The relaunch of Philadelphia chapter of IITMAANA that took place on 8th April 2016 at Devil’s Alley pub, in Philadelphia, brought some alumni buddies together and relished fond memories of our early days. This event was made possible with the leadership of Animesh Agarwal (Dual Degree, Biotechnology, class of 2009) currently a MBA Student in Wharton School, who took a lead role in organizing the event. The relaunch event was the revival of the chapter after about two decades of no activity, and is the first of many chapters that IITMAANA intends to revive and make active this year to help us organize and engage alumni in North America.
The relaunch of Philadelphia chapter of IITMAANA that took place on 8th April 2016 at Devil’s Alley pub, in Philadelphia, brought some alumni buddies together and relished fond memories of our early days. This event was made possible with the leadership of Animesh Agarwal (Dual Degree, Biotechnology, class of 2009) currently a MBA Student in Wharton School, who took a lead role in organizing the event. The relaunch event was the revival of the chapter after about two decades of no activity, and is the first of many chapters that IITMAANA intends to revive and make active this year to help us organize and engage alumni in North America.
A bit of History... Philadelphia was the first local Chapter of IITMAANA, formed 31 years ago. The following is the history of the chapter as recounted by Justin Thomas, the outgoing secretary of IITMAANA. The chapter was launched in 1985, with strong encouragement from Mallick Putcha (original founder of the IITMAANA), Ramesh Jayaraman (IITMAANA President 1984-1985) and myself (IITMAANA President 1985-1986) Kannan launched the pioneering effort. Professor Raj Mutharasan, Drexel University Dept of Chemical and Biological Engineering and IIT Madras Distinguished Alumnus, led the efforts from Philadelphia side. With Rangasamy Pitchai and S. Subbia forming the core team the Philadelphia chapter was formed in 1985. The team led several activities in the late 1980s.
Back to the April 8, 2016 event… During this event we had 8 Alumni member participating, getting to know each other and started exchanging ideas to improve alumni community engagement in the local chapter. The alumni were from graduating years 1979 to 2016. The alumni consisted of students from University of Pennsylvania, working professionals like Sreenath, Amidh,and Aditya in addition to past and present secretaries of IITMAANA. (See attached group photo below).
Meeting the IITMAANA Mission… The event is a part of IITMAANA’s 2016 mission to activate significant engagement of the alumni community, provide a forum for younger alumni to interact with established and successful alumni, and keep the chapter vibrant by participating and leading alumni activities.
Subsequent to this relaunch, members of the revived Philadelphia chapter are planning expand membership by reaching out to other alumni, with the help of IITMAANA website database and engagement tools, to arrange periodic reunions and meetup events like happy hours and local community events -- at least 4 times a year, we hope.
The new IITMAANA board is committed to reviving such chapters and progressively increasing alumni engagement. In addition to connecting alumni, the new board is coming up with programs to provide guidance assistance to alumni, their children and family members to become part of a social and professional IITM and PanIIT network.
We are looking forward to taking the Philadelphia chapter to new heights and replicate the success to other chapters around North America.
From Left to Right: Sreeja K. K., PhD Physics, Class of 2016; Srinath Chigullapalli, B.Tech, Class of 1999; Justin Thomas, B.Tech Aeronautical, Class of 1979; Ramakrishna Natesan, PhD Physics, Class of 2012; Aditya Ravi, Dual Degree, Biotechnology, Class of 2009; Animesh Agarwal, Dual Degree, Biotechnology, Class of 2009; Samidh Pareek, B.Tech, Chemical Engineering, Class of 2008; Andiappan Bala, M. Tech Computer Science, Class of 1992 (Secretary, IITMAANA)
