IIT Bombay marks 66th foundation day; 19 alumni members conferred awards

NEW DELHI: The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay celebrated its 66th Foundation Day on March 10, 2025, recognising the contributions of faculty members and alumni. The event highlighted over six decades of academic and research work in science, technology, and innovation.

Ravi Pandit, founder-chairman and non-executive chairman of KPIT Technologies Ltd., was the chief guest. The celebration also featured the presentation of institute awards, recognising excellence in teaching, research and contributions to society.

The Prof SC Sahasrabudhe lifetime achievement award 2024-25 was conferred on Jayesh Bellare from the department of chemical engineering in recognition of his contributions as a teacher, researcher, & administrator.

The Prof SC Bhattacharya award for excellence in research in pure sciences 2024 was given to Gopalan Rajaraman from the department of chemistry for his contributions in the areas of molecular magnetism, bioinorganic chemistry, spintronics, and catalysis.

The Prof HH Mathur award for excellence in research in applied sciences 2024 was awarded to Maryam Shojaei Baghini from the department of electrical engineering for her contributions in the area of analog, mixed-signal IC design, sensor-systems, energy harvesting circuits and systems, and neuromorphic engineering.

Honouring alumni achievements with DAA, YAAA awards

The institute also conferred the Distinguished Alumnus Awards (DAA) on 14 individuals for their contributions in their respective fields and five Young Alumni Achiever Awards (YAAA) to alumni who have made achievements in their chosen field of work and are below 40 years of age.

Distinguished Alumnus Award recipients include Rajesh N Dave, Aniruddha Gole, Venugopal Veeravalli, Pramod Agrawal, Mahesh Kumar Navani, Punya Mishra, Alok Maskara, Lacky Vasant Shah, Jagdish J Moorjani, Sameer Halepete, Jitendra Mohan, Dileep George, Aranyak Mehta and Lalit Keshre.

The Young Alumni Achiever Awards were given to Dhruv Arora, Deepak Diwakar, Maneesh Kalwaniya, Nisarg Shah, and Aniket Deb.

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IIT Bombay cleanliness awards 2024-25

As part of the event, IIT Bombay presented the Institute Cleanliness Award 2024-25. The winners, selected based on the committee’s detailed assessment, were felicitated with a rotating trophy and a certificate of appreciation during the foundation day ceremony. The winners were:

• Best Academic Unit: Department of Civil Engineering (1st), Department of Aerospace Engineering (2nd), Shailesh J Mehta School of Management (3rd)
• Best Non-Academic Unit: Hospital Section (1st), Hospitality Section (2nd), Electric Maintenance Division (3rd)
• Best Section 8 Company: IITB-WASHU (1st), IITB-Monash Research Academy (2nd), TIH Foundation for IoT and IoE (3rd)
• Best Hostel: Hostel 17 (1st), Hostel 10 (2nd), Hostel 14 (3rd)

Chief guest highlights key pillars

Addressing the event Ravi Pandit, said, “We are living in extraordinary times - times of phenomenal breakthroughs in science and technology. The pace of change has never been faster and with that comes immense opportunities. When we look at the future, we must focus on three critical pillars: intelligence, energy and materials. Everything biological or non-biological depends on these three. Innovations in clean and secure energy, advanced materials and artificial intelligence are reshaping our world.”

“At the same time, we face significant challenges: societal security, energy security and climate security. How we engage with these opportunities and challenges will define the future. The question is, how will we participate in shaping this change?" he further said.