K K Birla Goa CampusConvocation 2015
BITS Vision
“ What do we propose to do here? We want to teach real science
whether it is engineering, chemistry, humanities, physics or any other
branch. We want to develop a scientific approach in Pilani, which
means there would be no dogma. There will be a search for truth. What
we propose to do here is to cultivate a scientific mind.”
--The Late Shri G. D. BirlaFounder Chairman, BITS Pilani.
“….to prepare young men and women to act as leaders for the
promotion of the economic and industrial development of the country
and to play a creative role in service to humanity.”
--The Late Dr. K. K. BirlaFormer Chancellor, BITS Pilani.
“What is it that can empower our nation? The most obvious answer is
education. Education that enhances livelihoods but also education that
is value-based. Education that gives roots and gives wings as well.”
--Dr. Kumar Mangalam Birla Chancellor, BITS Pilani
MINUTE TO MINUTE PROGRAMME OF CONVOCATION 2015th9 August 2015
09:00 AM Chief Guest arrives; received by Vice-Chancellor, Members BoG, Directors & Registrar at VGH
09:10 AM Tree plantation by Chief Guest& Medalists at VGH
09:20AM Vice-Chancellor, Directors & Registrar receive Chief Guest at B-Dome
09.25 AM Vice-Chancellor, Members BoG, Directors & Registrar meet the Chief Guest in the Director's Conference Room
9:40 AM Chief Guest is helped with wearing the robe & escorted to the Auditorium
9.45 AM Assembly of Members of the Senate in the portico at the Auditorium
9.50 AM Introduction of the Senate members to the Chief Guest by the Vice-Chancellor and Director
9.55 AM Academic procession proceeds in columns of two, led by Registrar to the Convocation Hall. Procession music is played. {When the procession enters the Convocation Hall, all assembled will rise in their seats, & remain standing until the members forming the procession have taken their seats on the stage}
10.00 AM Invocation
10.02 AM Registrar requests the Vice-Chancellor to declare the Convocation open. The Convocation is declared open by the Vice-Chancellor
10:03 AM Report on activities of the Institute & address by the Vice-Chancellor
10:15 AM Vice-Chancellor reads the Chancellor's Message
10.20 AM Director's Report
10.30 AM Introduction of the Chief Guest by the Director
10.32 AM Convocation address by the Chief Guest
10.52 AM Presentation of Memento to the Chief Guest by the Vice-Chancellor
10.55 AM Award of Degrees: Registrar presents the candidates who have qualified for various Degrees. {All the candidates will rise in their seats & keep standing as the citation is read by the Vice-Chancellor }
12.00 PM Award of Medals by the Chief Guest
12.20 PM Administration of Oath to the recipients of various Degrees by the Gold Medalist. {Ms Shridevi Sharath Gowda, Gold medalist will lead the Oath. Recipients of Degrees will stand & repeat the oath word by word }
12.22 PM Vote of Thanks
12.25 PM The Convocation is dissolved by the Vice-Chancellor
12.26 PM National Anthem. {All assembled will rise and stand while the National Anthem is played, and remain standing till the procession completely leaves the Hall.}
12.30 PM Academic procession departs. Procession music is played.
12.45 PM Convocation Lunch
Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus 1
MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS
Dr. Kumar Mangalam Birla
Chancellor
Smt. Shobhana Bhartia
Pro-Chancellor
Prof. V. S. Rao
Acting Vice-Chancellor
Shri B.K. Birla Shri Rajiv Verma
Shri Sidharth Birla Shri Hemant Kumar
Smt. Manjushree Khaitan Shri Kris Ramachandran
Prof. G. Sundar Prof. M.M.S. Anand
(Registrar), Non-member
Secretary
SENATE MEMBERS
Chairman
Prof. V. S. Rao
Acting Vice-Chancellor
Vice-Chairman
Prof. Ashoke Kumar Sarkar
Director, Pilani Campus
Secretary
Prof. M.M.S. Anand – Registrar
Other Members
Directors
Prof. Ranendra N. Saha, Dubai Campus
Prof. Sasikumar Punnekkat, K K Birla Goa Campus
Prof. V.S. Rao, Hyderabad Campus
Prof. G. Sundar (Off-Campus Programmes & Industry Engagement), Hyderabad Campus
Deputy Director
Prof. Ashwin Srinivasan, K K Birla Goa Campus
2 Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus
University Wide
Pilani Campus
Prof. S. Balasubramaniam
Prof. S. Gurunarayanan Prof. R. Mahesh
Prof. Sanjay Kumar Verma
K K Birla Goa Campus
Prof. Sunil Bhand
Hyderabad Campus
Prof. Suman Kapur
Prof. Niranjan Swain
Campus Wide
Pilani Campus
Prof. S.C. Sivasubramanian
K K Birla Goa Campus
Prof. D. M. Kulkarni
Hyderabad Campus
Prof. M. B. Srinivas
Dubai Campus
Prof. Priti Bajpai Prof. B. Muralidharan
Prof. Ramadoss Roop Kumar Prof. Thoppil George Thomas
Associate Deans
Pilani Campus
Prof. Hari Om Bansal Prof. Hitesh Datt Mathur
Prof. Anshuman Dalvi Prof. Bijay Kumar Rout
Prof. Hemant Ramanlal Jadhav Prof. Sirkanta Routroy
Prof. Anil Kumar Prof. Kumar Neeraj Sachdev
Prof. Dalip Kumar Prof. P. Srinivasan
Prof. Sanjeev Kumar Shri K. Venkatasubramanian
Deans
Prof. Ajit Pratap Singh
Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus 3
Prof. S. Sindhu, Bangalore Prof. G. Venkiteswaran, Chennai
K K Birla Goa Campus
Prof. K.R. Anupama Prof. Aditya Prasad Koley
Prof. Prasanta Kumar Das Prof. Sampatrao D. Manjare
Prof. Ranjan Dey Prof. Srikanth Mutnuri
Prof. Neena Goveas Prof. Raghunath Ratabole
Prof. Jagarlamudi Venkateswara Rao
Hyderabad Campus
Prof. Souri Banerjee Prof. Srinivasa Prakash Regalla
Prof. K.V.G. Chandrasekhar Prof. Morapakala Srinivas
Prof. Sandip Shridharrao Deshmukh Prof. P.K. Thiruvikraman
Dr. P. Sankar Ganesh Prof. A. Vasan
Prof. Chittaranjan Hota Prof. P. Yogeeswari
Prof. Vidya Rajesh
Dubai Campus
Prof. Somasundaram Arumugam Prof. K. Kumar
Prof. Anand Kumar Prof. Neeru Sood
Professors
Pilani Campus
Prof. Debashish Bandyopadhyay Prof. Balram Dubey
Prof. Surekha Bhanot Prof. Navneet Goyal
Prof. V.K. Chaubey Prof. Chandra Bhan Gupta
Prof. Ashis Kumar Das Prof. Rajiv Gupta
Prof. Mani Sankar Dasgupta Prof. Kuldip Singh Sangwan
Prof. Rajiv Kumar Prof. Subit Kumar Saha
Prof. Rashmi Ranjan Mishra Prof. N.V. Muralidhar Rao
Prof. Janardan Prasad Misra Prof. Ram Kinkar Roy
Off-Campus Centre
4 Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus
Prof. Bandi Venkata Prasad
K K Birla Goa Campus
Prof. Saibal Ganguly Prof. G. Raghurama
Prof. Arun V. Kulkarni Prof. K.E. Raman
Prof. Dipankar Pal Prof. Sutapa Roy Ramanan
Prof. Santonu Sarkar
Hyderabad Campus
Prof. Arup Maharatna Prof. P.N.K. Rao
Prof. N. Rajesh Prof. D. Sriram
Prof. Komaragiri Srinivasa Raju Prof. S. Swaminathan
Prof. Addepalli Ramu
Dubai Campus
Prof. S. Karthiyayini Prof. S. Swaminathan
Prof. Dawood Jalaluddin Shariff Prof. C. Periasamy
Prof. S. Vadivel
Associate Professors
Pilani Campus
Prof. Anshuman Prof. Bharti Khungar
Prof. Rakesh Choubisa Prof. Inamur Rahaman Laskar
Prof. Sanjiv Kumar Choudhary Prof. Kusum Lata
Prof. Shibasish Chowdhury Prof. Pushp Lata
Prof. P.R. Deepa Prof. Arun Maity
Prof. Devika Prof. V. Manjuladevi
Prof. Abhijeet Keshaorao Digalwar Prof. Ravi Kant Mittal
Prof. Uma S. Dubey Prof. Jitendra Panwar
Prof. Arun Kumar Giri Prof. Rakhee
Prof. Poonam Goyal Prof. Saumi Ray
Prof. Lalita Gupta Prof. Mukesh Kumar Rohil
Prof. Navneet Gupta Prof. Ajay Kumar Sah
Prof. Rajendra Prasad Pareek
Prof. Sudeept Mohan
Prof. Shamsher Bahadur Singh
Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus 5
Prof. Subhash Narayan Karbelkar
Prof. Pradipkumar Haribhau Keskar Prof. Sangeeta Sharma
Prof. Chandra Shekhar
Off-Campus Centre
Prof. Vijay Arora Prof. Brajabandhu Mishra
Pune Bangalore
Prof. Krishnamurthy Bindumadhavan Prof. T.V. Rao
Hyderabad Hyderabad
Prof. Koneru Gopala Krishna Prof. H. Viswanathan
Hyderabad Bangalore
K K Birla Goa Campus
Prof. Geetha B. Prof. Vijayashree Nayak
Prof. Saroj S. Baral Prof. Bhavana P.
Prof. Judith Maria Braganca Prof. Rabi Narayan Panda
Prof. Dibakar Chakrabarty Prof. R.P. Pradhan
Prof. Anjan Chattopadhyay Prof. Halan Prakash
Prof. Narendra Nath Ghosh Prof. Pravin M. Singru
Prof. Mridula Goel Prof. Utpal Roy
Prof. Basavadatta Mitra Prof. Tarkeshwar Singh
Prof. Patincharath Nandakumar Prof. Radhika Vathsan
Hyderabad Campus
Prof. A. Michael Alphonse Prof. B.V.V.S.N. Prabhakar Rao
Prof. A. Sajeli Begum Prof. V. R. Vinayaka Rao
Prof. Manab Chakravarty Prof. Punna Rao Ravi
Prof. Srikanta Dinda Prof. N. Suresh Kumar Reddy
Prof. Sunny Gosmam Prof. Pradyumn Kumar Sahoo
Prof. Amit Kumar Gupta Prof. Dipak Kumar Satpathi
Prof. R Gururaj Prof. I. Sreedhar
Prof. Jeevan Jaidi Prof. Jayanty Subbalakshmi
Prof. R. Krishnan Prof. K. Sumithra
Prof. Kannan Ramaswamy Prof. Ramakrishna Vadrevu
Prof. Raj Kumar Gupta
Prof. Arvind Kumar Sharma
Prof. Vishal Saxena
6 Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus
Prof. Nidhi Bhandari
Prof. Tapan Kumar Datta Prof. Mary Lourde R.
Prof. Bharat Bhushan Gulyani Prof. Shah Jabeen Shazi
Prof. Vijaya Ilango Prof. Krishna Kumar Singh
Prof. Kavita Sunil Jerath Prof. R Udayakumar
Prof. Sankaram M.
Heads of Departments
Pilani Campus
Prof. Rahul Banerjee Prof. Manoj Kumar
Prof. Anil Kumar Bhat Prof. Dilip Kumar Maiti
Prof. Gajendra Singh Chauhan Prof. Rajesh Mehrotra
Prof. Anu Gupta Dr. S. Murugesan
Prof. Suresh Gupta Dr. Arvind Sudarsan
Prof. Debi Datt Pant
K K Birla Goa Campus
Prof. Raghu Nath Behera Prof. Meenal Kowshik
Prof. Shibu Clement Prof. Srinivas Krishnaswamy
Prof. Gaurav Dar Prof. Prasanna Kumar N.
Prof. Mukund Keshavrao Deshmukh Prof. Meenakshi Raman
Prof. Bharat M Deshpande Dr. Debasis Patnaik
Hyderabad Campus
Prof. Jagadeesh Anmala Prof. M.G. Prasuna
Dr. A. Ramesh Babu Dr. Aravinda N. Raghavan
Dr. Anupam Bhattacharya Prof. Y.V. Daseswara Rao
Prof. Shrikant Yashawant Charde Prof. Ramana Sonti
Prof. Bivudutta Mishra Prof. Y. Yoganandam
Prof. N.L. Bhanu Murthy
Dubai Campus
Prof. Maneesha Bhagchandani Prof. B.G. Prakash Kumar
Dubai Campus
Prof. D.V. Prasad
Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus 7
Dr. Trupti Swarup Gokhale Prof. B. Vijayakumar
Prof. Ram Karthikeyan
Co-opted Faculty
Dr. Jyoti, Pilani Campus
Dr. Angshuman Sarkar, K K Birla Goa Campus
Dr. Lucy J. Gudino, K K Birla Goa Campus
Dr. Meenakshi Viswanathan, Hyderabad Campus
Dr. Phaneendra Kiran C., Hyderabad Campus
Dr. Abdul Rajak A.R., Dubai Campus
Dr. Mallika Praveen C., Dubai Campus
Librarian
Shri Giridhar M. Kunkur Dr. K. N. Sheshadri
Pilani Campus Dubai Campus
Workshop Superintendent
Shri G. J. Desai, K K Birla Goa Campus
Chief Wardens
Prof. Sai Jagan Mohan, Pilani Campus
Dr. Santosh Kumar Vasudevan,Dubai Campus
Dr. Ramesha C. K., K K Birla Goa Campus
Dr. Kumar Pranav Narayan, Hyderabad Campus
Admissions Officer
Prof. Ajit Pratap Singh, Pilani Campus
Prof. Thoppil George Thomas, Dubai Campus
Placement Officer
Prof. Mani Sankar Dasgupta
Prof. Adhir Baran Chattopadhyay Prof. A. Srinivasa Rao
8 Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus
Shri Archit Gadhok, Pilani Campus
Shir Arush Gupta, Dubai Campus
Shri Anmol Shrivastava, K K Birla Goa Campus
Shir Mahavadi Kashyap, Hyderabad Campus
Student Members
Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus 9
INTRODUCING THE BIRLA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND
SCIENCE, PILANI AND THE K K BIRLA GOA CAMPUS
The Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani is an all-India Institution declared
as deemed to be university established under Section 3 of the UGC act. It is privately
supported, fully residential and admits both male and female students. The primary
objectives of the Institute are "to provide for and otherwise promote education and research
in the fields of Technology, Science, Humanities, Industry, Business, Public Administration
and to collate and disseminate in such fields effective ideas, methods, techniques and
information as are likely to promote the material and industrial welfare of India" and to "train
young men and women able and eager to create and put into action such ideas, methods,
techniques and information".
The Institute was initially registered as a Society under the Rajasthan Societies Registration
Act of 1958 on the 13th May, 1964. Subsequently, by notification published in the Gazette of
India dated the 27th June, 1964, the Ministry of Education, Government of India, declared
that the Institute being an institution for higher education shall be "deemed to be a
University". The Institute started functioning with effect from 1st July, 1964 with late Shri G.D.
Birla as its Founder Chairman.
The Institute started as a small "Pathshala" in Pilani way back in the year 1901 by Seth Shri
Narainji Birla with one teacher for educating his grandsons, late Shri G.D. Birla and late Shri
R.D. Birla. Pilani was then a small isolated desert village in Rajasthan. The Pathshala
evolved slowly and steadily into a High School in 1925 and became an Intermediate College
in 1929. The Birla Education Trust was founded in the same year. The Intermediate College
developed into a Degree College in 1943. In 1947, this college was raised to postgraduate
level. In 1950, Pharmacy courses were started in this college, and in 1952, it was bifurcated
into College of Arts and the College of Science, Commerce and Pharmacy.
During World War II, the Government of India established a Technical Training Centre at
Pilani for the supply of technicians for Defence Services and industry. In 1946, late Shri G.D.
Birla decided to convert it into an engineering college with degree programmes in Electrical
and Mechanical Engineering. Master's programme in Electronics was started in 1955. B.E.
programmes in Civil Engineering and Chemical Engineering were started later. In 1964 with
the inception of the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, the colleges, viz., Birla College
of Science, Commerce and Pharmacy, Birla College of Arts and Birla College of Engineering
10 Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus
situated at Pilani, as also all properties, movable and immovable, together with educational
facilities, hostels, staff quarters, playgrounds, etc., became part of the Institute and all these
properties were vested in it. During the early years of its inception, i.e., 1964 to 1970, the
Institute with the support of Ford Foundation Grant had the advantage of having
collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA. It adopted the
semester system, modular structure of courses, continuous and internal evaluation, letter
grading, etc. It also created institutionalized linkages with the industries. Over a period of
time, the Institute also introduced several flexibilities in its educational programmes.
Dr. K.K. Birla who took over as the Chairman of BITS in 1983 was deeply involved and
closely associated with his visionary father in running both the earlier Birla Colleges and the
current institute BITS, since its inception. With his spirited involvement in all the activities of
the Institute, he was able to see the vision of his father Late Shri G.D. Birla unfolding. Taking
over the responsibility of running the institute, Dr. K.K Birla who became the Chancellor in
2003 realized the need for greater number of promising graduates in the field of science and
technology in shaping up the nation's development. Hence he initiated an increase in the
number of students at Pilani campus during 1999 which gradually carried the total strength
from 2500 to 4000. Under his patronage, BITS started expanding by establishing three
campuses, one in Dubai in the year 2000, in Goa in the year 2004 and in Hyderabad in the
year 2008.
Consequent upon the sad demise of Dr. K.K. Birla on 30 August 2008, Dr. Kumar Mangalam
Birla was elected as the Chancellor and Smt. Shobhana Bhartia was nominated as the Pro-
Chancellor of the Institute. Under the leadership of young and dynamic Chancellor, BITS is
taking steps to scale greater heights.
In the year 2000, BITS was accredited by NAAC with the highest possible rank in University
accreditation. In 2008-2009, the NAAC peer team visited BITS campuses at Pilani, Goa and
Dubai and BITS has been reaccredited with CGPA 3.71 on four point scale at the highest 'A'
grade.
Vision 2020: A Strategic Plan for BITS
The Institute has embarked on a journey to become one of the leading universities in the
world by the year 2020. Initially, a task force was constituted to prepare the Vision 2020
document and the draft 'Vision 2020' was released in February 2009. After several
deliberations and discussions, Vision 2020 was formalized and logically split into 3 year long
milestones, known as 'Mission Programmes'. First such milestone, Mission 2012, was
Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus 11
accomplished in the year 2012, after being formally launched in October 2009.
Mission 2012 focused and achieved significantly in six thrust areas - Academic Programs
and Pedagogy, People, Research & Consultancy, Campus Life, Infrastructure & Facilities
and University Administration. 16 Task Forces comprising of more than 110 faculty members
were involved in realizing 33 different goals under these six thrust areas. Several initiatives
such as curriculum bench marking and redesign, strengthening student feedback, seed
grant, research initiation grant, sabbatical leave policy, performance appraisal, faculty
recruitment among others were fully completed and institutionalized into regular operations
at BITS.
Other initiatives with varying degrees of completion would be taken up by existing offices,
completed and institutionalized. Off Campus programmes (WILP), initially an intrinsic part of
the People thrust area, was recognized to be a significant component in realizing Vision
2020. Several initiatives to engage with the industry have been taken up that will be achieved
over 2-3 years.
Mission 2012 was formally concluded on a celebratory note, with a formal event 'Reflections
2012', presided by the Chancellor, Dr Kumar Mangalam Birla. The event was held in the K K
Birla Goa campus, and was attended by several faculty & staff members. The Task force
members were felicitated for their valuable contribution towards Mission 2012 goals.
In March 2013, Mission 2015, the next milestone in the journey towards Vision 2020, was
formally launched. The Mission 2015, expected to bring a quantum jump in the aspirations of
the objectives set forth, entails focusing on 7 imperatives: Faculty & Staff Development,
Industry Engagement, Inter-Disciplinary Research, Internationalization, Innovation &
Entrepreneurship, Quality Assurance & Assessments and Technology Enablement. One
team per imperative has been identified and the teams have already started working on
refining and actioning the goals.
A growth plan for the next 10 years has been developed and under implementation. While
projecting growth in number of students from 11,000 to more than 17,000 by 2020-21 across
its four campuses, the plan outlines a strategy for transforming BITS into a research-focused
university while continuing to consolidate its First degree and Higher degree programmes.
Establishment of new research labs is an important ingredient of the growth plan, for which
the plan envisages an aggressive push to sponsored research grants from Govt. agencies
and from industry. As a result of extensive efforts to benchmark the First degree and Higher
12 Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus
degree programmes against the best in the world, the curricula of all First degree and Higher
degree programmes have been completely re-designed while ensuring greater focus on
discipline-specific courses, on courses in Humanities, and on hands-on learning through
lab-based experimentation and thesis work. The new curricula was implemented starting
August 2011.
Transforming BITS into a research-focused university is at the top of BITS' agenda. To take
that forward, BITS has undertaken several measures. These include (i) Significant increase
in the number of “teaching assistantships” that offer tuition waiver and stipend to full-time
PhD students and (ii) Streamlining of its processes from admissions to evaluation of PhD
dissertation. BITS has undertaken several initiatives to encourage, facilitate and incentivize
faculty to seek and execute research grants.
BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus
The idyllic and sylvan beauty of Goa sets the right ambience for BITS Pilani, K.K. Birla Goa
Campus, an Institute of excellence in Technology and Science. Nestling in the lap of verdant
hills, overlooking the Zuari River, the campus is spread over an area of 180 acres. The
location of campus is unique in the respect of scenic beauty and panoramic view of
picturesque surroundings encompassing the river Zuari, hillocks, waterways, forests and
landscape. The Campus is about 25 kms south of Panaji (capital of Goa), 10 kms west of
Vasco-da-Gama, 22 kms north of Margao and 5.5 kms from the Goa airport, along National
Highway 17B. The campus houses the main building, having academic and administrative
offices, Visitor's Guest house, hostels for boys & girls, student activity centre, faculty & staff
quarters, medical centre, playground and shopping complex.
BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa campus was commissioned in August 2004 and was formally
inaugurated by Honorable Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh on May 5, 2006. In
keeping with the tradition of innovation and creativity, it has given a state-of-the art touch to
the infrastructure of the entire institute without diminishing in the least, the natural beauty of
Goa surrounding its campus. Spacious laboratories, state of art classrooms with soundproof
acoustics, modern furniture, computer labs with Internet facility and library define the
infrastructural pillars of the institution. Being fully residential, separate hostels are provided
for girls and boys with single rooms.
http://www.bits-goa.ac.in
Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus 13
CHANCELLOR’S MESSAGE
Our distinguished guest for today, Mr Naveen Tewari, Vice Chancellor Prof. Rao, Director of
the K. K. Birla Goa Campus, Prof. Punnekkat, ladies and gentlemen, and graduating
students:
I am delighted that Naveen is with us today as our Chief Guest, and that he will deliver today's
Convocation Address. An alumnus of IIT Kanpur, Harvard, and McKinsey & Co., he has
created a US$ 400M company InMobi in just 6 years. He is an ace experimenter and a
staunch believer of disruptive innovations. There is much more to him. I am sure
Prof. Punnekkat will highlight his accomplishments.
Naveen exemplifies the person every young graduating student aspires to be. If we Google
his name, we get over a quarter million hits in under half a second. He is disrupting an entire
industry, and leading explosive growth in a domain that is the future. Combining creativity,
innovation, insight, belief and passion in using mobile communication devices to connect
consumers to the products and services they need, sums up his expertise.
I remember reading about your young daughter asking you “…who spends time putting
these ugly ads on my phone?”. That this too was an insight into the mind of the consumer,
and that it played a role in defining value proposition, shows one more ingredient of your
genius.
In my address today, I have also touched upon some aspects which spawn innovations.
Three weeks ago there was an article in the Times of India on BITS headlined: “At BITS
Pilani, start-up spark is a flame”. Truly, BITS graduates have made a huge mark as
innovators and entrepreneurs. So, today, I want to talk about the special mindset and the
enabling conditions that nurture innovation and entrepreneurship.
No matter where you go next, you are going to be surrounded with the rush and swirl of
Dr. Kumar Mangalam Birla
14 Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus
creativity and innovation. Innovation will present the opportunity to translate dreams and
ideas into real world successes. On the other hand, many ventures founded on innovation
will fail and fold up. And, given its very nature, innovation will also sweep away the old, the
status quo and result in losers also. That's the nature of the powerful and unstoppable force
that is innovation! I urge you to keep your senses and instincts open to the waves and winds
of innovation. Either you leverage on innovation and succeed, or you get overwhelmed and
be swept away by it.
1. You are limited only by your imagination:
We learn to imagine and dream early in childhood. Our parents encourage us to see the
world around us, and the possibilities. The opening up of our minds and imagination
continues through school and university. The best schools and universities are defined by
their ability to ignite curiosity.
What can you, the graduates, do to nurture creativity and foster innovation? First, invest
yourself and your mind on what you can do to change the circumstance you are in. You can
always make small, lasting changes, wherever you are. It is imagining a cleaner workplace,
which will prompt you to pick up litter lying around. Influencing those responsible to place
litterbins takes this to the next level. Lead a local cleanliness drive, and you begin to influence
change and enable creativity. Imagining is seeing the possibilities, in every small thing.
All of you may not become the next Steve Jobs or found the next Google or Flipkart. But each
one of you can aspire to keep your imagination on fire, and keep innovating in small ways. To
innovate is to create value; putting an idea to practical use is innovating; changing something
for the better is innovating. Understand the power of your imagination.
2. An appetite for risk
Risk comes hand in hand with wanting to put your imagination to work. A 21-year old,
dropping out of college to follow a dream is putting one's career at risk. The instinct to take
risk is inborn, but often our upbringing and environment stifle that natural instinct, and puts in
us the fear of failure. The best colleges and universities teach risk and its value in many
ways. The best teachers convey through behaviour that “it is ok to get it wrong” as long as
you have tried. Needless to say, we have to learn to make informed assessments of the risks
and the consequences.
3. An eye for opportunities
Some see opportunities where others do not – and this has always fascinated me. You can
Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus 15
see this manifest itself in a hundred small ways. Look carefully and you will see that some
are more prone to see and grab opportunities than others. Curiosity, the desire to do
something different, and the desire to test out an idea are the ingredients that go into spotting
and grabbing opportunities. Again, this is nurtured early in life: at home, by parents, teachers
and guardians who encourage curiosity and inquiry, who take the time and effort to engage
with their young ones, and take delight in it.
4. An obsession to do it better and differently
Innovations are born also when someone wants to do something better, or differently. Just
'wanting to do it' is grossly insufficient. It must have the intensity of a passion, an obsession!
There were many MP3 players in the market when Apple launched the iPod in 2001. History
was created. Just 'wanting to do it' is grossly insufficient. It must have the intensity of a
passion, an obsession! It is the same story with Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, or Alibaba: how
to bring the entire world to your fingertips. The shopping experience these e-retailers offer
today is a world different than what it initially was. In turn, Amazon took warehousing and
logistics to a whole new level. All because that was the only way to enhance customer
experience: do it better; do it differently.
The best colleges and universities create an environment where students are encouraged to
push the boundaries of knowledge. They are taught to question, and ask “why not?” as much
as to ask “why?” You too can contribute to this journey by questioning the status quo, by
asking how something can be done differently and better.
5. Connecting the dots; seeing patterns
Almost all real word problems today are complex, and do not have simple solutions. When
these problems have strong social, economic, and political roots, conventional approaches
fail. Such problems require the ability to 'connect the dots' – to see patterns in seemingly
unrelated events and circumstances.
Great schools and universities not only encourage, but also structure their education in a
way that different disciplines work together, and problem solving takes on a multi-disciplinary
approach. The best commercial organisations break silos, and encourage and build into
their organisations cross-functional groups. Because it is important to connect the dots –
connect seemingly unrelated parts to deliver a whole.
Do read a rather interesting Popular Science webpage titled “TEN THINGS YOU DIDN'T
KNOW ABOUT THE APOLLO 11 MOON LANDING”. It opened my eyes to some of the
16 Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus
challenges NASA faced 45 years ago when they landed the first man on the moon. They did
not know it would succeed; there were no prototype and trials. It was a team of scientists
figuring out what would be the challenges, and connecting myriad dots to find the best
possible solution that would have the highest probability of success.
6. A willingness to fall down, and rise up; again and again
Finally, the best innovators and entrepreneurs don't give up easily. But they also know when
to stop trying, cut their losses, and move on. Success is almost always built on a hundred
failures. Dream big, be prepared and willing to fail, and having fallen, to rise and do it right, do
it better, and do it differently.
Closing
In closing, I ask every one of you to think what you can do to plant a seed every day that will
encourage and nurture creativity and innovation.
My best wishes are with you as you step out into the world outside today. I wish you all
success in your chosen endeavours, and I know that you will bring pride and glory to your
alma mater.
Kumar Mangalam Birla
Chancellor
Birla Institute of Technology and Science
Pilani | Dubai | Goa | Hyderabad
Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus 17
VICE-CHANCELLOR’S REPORT
Chief Guest for the occasion, Mr. Naveen Tewari, Founder and CEO, InMobi, Members of
Board of Governors, Members of the Senate, Faculty and Staff of K K Birla Goa campus, the
graduating Class of 2015, Ladies and Gentlemen: a very Good Morning to all of you.
It is a special honor for us to have Mr. Naveen Tewari as the Chief Guest for our convocation
in Goa. We are deeply indebted to you, Mr. Tewari, for accepting our invitation. Mr. Naveen
Tewari co-founded InMobi Technologies Private Limited in 2006 and serves as its Chief
Executive Officer. Mr. Tewari's journey started with McKinsey & Company, where he worked
on developing the go-to-market strategy for a large Indian conglomerate, as it entered the
telecom sector. He also worked with the top management of number of large software
companies and consumer product enterprises in India on various strategic issues.
It is my proud privilege to welcome you all to this happy occasion, Convocation 2015 in Goa,
and to highlight the achievements of BITS Pilani, and its four campuses taken together. This
report also brings out its future plans, and the challenges BITS Pilani faces going forward.
Prof. Punnekkat, Director of the K K Birla Goa campus, will present a report specific to Goa
campus.
As you are aware, BITS Pilani offers undergraduate, post-graduate and PhD programmes in
science, engineering, pharmacy, management and social sciences to over 12,000 students
from its four campuses in Pilani, Dubai, Goa and Hyderabad. While today students in the
undergraduate programmes account for nearly 87% of the student body, we expect the
share of post-graduate and PhD students to grow from the current 13% to nearly 20% by the
AY 2020-21. This change reflects our growing emphasis on pursuing an agenda for research
that aims to grow the number of PhD students from the current figure of 732 to over 1500 in
that period.
Prof. Vajja Sambasiva Rao
18 Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus
You are also aware, BITS Pilani was, in 2005, the first institution in India to conduct BITSAT,
an online examination for undergraduate admission. But, more importantly, it has conducted
BITSAT every year for eleven years without any disruption. This summer, nearly 163,000
students took the exam seeking admission to about 2275 seats in its 3 campuses in India.
The exam, spread over 21 days, was conducted at 63 centers, including the ones in
Srinagar, Siliguri and Agartala. This reflects our commitment to use technology to ensure our
admissions process is fair, transparent, and environment-friendly.
You will be pleased to note that during the AY 2014-15, 2878 students have graduated from
BITS Pilani with an under graduate or post-graduate degree. Of these over 575 will receive
two degrees under the Dual-degree programme, an option that only BITS Pilani provides. An
additional 59 students have graduated this year with a PhD. In the coming years, we expect
these numbers to grow significantly. By year AY 2020-21, the number of students completing
an undergraduate or post-graduate degree is expected to surpass 3,800, and those
graduating with a PhD should exceed 200.
This year for the first time BITS has admitted 28 international students at the Hyderabad
campus. These students were admitted on the basis of their scores in the advance SAT test.
The minimum cut off for the SAT score this year was 2200 and the admitted students are
interspersed in all streams offered at BITS Pilani. With growing number of students from
different countries, BITS Pilani looks forward to providing rich and global experience inside
and outside the classrooms to its diverse student population.
Thus far I have reported on programmes we run from our four campuses. You are aware of
BITS Pilani's pioneering role in offering UG/PG programmes to over 20,000 industry
professionals. Many of these are run in partnership with industrial organizations. This year,
6660 industry professionals will graduate with a formal degree for the first time in their lives or
will have upgraded their skills to keep up with a fast changing world. Going forward, the
enrollment is expected to exceed 35,000 by AY 2020-21.
Invariably, and justifiably, BITS Pilani is ranked amongst the top 6 or 7 publicly or privately
funded engineering institutions in India. This is not to mention we are consistently ranked no.
1 private university. Amongst universities, however, BITS Pilani's ranking has steadily
improved. International ranking agency, QS, has ranked BITS Pilani at 95 amongst all
universities in the 5 BRICS countries, and 14 within India. While that may not attract
accolade for us, BITS Pilani ranks high on “reputation amongst employers”,together
Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus 19
with many IITs. Clearly, we cannot remain content with that.
Going forward, we aspire to be listed as one of India's top research-led technical institutes by
academic year 2020-21, both in India and in Asia. While that may seem like a tall order, we
have begun work on a new set of big-ticket imperatives under project “Mission 2015” that will
enable our faculty and students together to excel in teaching, research, innovation,
entrepreneurship, and industry engagement. I will outline some of the projects we have
completed in the last two years. Later, I will mention imperatives that we have begun to focus
on since 2013.
1. Our aggressive plan to recruit research-focused faculty continues to gain traction. In the
last 4 years, we have hired over 250 faculty from about 30,000 applicants. I am glad to
share that a significant number of them have doctoral or post-doctoral experience from
the very best universities in India or abroad. Going forward, we propose to empower
existing faculty in various ways to ensure they contribute to growth and excellence at
BITS Pilani. This includes two innovative programmes “industry-immersion” and
“exposure to universities abroad”.
2. Our PhD programme and sponsored research projects are now feeding into each
other's growth. Success in these two areas gives us the confidence that we are on track
to be recognized globally for our focus on research. While the number of PhD students
has grown from 417 to over 750 during 2010 to 2015, the number of sponsored R&D
projects approved last year alone has grown from 41 to 67 and their worth from Rs.
6.52Cr.toRs. 16.00 Cr. in the corresponding period.
3. Our plans to upgrade the physical infrastructure across all Indian campuses have now
been cast in stone. Project “Parivartan” in Pilani campus envisages very significant
investment to expand or renovate academic areas and housing for students and faculty.
Similar projects for expanding capacity in Goa and Hyderabad campuses will now take
flight, given that we have recently received environment clearance from the concerned
governments.
4. In the last two years, we have started off-campus degree programmes for industry
professionals in partnership with 17 new organizations. In the coming weeks, we will
conclude similar partnerships with several more. Based on recommendations by
McKinsey on exploring new verticals, BITS Pilani will expand its footprint into
new industry segments, automobile engineering, for instance. To ensure that we
succeed, we have created a separate office to engage with industry. And to comply with
20 Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus
structure and syllabi suitably and significantly revised.
5. “Business incubators” established in the last 3 years on our Indian campuses are now
seeing an increasing interest on the part of faculty, students and the public. This has
been possible with generous support from DST and DEITY. Of noteworthy, agreements
have been signed to transfer technologies developed by faculty and students to
companies incubated by two such faculty and their students.
I will now turn my attention to the seven imperatives that we have taken up as part of Mission
2015. I will however speak about only two of them, which to my mind are game changers.
The other imperatives are:
• Faculty and Staff development,
• Industry Engagement,
• Innovation and Entrepreneurship,
• Internationalization, and
• Inter-disciplinary research.
• Quality assessment and assurance should be, and is, central to what we do as a
University. To do so, we are insisting that we collect and analyze feedback from
students, faculty, industry partners, and employers, among others. We are proposing to
similarly track quality of research publications as reflected by the journals where our
papers are published and by the number of citations for each paper. With help from
faculty from NUS Singapore, we are ready to launch what we term as “teaching/learning
centres” across our four campuses to ensure that younger faculty is equipped to deliver
quality instructions.
• “Technology enablement” is a game changer for us. Other than experiencing year-on-
year increase in students taking the online BITSAT, we are reaping rich dividend in the
form of conserving faculty time by utilizing high-definition video-conferencing and
classroom facilities we have across our campuses. Now that a full-scale
implementation of ERP is nearing completion, we will see how ERP will impact
transparency and speed in the way we do things. For a country with a growing economy
and growing aspirations, technology has to be at the core of expanding opportunities or
improving quality of education.BITS Pilani aspires to be a leader in this area. And this is
beginning to show. BITS Pilani has been given the inaugural FICCI Higher Education
Award 2014 for “ICT Integration” and by ASSOCHAM the National Education
UGC norms, all WILP programmes have now been renamed, and their curriculum
,
Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus 21
Excellence Award 2015 for “Best Use of ICT in Education”. More recently we were
recognized with Cisco Digital Literacy award, 2015. While on the subject of awards and
recognition, I must add our students have brought laurels to this institution by winning
international and national awards. To mention a few, this includes the Google Summer of
Code awards to 50 students, the ASME Old Guard Oral Presentation Competition, the
$35,000, Samsung's idea competition “My Visual Companion”, Gandhian Young
Technological Innovation Award 2015.
Not to be left behind, two of our colleagues from Hyderabad have been recognized with the
2015 Photon Research Award and the 2015 Award for Excellence in Pain research and
management in developing countries.
Various projects or programmes currently under implementation, together with those
proposed under Mission 2015, are part of a larger plan to grow the student body by70% in the
current decade, while transforming BITS Pilani to become a research-focused science and
technology institution.
I must pause here and speak about the challenges that limit the growth of universities in
India, particularly those that are independent, and not publicly funded. As a country that
dreams of double-digit economic growth, we will need to grow the enrolment in universities to
more than 50 Million students from over 28 Million today. This is no trivial task. If it costs Rs. 5
Lakh to create capacity for a single seat in a higher educational institution, the investment
required for the anticipated growth will be over Rs. 12 Trillion. A similar amount will be
required to upgrade existing universities and colleges. The question remains: how should we
create quality institutions of higher education in India, but do so at a scale and quality that
satisfies both the aspirations of the next generation as well as the needs of Indian economy.
Independent, privately-funded universities are an important part of the solution. Already,
they play an important role, given that private independent institutes enroll over 60%
students. Among these, many, together with BITS Pilani, stand out for their quality of
education, especially in engineering, management or medicine. Even as we speak, many
new universities, such as Ashoka University, Azim Premji University, Shiv Nadar University
are being established with private funding. Going forward, large-scale participation by the
private sector in higher education can and will become significant but only if the government
proactively encourages, facilitates and incentivizes independent initiatives.
22 Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus
Some of the required steps are clear. Clear procedures for land acquisition and for
environmental clearances will hasten the time required for establishing a new university. A
proactive stance of regulators such as UGC and AICTE will allow development of innovative
programmes. We propose two additional steps to empower private universities to increase
capacity, while boosting quality so that they will be listed among the best in the world.
The first proposal is to boost funding for research in universities. Constant engagement with
research is a key reason why faculty at IITs, IISc Bangalore or BITS Pilani are able to deliver
high quality education. However, establishing and maintaining labs that support post-
graduate education or research is expensive, something that cannot be recovered from
tuition fees that MEor PhD students pay. Even as funding to create or rebuild research labs is
drying up, funding agencies discriminate against private universities by insisting that they
arrange for 50% of the required funds. Further, even when research grants are given on a
competitive basis, some agencies have ruled that overheads that pay for expenses such as
electricity will no longer be provided to private universities. In contrast, top private
universities in the US such as MIT and Stanford University became research powerhouses
by accessing public funds disbursed by NSF or NIH, for instance. By offering equal access to
public funds for research, the government will significantly boost quality of education,
research and innovation at independent private universities.
The second proposal is for the governments to offer a large number of scholarships which
students can take to any public or private university. While philanthropy may help create new
facilities, it rarely pays for recurring expenditures. Tuition fees paid by students are the life
line to sustain year-on-year operations. In contrast, government-funded institutions charge
low fees precisely because they receive annual maintenance grants from the public
exchequer. Instead of directly supporting public universities, the government should
consider financing students who study there but pay full tuition fee with scholarships.
Students can there by choose the college that best meets their educational needs and
interests, regardless of whether it is private or public.
While access and affordability of higher education appear limited at this time, we believe that
a partnership between private initiative and government support suggested above would go
a long way in satisfying student aspirations and building India's human capital.
Before I close, I would like my faculty and staff to join me in congratulating all our students
who will be graduating today from K K Birla Goa campus. The degree awarded to you today
Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus 23
is a certificate for your academic qualification. However, I sincerely hope that the education
provided to you on this campus will lay a strong foundation for lifelong learning so that you
can face the challenges of life with confidence and determination. I am confident, as
ambassadors of BITS Pilani, you will continue to strive in enhancing the reputation of your
Alma Mater. Congratulations, once again.
Mr. Naveen Tewari, thank you once again for agreeing to be with us at this very joyous
moment. My faculty, staff and students are as grateful as I am. They are eagerly waiting to
hear your convocation address.
I would also like to thank our Chancellor, Shri Kumar Mangalam Birla, and members of the
Board of Governors for their unflinching support to BITS Pilani.
Last, but not the least, I want to thank my faculty and staff in Goa, and elsewhere, for their
commitment to excel in every aspect of teaching and research, both inside and outside the
classrooms. Their continued effort helps BITS Pilani retain its position as a top destination for
students, faculty and recruiters in India.
Thank you for your attention.
Vajja Sambasiva Rao
Senior Professor & Acting Vice Chancellor
Birla Institute of Technology and Science
Pilani | Dubai | Goa | Hyderabad
24 Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus
DIRECTOR'S REPORT
Chief Guest of today's Convocation at the BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa campus, Mr. Naveen
Tewari; Acting Vice Chancellor, Prof. V. S. Rao; Members of the Board of Governors;
Directors; Members of the Senate; distinguished guests; parents and relatives of the
graduating students; students, faculty and staff of K K Birla Goa campus; members of the
press; and most importantly, the shining stars of today – the graduating students from this
campus ;
A very good morning and a hearty welcome to all of you!
This year, 673 of our students are eligible to receive their degrees, 608 of them their first
degree; 178 of them their first degree along with another degree under the dual degree
scheme; 59 of them their higher degree; and 6 of them their PhD degree. In this batch, we
have three medalists: Gold medal: Ms. Muthkhod Shridevi Sharangowda, Silver medal: Ms.
Pooja Malik and Bronze medal: Ms. Zantye Manali Sunil. At the outset, let me congratulate
each and every one of you.
Our campus
This campus is the dream-come-true of our respectful former Chancellor, Dr. K K Birla, the
son of the legendary Dr. G. D. Birla. He was a successful industrialist, a renowned
philanthropist and an active Parliamentarian. Known for his vision and meticulous planning,
Dr. Birla saw to it that the campus came up with all the necessary infrastructure in two years
time well before admitting the first batch of 600 students in August 2004. This fully residential
campus has been built on an area of 180 acres with a capital investment of about 155 crores
and has been named after Dr. K K Birla.
Prof. Sasikumar Punnekkat
Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus 25
Educational system
The Goa campus of BITS Pilani offers 10 first degree programmes, 5 higher degree
programmes and PhD programme. With an annual intake of 660 students, the campus now
has a total strength of about 2800 students. We have embarked upon an ambitious growth
plan over the next 5-6 years, wherein the student population as well as the faculty strength
will almost be doubled with added focus on post-graduate and research programmes.
Since the seventies, BITS had pioneered several educational reforms, such as semester
system, credit based system, transparent admission process, continuous and total internal
evaluation, letter grading, academic flexibilities which include the well known dual degree
scheme, periodic revision of curriculum in tune with the needs of industry and practice-
oriented learning apart from classroom teaching.
The BITS Practice School programme running for the past 4 decades is unique in this
country wherein students spend seven and a half months on projects in the industry. This
programme is an integral part of the curriculum enabling our students to practice what they
learn in the classrooms. Every semester, about 300 students of this campus are occupied in
about 50 locations supervised by an equal number of faculty members. We have been
fortunate to receive industrial patronage for this innovative program and most of our students
receive generous stipends during this period.
In recent years, many of our students have been pursuing their thesis work either at our
research labs or in the prestigious institutions of national and international repute, as an
alternative to Practice School. Students of this campus have been carrying out their thesis
work at various prestigious universities and labs across the globe such as: Belgium: Vrije
University, Brussels, Canada: University of Montreal, Finland: Aalto University, France:
INRIA, ENSTA Paris Tech, LIAFA University, Paris, Telecom Paristech, TSI department,
Paris Descartes University, Germany: IECR (Institute of Energy and Climate Research), TU
Darmstadt, University of Heidelberg, Iceland: Reykjavik University, India: IITs, IISC, TIFR,
ISRO, IISERs, NPL, Microsoft Research labs, Italy: University of Brescia, Portugal: IST,
Singapore:National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, Spain:
University of Zaragoza, Sweden: Uppsala University,UK: University of Westminster,
Imperial College and USA: University of Michigan,University of Maryland, Georgia Institute
of Technology, University of California Davis and Vanderbilt University,
26 Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus
New Initiatives
The telepresence facility established in January 2013 is extensively used for cross campus
meetings, discussions and also for offering courses. As of date 60 courses have been
conducted across the campuses using this facility.
As part of the Vision 2020 - Mission 2015 imperative to improve on the quality of industry
engagement in various aspects of the academic programme in BITS Pilani, a workshop was
conducted in September 2014.
A workshop for selected faculty from all campuses including off campus was conducted
under Mission 2015, Interdisciplinary research initiative in November 2014. The focus areas
of research for this workshop were Disaster Management, Sanitation, and Health. The
invited speakers were Dr. Neelima Thota, Director - Araghyam, Bengaluru, Dr. Mylles
Elledge, Senior Director RTI International, North Carolina- USA, Prof D. Balasubramaniam –
Director Research LV Prasad EYE Institute, Hyderabad, and Prof Vinod K Sharma, Indian
Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi.
Teaching Learning Centres (TLC) have been set up at the four campuses at Pilani, Dubai,
Goa and Hyderabad to carry out research on innovative teaching pedagogy, collection of
good practices of teaching learning and disseminate such practices among the faculty,
conduct intensive teaching workshops and invite experts from India and abroad to deliver
lectures on relevant topics. In this regard the Quality Assurance and Assessment Imperative
team under BITS Pilani's Mission 2015 conducted a workshop on effective teaching and
learning during 18th-20th July, 2015 at K K Birla Goa Campus wherein faculty members
associated with newly constituted Teaching Learning Centre's from all the campuses
participated. The resource persons for this workshop included Prof. Lakshminarayanan
Samavedam, NUS Singapore, Prof. Daphne Pan, NUS Singapore, Dr. Rajendra Joshi,
Mission 10X Wipro, Bangalore and Ms. Kiruthika Ragupathi, NUS, Singapore along with
Prof. A. K. Sarkar, Director, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus as well as Prof. K. E. Raman, Ex.
Director, BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus.
We recently launched the Entrepreneur in Residence program (EIR) to provide students and
interested faculty with a unique opportunity to meet one-on-one with successful
entrepreneurs. The mentoring program is aimed to support an entrepreneurial ecosystem
that is being laid down by the University through teaching and applied research, setting up of
incubators on each campus, providing seed fund opportunities and IPR support
Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus 27
mechanisms to encourage innovation.The programme was launched on 15th October, 2014
by BITS Pilani alumnus Mr. Phanindra Sama the Co-Founder of redBus. During the
weeklong program he held discussions with students and faculty and addressed concerns
regarding startups and pursuing entrepreneurship as careers.
Research at BITS
Research at BITS is an integral activity that encompasses teaching and utilizes its linkages
with the outside world of Academia and Industry. A large number of students from all the
three-tiers are involved in research. In addition to Doctoral research, at the first degree level,
a one-semester full-time, thesis-cum-seminar course and at the higher degree level,
dissertation course offer excellent research opportunities to our students.
Research Highlights
At present, the campus has 67 sponsored research projects including 4 consultancy projects
worth Rs. 22.77 Crores funded by various National and International funding agencies.
Among these research projects, 24 new projects worth Rs. 6.41 Crores have been approved
during 2014-15. The funding agencies being DST, CSIR, DBT, UKIERI, GAIL, ICAR, UGC-
DAE, BRNS, DRDO, BRFST, ICSSR, DST-WOS, DST-INSPIRE, University of California,
Kurade Agro, ONGC, Hitachi, MOEF, Lockheed Martin, USA, and Accenture, USA.
During the period DST- FIST support was received by the Department of Chemical
Engineering (Rs.31 lakh) and Department of Mathematics (18.75 lakh).
Some of our significant ongoing research projects include:
• Prof. K. R. Anupama (EEE&EI)- project on “Design and development of condition
based monitoring of pipelines using wireless sensor networks” funded by GAIL for
Rs. 95.87 lakhs.
• Prof. Santonu Sarkar (CS & IS) -project on “Addressing challenges in application
development for heterogeneous computing platform for speedup and power
efficiency” – funded by DST for Rs. 37.55 lakhs.
• Prof. Dibakar Chakrabarty (Biological Sciences)- project on “Anticoagulant platelet
aggregation inhibitors from Indian cobra and viper venoms” – funded by DBT for Rs.
36.54 lakhs.
28 Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus
Prof. Vijayashree Nayak, (Biological Sciences) - project on “Study on EMT
regulation through TGFâ/SMADs in gall bladder disease” – funded by SERB for Rs.
38 lakhs.
• Dr. Asima Shaukat (Chemical Engineering) -The INSA Inspire Faculty for the project
"Rheological Dynamics of polymer layered silicate/grapheme nano-composites” -
funded by DST for Rs. 35 lakhs.
• Prof. P. M. Singru (Mechanical Engineering) - The RO/RO challenge award award
from Lockheed Martin USA for USD 25,000.
• Prof Santonu Sarkar (CS & IS)- Accenture Research Grant of USD 25,000, being
among 11 researchers from leading international Universities.
Other significant achievers were: Dr. Ranjit Patil, Mechanical Engineering, SERB 27.66
lakhs, Dr. Angshuman Sarkar, Biological Sciences, DBT 23.55 lakhs, Prof Sunil Bhand,
Chemistry, BRNS Rs 24.75 lakhs. Prof. M. Srikanth, Biological Sciences received a
consultancy project worth Rs. 16.00 lakh from Ms Hitachi India Pvt. Ltd. Prof. Utpal Roy,
Biological Sciences received a DST project in the field of antifungal drug discovery in
collaboration with PGIMER, Chandigarh. He is also mentoring DST-WOS (Dr. Purnima
Singh) with a funding of Rs. 18 lakhs. Prof. R. N. Behera Department of Chemistry (Mentor
for Dr. A. Panda) DST-WOS project Rs. 17 lakhs.
Additional competitive grant to encourage research among new faculty members on a
competitive basis was introduced. In the first round Dr. Ranjit Patil; Mechanical Engineering,
Dr. Asima Shaukat; Chemical Engineering, Dr. Indrani Talukdar; Biological Sciences, Dr.
Amlin Prince; EEE&I, Prof Santonu Sarkar and Prof. Ashwin Srinivasan, Department of
Computer Science and Information Systems were awarded grants totaling Rs. 40 Lakhs.
Collaborations
The Institute has collaborative arrangements with several foreign universities in order to
promote joint research activities and the exchange of faculty, students and published
material. Notable among them is the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences,
Bethesda, Maryland, USA, Laboratoire de Biotechnologie de l'Environnement, INRA,
Narbonne, France, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig, Germany and
Cypress Semiconductors, California, USA. National collaborations include Indian Naval
Academy, Ezhimala, Kerala, Goa state pollution control board (GSPCB), Hitachi India Pvt
Ltd, R.D. Aga Research Technology and Innovation Centre of Thermax Limited, M/s Kurade
Agro Goa and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited.
•
Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus 29
Memorandum of Understanding was signed with WindSim AS, Norway in September 2014
to improve the exchange of knowledge and experience within the area of wind energy
technology. MoU was also signed with the National Institute of Wind Energy Chennai,
Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India in February 2015 for
research in wind power development. A MoU was recently signed in July 2015 with NIO, Goa
to augment the research in the area of Chemistry, Biology and Engineering disciplines.
Achievements
Since 2011, researchers from Goa campus have authored 400+ SCOPUS journal
publications. During 2014, our researchers published 123 articles in International Journels,
44 publications in Conferences and 15 Book chapters. Last year 3 patents (including one
US patent) were filed by our faculty. So far, 32 Ph.D. students graduated from the Goa
Campus and the number of Ph.D. students currently registered is177.
Many of our faculty members have brought laurels to this campus through their academic
and research endeavors- some examples are:
Prof. Narendra Nath Ghosh, Department of Chemistry visited University of Leeds under the
Indo-UK (DST-UKIERI) project together with one Ph.D. student. Dr. Narendra Nath Ghosh
and Prof G F Fernando (University of Birmingham, UK) have jointly received the prestigious
Newton Research Collaboration award from Royal Academy of Engineering, UK for
conducting collaborating research in the area of Advanced Nano composite based
Materials. Prof. Ghosh has also been awarded the Outstanding Reviewer Status by the
Journal “Materials Chemistry and Physics”, published by Elsevier.
Dr. Sukanta Mondal, Department of Biological Sciences, paper published in the journal of
Theoretical Biology featured on Global Medical Discovery as a key scientific article
contributing to excellence in Biomedical research.
Under the University Immersion Programme this year Prof. Anjan Chattopadhyay visited
University of Heidelberg, Germany. He was hosted by Prof. (Dr.) Horst Koppel and worked
on Computational photochemistry and photodynamics of some substitutedpolyene
(Hexatriene) system. Dr. Sumit Biswas visited Freie Universitat, Berlin, He was hosted by
Prof. Udo Heinemann and worked on Structural studies on novel protein from Moringa
Oleifera.
Under the Industry Immersion Programme,
• Prof. Utpal Roy visited the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research
30 Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus
(PGIMER), Chandigarh and worked on the Molecular Identification of Hospital-
acquired Fungal isolates by MALDI-Biotyping and Amplified Fragment Length
Polymorphism (AFLP).
• Dr. Sachin Waigaonkar visited GMI Zarahak Moulders Pvt. Ltd., Verna, Goa and
worked on the Development of Low cost Mould Internal Temperature Monitoring
system for Controlling Rotational Moulding
• Prof. Halan Prakash visited the National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and
Technology (NIIST), Thiruvananthapuram and worked on the Pollution control /
Oxidant Activators, Advanced oxidation processes.
• Dr. Ranjit S. Patil visited the Shri. Mahankali Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana Ltd.,
Sangli, Maharashtra and worked on the Energy Conservation & Co-generation. Dr.
Ranjit S. Patil also received the OPERA (Outstanding Potential Excellence in
Research and Academics) Award by BITS Pilani based on Performance in
Research and Academics.
Our faculty from the Departments of Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Mathematics,
Computer Science, Economics, Humanities and Social Sciences have presented their
research findings and participated in international conferences at USA, The Netherlands,
Italy, Japan and Bangkok.
A number of international dignitaries visited the campus. Notable amongst them are Nobel
Laureate, Prof. Jean-Marie Lehn of the Institute of Supramolecular Science and
Engineering, University of Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg, Ambassador of France, H. E. Mr.
François Richier and Professor Paul Millner of University of Leeds. A delegation from
University of Tartu visited BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus on 12th February 2015 in
connection with Erasmus Plus and a joint Master's programme in Analytical Chemistry.
Subsequently, an MoU has been signed between both the Institutions. Dr Vince Cable,
Member of Parliament, Government of UK along with his officials and delegation visited
BITS Pilani , K K Birla Goa Campus on 11 October 2014. He addressed the students and
faculty members across all campuses of BITS Pilani using Tele presence facility on the
opportunities of higher education in UK.
A number of conferences and workshops were hosted at Goa campus during 2014 –15,
which enabled the students and faculty to network with experts from various fields and
exchange ideas with them:
Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus 31
Space, Place, Travel, Displacement, Exile: The annual conference of IACLALS
(Indian Association of Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies) was
organized by the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences in February 2015
and was inaugurated by Padma Shri Dr. Maria Aurora Couto.
• ACM India Event – 2015: The Annual three day event was held during 5 - 7 February
2014. The Keynote lecture was delivered by Professor John E. Hopcroft (1986 A. M.
Turing award winner) on the 'Future of Computer Science'. The Annual flagship
event is a meeting of ACM India.
• XXIX SERC Main school in Theoretical High Energy Physics (SERCTHEP): The
school was organized by the Physics Department during December 20, 2014 to
January 8, 2015. It was funded by SERB, DST, Govt. of India.
• Conference on Decentralized Biogas digesters and their slurry management : The
two-day conference was organized in association with Institute of Agricultural and
Urban Ecological Projects (IASP), affiliated to Berlin Humboldt University, Germany
in November 2014. This conference brought together researchers, scientists and
professionals working in the field of biogas production and slurry management so
as to share experiences, update technologies and provide a platform for strong
collaborative network. It was inaugurated by Dr. Pramod, V. Pathak, Member
Secretary, Goa Energy Development Agency, The Keynote Speech was delivered
by Padmashri Dr. Sharad Kale from BARC.
• International Conference on Towards Ecocultural Ethics: Recent Trends and Future
Directions:The three-day International Conference was organized by the
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences in association with ASLE ( American
Society for Literature and Environment). In his inaugural address, Prof. Mark C
Long, President ASLE (American Society for Literature and Environment) and
Professor at Keene State University, USA, spoke on “The Ecological Arts :
Humanities, Technology and Science”.
• International Conference on Changing Contours of Indo-US Relations: Perceptions,
Continuity and Change : Departments of Humanities & Social Sciences and
Economics jointly organized the three-day conference in collabration with Indian
Council of World Affairs (ICWA), Brooklings India, National Council for Antarctic and
Ocean
•
32 Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus
Research (NCAOR), International Centre, Goa (ICG), Dept. of Science, Technology
& Environment, Goa and the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR).
• Advances in Robotics (AIR-2015): This conference was inaugurated on 2nd July
2015 by Prof. Dr. Roland Yves Siegwart, Professor of Robotics, ETH Zurich,
Switzerland. The conference was jointly organized by 'The Robotics Society of
India' and BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus. Keynote speakers included Dr.
Steven LaValle (University of Illinois) and Dr. Jae Bok Song (Korea University).
• National Graduate Physics Examination (NGPE) 2015 Part C, an examination in
experimental skill was conducted by Department of Physics on Sunday, June 7,
2015. Prof. Arun V. Kulkarni was the Examination Superintendent where in
twenty students among 102 National Toppers qualified for this examination.
The Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) at BITS Pilani, K K Birla
Goa Campus in association with the Department of Information Technology, Government of
India has established a Technology Business Incubator under the TIDE scheme to
embolden the spirit of technology based innovation and entrepreneurship. Presently there
are three startups; Sustainable Biosolutions LLP and Bactreat Envvironmental solutions
LLP and Sattva MedTech. Sattva MedTech was selected as a Top 50 Innovator in the India
Innovation Growth Programme, organized by DST, Lockheed Martin, FICCI and Stanford
University in 2014.
Our students have always enjoyed a pride of place in our success by winning honors in
various spheres. Often we find number of students opting for internships abroad (France,
Germany, and USA) out of their own initiatives during the summer of their third year. They
participate in various competitions and win accolades for the campus. Our research scholars
too have received a number of awards and scholarships. Some of the achievements for the
year 2014-15 are:
• Mr. S. Arun karthick, Research Scholar from Department of Physics working under
the supervision of Prof. Nandakumar received a Scholarship of 800 Euros and
registration fee waiver to participate in the 18th International Microscopy congress
(IMC-2014) held in Prague, Czech Republic.
• Mr. Rajat Mishra (2011B4A7564G) has been one of 15 recipients of the National
Scholarship to Young Artists 2014-16 Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India in the
category Light Classical Music.
Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus 33
CSIR –Senior Research Fellowships were awarded to Ms. Deepthi Das, Dept. of
Biological Sciences, Ms. Priyanka Dwivedi, Dept. of Biological Sciences and Ms.
Chetana Deoghare, Dept. of Chemistry.
• Mr. Krunal K Patel, student of CS Department received an international job offer
with salary package of $ 1,35,000 from Google.
• Mr. Raghav Parwal (student of Mechanical Engineering) received a project of
$25,000 to develop Roll-on/Roll-off Design for Lockheed Martin Corporation, USA.
• Ms. Sanskriti Dawle and Mr. Aman Srivastava (students of CS Dept) have
developed Mudra a – Braille Dicta – Teacher for blind users, which received Prof.
Suresh Ramaswamy award.
• 15 of our students were selected for the Google Summer of Code (GSoC) this year.
Apart from their scholastic records, students of Goa campus are actively involved in various
extracurricular activities: Three festivals, namely, Waves (cultural), Quark (Techno-
management) and Spree (Sports) all were organized by students at the All-India level with a
host of interesting and challenging events. They also demonstrate their sensitivity to the
needs of the society by organizing social service activities through two forums, Nirman and
Abhigyan.
At this juncture, I would like to acknowledge the significant contributions made by Prof. K E
Raman, former director of BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa campus.
BITS Pilani is at an important stage of growth and all the faculty, staff and students at the Goa
Campus are looking forward to meet the challenges in meeting our Vision 2020. The growing
profile of achievements of our faculty and students, together with the dynamic leadership of
our Chancellor Dr. Kumar Mangalam Birla, makes us absolutely confident of reaching higher
heights in terms of educational, scientific and technological excellence in the coming years.
Dear graduating students; I am confident that you all are capable of excelling in your careers
and future endeavors and will bring laurels to self, your families, BITS Pilani and our Nation.
My best wishes to all of you to be great achievers!
Sasikumar Punnekkat
Senior Professor & Director
Birla Institute of Technology and Science
K K Birla Goa Campus
•
34 Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus
INTRODUCTION TO THE CHIEF GUEST
Naveen is the founder of InMobi. His philosophy of constant innovation and disruption is
embedded deep into the DNA of InMobians and is resonated across InMobi. His dream is to
re-imagine advertising in a truly 'user-first' way and unlock the true potential of the mobile
ecosystem.
He has a Bachelor's degree from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT) and a Master's
degree in Business Administration from Harvard Business School, where he was also
bestowed with the Dean's Award, for his exceptional leadership and contribution. In 2013, his
alma mater, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur also honored him with the esteemed
'Distinguished Alumnus Award' for his excellence in entrepreneurship.
Naveen is involved in the fueling of around 30 start-ups as yet in India and has personally
invested and supported several start-ups like NestAway, SlideRule, Mettl, Moneysights,
Bombay Canteen, Zimmber, Razorpay etc. A believer that start-ups will be the pillars of
growing India, he co-founded iSPIRT, which is a change agent with the brain of a think tank
and aims to address government policy, create market catalysts, and grow the maturity of
product entrepreneurs in order to transform India into a hub for new generation software
products.
He also founded and chairs a U.S. based nonprofit called India School Fund which funds and
sets up schools in rural India, a cause he cares deeply for. Naveen is the board member of
Paytm and has been recognized for his entrepreneurial skills at various platforms. He
received several awards and recognitions over the last several years:
Naveen TewariFounder & Chief Executive Officer
Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus 35
Minister, 2015
• Fortune's '40 under 40' most powerful, influential and important people in
business, 2015
• The 'Pathbreaker of the Year' Award, 2014
• Forbes India Leadership Award for 'Outstanding Start Up', 2014
• 100 Most Creative People, 2014 across the world
• The 'Pathbreaker of the Year' Award, 2013 presented by Shri Narendra Modi,
Indian Prime Minister
• 7th Most Important Person' by Business Insider's the Mobile Power List, 2013
• Mobile Top 50' in The Drum, 2013
• 2nd Most Important Person' by Business Insider's the Mobile Power List, 2012
An avid fan of cricket, Naveen is a fitness enthusiast and his early morning routine alternates
between a long run outdoors and a cycling trip around the less crowded parts of the city.
• Future Leaders Award presented by Shri Narendra Modi, Indian Prime
36 Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus
LIST OF STUDENTS WHO ARE AWARDED MEDALS
Sl.No
Name and ID No. Photograph CGPAobtained
Positionobtained
Type ofMedal to
be awarded
1
2
MUTHKHOD
SHRIDEVI
SHARANGOWDA
2011A8PS005G
POOJA MALIK
2011A7PS003G
ZANTYE MANALI
SUNIL
2011A1PS426G
9.81
9.78
FIRST
SECOND
GOLD
SILVER
3 9.63 THIRD BRONZE
Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus 37
th thGRADUATION DATA (76 and 77 AWARD)
BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus
CONVOCATION 2015
M.E.Biotechnology
M.E. Chemical
M.E. Embedded Systems
M.E. Software Systems
M.E. Design Engineering
M.E. Microelectronics
Chemical Engineering
Electrical & Electronics
Engineering
Electronics & Instrumentation
Mechanical Engineering
Computer Science
Information Systems
Biological Sciences
Chemistry
Economics
Mathematics
Physics
ProgrammesB.E./B.Pharm.
(Hons.)S. No.
M.Sc.
(Hons.)
M.Sc.
(Tech.)H.D Ph.D. Total
76 - - - - 76
118 - - - - 118
116 - 116
114 - - - 1 115
125 - - - - 125
- - 50 - - 50
- 39 - - 2 41
- 30 - - 3 33
- 43 - - - 43
- 40 - - - 40
- 35 - - - 35Physics
- - - 7 - 7
- - - 10 - 10
- - - 13 - 13
- - - 9 - 9
549 187 50 59 6 851
10 - 10
- - - 10 - 10
38 Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus
th th76 and 77 Award
CONVOCATION - 20159th August, 2015
LIST OF STUDENTS RECOMMENDED FOR CONFERMENT OF VARIOUS DEGREESBITS PILANI, K K BIRLA GOA CAMPUS
Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus 39
40 Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus
Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus 41
42 Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus
Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus 43
44 Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus
Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus 45
46 Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus
Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus 47
48 Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus
Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus 49
50 Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus
Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus 51
52 Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus
Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus 53
54 Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus
Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus 55
56 Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus
Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus 57
58 Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus
Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus 59
60 Convocation 2015, K K Birla Goa Campus
“On this solemn occasion, Convocation 2015 at Goa and in the
presence of my teachers and family, I pledge to use my
knowledge and experience gained at BITS Pilani and
elsewhere in the service of the people of my country and of the
world. I will do so while adhering to the highest ethical
standards, in harmony with the environment, and with utmost
humility, honesty and devotion, and thereby bring glory to my
family, my Alma mater, my profession, and my country.”
Oath
leadinnovate achievevate
Phone: +91 832 2580139www.bits-goa.ac.in
Birla Institute of Technology & Science, PilaniK K Birla Goa Campus NH 17B, Zuarinagar, Goa, India.