BITSAA Newsletter February 2007

A Bangalore BITSian gang led by Okri (98A7) has started a theatre group, Version One Dot Oh (VODO)!  [More]

The next BITSAA-Bangalore, Get-Together is scheduled for March 3, 2007 (Saturday) at Rotary Club, 20 (Old. Number 40/1), Lavelle Road (next to Hotel Rama/Rice Bowl/Mandovi Motors).  [More]

The Economics department at BITS Goa is planning to organize an international conference on Marine Economics, Water resources and Coastal Region development (MEWCOR).  [More]

Founded by three BITSians, RedBus is the first-of-its-kind online travel portal catering to bus ticket bookings to offer consolidated bus ticket reservation facility.  [More]

CSB is a 4-year PhD program co-organized by active research teams in Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Singapore (National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, and A*STAR research institutes).  [More]

Professor Maheshwari talks about the entrepreneurship programs and incubation center that prevails at BITS, Pilani.  [More]

pAdal – a Tamil music album was released earlier this year. The executive producers for the album are BITSians Shankar Nagarajan and Srivatsa Srinivasan besides the composer Srikanth Devarajan.   [More]

STMicroelectronics, one of the world's largest semiconductor manufacturers, is setting up joint state-of-the-art research and innovation labs at BITS Pilani and IIT Delhi.  [More]

The full service advertising agency Brand Portrait Consulting Pvt Ltd has appointed Rajesh Ananthasubramanian as CEO of its US and Canadian operations.  [More]

Early this year, a group of wingies from the 1994 batch (called Diljale (DJ)) helped 200 Grade 1- through 5 students at Government High School, Rakesra, India get uniforms and shoes, hoping that the kids will have one less thing to worry about this winter.  [More]

MSc Finance alum, Neel Broker, has transitioned from ICV to join Merrill Lynch's Global Principal Investment Group in Asia.  [More]

A Bangalore BITSian gang led by Okri (98A7) has started a theatre group, Version One Dot Oh (VODO)!  “Shadows in the Dark” a production of VODO was staged in Mumbai at the Mysore Association Auditorium in Matunga on 9^th Feb 2007. “Shadows in the Dark” is an English translation of Sriranga’s renowned play “Kattale Belaku” written in the 1950s.  The play wonderfully depicts the need for theatre to re-invent new forms to keep the art and its need in society vibrant. Although there is no story with a beginning or a happy ending, the plot revolves around three men discussing a play and dropping scenes as impractical and irrelevant to daily life, while the very scenes happen around them.

 VODO also staged “When the pythons followed the actor” on 10^th Feb at the Rang Sharda Auditorium in Bandra, Mumbai. This play is an adaptation of Christopher Durang’s “An actors nightmare" and 3 sketches from Monty Python Flying Circus television series, strung together to produce a 70-minute rib tickling comedy." An Actor's Nightmare" is reflective of every actor's nightmare of ending up on stage in a performance completely clueless about the lines, the characters and the plot. The Actor's nightmare in Durang's work ends up as an illogical and disconnected series of episodes from other well-known plays. VODO chose to adapt 3 hilarious sketches. The experiment of sorts resulted in three theatrical sketches quite different from the original.
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Wouldn’t it be great to book bus tickets online, just like air and railways! Red Bus is the portal you want to go to. Founded by three BITSians, RedBus is the first-of-its-kind online travel portal catering to bus ticket bookings to offer consolidated bus ticket reservation facility. Mentored by The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), an international organization of entrepreneurs, the service is being launched in the Hyderabad after its success in Bangalore. It enables passengers to select seats from the seat layout. You can choose from multiple travel operators and make online payment using secure payment gateway. Besides being a 24x7 online booking facility, the service also caters to home delivery requests. For information, log on to www.redbus.in.
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pAdal – a Tamil music album was released earlier this year. The executive producers for the album are BITSians Shankar Nagarajan and Srivatsa Srinivasan besides the composer Srikanth Devarajan. Padal©, which translates to "Songs" in English features 10 tracks in Tamil, ranging from youthful to romantic, humorous and classical songs steeped in culture. Srikanth explores a wide range of musical techniques and song concepts in this music album. The album has an innovative mix of style and substance, embodifying the creativity of the composer. Padal© features Karthik, one of the leading film playback singers in India besides talented vocalists, lyricists and instrumentalists from USA. The composer, executive producers and the production crew involved in this album have worked diligently over the last year to make this production a grand musical success. Padal © is being released in the US by H1BEES Inc.

Here are some more details on the album.

 Music Composed and Produced by
SRIKANTH DEVARAJAN

Vocalists:
Karthik [India], Vidyu, Alisha, Maha, Harini, Siddharth,
Chenthil, Kumar, Suresh, Sridhar, Srikanth, Shankar,
Babu, Ganesh, Cornelio and Miguel

Lyricists:
Priya, Srikanth, Udhaya, Arun Vaidyanathan and Sriram

Performances
Guitar: Suresh & Rick
Flute: Raman
Mirudangam: Gopinath
Ghatam: Giridhar
Handsonic & Darbuka: Srikanth
Tapatai/Drum: Karthik
Keyboards & Programming: Srikanth
Sound Engineers
Srikanth & Bharath

Studio: Studio1234, USA & Sai Presto, India
Mastered at: DiamonDISC Audio, Nashville, USA
CD Design: NiTPix, USA

Executive Producers:
Shankar Nagarajan, USA
Srikanth Devarajan, USA
Srivatsa Srinivasan, USA


For more Sample Clips vist:
WWW.H1BEES.COM

 
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The full service advertising agency Brand Portrait Consulting Pvt Ltd has appointed Rajesh Ananthasubramanian as CEO of its US and Canadian operations.

This appointment provides Brand Portrait with the opportunity to focus on international expansion and enter the US and Canadian market as it embarks on the first stage of its international development programme.

Prior to joining Brand Portrait Ananthasubramanian was the CEO of India Plaza, an online Indian shopping portal. He is the man behind the successful integration of two ecommerce websites (Indiaplaza.com and Fabmall.com) on a single technical platform — Microsoft.net technologies — and launching the largest gifting platform with a catalogue of more than 2 million products.

The preparation for a role as large as this came from his career track record in Marketing, Advertising, Banking and IT. Holding a Masters degree in Management Studies [M.M.S] from BITS, Pilani, Ananthasubramanian has experience in marketing, advertising, banking and information technology (IT).
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Many students in rural India stop going to schools in winter simply because they do not have proper uniforms and shoes to keep them warm. Early this year, a group of wingies from the 1994 batch (called Diljale (DJ)) helped 200 Grade 1- through 5 students at Government High School, Rakesra, India get uniforms and shoes, hoping that the kids will have one less thing to worry about this winter. DJs hope to make community giving an annual tradition. Many of us want to help improve our society but are often tied up in our daily lives. But DJs believe that it only takes a small effort to look around you and find ways to help your community. So next time you are in a laccha session, think about giving! Go DJs Go!
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MSc Finance alum, Neel Broker, has transitioned from ICV to join Merrill Lynch's Global Principal Investment Group in Asia. In this new role, he will primarily focus on building their investment platform in India. He will be based out of Hong Kong initially and expects to move to India in 2008. Sandpaper team wishes him good luck on this new and exciting opportunity. The best way to reach Neel is via email neel.broker@gmail.com
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The next BITSAA-Bangalore, Get-Together is scheduled for March 3, 2007 (Saturday) at Rotary Club, 20 (Old. Number 40/1), Lavelle Road (next to Hotel Rama/Rice Bowl/Mandovi Motors). On behalf of the BITSAA-Bangalore Society, takes pleasure in inviting BITSians to participate in the event.

The reunion will have a special guest for the get-together. Dr. T C Goel, Director, BITS Pilani, Goa campus will be flying in specially to speak at the get-together. Here is your chance to listen to him, about his initiatives at the Goa Campus and ask questions at will.

The event is between 7.30pm - 10.00pm complete with starters, main course (veg/non-veg) and dessert served with drinks. Entry is free for all registered Annual and Life members of BITSAA-Bangalore. Non-Members will be charged Rs. 150/- for the event. You can pay in cash at the venue.
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CSB is a 4-year PhD program co-organized by active research teams in Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Singapore (National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, and A*STAR research institutes). Each student will be jointly supervised by one professor from MIT and one from Singapore for her/his thesis research. Students take courses offered either in Singapore or MIT, typically co-taught by professors from both sides, in addition to at least a 6-month residence requirement in MIT for courses and research. Full fee and stipends/living allowances as well as additional travel expenses will be awarded to all admitted students.

BITSians with background in either biology (with strong math skills), physics, chemistry, mathematics, computer science, or engineering are encouraged to apply.

CSB research projects will focus on the development of advanced technologies in biological imaging, and computational biology, and the application of these technologies to medically relevant problems in tissue biology such as stem cell differentiation, tissue morphogenesis, infectious disease models, and tissue physiology. For more information, go to:

http://web.mit.edu/sma/students/programmes/csb.htm

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The Economics department at BITS Goa is planning to organize an international conference on Marine Economics, Water resources and Coastal Region development (MEWCOR). If you or someone you know is in this line of work or this area of research – please send an email to vishal.sanghvi@intel.com and Sandpaper team will connect you to the group in BITS Pilani, Goa.
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Professor Maheshwari is the vice chancellor of BITS Pilani. He has held various top-level positions at the institution over the past 35 years and has published four books and over 80 research papers in the areas of semiconductor electronics and university-industry linkages. Professor Maheshwari talks about the entrepreneurship programs and incubation center that prevails at BITS, Pilani. He also talks about the vision of creating a Silicon Valley around educational institutes in India the same way Stanford University helped develop the valley.

 Here is the link to the podcast - Professor Maheshwari on Campus Entrepreneurship
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STMicroelectronics, one of the world's largest semiconductor manufacturers, is setting up joint state-of-the-art research and innovation labs at BITS Pilani and IIT Delhi. The partnership agreements aim to combine the best of ST's leading-edge electronic skills and capabilities with the educational and research talents of the two institutes. Both labs are expected to be operational by Q2 2007.

 The main objective of these partnerships is to facilitate proliferation of VLSI (Very Large Scale Integration) design and embedded systems knowledge among students by undertaking research projects with the involvement of faculty, students and ST representatives. The areas of initial research focus include - but are not limited to - analog and mixed-signal design in the area of VLSI, image and speech pattern recognition, sensory organ modeling and digital data protection in algorithm research, along with generic IP (Intellectual Property) blocks for embedded solutions.

 STMicroelectronics will equip the newly set-up labs with the necessary hardware, software tools, reference boards and technology parameters needed for successful execution of projects in the identified areas. BITS Pilani will provide the necessary space on the campus and assign a faculty member to participate in the partnership activities. Students and researchers will work on research projects jointly defined by ST and BITS Pilani.
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