The UVCEian, June 2014

:Faculty : Chalk and Talk The UVCEianVoice of the UVCE Community | Bi-Monthly Newsletter

Volume I, No 2 June, 2014STUDENTSESPORTIVO The inaugural edition of the inter-college football fest was a great success, thanks to the sponsors, volunteers and the organizing committee ....READ MORE

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FACULTYChalk & Talk A delightful column by Prof. Krishna Vinayak Sharma that talks about a variety of interesting topics .READ MORE

THEME OF THE MONTH INNOVATION IN ENGINEERINGTech QuizSmart CarsBig DataBusiness Intelligence

INTERVIEW

Alumni Spotlight: Balu Balakrishnan, CEO, Power Integrations Inc.

NOSTALGIA

Rebooting UVCE one Drawing Table at a time!

Book Release: And We remained

CAREER

Career Corner

REGISTER FOR SEVATHON 2014 !

Is an engineering degree really valuable? Does it do enough for the individual and does the individual do enough for society through it? We set about with this introspection and the outcome is

this edition of The UVCEian. An education in engineering sets the foundation for many things structured thinking, converting ideas to reality and removing the abstraction from concepts. But as an engineering community we need to move well and truly beyond this. Building on this foundation to kindle new ideas and question current reality should remain a cornerstone of our work.

The focus on classroom learning has been a necessary evil in engineering education for decades. With the policies and medium of dispersion not being reinvented to current times we are wasting precious talent and time in building towards our objectives. The ecosystem has to move towards practical application of classroom learning and harbor a culture of innovation in mass-appeal. An engineering education institute should become an anchor for such an academic revolution.

UVCE is at the cross-roads of becoming this anchor. While the wide network of alumni over decades has promising potential to mentor and provide the

EDITORS NOTE

2 The UVCEian | Voice of the UVCE Community | June 2014

foundation, it is imperative for us to harness these and transform UVCE as a Center of Innovation. The average age of the innovator and entrepreneur is now at the late 20s to early 30s, but the seeds of this have to be sown much earlier in the students mind. We have a leaf or two to borrow from our contemporaries in management, science & engineering academics. The IIM Ahmedabads Center for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) is an academic-government partnership and fosters entrepreneurship through incubation and ecosystem development. Can UVCE become the IIM Ahmedabad for technical education or do we continue to live in the shadows of the later but more illustrious Indian Institutes of Technology, many of which were conceptualized by our very own UVCEians? The IIT Madras Incubation Cell supports cutting edge research and facilitates interactions with industries helping deliver mass-appeal innovation that we talk about - rural technologies, industrial solutions and social impact.

Having distinguished alumni in the world of science, academia and industry is not sufficient. Neither is ruing about the current state of UVCE. The culture of sustained innovation needs to be in our DNA and inculcated in each of the students. We as alumni have the opportunity to be the primary agents of this change. We need to work with the current academic setup at UVCE and create a framework for incubating innovation. Only then will UVCE truly become a Center of Innovation. Its time we woke up to this need.

Editors, The UVCEian

Editorial Board of The UVCEian

Dr. Alice Abraham ( 1991 E&E)Ms. Ragini H S (1991 E&C) Ms. Kshama Jayanth (1991 E&E) Mr. Suresh Chivukula (2002, E&C) Ms. Chinmayee Nagaraju ( 2008, IS)Ms Gayathri S (2008, IS)Mr. Veeresh K (2014, Mech)

Advisors

Dr. B R Niranjan, Dr. Vinayak Sharma Professor, Dept. Civil Engg. Professor, Dept. of Mech Engg.Dr. Narendra Kumar G Dr. E G Shivakumar Professor. Department of E&C Professor, Department of EE Prof. DilipProfessor, Department Computer Science

WE WOULD LOVE TO FEATURE YOU IN The UVCEian !

We welcome articles and photographs of alumni, current students, current and former faculty. Anything UVCE !

Do share your slice of nostalgia and help us feature it online and in print. Write to us at [email protected]

The average age of

the innovator and entrepreneur is now

at the late 20s to

early 30s,

but the seeds of

this have to be sown much earlier

in the students

mind


Esportivo

ESPORTIVO 2014

ESPORTIVO 2014

UVCEs Inter-college Football Fest

The inaugural edition of the inter-college football fest was a great success, thanks to the sponsors, volunteers and the organising committee. Twelve of Bangalores top engineering and medical colleges took part in the event. The tournament was the first of its kind in uvce. Each college team had 16(11+5) players and all were served with refreshments. The matches were officiated by state level referees from KSFA (Karnataka State Football Association). This event was sponsored by UVCE FOUNDATION, EGG FACTORY, STAR IMPACT and Jagdale industries.

The event started by 11:00 am and there were 6 matches on the first day. The tournament was conducted in groups of three each, bringing out four teams from each group into the semi finals. RVCE, SKSEM, NMIT and SVIT were the teams to reach the semi finals.

The matches were of twenty minutes in each half with a mid-match break of 5 minutes, where the players were served with sweet limes and health drinks.

The third day was the most exciting with the two semi finals and an explosive final between two of the best teams in Bangalore RVCE and SKSEM. The result was 1-0 to RVCE and the lifted the coveted trophy of ESPORTIVO. The presentation ceremony was held at 4:30 in the evening with the secretary

UVCE Foundation is proud to support UVCEs first

Inter-college Football

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of RBEHWS Mr. Gururaj Acharya as the chief guest. Trophies, medals and certificates were given away to the most valued player and players of both the finalists.

All this would not have been possible without the continuous support from our seniors and especially our sponsors STAR IMPACT and UVCE FOUNDATION.


Chalk and Talk

Say what you may, but this is a great season to be in Bangalore. The month of April is quite unique to Bangalore. Always. You can expect the first showers after a long spell of scorching heat and smell the rising aroma of the earth. There is no better or more therapeutic smell than this. Added to this is the location of UVCE at K R Circle, which makes it a witness to two of the most prominent DNA markers that can be associated with Bangalore.

The first one is the centuries old tribute to one of the most formidable lady in Indian lore, Draupadi. I am off course referring to Karaga, the grand and great festival associated with Bangalore. This spell binding and riveting ritual which is a test to devotion, strength and stamina has been around from time immemorial. Those of you who have not witnessed it should do so, at least once in their life time. The other is the Annama Theru which starts from Subedar Chatram Road, winds its way past the Sri Rama Temple in 4th Cross Gandhinagar and then past the impressive stone building that houses the Kurbara Sangha onto 6th Cross Gandhinagar and then heads back to the temple past Movieland theatre and the now defunct Ramakrishna Lodge. Numerous Ooru Habbas associated with various Grama Devethes are celebrated and the food is always interesting. This also the season of piety and sacrifice for Christians.Lent usually falls in this season and this year it would have been between Wednesday, March 5 to Thursday, April 17, followed by Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

The other structure associated with Bangalore is the statue of Sri Kempegowda the formidable chieftain from Magadi which stands in Corporation Circle. This is

Chalk and TalkProf. Krishna Vinayak Sharma

Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, UVCE

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where the old Cenotaph installed by the British honouring the fallen soldiers from WW1 once stood. Add to this the roadside masala poori and the pani poori which somehow tend to taste better when it rains and then the concomitant loose motions attributed to the poori and the exams .it was summer time in Bangalore with a full bang, or for the unfortunate, a series of small bangs !!!! And there is no better time to enjoy this than while being students.

I was wondering how many of you watch one of most enjoyable sitcoms I have seenThe Big Bang Theory. Its one of my favourite TV shows and Sheldon happens to be my favourite character. Kootharapali would easily have been any one of us losers without a Stanford Degree!!! Penny??? UmmmAs they say, A penny for your thoughts. BAZINGAAA!!!!. The other two shows that I am currently addicted to are Boston Legal, with a truly ripened William Shatner, who is a far cry from his USS Enterprise

days as Capt. James Kirk, and Alan Shore, the suave attorney. The Winchester brothers and their constant fight against the demons in Supernatural is also addictive. While on the subject of TV shows, its sad that the stand-up comedian John Pinette died in Penn State due to pulmonary embolism. He had appeared in the Montreal based show Lots of Laughter and was also in the last show of Seinfeld. He was funny and showed energy well and truly beyond what his body weight would have us believe. Pity he had to go this early (50 years).

Have any of you read the book called 1, 2, 3Infinity written by George Gamov. It was quite popular in the 70s and 80s and you could say it was the A Brief History of Time of those times and makes for very interesting reading. Then again, the book by Stephen Hawking is definitely weightier in terms of the quality, accurate scientific information and gyan. However, the book by George Gamov is written lucidly and makes for light reading. It explains some


TECH-QUIZ

difficult concepts in Physics in extremely simple language. Grab it, if its still available. And once you do, head for the chapter on Entropy. It will make you pause and think. By this time the elections would have been done with and over. I do hope that all of you would have exercised your right to vote. A lot of my colleagues would have shed considerable sweat and effort and would have put up with a LOT of hardship by serving as Presiding Officers, Polling Officers so and so forth. This would have been done in the most challenging environment for two days in places with no fan, sometimes with no electricity, no loo and with dicey food and water. Its much worse in Naxal infested areas. So I hope you have not junked the opportunity and have gone and registered your vote and in the process have done yourself and the nation a favour.

Be careful while crossing the street from the Main Building to the Mech Dept. Go further down the road where the median is a bit lower and cross, rather than doing a Sergei Bubka right in front of the gates. Best is of course is to use the zebra pedestrian crossing or the underpass. However, you may stand the risk of encountering more stool and urine samples in the underpass than all the path labs in Bangalore put together! Also, please do bear in mind that on the side of

the road abutting the main building, though the traffic is one way, vehicles tend to come both ways and if you dont look both ways you might make contact with a vehicle being propelled at about 45 kms. Nasty feeling when that happens.

Finally it appears we are using the mosquito repellent, Odomos all wrong. Thats why we tend to get bitten anyway. Apparently, the only way you can be 100 % sure of the mosquito NOT biting you is to apply the Odomos cream onto to the mosquito and not on yourself!!! You did know I have to crack some PJs to relieve the monotony of a lecture, did you not?

As you have probably realized, this short piece has no fixed topic or format, but is a relaxed (??) rambling compilation of some thoughts that come to my mind. Hope you guys have enjoyed it.

Take care and do well in your exams

(The views expressed in this work are the personal views of the author. They do not represent the views of UVCE or Bangalore University or any other organization.)

TECH-QUIZ Rohit Nair Alum 2009 CSE

Co-founder, Quizworks

1. The logo of which social networking site is inspired by the little blue mountain bird?2. What one word connects the speed of a computer mouse and a famous Disney character?3. If Jailbreaking is related to iPhones, what is it for Android devices?4. Which programming language was named after a kind of coffee - as it was consumed in large quantities by the language's creators?5. In the Plex' is a book about which global enterprise?6. If India : in, Britain : uk, China : cn, with which country would you associate 'de' ?7. What comes next in this series: kilo, mega, giga, tera, peta, _____?8. Which company's name means 'Blue Dot' - a quality symbol initially used to mark headphones that were ready to be shipped?9. With which game would you associate the following cities: New York, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, Sydney, Tokyo, Miami, Paris, Beijing, Moscow, New Orleans, London and Mumbai?10. Which Indian institution launched the campaign #Wish4Vishy ?

Answers1.Twitter 2.Mickey 3.Rooting 4.Java 5.Google 6.Germany (for Deutschland) 7.Exa 8.Blaupunkt 9.Subway Surfers 10.NIIT


SMART VEHICLES-AN EMERGING TECHNOLOGY!

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SMART VEHICLES-AN EMERGING TECHNOLOGY !

Syed Muhammad Abdullah 6th Semester B.E. Mechanical

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Significant technological development has reinvented how motor vehicles have been produced in the last 80 years. The manufacturing processes are now adapted to developments as aesthetically, aerodynamic, ergonomically comfortable design, with low periodic break down, highly fuel efficient and least pollution emitting motor vehicles. Fast depletion of fossil fuel has become a worldwide problem and technology has led to a greater use of hydrocarbon fuels.

This necessitates the search for alternative of oil as energy source or preserving it by tapping some other alternatives like battery operated vehicles, wind mills, photocells etc. and to convert their output into mechanical energy. Today there is need for development of Smart Automobile Vehicles to make human life free from accident, to provide best comfort, low fuel consumption and emission free zero pollution environments.

We want to look at a new dimension of automobile cars free from all the current problems and beyond the manual control. The car which satisfies following parameters may be placed under definition of smart automobile vehicles:

Aerodynamic body & least weight Minimum road gap (i.e. distance

between Centre of gravity and road)

Larger wheel space Balanced, high speed & vibration

free engine Noise free power gears

&differential gears. Comfortable interior & requisite

facilities Fuel efficient & low emission Accident free on roads

Thus, Smart Automobile Vehicles Cars sound like the ideal solution for better riding, pollution free environment for the society and which can become a major contribution to modern civilization. The answer for this is sensor based control over speedy run, braking system, overturning, global positioning systems, tracking for sides, front & back running / standing vehicles or objects. This needs attention on use of high strength alloy material, use of CAD / CAM & CATIA for designing, use of modern techniques for manufacturing processes & unconventional machining processes for vibration free, low noise and most balanced engines, development of fuel efficient & low pollution automobile engines, alternatively tapping all other non conventional energy sources to develop fuel cell, battery operated, photocell and compressed air motor vehicles to overcome the future problem of depletion of fossil fuel. Electrically operated motors or Compressed Air / Gasoline operated turbines are the solution for vibration free, comfort riding and longer lasting vehicles.

For designing smart cars, CATIA provides a broad range of integrated solutions that cover all aspects of:

Product design & manufacture. Driving enterprise competitiveness Task productivity Process

improvement

CATIA (Computer-Assisted Three- Dimensional Interactive Application) is acclaimed throughout the world as the leading program for use in design.

Manufacturing new cars requires state-of the- art technological methods and processes. In addition, component manufacturers of the automotive industry, such as steel and other parts as well as electronic instrumentation, are vital in providing the components for assembling motor vehicles. To improve product quality

and efficiency in production, automakers need to develop and improve the manufacturing process. They rely heavily on research and technological innovation.

Modern technologies used in advancing manufacturing for the automotive industry include:

Programmable machines and tools-Robotics

High speed data communication and data management-NC & CNC machines

Supercomputing-Product & Process developments

Virtual manufacturing and complex visualization techniques-Modeling & evaluating by CAD, CAM, CATIA & Pro- Engineers

Advanced techniques Unconventional machining, forming & forging.

Since SMART VEHICLES is an emerging concept, more and more engineers are required to work in this field to make the use of SMART VEHICLES more common and hence make the world a pleasant place to live!!

INNOVATION IN ENGINEERING


Badalavane


BIG DATA BIG DATA

is Everywhere !!!

Alumnus 2007, CSEHadoop Software Engineer at Saleforce.com, San Francisco

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With the boom of Big Data and Cloud computing, many of us will be overwhelmed. Oh, what is it, how is it different from our RDBMS. Will studying RDBMS, with the disk shaped cylindrical diagrams not be useful anymore? I am sure this thought would have crossed your mind at some point of time.

Take a step back and understand the basics. Its simple. We have Data, we need to store it somewhere. We need to access it as quickly as possible and as easier as it can get. Technology is evolving to make life simpler. Well, the positive aspect of it is more people are being employed in order to make others life simpler J

Back to Big Data.

Consumer oriented market is the new trend now. Easiest way to sell any product is to know what exactly the consumer wants. How will we know what consumer wants, get the data from them when ever possible. Any website you visit these days, asks you to take their surveys, cookies with the stuff you like will be sent back and forth without users knowledge. In layman terms, big data and cloud computing is like the green revolution for computer industry. So, there is huge amount of data that can be analyzed and converted to meaningful information and available at your fingertips if you are in the Internet world.

Big Data is everywhere. Its like one of those Easter egg hunts where there are so many eggs they can be hidden in plain sight. Of course, with all that data out there, the tendency is to stop and get choosy, trying to figure out which data you want before you actually do the collecting. But, Big Data doesnt work that way. You collect FIRST, and THEN you evaluate the data for trends, tendencies, and patterns you could not see otherwise.

Lets take a look at four of the most common ways Big Data is being used for business.

Real-time Operational Intelligence Sometimes, you dont know where you can make your business protocols more efficient. Big Data, when properly managed, can show you where and how you are losing money, and where you can tighten up the operation to make it more efficient and more profitable.

Better Data Warehousing One of the key components of the Big Data pipeline is learning how to properly warehouse ALL of

your information. If you need it NOW, you should not have to wait. That wastes time and kills productivity. A smarter data-warehousing plan will allow people at all levels of your business to access the information they need quickly and easily.

Realized Data Chains Once data is catalogued, you can connect it in ways that may have been previously more difficult to identify. Data can be sorted into data lakes, or groups of connected data that allow for new potential discoveries. Properly sorted, these data lakes can connect into chains of information that paint a bigger picture of customer or employee action and interaction.

Better Customer Analytics Prior to our understanding of Big Data, customer information was a static set. You took information, and listed it. There was little to be seen beyond what was readily apparent. But, people dont live linear lives. We are being influenced, and making decisions based on information coming at us from every direction. We need information that paints that sort of 3D, real world picture. Big Data delivers that depth.

Cost effectiveness, scalability and fault tolerance are easily handled by this technology. And the best part is Big Data grows with the amount of data it receives. So, imagine technology becoming smarter day by day to process your data and present it you in a better way than you expect as you go on! Truly Mind blowing!

My UVCE.. Sagar Moudgal, ( Alumnus , Mech 2008)

$ %' * - 0$ 2, 45 6 9 ; > | B 9 6 C, B 9 6 C

UVCE $ E |



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Business IntelligenceGayathri S

Alumnus, 2008 ISE


Surely, most of us have come across this buzzword Business Intelligence. There may be many questions surrounding this term. What is it? Why is it used? Is it same as

Data Warehousing? Who uses it? And the list continues. Lets try to find answers to these questions.

First things first. What is Business Intelligence? The formal definition of BI would be It is a set of theories, methodologies, architectures and technologies that transform raw data into meaningful and useful information for business purposes. In laymans terms, BI is processes and technologies

that make you rely less on your gut and more on evidence and data to support decisions that your company faces.

Access to critical data is paramount for any decision maker in an organization as they need to be able to query data with ease and at their convenience. BI includes 3 main facets:

Reporting creation, deployment and management of reports and customizing the reports dynamically.

Integration means of extracting, transforming and loading data into a data source and from a data source.

Analysis Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) used to design, create and manage structures that contain data aggregated from source data stores.

If effective Business Intelligence trainings are used in an organization, we can improve the decision making processes at all levels of management and also improve the tactical and strategic management processes. Here are some of the major advantages of having a proper BI system in an organization:

Gives insights to customer behavior Boosts the ability to analyze current customer buying trends and the same information can be used to develop products

that match current consumption trends and consequently improve profitability.

Improves Visibility Improves visibility over various important processes of an organization and helps in focusing on any area that needs improvement.

Turns data into actionable information gives insight to make successful strategic plans by identifying key trends and patterns and important connections between different areas of the business.

Improves Efficiency helps in sharing information across different departments in an organization, thus reducing the time on reporting processes and analytics.

Now that we have seen the definition and advantages of BI, the next question that tickles our brain is, how different is BI from Data Warehouse? Both of them store data. Both of them help us in extraction of data. So what is it that differentiates the two?

In simple terms, Data Warehousing helps to store the data while BI helps to control the data for decision making, forecasting, etc.

Data

Warehousing, using ETL jobs, will store data in a meaningful form. But, in order to query the data for reporting, forecasting BI tools were born.

The backbone of a good BI is usability. It doesnt matter how big the data warehouse is or how advanced a companys BI are, if the data generated by it isnt easy to use in practical ways, the BI system is useless. As the saying goes, Knowledge is power. There is no power if the knowledge stays still and unused. BI is that which takes this knowledge and makes it useful.


Alumni Spotlight

Balu BalakrishnanCEO Power Integrations Inc.

Alumnus, 75 (Electronics)

Balu Balakrishnan is an alumnus of UVCE who is currently serving as President and CEO of Power Integrations Inc. (PI) in San Jose, California. After joining PI from National Semiconductor in 1989, he served in a variety of technical and executive roles before becoming CEO in 2002. He is the chief inventor of the companys TOPSwitch and TinySwitch technologies, and holds more than 85 U.S. patents. Power Integrations is the leading supplier of high-voltage ICs for power conversion, serving the AC-DC and high-voltage DC-DC power-supply markets.

Lakshmi Sathyanarayana and Alice Abraham had the pleasure of speaking with this successful entrepreneur on April 30th, 2014. Here is the interview excerpt:

Lakshmi: Hi Balu, Thanks for taking time to speak with us. Let's start by hearing about yourself and your experience at UVCE.

I come from a middle class family. My father was working as a manager at the State Bank of Mysore, so we moved to different places as he got transferred to different locations. I lived in Kolar and moved to Bangalore to attend UVCE. I completed my undergrad education in Electronics from UVCE in 1975, later attended grad school at UCLA, and obtained my MS, which is typically a 2 year program, in 9 months.

My interest in electronics started at a very young age, driven by an

innate curiosity. By 13 I took to HAM radios, built my own transmitter and receiver, and received a HAM license soon after that. My focus was on practical solutions, backed by a solid understanding of the theory. I spent time building electronics for Lick Observatory. I spent another 11 years as a design engineer at National Semiconductor, eventually becoming a product line manager. By then I had grown as a manager and was keen on joining a startup. I joined Power Integrations in 1989 and have been there for 25 years.

Initially I managed the Design Group at Power Integrations. The success of the company came down to monetizing a high voltage silicon technology. I came up with the idea of

TOPSwitch which did not receive internal support. When I decided to quit, the investors compelled me to stay and back TOPSwitch independently. 2 years later we released the product, and by the end of 1994 we had revenue of 5 million USD.

Alice: How much of what you have accomplished today is defined by the education you received at UVCE?

During the first 2 common years, I learnt mechanical drawing, bricklaying, RCC concrete work, carpentry, and sheet metal work. When building a project, like a transmitter, you have to build the chassis; the curriculum from the first 2 years in UVCE helped me. Sometimes when I remodel my house, I do the drawing myself. I personally thought I could have completed my undergrad education at UVCE in 2-3 years, but the Indian education system is very rigid, and one has to go through all 4 years. I learned more in the 9 months at UCLA than I did in 5 years at UVCE.

Lakshmi: Did the rigor of UVCE, make it easier for you to succeed at UCLA?

There was no room for creativity in UVCE, where the faculty expected a replication of what they taught in class, on the tests. Creativity is appreciated at UCLA so much. Unfortunately I cannot think of many professors who inspired me at UVCE. Prof. Ravindra was one of the few. He was very proficient in his area of expertise. An inspiring professor can dramatically change your direction. My professor in UCLA was impressed with me and said I didnt need a Master degree since I knew so much. I told him I needed one to get a good job. His response was Heres a plan. Well get you through your masters as quickly as possible, because it is a waste of your time. And that's what he did!

My first submission was about biasing a transistor and the types of biasing. While everyone else had derived the equation and said this is the most stable biasing, I had no derivation. All I had was a table showing the advantages

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Sand disadvantages of different types of biasing and where you would use them.

I had practical experience which helped me understand the pros and cons and the application of each type of biasing. He made me his teaching assistant, because he thought I knew enough.

Lakshmi: What would you credit your immense knowledge to?

It is a combination of my hobbies, my self-learning and breadth of the studies in the first two years at UVCE. We studied physics, chemistry, and mathematics. I knew far too much mathematics, compared to the undergrads from the US, thus giving me a broader background. I did very little as a student, but as an engineer, I achieved a lot. Most of the work that I do I learnt on my own. I think it is much efficient to learn on our own because you can do it a lot faster, you can read what you want, you can learn by practice rather than theory.

Lakshmi: Tell us about your long stint with Power Integrations Inc.?

The 2 years that I struggled in getting the product I designed to be accepted was the most challenging time. An animosity developed between me and the management. My wife pushed me to find new avenues outside Power Integrations Inc. I told her I have to prove to myself that my intuition is right otherwise I would always have to wonder if I did the right thing. As soon as TOPSwitch came out, I quit, but the investors were clear that it was the management that had to change. They brought in an external consultant who confirmed that TOPSwitch had high potential. He later became CEO and we went public with just one product, being valued at 100 Million USD. Over the years I played multiple roles Marketing, Strategy & Corporate Development, and

Engineering & Product Definition, until I became COO in 2000. In 2001, 3 years after we went public, I became CEO. After TOPSwitch, we had the next big invention: the Tiny Switch which is still the largest revenue generator.

Weve also launched Link Switch which is doing extremely well, and we have another very revolutionary product, which we have not announced yet.

Lakshmi: Tell us about your continued association with the academic institutions you have been a part of.

At UCLA, I have set up a family foundation to sponsor graduate students every year. I have done the same at Whittier College, where my younger son went to school. The issue I have with UVCE is the fundamental approach to education. We have to change the situation through encouragement and motivation. Donating financially is the easy part, but donating to the right cause is difficult. There is no way I would donate directly to the college because I don't have the confidence that it would meet its objective. But helping students is a different story. So if we can support students to get through college, I think it is a far better use of money than feeding money directly to the UVCE infrastructure. I am very happy that volunteer groups like the UVCE Foundation are working hard. The least I can do is provide the funds.

At UVCE, the college should establish an environment that is nurturing and encourages creativity.

Lakshmi: Thank you Balu for your generous donation to the UVCE foundation. This would go a long way in supporting the education of the students with financial needs. While at it, I also would like to let you know that we have a Business Mentoring program for Alumni and all the students. Would you support

the initiative as a mentor guiding the start-ups with advice on direction and networking?

When I retire, I will do more to contribute to this. Next time I am in Bangalore I could spend 1-2 hours with the students. I could do this once every six months or once a year.

Alice: Apart from technology what are your other interests outside work?

My wife and I travel a lot, based on the time we get away from my role as a CEO. I consider my technical work now as a hobby and so on weekends, I work on my ideas. I have a vegetable garden to which I devote time to during weekends. We also have a vineyard.

Alice: Do you have any message for young Engineering graduates from UVCE?

Do what you are passionate about. Often there is a trade-off between financial returns and your personal interest. But if you really want to excel, choose a path that you are passionate about. Its easier said than done and sometimes you may not have a choice.

I tell my kids look, do whatever you are passionate about, but make sure that you at least have a day job to feed you. Every job has portions of it that you have to do that you don't particularly like. If you can get 80% of your job to match your interest, thats a huge plus.. Another advice I would

give for both professional and personal satisfaction is - whatever you do, do it well, not because of others but because you feel good when you do a good job.

Finally, Balu ended the conversation by encouraging the fellow alumni to donate to the UVCE Foundation.

Rebooting


from Malleshwaram to Indiranagar took me past the grand old lady UVCE, the place where I was to spend most of my walking hours for the next 4 years. Well, I can at least get dad to fund a bike for me I smirked to myself. That day, that drive, that view of the old building's arch was my induction into UVCE. Is it the best engineering college in Bangalore? I don't know. Self-proclaimed rating agencies rank it from no. 5 to no. 95 in the country. Ratings are remembered only by the colleges and only when advertising before the next admission process. The 4 years went by. What I learnt most about my UVCE from those four years is the diversity it supports. Everyone I had a conversation with took completely different paths to get there and conversations converged at the canteens. This was and remains the core of the college to date. We speak of the challenges that our college faces but how often do we think of taking some action to improve the situation. I had these conversations with my friends during and after stepping out of UVCE. Not giving back sufficiently to the college remains my single biggest regret. You were once embraced with open arms by the college and now you have an opportunity to give back in one form or another. I say this to myself and I say this to you, the alumnus.

Look back and see the shadow of the great Diwan of Mysore, Bharat Ratna Sir M Visveswaraya after whom our college is named. He once famously said "Remember, your work may only be to sweep a railway crossing, but it is your duty to keep it so clean that no other crossing in the world is as clean as yours". It was a call for commitment that he

would have liked ingrained in each one of us and not one that should be restricted to just our job. Neither is your job as a student restricted to academics nor as a professionals to only work. Every living moment of our life has to account for this commitment. Do not complain about the litter on the road but pick it up and deposit it in the bin, Do not complain about the broken infrastructure, but mobilize an action plan and strive to address it. And the next time you visit the college drawing room and are welcomed by pigeons and their droppings, clean up a few tables before the rest of the class walks in and let some of your friends draw in without a worry. Let us together take that all important first step, let us revive UVCE one drawing table at a time.

ALU

MN

I PA

GE

SRebooting UVCE One Drawing Board at a TIme!

Nagaraj TAlumnus, (2009 Mech)

July 2005 a month that changed the course of my life for good. A month I wont forget easily in time to come. I was seated next to my father facing a student counselor keen on hustling me towards a decision that would decide my fate for the next 4 years and perhaps the rest of my life. Mysore was where my grandparents were and where most of my cousins had completed their graduation. I wanted to study in Mysore. Mysore would also give me for the first time, time away from the prying eyes of my father. Staring at me was the long list of colleges. NIT, SJCE zilch!!! The lone mechanical engineering seat at Vidya Vardaka, Mysore, called out to me. Alright sir, Mechanical Engineering - Vidya Vardaka, Mysore", spilled the words out of my mouth. The counselors face contorted from impatience to one of nonchalance. "Are you sure?" he asked. I nodded. Ok", he said and went about the administrative activities to start me off. I smiled to myself with visions of freedom and Mysore over the next 4 years. It was to remain a vision! To the table on my right was a father-son duo, heads freshly tonsured, ThiruNama brightly painted on the forehead. And I gathered he had a few ranks better than me in the entrance test. "Bere seat choose madi bega, time waste maad bedi" said my counselor to me, just another entry in his long list of candidates, the fates of who he disposed with a flick of his wrist. "UVCE, Mechanical Engineering" I murmured to nods of temporary relief from my counselor and father. The deal was done. The seat was taken. Urban Bangalore was not what it is today. A drive around let you look at the structures along the way without fear of being pushed off the road or running into the vehicle ahead. The drive

BookRelease


About the Book

And We Remained started as a story with the backdrop of UVCE and UVCEians. The story though, wasnt a short one. By completion And We Remained turned into a 51,000 word novel with a compelling storyline and a

unique narration style. The story is set in 1990s, with India going through tremendous socio-economic changes. This coming-of-age story of five friends at UVCE Sahir, Sandeep, Gopal, Anand and David intertwines their first person accounts of events in college with their lives a few years later. The friendship forged in engineering keeps them in good touch and through the book they narrate events in their lives, sharing their experiences in India and abroad through emails.

And We Remained takes you on their entertaining journey through college, love, heartbreak, prison, politics, drunken binges, strip clubs, US and Europe as they hang on to sanity and their identities in a fast changing society and a nation in flux.

Asad Ali Junaid is an UVCE alumnus from the 1995-99 batch of Electrical and Electronics Engineering. Junaid continued his tryst with UVCE by teaching Electrical Engineering for a year before going to the US for post-graduation. He currently works with Oracle, Bangalore, focusing on man-machine interactions.

A childhood interest in literature and writing blossomed into Junaid's first book And We Remained. It started as a story which needed to be told and one which needed to be told differently. While he was struggling to get the narration style and structure right, he joined a three week in-residence Just Write fiction writing workshop learning from authors Anil Menon, Anjum Hasan and Rimi Chatterjee. He has seen Bangalores transformation from the sleepy town that it was, to the IT hub of today. Junaid is married with a toddler completing the family and keeping them on their toes. You can reach Junaid and give him your message of support at [email protected].

In Bangalore, the book is available at Blossoms on Church Street.

In India, the paperback version of the book is available on Amazon.in at http://www.amazon.in/

dp/1495378926

For UVCEians worldwide, the Kindle version of the book is available at http://www.amazon.com/We-

Remained-absorbing-story-differently-ebook/dp/B00KU1ZJAU/

BOOK RELEASE

And We Remained

Author: Asad Ali JunaidAlumnus ( 99, EEE)

Career Corner


family business, when you eventually get back to your family business. This will help grow your family business and get more lucrative contracts (move up the food chain to higher margin items). I think you should make a commitment to your father: 2 years for higher studies, 3 years of working in a next level up company and then get back the family business. You do need to stick to your commitments (cannot dilly dally later) to convince your father that you will be back to help him out.

Question:I am finishing my Civil Engineering Degree in July this year.I have already got a job through campus placements in a national construction company. I have time till November 2014 before my job in Pune. I want to enhance my computer skills in this period. Can you suggest some certificate courses which help?-Joginder

Ram: Joginder, I am not sure why you need additional certification given that you already have a job in national construction company. Any additional certification will not necessarily help you advance in your new job. But any additional skills (especially any computer related skills) will help you advance. You do need computer skills, more advanced the better for your career growth. I suggest classes in C++ as a starting point, also enhance Windows specific tool, skills such as XL, power point (which is a great communication tool to the management) and CAD tools beyond what you might have learned in your college.

Question: I will be finishing my Mechanical Engineering end of this semester and am very keen to pursue my Masters in Robotics, but I need to seriously consider getting a job as I have my educational loan to repay. Can you please suggest any job opportunities which will provide me with the much needed finance yet prove to be a foundation for the subject of my choice?aspiring Robo-guy"

Ram: Robo-guy, today many large and medium scale manufacturing outfits use some level of robotic equipment. Ideally you should explore finding a job in large automobile facility supporting assembly line. Companies like Toyota, Hyundai, Maruthi use fairly sophisticated robotic equipment. Joining one of these firms, getting trained (by the company) on maintaining such equipment and eventually getting into designing such equipment would be the right path. However, it may be a challenge to find entry level jobs in such facility. In such situation finding a job in a medium level manufacturing facility and who use less sophisticated robotic equipment and working your way up is an ideal way.When I started my career here in US, despite having an Electrical Engineering degree I was only able to find job as a test technician testing and debugging electronic boards (it was difficult to find engineering jobs in those days). As I learned the technology I was able to work my way up to design boards within couple of years and eventually moving to designing large chip designs.

Question:I am studying in the final year Electronics Engineering. I need advise on a key decision My family runs a BPO business with about 80 employees. My father wishes that I join the business soon after my degree but I strongly feel that I should pursue my higher studies and learn new technology and processes of BPO as it will only help me strengthen our family business. What should I do? Finding it difficult to convince my father! Please guide -Nitin Kumar.

Ram: Nitin,In general I agree with you. But you have to make some judgement based on your father's age, health and what kind of support staff (next level of management ) he has, assuming you do eventually want to join your family business. Going for higher studies, learning new technology and working in the "new technology" company for few years will help you, your

CAREER CORNER

Career Counselor Ram VasantharamAlumnus (69 )

Former Director, Intel-India

UVCE FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM Giving Back to Make a Difference for the Next Generation

Dear alumni friends,

Every cloud has a silver lining goes the adage. It couldnt be truer when we consider our own students at UVCE. Coming from economically challenging backgrounds, some of our students weather the clouds and nancially struggle through the 4 years at UVCE. Apart from the rigor of college they have to also deal with the emoDonal stress of nancial uncertainDes a stress that is relayed back to their families who many a Dme live far away from the students themselves.

It is in these clouds of nancial uncertainty that you can provide a silver lining one that can provide the student stability and help them focus on academic progress. Through the UVCE FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM, you the alumni and donors have ensured that our students from economically underprivileged backgrounds receive this much needed support. We thank you wholeheartedly and seek your conDnuous and excepDonal support for the program going forward. Refer to the links below to nd out ways of supporDng the students.

Click here to know what our scholarship recipients have to say.

Let Us Together Give The Silver Lining!!

UVCE FOUNDATION at SEVATHON 2014

We invite Alumni and friends in the BAY AREA AND USA to join the enjoyable Sevathon, a fundraiser walkathon to support our scholarship program.

FUN EVENTS

Walkathon- 5K/10K/Half-marathon. Yogathon- 54/108 sun salutations. Fun activities for children (face painting, mehendi, jugglers. Eclectic Food!

Networking with UVCE Alumni!! BAYLANDS PARK , SUNNYVALE, CA on June 22nd , 2014 @6.30 AM

Hurry up and register before June 18th to join the event!!!

Yes, I want to join Sevathon 2014 and make a difference for a UVCE Scholar.CLICK HERE TO CLICK HERE TO

REGISTER FOR RUN MAKE A DONATION


UVCE Foundation In US; UVCE Foundation US, PO Box 0455, Cupertino, California 95014, USA, Ph: +1 408 996 1022 |In India: UVCE Foundation,#17, 2nd Main, Basaveswara Layout, 2nd Stage, Chandra Layout, Bengaluru 560040, India | Ph: 0091 94482 70489.

Like our page on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/UVCEAlumni

UVCE Foundation US is a 501 (C) organization in USA. In India, UVCE Foundation is 80G certified. Registered in 2002.

Documents

The UVCEian, June 2014