The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) celebrated National Engineers’ Day on its campus today, paying tribute to the legendary engineer, statesman and Bharat Ratna awardee, Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya on his birth anniversary.
The event began with the garlanding of Sir M. Visvesvaraya’s portrait, followed by a solemn tribute to his remarkable contributions to nation-building.
The celebrations also witnessed the conferring of IIT Bombay’s most prestigious awards, including the International Award for Excellence in Research in Engineering and Technology, Dr. P.K. Patwardhan Technology Development Award 2024 and C1973 Faculty Award for Research Excellence. These awards, instituted to recognize path-breaking research and technological innovation, are presented to outstanding faculty members and researchers of IIT Bombay.
The Dr. P. K. Patwardhan Technology Development Award for the year 2024 was conferred on Prof. Rajesh Zele and Dr. Vijay Kanchetla for their pioneering work on DhruvaPro – A Worldwide Navigational Receiver Chip for NAVIC, GPS, GALILEO and BEIDOU. The award is based on the recommendation of a Director-approved Award Committee.
This year’s International Award for Excellence in Research in Engineering and Technology was jointly conferred on Prof. Chen Change Loy, President’s Chair in Computer Science and Deputy Director, Centre of AI-for-X, NTU Singapore and Prof. Madhavi Srinivasan, President’s Chair in Sustainability and Executive Director, ERI@N, NTU Singapore.
[Instituted by Mr. Sandeep Naik and Mr. Shantanu Rastogi, the award recognizes researchers for impactful contributions in engineering and technology over the past decade]
The awardees of C1973 Faculty Awards for Research Excellence (FARE) include:
- Prof. Pennan Chinnasamy, Centre for Technology Alternatives for Rural Areas
- Prof. Ratul Dasgupta, Department of Chemical Engineering
- Prof. Arpita Mondal, Department of Civil Engineering
- Prof. Biswabandan Panda, Department of Computer Science and Engineering
- Prof. Siddhartha Tallur, Department of Electrical Engineering
- Prof. Narendra Shiradkar, Department of Electrical Engineering
- Prof. Swatantra Pratap Singh, Environmental Science and Engineering Department
- Prof. Manoranjan Sahu, Environmental Science and Engineering Department
- Prof. Pradip P. Kalbar, Environmental Science and Engineering Department
- Prof. Deepak Marla, Department of Mechanical Engineering
- Prof. Achintya Kumar Dutta, Department of Chemistry
- Prof. Rahul Maitra, Department of Chemistry
- Prof. Prabhakar Naraga, Department of Earth Sciences
- Prof. Sourav Pal, Department of Mathematics
- Prof. Pintu Parui, Department of Economics
- Prof. Sudeep Bapat, Sailesh J. Mehta School of Management
[The C1973 Faculty Awards for Research Excellence aim to promote and recognize original research from young faculty at IIT Bombay. This initiative encourages faculty members to conduct and publish impactful research in peer-reviewed and globally reputed academic journals, thereby enhancing the visibility of IIT Bombay as a premier research-driven institute worldwide.]
Under the Best Zonal Work Award category, the Outstanding Young Engineer Award 2024-25 was conferred upon Mr. Vinayak D. Bobade for his outstanding contributions to the campus infrastructure development.
The event concluded with a reaffirmation of IIT Bombay’s commitment to nurturing excellence in engineering education and research, while advancing the nation’s technological frontiers in line with the spirit of Engineers’ Day.