President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, who was part of the annual convocation held on October 4, delivered the convocational address and awarded medals to outstanding students
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Roorkee situated in the foothill plain town of Roorkee in Uttarakhand along the holy river Ganges, is a legacy engineering and technology institution of India. One of the oldest (esb 1847) and largest (365 acres), IIT Roorkee is invariably a reputed member of IIT family and has been contributing to the pool of high caliber engineers, scientists and technocrats since its inception.
With a student population of over 10,000 in its 22 departments, the annual convocation is a big event usually spreading to two days but this year restricted to one day.
With President Kovind as the chief guest, who’s who of Uttarakhand state from Governor Baby Rani Maurya and Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat to union HRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, who is also the sitting MP from the area were in attendance for the decorated event. In all a total of 2029 degrees were awarded (1018 BTech, 702 Masters and 309 PhD degrees).
This Year 41 Gold medals were awarded to meritorious students (12 girl students). President Gold medal for securing highest CGPA amongst the graduating students was awarded to Pulkit Singal of B. Tech. Mechanical Engineering for securing 9.908 CGPA. Pulkit also got four other awards. He also received a cash prize of Rs50,000/ for his innovative B. Tech Project.
Tanvi Verma, a student of B. Tech. Engineering Physics, was another top performer of the graduating batch. She got a total five medals/ awards. There were at least five girl students who got more than two awards in this convocation.
This was the first time when IIT Roorkee gave out awards to Ph D scholars. A new award with the name of “Excellence in Doctoral Research” was started this year. Three Ph D scholars who got their doctorate degree in the convocation got this award. It is similar to Best PhD award given in many other institutes. Dr Pallavi Gupta, Centre for Nanotechnology, Dr. Dhiraj Raj, Department of Earthquake Engineering and Dr. Yogesh kumar Manibhai Makwana, Department of Electrical Engineering received this award. Each of them got Rs50, 000/- cash prize.
Prof. A. K. Chaturvedi, Director, IIT Roorkee in his director’s speech highlighted the institute’s major achievements and milestones of the last one year. He mentioned about a MoU with ISRO under which an ISRO-IITR Space Technology Cell will come up at IITR. “Several proposals are currently under discussion at ISRO centres for possible funding,” he added while saying the new cell will ensure a longterm focused engagement for technology development at IITR. He also mentioned about Centre of Excellence in Petrochemicals that has been set up with a funding of Rs 10.15 cr with the primary objective to produce polyurethane via propylene carbonate synthesis.
He also told about 153 companies coming for the first time for campus recruitment this year.
Addressing the convocation, President Ram Nath Kovind said: “Many of the alumni of IIT Roorkee have been nation builders in true sense. I believe that this Institute’s alumni can and should contribute to their alma mater. All of them have fortunate to have received world class education here. A huge part of the cost of their education has been borne by the taxpayers of the country. So, in whatever way you want, contributing back to the society and helping underprivileged people is your moral responsibility & duty. Your contribution will help improve our education system and your effort will be appreciated.”
He also shared his concern on gender inequality in STEM education and reminded the audience about women science power behind Chandriyaan 2. “Earlier I am told that different hostel timings applied to boys and girls, but recently these have been made same. This is allowing girl students to work in their departments, labs, libraries in the same manner as boy’s students. This is an example of giving girl students an equal opportunity to excel. I am sure this will positively impact the contributions of girl students and boost their self-confidence.
Speaking at the convocation, Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said:
“There is happiness in our heart, when we stand here at the convocation of the prestigious IIT Roorkee, which is an identity & pride of Uttarakhand. This Institute is one of the biggest contributors to providing qualified engineers across the world. When we talk about the country’s prestigious colleges, IIT Roorkee has its own niche.”
IIT Roorkee which ranks 381 in the QS World University Rankings of 2019 ranks 86th in Asia and 47th among BRICS. In NIRF ranking it is ranked sixth among engineering colleges. Some of the innovations at IITR which are largely meant for social enterprising and local challenges including rural economy are really path breaking and with ATAL innovation lab, it is about to provide several solutions from pharmacy to forest fires in hills of Himalayas. And, earthquake engineering remains its forte.
IITR—nice going !!
