BITSAA Initiatives   

sponsored by Ministry of Environment & Forests (MOEF) - New Delhi, All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE)-New Delhi, Department of Science & Technology (DST) - New Delhi, National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development (NABARD) - Mumbai, Hindustan Zinc Ltd (HZL) - Udaipur, Tata BP Solar India Ltd - Bangalore, University Grants Commission (UGC) - New Delhi, and Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) - New Delhi.

Prof B V Babu of BITS Pilani the Organizing Secretary introduced the conference theme to the audience. Prof L K Maheshwari Vice Chancellor BITS Pilani in his address emphasized on the challenges posed by e-Waste. Prof Jayant M Modak from IISc Bangalore who was the Chief Guest spoke at length on interdisciplinary approach, sustainable technology, nanotechnology, biotechnology etc in the context of Environmental Conservation. Prof KE Raman Deputy Director BITS Pilani spoke on the Institute's approach towards the theme of the conference and Dr V Ramakrishna the Joint Organizing Secretary of the conference gave the Vote of thanks.

The deliberations of the conference focused on the issues of Environmental Conservation holistically in various sessions covering Process Improvements & Life Cycle Analysis, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Socio-Economic Management Issues as well as Industrial Experiences & Planning Aspects for Industrial Zoning.

The function was organized jointly by Professor V. Lakshminarayanan Memorial Trust and the Chennai chapter of BITSAA to coincide with the birth centenary celebration of the acedemic. A seminar is organized on campus on September 16, when a potrait of V. Lakshminarayanan would be unvield.

Mr. Roongta started his career in SAIL in 1972 as a Sales Executive in the marketing department and held different roles in the company in the last 34 years. Known for his analytical skill and strategic thinking, he spearheaded several marketing initiatives for the company. The Sandpaper newsletter team would like to congratulate Sushil for his new role and wish him well.

"76EEE056" at BITS, international IT expert - Amit Sheth was named the LexisNexis Eminent Scholar for Advanced Data management and Analysis at Wright State University. Sheth is currently a professor in the Department of Computer Science and director of the LSDIS Lab, both at the University of Georgia, and co-founder and Chief Technical Officer of Semagix, Inc., headquartered in White Plains, N.Y. Sheth has founded two start ups and published more than 200 papers and articles and authored/edited four books. He has organized eight international meetings and holds two patents. He earned his Ph.D. in computer and information science at The Ohio State University. In a personal communication with the sandpaper team, Sheth hopes for more BITSians to go for a PhD. His top three reasons for doing a PhD are:
1. If you want to have a high degree of independence and "self governance" in your career.
2. If you want to be a thought leader in your area of specialization
3. If you want an option to be a professor (even if some time in future) which would bring more job security

IEEE - Solid State Circuits Pre-doctoral fellowship Award

This program ran from 1983 to 2002, but had been suspended from 2003 to 2005. The fellowship for 2006-2007 includes a stipend of $15,000, tuition and fees up to a maximum of $8,000, and a grant of $2,000 to the department in which the recipient is registered.
Congratulations to our 2002 EEE alumni Chinmaya Mishra for winning it this year!