Alumnus
Award - 2019 cere-
mony was held on
12th, March 2020
at Pilani Campus.
The award was
conferred on Prof.
Ramesh Harjani,
E.F. Johnson Pro-
A series of Alumni Research Talks fessor of Electronic
Communications, Prof. Ramesh Harjani
(ARTs) were organized by the Computer
Science Association in collaboration with Department of
Alumni Relations Cell on January 17 & Electrical & Computer Engineering, the University of Minnesota for his out-
19, 2020 at Pilani Campus. The day one standing contribution in Electrical & Instrumentation Engineering. Prof. Har-
of ART featured two alumni — Dr Guri jani earned his bachelor’s degree from the Pilani campus in 1982.
Sohi (Professor at the University of Wis- Prof. V. K.Chaubey, the Secretary of LKM Foundation and the Head of EEE
consin-Madison), and Dr. Deepak Poola Department welcomed the guests and informed the audience about the ac-
Chandrashekhar (an Industry Expert for tivities of Prof. L. K. Maheshwari Foundation Trust. Prof. Ajit Pratap Singh,
the Departmental Academic Committee Dean, Academic-Undergraduate Studies and Prof. Arya Kumar, Dean
at NIT Raipur). Alumni Relations, were also present at the event.
The talks delivered by the two alumni As part of the award ceremonies, Prof. Ramesh Harjani delivered a lecture
were highly engaging, with each talk be- on his current research. He spoke about his research on the development
ing focused on the areas of expertise of of analogue/RF circuits for wired and wireless circuits, Interference resistant
the respective alumnus. Dr Guri Sohi’s radios and low power analogue design.
talk was largely focused on his research In his address Prof. Harjani also expressed his gratitude and said, “it’s
in the design of high-performance micro- an honour to be recognized by my own alma mater. It’s been a wonder-
processors and computer systems. Dr ful journey over the years. I would like to dedicate this award to my
Deepak Poola Chandrashekhar in his Teachers. It was a very touching event. I spent two days on campus,
talk, shared his knowledge about cloud which allowed me to meet many of the current graduate students and
computing and experiences in the field faculty, and speak with the leadership of BITS Pilani”.
which he gained at IBM as a Cloud Solu-
tions Architect. The second day feature
talks were by Mr. Aditya Sarma
(Research Fellow at Wadhwani AI) and Prof. Rajiv Gupta
Mr. Danish Pruthi (Ph.D. student at Lan-
guage Technologies Institute at Carnegie “Professor L. K. Maheshwari
Mellon University). Foundation Distinguished Alum-
Their talks were preceded by a keynote nus Award in EEE & Instrumen-
delivered by Ms. Deepa J (1995 batch, tation” for the year 2019 was
Chief Operations Officer at Un- conferred upon Prof. Rajiv Gup-
cannyVision Solutions). Mr Danish Pruthi ta in an event organized by the
started his talk on model interpretation by Department of EEE on January
briefly touching the idea of deep learning 24, 2020, at Pilani Campus.
and neural networks. He motivated the Prof. Rajiv Gupta is an alumnus
students on why they should care about of 1976-82 batch, and a neuro-
deep learning, then he explained 2 broad radiologist and ER radiologist
approaches that the research community working in the Department of Radiology at Massachusetts General Hospi-
has used to interpret deep learning as a tal. He is also an Associate Professor of Radiology at the Harvard Medical
concept. The event was concluded by Mr School, a lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at MIT and Director of the
Aditya Sarma who started his talk by ex- Advanced X-ray Imaging Sciences (AXIS) Center. On this occasion, Prof.
plaining the importance of AI in everyday Gupta delivered a mesmerizing talk on “My Life’s Lessons from BITS and
life and how to solve everyday problems Beyond: A Deep Dive”, citing the applications of radiology in Medical treat-
with it. He talked about Wadhwani AI and ment, AI etc.
discussed their work in agriculture (cotton The award was instituted by Prof. L K Maheshwari Foundation in 2010 to
farming), health (Tuberculosis treatment), recognize and honour BITS alumnus graduated from BITS, Pilani campus
maternal and child health. with a degree in the area of Electrical, Electronics or Instrumentation and
has achieved milestone at the National and International level.
Alumni Couple GOA Campus
Inaugurate AI Alumni Event
Research Centre Alumni Research Talk

The second edition of Alumni Research Talks (ART).
BITS alumni organized on the February 15, 2020. The event fea-
Anuradha and tured interactive sessions by six eminent alumni of
Prashanth Pala- BITS Pilani, who shared their stories of success and
kurthi who were discussed their research interests, and how they could
recently in news affect the future as we know it. The event was graced
for donating $1 by Prof. G. Raghurama, Director, Prof. Veeky Baths,
million to BITS Associate Dean of Alumni Relations.
Pilani, inaugurat- A series of talks were given by these eminent alumni
ed the of BITS Pilani, who include: Prof. Y.N. Mohapatra,
“Anuradha and Professor of Physics and Materials Science, IIT Kan-
Prashanth Pala- pur, Prof. Jugal Kishore Verma, Professor of Mathe-
kurthi Centre for matics, IIT Bombay, Dr Shruthi Sridhar Vembar, Facul-
Artificial Intelli- ty Scientist, Institute of Bioinformatics and Applied Bio-
gence Research technology, Bangalore, Prof. Subrat Kar, Professor &
(APPCAIR)” at Head, SeNSE, IIT Delhi, Prof. Subramanian
the K. K. Birla Yashonath, Professor of Solid State and Structural
Goa Campus, on Chemistry Unit, IISc Bangalore and Prof. Patrick Das
17 February Gupta, Professor of Physics and Astrophysics, Univer-
2020. The alumni couple joined the inauguration ceremony sity of Delhi.
from Boston, US over video conference. Prof. Y. N. Mohapatra through his invigorating talk, he
Speaking at the event, Prashanth Palakurthi, an alumnus of made us realize the difference in electronics then and
’78-83 batch and founder of Reflexis Systems, said, “We now and how it might change in the coming years Dr
hope that APPCAIR will attract motivated and brilliant Gurus Shruthi Vembar took us through her research of eluci-
and prosperous commercial entities to transform some of the dating novel modes of epigenetic and post-
brightest minds that are nurtured in BITS. Anuradha and I are transcriptional gene regulation in malarial parasites.
confident that generations of BITSians will direct AI-driven
change towards greater human flourishing.”
The centre christened as APPCAIR is headed by Prof.
A-Z OF THE CIVIL SERVICES
Ashwin Srinivasan, 1981 batch Chair Professor in the De-
partment of Computer Science. It will be the central hub of all
AI-driven research at BITS Pilani and will consist of a team of
professors, researchers, students, domain experts from the
industry. Prof. Souvik Bhattacharyya, Vice-Chancellor, BITS
Pilani expressed his deep gratitude towards the contribution
made by the Palakurthi’s and commented, “In future, BITS
Pilani’s growth would be propelled by amongst other things,
stellar academic and translational research, and deep alumni
engagement. I invite our alumni to collaborate, partner and
work in the centre, keeping us at the forefront of the transfor-
mation being heralded - how AI reimagines our work, our
lives, and our society.”
Prof. G Raghurama, Director, K. K. Birla Goa Campus, add- A-Z of the Civil Services event was organized by the
ed, “The launch of APPCAIR will lead to significant enhance- Aumni Relations Cell of BITS Pilani Goa campus on
ment in Teaching & Research activities at BITS in AI and al- January 11, 2020. Arushi Sharma who is serving as
lied areas.” Prof. Arya Kumar, Dean, Alumni Relations ex- the Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax, Mumbai,
pressing thanks and gratitude to the couple for this unique discussed how preparation can be done for all the
initiative and gesture stated that the Centre would be a pace- three parts of the UPSC exam- Prelims, Mains and
setter for future AI applications to industry. The event saw Interview. She humorously said, “UPSC is not like mid-
huge participation from several Deans, Heads of Depart- sems, where we struggle for getting Av+. It would re-
ments and faculty members from all the BITS Campuses. quire an year of extreme hard work. A single night
The Centre would work closely with other higher educational study won't help”. She said the focus of the exam is
institutions and industry in achieving its stated objectives. not just rote learning of facts and figures but aware-
The Centre also stands to benefit from recent changes in the ness of the current affairs, our constitution and ability
CSR regulations, as funding to the higher educational institu- to find good solutions to the problems around us. She
tion for pursuing research is now being encouraged by the emphasized the importance of reading newspaper.
government.

Hyderabad Campus
BITS Colloquium
Alumni Event Talk
Changing Global
Employment Trends
in the 21st Century
The first Institute Colloquium of the semester was held in the

Hyderabad Campus on 28th February, 2020 and featured
Prof. Govindan Rangarajan, an alumnus of the Pilani Cam-
pus. He is the Director of the Indo French Centre for Applied
Mathematics and also the Convener for the Indian Institute of
Science Mathematics Initiative. His colloquium address ex-
plored various ways of measuring research output of individu-
als and institutions and elaborated on practices that could
help institutions increase their rankings on the global scale.
He explained the use of impact factor in evaluating individual
researchers. Initially designed for librarians to choose be-
tween which journals to keep, it slowly developed into a met-
ric to measure an individual’s as well as an institution’s re-
search capabilities. However, as he stated, the impact factor
On the 10th February, 2020, Mr. K Vijay Rao, an had its demerits. It varied from subject to subject and between
alumnus of BITS Pilani, addressed the students of sub-topics within each subject. Furthermore, he shared how a
Hyderabad campus about the changing trends in small chunk of papers published in a journal contributed ma-
the employment scenario. Currently, the President jorly to its impact factor.
of the All India Professional Congress (AIPC) for the
Gurgaon Chapter, Mr Rao is a professional turned Interactive session with Alumni
entrepreneur, with many years of experience in the An interactive session with Pranav Ramarao, a Computer
industry. Science alumnus of the 2011 batch was organized at BITS
Talking about the state of today’s employment sce- Pilani Hyderabad Campus on January 24th, 2020. Pranav is
nario. Mr. Rao emphasized on the fact that technol- currently working on monetizing Youtube in NBU countries at
ogy and globalization control employment opportu- Google, Mountain View.
nities across the globe. The impact of technology, He shared his various experiences of his college days - how
as rightly pointed out by him, could be seen in every he spent the first year focusing on his CGPA, developed an
field, ranging from construction and logistics to the interest in competitive coding and delved deeper into it in his
cutting-edge ones like biomedical and bio- second year, and also how he tried to convince as many
engineering. He stressed on the importance of up- people as he could to join him. In his third year, he breezed
dating and honing one’s soft skills, including com- through his Microsoft interviews and got a PPO from Mi-
munication, teamwork and problem solving, to en- crosoft soon after his internship there. Further, he added that
sure enhanced job security and professional he appeared for the GRE and wanted to pursue his desire of
growth. doing an MS from abroad. Pranav narrated the story of how
This informative and interactive talk by Mr. Rao pro- he was rejected from all the universities he applied to and
vided meaningful insights into the ever-growing how it felt like he'd hit rock bottom. He then had to formulate
competitive world and also the importance of contin- an entirely new plan.
uous upskilling to ensure a successful career.
ALUMNI IN NEWS
Breakthrough in Developing Dr. GSK

Velu on Forbes
Vaccine for Coronavirus
Dr. GSK Velu, BITS Pilani alumnus

(BE Pharma-1984 Batch) & Man-
aging Director of Trivitron
Healthcare has been featured as
the ‘Leader in Healthcare Industry’
A BITS Pilani alumni and Scientist Prof. Seshadri Vasan (BE-Chemical, in special Forbes India Marquee
1991 Batch) got a breakthrough in developing a vaccine for coronavirus Edition of February 2020. Dr. Velu
(2019-nCoV). The Dangerous Pathogens team of the Commonwealth Sci- is a first-generation entrepreneur
entific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia, headed with over 22 years of extensive
by Prof. Vasan has grown the first batch of coronavirus outside China. Pro- experience. He is also the chair-
fessor Vasan's team has grown the virus in sufficient quantity needed to man of Neuberg Diagnostics, a
conduct preclinical studies. The development has brought the world closer global pathology brand that oper-
to a coronavirus vaccine. ates in India, UAE & South Africa.
Before moving to Australia, he was the senior business development man- Dr. Velu is transforming the
ager for Public Health England, London. A former McKinsey consultant healthcare sector by bringing path-
and Rhodes scholar, he is also Adjunct Professor of Preventive and Social breaking medical technologies
Medicine at Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Re- within the reach of masses. His
search, Government of India. company Trivitron Healthcare is
Dr. Vasan was the PHE’s business development lead for Ebola vaccine. extending quality healthcare to
His team was the winner of the Impact Awards 2015 for contribution to so- people across all social, geograph-
ciety from the UK Research Councils. ical, and economic background.
Bigbasket conferred Start-up of the year award

BigBasket, a start-up by Hari Menon has been conferred
with the Start-up of the Year award-2019 by Business
Standard.
BigBasket is India’s largest online grocery company and the
latest entrant in Unicorn club. Company has crossed Rs
3200 crore in sales by growing over 60% during the year.
Recently, BigBasket has received $150 million in a financ-
ing round led by South Korea’s Mirae Asset- Naver Asia
Growth Fund, UK’s CDC Group, and existing investor Aliba-
ba. This round has boosted the company’s valuation to over
$1 billion.BigBasket was launched in 2011 and in 2020 it
has over 10 Mn registered customers. Processing more
than 1 Lakh orders per day across 25 Indian cities.

Aravind Appointed as an
Prof. S. P. Kothari Honoured EVP of Eaton
with Padma Shri Award

Prof S. P. Kothari,
BITS Pilani alum-
nus and Distin-
guished Alumnus
Awardee has been
honoured with the
Padma Shri award
2020 by the Gov-
ernment of India Mr Aravind Yarlagadda (Pilani, ‘96)
for his outstanding has been appointed as the Chief Dig-
global contribu- ital Officer and Executive Vice Presi-
tions made to Lit- dent of Eaton.
erature and Edu- Aravind will be responsible for deliv-
cation. ering enterprise solutions and leading
digitalization initiatives for the indus-
Prof. S. P. Kothari trial and energy infrastructure seg-
is the Gordon Y Billard Professor of Accounting and Finance at the MIT ment. He has over 20 years of expe-
Sloan School of Management. He has recently been appointed as the rience in product management, prod-
Chief Economist and Director of the Division of Economic and Risk Analy- uct development, sales, marketing,
sis (DERA) at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. business development, mergers, ac-
He also served as Global Head of equity research, Barclays Global Inves- quisitions and integration. Before
tors (BGI), responsible for research supporting BGI’s active equity strate- this, he served in several senior
gies, during 2008-09. He is an expert on economic policy issues in India leadership roles at Itron, Schnei-
and has written numerous opinion-page editorials in The Economic Times. der Electric, Invensys and Tyco.
RacEnegy Raised
Seed funding Reep Hazarika Appointed as MD
of Brahmaputra Cracker
Mr. Reep Hazarika (Pilani, ‘85)
has been appointed as the Man-
aging Director of Brahmaputra
Cracker and Polymer Limited-a
Government of India Enterprise
under the Ministry of Chemicals
and Fertilizers.
BITS Pilani alumni start-up RA-
Prior to taking charge as the
CEnergy has successfully raised Managing Director, Hazarika
seed funding from growX ven- worked as the Chief General
tures. Founded by Arun Sreyar Manager at BCPL heading the
and Gautham Mahewaran (2017 overall operation and mainte-
Batch) RACEnergy develops nance of the plant since 2016. He
cost-efficient battery swapping will be the fourth incumbent to
stations and swappable batteries the top post of BCPL.
for use in three-wheelers. The With over 30 years of experience
startup also builds high- in the oil refining and petrochemical industry, Hazarika worked in Indian Oil Cor-
performance power trains for use poration Limited, Numaligarh Refinery Limited and Bharat Oman Refineries Lim-
in vehicles. RACEnergy will ena- ited.
From 2006 to 2012, he worked with Saudi Aramco Shell Refinery Company in
ble auto drivers to transition to
Saudi Arabia. Hazarika has worked across different functions, including opera-
electric, thereby allowing them to
tions, technical services, projects, planning and programming, environment
drive more, reduce operating management and corporate affairs.
costs and earn more per ride.

Free Learning Amitabh Appointed as the
Management Additional Director of Zee Media
Service
BITS Pilani alumni Akshaya
Singhal (Pilani, ‘18) ed-tech
startup is offering Free Learning
Management Services to any in-
terested schools, institutes or indi-
vidual teachers. With the vision of
transforming education and one
goal in mind "Learning should
never stop, No matter what", the
idea has already been successful-
ly implemented in the educational
institutions of Dubai as they have
also been struck with the Covid-
19 virus.
Alumnus's Collaborative Learning
Management System (C-LMS)
provides premier educational insti- Zee Media Corporation board has appointed Amitabh Kumar (Pilani,'75) as
tutions with their internal digital an Additional Director in the category of Non-Executive Non-independent
learning network, simplifying the Director with effect from 26th March until the conclusion of the ensuing An-
communication flow among the nual General Meeting of the Company to be held in the calendar year 2020.
students and teachers even after Amitabh Kumar is a Technology Leader in the Media & Telecom industry.
school hours. At the same time, He has served as Director Operations in VSNL from 1995 to 2001 and had
this integrated system caters ad- also been it’s acting Chairman & Managing Director in 1998-99, where he
ministration and parents too, with had a key role in setting up India’s first Internet Services. He has also
real-time monitoring and perfor- served on the Board of Governors of Intelsat and was Council Member of
mance tracking. Commonwealth Telecommunications Organization .
Technical Guruji is in Forbes India 30 under 30 list GreyOrange launches

Fulfillment Operating
BITS Pilani alumni System
Gaurav Chaudhary
(Dubai,'14) popularly GreyOrange has announced the
known as Technical latest release of its Fulfillment
Guruji has been re- Operating System, which inte-
cently featured in grates GreyMatter software with
Forbes India List of the company’s series of mobile
30 Under 30. In Feb- robots. GreyOrange is the only
ruary 2020 Forbes company that integrates software
India released it's and robots built together specifi-
annual '30 under 30' cally to improve order fulfillment
list in which Gaurav through scale, accuracy and eco-
Chaudhary has nomics. The company has been
made in to the list of founded by BITS Pilani Alumni
most prominent per- Samay Kohli (Pilani, ’10). Samay
sonalities, under the Kohli’s Company provide ad-
age of 30.
vanced robotic warehouse auto-
Technical Guruji, a
channel providing the latest updates from the world of technology. It has become the mation systems to warehouses.
world's most subscribed Hindi-Tech YouTube channel. Based in Greater Atlanta, USA
The channel focuses on latest updates and deep-dived information on the consumer Grey Orange is a multinational
tech industry. The Daily news updates 'Tech Talks' shares information on ongoing firm that designs, manufactures
developments from the world of consumer electronics, gadget overview and about and deploys advanced robotics
the latest trends in consumer technology. systems for automation.

BITS Pilani World Ranking
You will be happy to know that as per latest QS World University
Rankings 2020, your Alma Mater has been ranked 175th amongst
Asian Universities and by subject rankings in the World top 351 - 400
in computer Science & Information Systems, Mechanical Engineering ,
Electrical & Electronics Engineering and Chemical Engineering.
ALUMNI CONTRIBUTIONS
Giving Back
Alumni Funding
• A contribution of Rs 1.12 crore was received in this quarter (January-March 2020) amounting to a total donations of Rs 3.45 crores from
the alumni of 1993 batch who celebrated their Batch Reunion meet after 25 years of joining BITS in December 2018. The batch has de-
cided to utilize the funds for supporting student travel under the program-Udaan, Counselling cell-Mpower, BACFE, tinkering Lab. etc.
• A contribution of Rs 55 lakhs was received in this quarter (January-March 2020) amounting to a total donations of Rs 81.4 lakhs from the
alumni of 1989 batch who celebrated their Silver Jubilee Reunion in November 2018.
• A collective amount of Rs 23.29 lakhs was received from the 1965-70 batch alumni who celebrated their Golden Jubilee Reunion In Feb-
ruary 2020 and took a pledge to contribute Rs 2 crore for the Convention Centre Project at Pilani Campus.
• A contribution of Rs 20.40 lakhs was received by the Pilani Campus from 1994-98/99 batch alumni who celebrated their Silver Jubilee
Reunion in December 2019 and set a target of $201.99 K towards contributing back to their alma mater.
• A collective amount of Rs 10.86 lakhs was received from the alumni of 1969-73 Pharmacy batch who celebrated their Golden Jubilee
Reunion at Pilani Campus in December 2019 towards refurbishing animal house research laboratory in the Pharmacy department of Pila-
ni campus.
• An amount of Rs 5.82 lakhs was received by the collective efforts of several alumni from different batches for the registration fees of a
student team from K. K. Birla Goa Campus for iGEM competition.
• An amount of Rs. 8.55 lakhs and a pledge for future support was received from 1968 batch alumni, Mr. Kuldip Kaura for setting up “Kaura
Family Scholarships”. The scholarship will support one student from every batch for the 80% tuition Scholarship starting academic year
2019-20 and intends to support 4 students by the academic year 2022-23.
• In addition, an amount of Rs 1.65 lakhs was received from the individual alumni from different batches for Graduating class campaign,
Bloomberg finance lab, 1990 pledge and general fund.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Funding
• Funding of Rs 1 crore was received from Aditya Birla Finance Limited for setting up an Advanced Environmental Engineering Laboratory,
including a Faecal Sludge Management Laboratory at Pilani Campus.
• Funding of Rs. 1 crore was received from Century Textiles and Industries Ltd. for establishing Shri B K Birla Centre for Incubation and
Innovation (SBKBCII) at the Pilani Campus, with an additional grant of Rs. 1 crore to be given in FY 2020-21.
• Funding of Rs. 21 Lakhs was received from Mitutoyo Corp. towards supporting a PhD fellowship and associated research equipment for
an Industry 4.0 project at Pilani campus under the aegis of Prof. K. S. Sangwan, Department of Mechanical Engineering.
• Funding of Rs. 25 Lakhs was received from HDFC Bank towards seed funds for the Technology Business Incubator (TBI) at Pilani cam-
pus.
We would like to express our sincere thanks and gratitude to all the alumni who have made indi-
vidual or collective contributions and corporates for CSR funding.
Let us collectively fight out COVID 19 by taking a pledge to Stay at Home

Stay Informed, Stay Safe and Save Lives !
Prayers for the Well Being of One and All.

Letters
to
BITS
From
ALUMNI

Special MESSAGE FROM
Editorial Team
Thanks To Warm Greetings from BITS Pilani!
We feel exceptionally delighted in bringing to you the March
edition of BITS Echo. Though coming out against the backdrop
of rising concerns about the coronavirus pandemic, this edition
continues to hold a unique charm of its own. Intertwining nos-
Prof. Souvik Bhattacharyya talgic strands of the past with the sanguine strivings into the
future, Echo continues to exude the very essence of which is, to
Vice Chancellor respond to all crises with courage, determination, and resolve.
The March edition of Echo celebrates this quintessential human
Prof. Sudhirkumar Barai spirit, and almost as a corollary, rejoices in the achievements
of some of the women alumni of BITS who – while transcend-
Director, Pilani Campus ing all circumscribing barriers - have gone on to add many
illustrious chapters to the glorious heritage of this premier insti-
Prof. Raghurama G tution. This edition also travels down the memory lane and pro-
vides glimpses into the various Alumni Meets which have taken
Director, K K Birla Goa Campus place in last three months or so.
Going further, this edition applauds the stupendous effort by
Prof. G. Sundar our very distinguished Alumni couple Anuradha and Prashanth
Palakurthi, with whose generous endowment of worth $1 million
Director, Hyderabad Campus to their alma mater has helped BITS, Pilani set up and inaugu-
rate recently the “Anuradha and Prashanth Palakurthi Centre
Prof. R. N. Saha for Artificial Intelligence Research (APPCAIR)” at the K. K. Birla
Goa Campus. The centre will boost all Artificial Intelligence-
Director, Dubai Campus driven research at BITS Pilani.
The generous contributions received from our alumni of the
Prof. Arya Kumar Institute help in making an important difference in our endeavor
to pursue global excellence.
Dean, Alumni Relations Wishing you all best of health and harmony at this hour of try-
ing times.
Prof. Rajeev Sakhuja
Associate Dean, Pilani Campus
Prof. Veeky Baths EDITORIAL TEAM
Associate Dean, K K Birla Goa Campus Prof. Arya Kumar
Prof. M. Viswanathan Prof. Pushp Lata
Associate Dean, Hyderabad Campus Prof. Rajeev Sakhuja
Prof. Trupti Gokhale Saurabh Suman
Associate Dean, Dubai Campus Rohit Rajhans
Aaditya Sharma
Ishita Bhatnagar
WRITE TO US @ Anuneet Soni
[email protected]
Rhea Verma
Alumni Relations Division
Birla Institute of Technology and Science Vidushi Sahay
Vidya Vihar, Pilani, Rajasthan
333 031
Shalu Sinha

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BITS

ECHO PILANI | DUBAI | HYDERABAD | GOA

BITS PILANI: DESTINATION FOR 04

BITSAA GLOBAL MEET 16

STUDENT ALUMNI MEET 17

Disclaimer : The information contained in this

Echo Page-1 https://www.bits-pilani.ac.in/alumni

Powerful Business Women Influential Women Entrepreneur

Pramad Jandhyala Aarti Mohan

Pramad Jandhyala is an Aarti is a Co-founder at Satt-

The Iron Lady of Administration The Melody Queen of BITS

Rajbala Verma Anuradha Palakurthi

Echo Page-3 https://www.bits-pilani.ac.in/alumni

90% BITSian Women are Productively

BITS Pilani Alma

Echo Page-4 https://www.bits-pilani.ac.in/alumni

“Always be Eager to Learn”

As a professor, how do you feel teaching and the

Echo Page-5 https://www.bits-pilani.ac.in/alumni

How do you think BITS gave you the necessary skills

Some of the articles written by you reflect your

Echo Page-6 https://www.bits-pilani.ac.in/alumni

Echo Page-7 https://www.bits-pilani.ac.in/alumni

Were you involved in any project at BITS in the field

What was the reason that you chose BITS Pilani?

Echo Page-8 https://www.bits-pilani.ac.in/alumni

Speed with Accuracy “Be Strong at the

Echo Page-9 https://www.bits-pilani.ac.in/alumni

Echo Page-10 https://www.bits-pilani.ac.in/alumni

Be more Assertive Women in Tech

Your Abilities um Lawns. Several fond memories! Foremost

Echo Page-11 https://www.bits-pilani.ac.in/alumni

Anecdotes about the Curfew

Echo Page-12 https://www.bits-pilani.ac.in/alumni

1965-70 Batch Celebrated 50 years of their Graduation

Alumni Take BITS Back to 60’s

The 1965-70 batch of BITS Pilani celebrated 50

Echo Page-13 https://www.bits-pilani.ac.in/alumni

The BITSian Way of Giving

A Walk Down the Memory Lane

Picnic in Sydney On March 1st 2020, BITSAA

Rendezvous with Alma Mater

BITS Alumni Association BITSAA, with their alma mater BITS

Echo Page-16 https://www.bits-pilani.ac.in/alumni

Inaugurate AI Alumni Event

Research Centre Alumni Research Talk

Echo Page-19 https://www.bits-pilani.ac.in/alumni

The first Institute Colloquium of the semester was held in the

Breakthrough in Developing Dr. GSK

Dr. GSK Velu, BITS Pilani alumnus

Bigbasket conferred Start-up of the year award

Echo Page-21 https://www.bits-pilani.ac.in/alumni

with Padma Shri Award

Echo Page-22 https://www.bits-pilani.ac.in/alumni

Technical Guruji is in Forbes India 30 under 30 list GreyOrange launches

Echo Page-23 https://www.bits-pilani.ac.in/alumni

Let us collectively fight out COVID 19 by taking a pledge to Stay at Home

Echo Page-24 https://www.bits-pilani.ac.in/alumni

Echo Page-25 https://www.bits-pilani.ac.in/alumni