IIT Kanpur to confer honorary doctorates at its convocation event

NEW DELHI: Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur to confer honorary doctorate degrees to Rohini M Godbole, Kris Gopalakrishnan and Ajoy Chakrabarty for contributions in their respective fields. They will be awarded during the upcoming 54th convocation event of IIT Kanpur to be held on December 28, 2021. As many as 1723 students will receive their degrees, and about 80 prizes and medals will be given during the convocation event to be hosted in hybrid mode.

The chief guest of the IIT Kanpur convocation event will be Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Anandiben Patel, governor of Uttar Pradesh, Dharmendra Pradhan, education minister, and Yogi Adityanath, chief minister of Uttar Pradesh will be present at the IIT Kanpur convocation event as guests of honour, said the official statement by IIT Kanpur.

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Godbole is an Indian physicist and academic. She is also a professor at the Centre for High Energy Physics, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Gopalakrishnan, the co-founder of Infosys, has served as the vice-chairman and CEO of Infosys. He also served as the president of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), and as one of the co-chairs of the World Economic Forum. Chakrabarty, Indian classical vocalist of the Patiala-Kasur Gharana style has received Padma Shri (2011), Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1999-2000), the Kumar Gandharva Samman (1993) among others.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will confer awards during the convocation. The President's gold medal and director’s gold medals will be awarded to students for their performance in academics and overall performance.

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IIT Kanpur held its convocation event last year completely in online mode owing to the COVID-19 induced lockdown and restrictions. This year’s hybrid mode event is expected to be attended by around 880 students in-person on the campus. The rest of the students can join the event in a virtual mode which will be streamed live.