Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IIT Roorkee) celebrated its Foundation Day with the theme “Empowering India: Nurturing Education, Innovation, and Cultural Legacy” on Nov 25. The celebration also recognized outstanding Alumni through the presentation of the Distinguished Alumnus Awards of 2023.
The DAA are given to alumni of the University of Roorkee (UOR) or IIT Roorkee (IITR) to recognize their exceptional contributions in six categories, namely Academic or Research Excellence, Excellence in Engineering or Technology Innovation, Excellence in Leadership in the Government or Public Sector, Excellence in Leadership in the Private Sector, Entrepreneurial Excellence, Excellence in Service to the Society. The Distinguished Young Alumnus Award (DYAA) is conferred to IIT Roorkee Alumni below 40.
The event was marked by the launch of the IITR Vision Document, outlining the institute’s roadmap for fostering interdisciplinary research, technological innovation, and sustainable development. The celebration also highlighted IIT Roorkee’s enduring commitment to driving impactful initiatives in education, research, and societal transformation, reflecting its vision of empowering the nation through excellence in science and technology.
Distinguished Alumnus Awardees:
Prof. Bhim Singh (1977 – B.E. – Electrical Engineering) currently serving as a SERB National Science Chair and an Emeritus Professor at IIT Delhi since July 2021.
Prof. Ayodhya Nath Tiwari (1980- M.Sc. – Physics), Chairman and Cofounder, SOLTIWA AG company in Switzerland.
Yuvraj Mehra (1971 – B.E. – Chemical Engineering) currently serving as Managing Principal Consultant for Mehra Consulting Services, LLC since 2012. Through MCS provided contracted process engineering consulting services to PetroSkills, Hellervik Midstream LLC, and Saudi Aramco.
Dr. G. Madhusudan Reddy (1987 – M.E. – Mechanical) urrently, he is an Adjunct Professor at Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, NIT Warangal.
Sanjay Kumar Agarwal (1987 – B.E. – ECE) currently Chairman of Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India.
Vikas Kumar (1987-B.E.-Electrical): In Delhi Metro, he has worked in various capacities viz. Dy/Addl. General Manager, General Manager, Executive Director and Director/Operations before being elevated to the apex level. Presently, he is heading the organization as its Managing Director.
Anand Ramamoorthy (1996 – B.E. – Metallurgy) currently Managing Director at Micron India and is responsible for R&D, engineering, operations and sales.
Shri Sandeep Garg (1981 – B.E. – Electrical) currently the Managing Director of Welspun Enterprises Limited. He also serves as Managing Director of Adani Welspun Exploration Limited.
Ravi Kant Gupta (1981 – B.E. – Civil): Some of the projects handled by him include construction of Twin Bridge on NH-17 over River Periyar and Chandrasekhar Nayak Stadium with a sitting capacity of 30,000 at Thiruvananthapuram which was completed in a challenging time schedule of 120 days, from start to finish.
Sunil Goyal (1989 – B.E. – E&C): He heads the India operations of Sopra Steria, in the capacity of Dy. Chief Executive Officer. Under this capacity he is responsible for all business, delivery and enabling functions. The organization is a part of Sopra Steria Group, a €5.8 billion conglomerate, headquartered in Paris and one of the top 5 French IT Services company in France having a strength of 60,000 professionals worldwide operating from 30 countries.
Dinesh kumar Likhi (1981 – B.E. – Metallurgical Engineering): He is a nominated Director on the Boards of Bhilai JP Cement Limited and Jaiprakash Power Limited. In addition, he is a strategic advisor to special steel companies viz. Jindal Stainless Steel and Sarloha Advance Materials (Kalyani Group company). Dr. Likhi has also incorporated two startups in the field of consultancy and services with India as a focus country.
Distinguished Young Alumnus Awardees:
Puneet Jaggi (2010 – B.Tech. – Chemical Engineering): he is the founder, Gensol Group, and Co-Founder of BluSmart, India’s first born-electric, full-stack, vertically integrated EV ride-hailing service and EV charging infrastructure network. Mr. Puneet’s journey in clean energy and sustainable mobility is rooted in his background as a Chemical Engineer from IIT Roorkee.
Sourabh Gupta (2016 – B.Tech. – Metallurgy): He is the CEO and Co-founder of Skit.ai had a big hairy audacious goal (BHAG) when he embarked on the journey of creating an AI-based technology solution that will revolutionize contact center support across industries, the globe, and forever. He co-founded the company during the final year of engineering, along with Akshay Deshraj, his batchmate, the CTO at Skit.ai.
Abhishek Agarwal (2016 – B.Tech. – Mechanical Engineering): He is the founder of Farmley – a new age healthy snacking brand specializing in dry fruits & nuts. Over the past 6 years, Abhishek and his team have worked consistently to establish deep backend linkages with over 5000+ farmers across India and even internationally.
Pooja Devi (2010 – M.Tech. – Nanotechnology): She is a Principal Scientist, Materials Science and Sensor Applications (MSSA) in CSIR-CSIO, Chandigarh. She has established methods for synthesizing various materials such as metallic nanostructures, transition metal oxides, semiconductors, carbonaceous nanostructured materials, 2D materials, MXenes, etc. She has published around 72 research papers in high-impact journals, edited 05 books as lead editor, published 18 book chapters.
Ghanshyam Pilania (2007 – B.Tech. – Metallurgy): He works as a Senior Engineer in the Probabilistic Design and Materials Informatics team at GE Global Research (GE Aerospace) at Niskayuna. His current research portfolio highlights technical efforts on informatics-driven design and optimization of functional and structural materials, materials for sustainability and probabilistic analytics for strategy.
While congratulating the awardees Prof. K.K. Pant, Director, IIT Roorkee, said: “It is a moment of immense pride for IIT Roorkee to honour these extraordinary individuals who have distinguished themselves through exemplary accomplishments and transformative contributions. These awards not only recognize their remarkable achievements but also reaffirm the impact of IIT Roorkee’s education and values. I congratulate all the awardees and look forward to their continued association with the institute in building a brighter future for society.”
Prof. R.D. Garg, Dean of Resources & Alumni Affairs, IIT Roorkee, said, “Our alumni represent the lifeline of IIT Roorkee, enriching our legacy through their outstanding achievements and global impact. The Distinguished Alumnus Awards and Outstanding Service Awards are a testament to their excellence and dedication. I thank the awardees for their invaluable contributions and support to the IIT Roorkee community and congratulate them on this well-deserved recognition.”
