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Writer/Editor: Shivangi Vasudev Bhatt
Designer: Gaurav Shukla
The Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN), has announced the Young Alumni Excellence Awards 2023, and this time, the Institute has honoured four of its alumni for achieving excellence and success in their careers in academia and entrepreneurship. Following four alumni members will receive awards during the annual alumni meet – ‘Homecoming’ – at IITGN in December 2023:
- Aishwarya Agrawal (BTech in Electrical Engineering, IITGN Class of 2014), Assistant Professor, University of Montreal, for Outstanding Academic Achievement
- Silky Agrawal (MTech in Civil Engineering, IITGN Class of 2015) Founder, GeoCarte Radar Technology, for Outstanding Entrepreneurship
- Saurya Prakash (BTech in Electrical Engineering, IITGN Class of 2013), Co-Founder & CEO, Recko, for Outstanding Entrepreneurship
- Prashant Borde (BTech in Electrical Engineering, IITGN Class of 2012), Co-Founder & CTO, Recko, for Outstanding Entrepreneurship
This year’s awardees have demonstrated excellence in the fields of AI and Computer Science, Radar Technology, and FinTech. Aishwarya Agrawal, who graduated from IITGN in Electrical Engineering with a minor in Computer Science and Engineering in 2014, went on to pursue a PhD from the prestigious Georgia Institute of Technology. She is currently working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Operations Research at the University of Montreal. Aishwarya is also a Canada CIFAR AI Chair and a core academic member of Mila — Quebec AI Institute. She also serves as a Research Scientist at DeepMind. Aishwarya’s research focuses on developing AI systems that can ‘see’ (i.e., understand the contents of an image: who, what, where, doing what?) and ‘talk’ (i.e., communicate the understanding to humans in free-form natural language).
After graduating from IITGN with an MTech in Civil Engineering in 2015, Silky Agrawal chose the entrepreneurial path and founded GeoCarte Radar Technology, incubated at IITGN. Today, GeoCarte Radar Technology is a successful startup providing non-destructive geophysical exploration services to various government and corporate organisations. GeoCarte uses a Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) to image the subsurface. It can detect metallic or non-metallic objects in multiple domains, such as soil, water, ice, and concrete. This can be used for infrastructure monitoring, estimating groundwater depth, archaeological investigations, and more.
Saurya Prakash Sinha is an IITGN graduate of BTech in Electrical Engineering from the class of 2013. He has worked with companies like Flipkart and PhonePe and also co-founded Townrush, a business-to-business logistics service provider that was acquired by Grofers in 6 months. Prashant Borde is from the first batch of IITGN and graduated with a BTech in Electrical Engineering in 2012. He co-founded GridAnts, IITGN’s first startup, in 2012 with his friends, which was acquired by Myntra within four years. He then also worked at Jio for a year. In 2018, Saurya and Prashant co-founded Recko, a FinTech Startup headquartered in Bengaluru. They raised $6 million in initial funding only, and after four years, Recko was acquired by Stripe in 2021. Both of them now serve in leadership positions at Stripe as Product Lead and Engineering Leader, respectively.
Congratulating the awardees, Prof Rajat Moona, Director, IITGN, said, “It is a matter of great pride for an Institute when its alumni spread across the globe make waves in their respective fields at a young age. And through these awards, we recognise their achievements, honour their commitment and perseverance to make a mark globally, as well as encourage them to take up more challenging and impactful roles in their lives and careers. I congratulate all of them, and I am sure they are going to be the next generation of technology leaders.”
Prof Jaison Manjaly, Professor-in-charge of Alumni Affairs, IITGN, said, “We take immense pride in our alumni and their success. The Young Alumni Excellence Awards is a sign that we are doing something right. It is a testament to the remarkable accomplishments of our alumni and the enduring impact of IITGN. The award is a reassurance that their alma mater will continue to cheer for them as they climb up the ladder in their careers.”
IITGN has been fortunate to have a highly-engaged alumni community since its first batch graduated in 2012. Many of its alumni are impacting various domains such as research, teaching, entrepreneurship, and public service. The Young Alumni Excellence Awards were launched by IITGN in 2022 to recognise the rising stars of the Institute. The nominations for these awards are based on demonstrated excellence after graduation from IITGN. Alumni who have completed five years since obtaining their first degree from IITGN and are under 45 years are eligible for the award.