IITMAANA Accomplishments in 2016

We carried forward our momentum from last year and began this year on a promising note by helping the victims of the Chennai Floods, an unfortunate event which took place in November 2015.  Your spontaneous and enthusiastic response and contributions made a huge difference in the lives of the victims and also fostered a spirit of unity among the IITMAANA community.

The year started off favorably and was packed with fun filled events, the most prominent being:

• IITMAANA Melharmony Concert for Chennai Flood Relief-Rehabilitation – Organized by the Bay Area Chapter on Valentine’s Day,Feb 14, at 4 PM at the Mexican Heritage Theater, San Jose, this event had Google CEO, Sundar Pichai, as the Chief Guest. It was a great show that brought many artists, alumni family and friends together to demonstrate their love and solidarity for the suffering folk in Chennai.

• East Coast – Philadelphia Chapter Revival – On the East Coast, a group of alumni from Philly and NJ, gathered together in the City of Brotherly Love, to revive the Philadelphia Chapter on UPenn’s campus at the Devils Alley Bar & Grille

• IITM Director and Dean Visit - Continuing the spirit of Chapter renewal, the New York-New Jersey-Pennsylvania team organized another event on June 25, at the Hyatt Regency in downtown New Brunswick.  The event was organized by Andy Bala and Nagesh Kuppuraju, who headed the NY NJ team, and Ram Natesan who brought along the UPenn Team. The event was primarily held in honor of the visiting IIT Madras Director and Dean.  The Diro presented his vision 2020 for IIT Madras, and recognized the role of alumni in making IIT Madras great, nationally recognized and ranked as the top engineering school in India. A successful outcome this event was the creation of an NJ WhatsApp group, a forum for attendees to connect with each other

• Leadership Conference at the Rhode Island Convention Center - The East Coast team joined hands with the Boston and New England Chapters and helped the IIT Association of Greater New England (IIT AGNE) and PANIIT organize the very successful 2016 Leadership Conference at the Rhode Island Convention Center, in Providence, RI, from August 12 to 14. The theme of the conference was “Leading transformation for a better tomorrow: Technologies that lift the human spirit.” It was well attended by IIT Madras Alumni from around the country, US and India, along with IIT M faculty, Professors M. Ashwin and Mahesh, who interacted with alumni and gave an enthusiastic account of development at IIT Madras (Detailed report here)

• East Coast Family Get Together - The NY-NJ team, had another thrilling event at Frog & Peach restaurant on October 28th, which brought together several IITM alumni from the 1970s to 2010 in the NJ area. Folks brought their families along to connect with each other in an informal setting and fondly reminisced about IIT days and discussed their future plans. It was a good networking event, where people shared common ideas and experiences. Alumni could relate with others in similar life stages and bonded over various challenges they had faced.  Overall, it was very enjoyable get together, in spite of other commitments on Diwali eve.

• East Coast Diwali Dhamaka - On November 4, 2016, the DC alumni joined together with the Capital IIT Chapter to organize their first Diwali Dhamaka at Spice Crossing restaurant in Rockville, MD.

• Bay Area 15th Annual Diwali Dhamaka - Not to be outdone, the Bay Area IIT Madras chapter along with IIT groups in the Bay Area, organized the 15th Annual Diwali Dhamaka celebration on November 5, 2016. Each IIT team presented a skit with the theme being 15-15-15 (15years, 15 mins, 15 seconds). The event was so good that the food ran out in 15 mins!

• Leadership Summit - To cap off all these events, the IITMAANA Board members, from past to the present, huddled for a day at a Leadership summit, to discuss the strategy for IITMAANA and its coexistence or merger with the newly formed IIT Madras Foundation. The brainwork was fueled by tasty diabetic and non-diabetic breakfast and lunch. President Sagar supplied the spirits for the spirited discussion. Seriously though, a lot of good insight and strategy emanated from the workshop.