The 18th Annual General Body Meeting of Alumni Association of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham was conducted with much fanfare in the Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham’s campus headquartered in Coimbatore on December 20, 2015.
Around 300 Alumni from all walks of life including Entrepreneurs, Civil Service employees, Social Service and Non-Governmental Organization executives and industry professionals from US to Middle East attended the joyous event. The meeting started with a prayer and lighting of the lamp by Prof. Parameswaran, Director, Corporate and Industry Relations, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham; Dr. Sasangan Ramanathan, Dean of Engineering; Prof. Subba Rao, President, Amrita Alumni Association and Pradeep Menon, Principal Organizer Amrita Alumni Association.
Prof. Subba Rao, welcomed the alumni to the alma mater and expressed his pleasure in seeing his old students and the joy of meeting one another. Prof. Parameswaran talked on how the alumni act as the ambassadors of the institution and expressed his pleasure in the accomplishment of the alumni in general in such a short time. He expressed his views on how he wants to see the alumni’s achievements grow from strength to strength.
Dr. Sasangan, expressed his pleasure in meeting all the alumni members who have come. He expressed that irrespective of the social media connects we have, there is no more joy in meeting your friends, faculties and staff members face to face. He asked all the alumni to keep returning to the college whenever they feel to relive their campus life.
Distinguished Alumni Awards were presented to alumni who have excelled in their area of work.
Dr. Vijayaragavan Viswanathan– Scientist at European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Switzerland won award in the Research and Academic Category. During his award acceptance speech, Dr. Viswanathan dedicated the award to his parents and expressed his deep gratitude to the Staff and Professors of the institution in molding him and imparting the much needed scientific enquiry skills, which he finds quite useful in his day to day life as a scientist.
Mr. Girish Kumar P.R. and Sreejith B. Nair – Cofounders of Gadgeon Systems USA and India won award in the Entrepreneurship Category. In their award acceptance speech, Girish Kumar and Sreejith B. Nair talked about the inspiration and the knowhow on Internet of Things (IoT) they received from the institution and how it has led them to create a startup company of 100 plus people with officers in US and India.
Team Pradnya– an NGO started by Amrita Alumni for serving orphanage children, won award in the Social Services Category. Team Pradnya members in their acceptance speech thanked the institution in expanding their world view and inculcating the values of serving the under privileged unconditionally. They stressed that at Amrita they have not only received education for living but an education for Life.
The new office bearers for the year 2016-2018 were also selected. Dr. Jayakumar, Chairperson, Department of Electronics and Communication, was elected the President and Badri Krishnan, Business Analyst– Atlas Healthcare Systems, was elected the Vice-President.
The event was also marked by cultural programs and games from the current student community. It was followed by a gala networking lunch at the guest house garden and interaction with their department staff at the respective departments.
