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K K Birla Goa Campus Convocation 2013

Convocation 2013...MINUTE TO MINUTE PROGRAMME OF CONVOCATION 2013 August 11, 2013 09.45 A.M. Chief Guest, Shri Rahul Dravid arrives at the Porch (B Dome) 09.47 A.M. …

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  • K K Birla Goa CampusConvocation 2013

  • BITS Vision

    “ What do we propose to do here? We want to teach real science

    whether it is engineering, chemistry, humanities, physics or any other

    branch. We want to develop a scientific approach in Pilani, which

    means there would be no dogma. There will be a search for truth. What

    we propose to do here is to cultivate a scientific mind.”

    --The Late Shri G. D. BirlaFounder Chairman, BITS Pilani.

    “….to prepare young men and women to act as leaders for the

    promotion of the economic and industrial development of the country

    and to play a creative role in service to humanity.”

    --The Late Dr. K. K. BirlaFormer Chancellor, BITS Pilani.

    “What is it that can empower our nation? The most obvious answer is

    education. Education that enhances livelihoods but also education that

    is value-based. Education that gives roots and gives wings as well.”

    --Dr. Kumar Mangalam BirlaChancellor BITS Pilani

  • MINUTE TO MINUTE PROGRAMME OF CONVOCATION 2013August 11, 2013

    09.45 A.M. Chief Guest, Shri Rahul Dravid arrives at the Porch (B Dome)

    09.47 A.M. Tree plantation by the Chief Guest

    09.50 A.M. Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, Members BoG, Directors, Deputy Directorsand Registrar meet the Chief Guest in the Conference Room

    10.10 A.M. Senate members assemble in the portico in front of Auditorium Gate afterwearing robes.

    10.10 A.M. Wearing of robes by Chief Guest and others

    10.15 A.M. Introduction of the Members BoG, Directors, Deputy Directors, Registrarand other Senate members to the Chief Guest and Chancellor by theVice-Chancellor and Director

    10.25 A.M. Recitation of shlokas in Auditorium.

    10.25 A.M. Academic Procession proceeds, led by Registrar to the ConvocationHall. {

    }

    10.30 A.M. Invocation

    10.32 A.M. Registrar requests the Chancellor to declare the Convocation open. TheChancellor declares the Convocation open.

    10.33 A.M Report on activities of the Institute and address by the Vice-Chancellor

    10.45 A.M. Chancellor's Address

    10.55 A.M. Director's Report

    11.05 A.M. Introduction of the Chief Guest by the Vice-Chancellor

    11.07 A.M. Convocation address by the Chief Guest

    11.27 A.M. Presentation of Memento to the Chief Guest by the Chancellor

    11.30 A.M. Presentation of Degrees by the Vice-Chancellor. Registrar presents thecandidates who have qualified for the award of various degrees. {

    }. Distribution of Degree Certificates startsthereafter.

    12.30 P.M. Presentation of Medals by the Chief Guest

    12.35 P.M. Administration of Oath to the recipients of Degrees by the Gold Medalist.{

    }

    12.40 P.M. Vote of thanks

    12.43 P.M. Convocation is dissolved by the Chancellor

    12.45 P.M. National Anthem

    12.50 P.M. Academic procession led by Registrar departs in the reverse order inwhich it entered. {

    }

    When the procession enters the Convocation Hall, all assembledwill stand up and remain standing until the members forming theprocession have reached their seats.

    All thecandidates will rise in their seats and keep standing until the citation isread by the Vice-Chancellor

    Gold medalist will lead the Oath. Recipients of Degrees will repeat theoath word by word

    Upon the procession leaving the Convocation Hall, allassembled will rise in their seats, and remain standing until the membersforming the procession have left the hall

    Convocation 2013, K K Birla Goa Campus 1

  • MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS

    Dr. Kumar Mangalam Birla

    Smt. Shobhana Bhartia

    Prof. Bijendra Nath Jain

    Shri B. K. Birla Shri Kris Ramachandran

    Shri Sidharth Birla Shri D. N. Patodia

    Smt. Manjushree Khaitan Shri Vir Sanghvi

    Prof. V. S. Rao Shri H. S. Bawa

    Shri Hemant Kumar Prof. M. M. S. Anand (Registrar),

    Non-member Secretary

    Prof. Bijendra Nath Jain

    Vice-Chancellor

    Prof. G. Raghurama

    Director, Pilani Campus

    Prof. M.M.S. Anand

    Registrar

    Prof. R.K. Mittal, Dubai Campus

    Prof. K.E. Raman (Acting), KK Birla Goa Campus

    Prof. V.S. Rao, Hyderabad Campus

    Prof. G. Sundar, Pilani Campus

    Chancellor

    Pro-Chancellor

    Vice-Chancellor

    SENATE MEMBERS

    Chairman

    Vice-Chairman

    Secretary

    Other Members

    Directors

    Deputy Director

    2 Convocation 2013, K K Birla Goa Campus

  • Deputy Director & Dean

    Deans University Wide

    Pilani Campus

    Hyderabad Campus

    Campus Wide

    Pilani Campus

    Hyderabad Campus

    Assistant Deans

    Pilani Campus

    K K Birla Goa Campus

    Hyderabad Campus

    Off-Campus Centre

    Professors

    Pilani Campus

    Prof. Ranendra N. Saha, Pilani Campus

    Prof. S. Balasubramaniam

    Prof. S. Gurunarayanan

    Prof. R. Mahesh

    Prof. Suman Kapur

    Prof. Niti Nipun Sharma

    Prof. M.B. Srinivas

    Dr. P. Srinivasan

    Prof. Sutapa Roy Ramanan

    Dr. K.V.G. Chandrasekhar

    Dr. S. Sindhu,

    Prof. Rahul Banerjee

    Prof. Surekha Bhanot

    Prof. V.K. Chaubey

    Prof. Sudeept Mohan

    Prof. Niranjan Swain

    Prof. Sanjay Kumar Verma

    Prof. Ajit Pratap Singh

    Prof. Arya Kumar

    Shri K. Venkatasubramanian

    Dr. Raghunath Ratabole

    Dr. G. Venkiteswaran,

    Prof. Ashis Kumar Das

    Prof. Mani Sankar Dasgupta

    Prof. Balram Dubey

    Prof. Chandra Bhan Gupta Prof. Rajendra Prasad Pareek

    Prof. Rajiv Gupta Prof. Bandi Venkata Prasad

    Prof. S. Kanan Prof. Kodali Rambabu

    Prof. Dalip Kumar Prof. N.V. Muralidhar Rao

    Prof. Rajiv Kumar Prof. Ram Kinkar Roy

    Prof. L.K. Maheshwari Prof. Ashoke Kumar Sarkar

    Bangalore Chennai

    Convocation 2013, K K Birla Goa Campus 3

  • Prof. Rashmi Ranjan Mishra Prof. Shamsher Bahadur Singh

    Prof. Janardan Prasad Misra Prof. S.C. Sivasubramanian

    Prof. Mukund Keshavrao Deshmukh Prof. Aditya Prasad Koley

    Prof. Arun V. Kulkarni

    Prof. Souri Banerjee Prof. Srinivasa Prakash Regalla

    Prof. N. Rajesh Prof. D. Sriram

    Prof. Komaragiri Srinivasa Raju Prof. S. Swaminathan

    Prof. Addepalli Ramu Prof. P. Yogeeswari

    Prof. P.N.K. Rao

    Prof. Priti Bajpai Prof. S. Swaminathan

    Prof. S. Karthiyayini Prof. Thoppil George Thomas

    Prof. Tanmay Panda Prof. G. Vijaya

    Prof. Dawood Jalaluddin Shariff

    Prof. Hari Om Bansal Prof. Arun Maity

    Prof. Sanjiv Kumar Choudhary Prof. Dilip Kumar Maiti

    Prof. Shibasish Chowdhury Prof. Hitesh Datt Mathur

    Prof. Anshuman Dalvi Prof. Sai Jagan Mohan

    Prof. P.R. Deepa Prof. Debi Datt Pant

    Prof. Arun Kumar Giri Prof. Mukesh Kumar Rohil

    Prof. Poonam Goyal Prof. Bijay Kumar Rout

    Prof. Lalita Gupta Prof. Srikanta Routroy

    Prof. Subhash Narayan Karbelkar Prof. Kumar Neeraj Sachdev

    Prof. Anil Kumar Prof. B.G. Saha

    Prof. Sanjeev Kumar Prof. Sangeeta Sharma

    Prof. Kusum Lata Prof. Krishna Kumar Singh

    Prof. Pushp Lata

    Prof. Dibakar Chakraborty Prof. D.M. Kulkarni

    Prof. Gaurav Dar Prof. Sampatrao D. Manjare

    Prof. Ranjan Dey Prof. Shrikanth Mutnuri

    Prof. Narendra Nath Ghosh Prof. Vijayashree Nayak

    Prof. Neena Goveas Prof. Bhavana P.

    Prof. Meenal Anil Kowshik

    K K Birla Goa Campus

    Hyderabad Campus

    Dubai Campus

    Associate Professors

    Pilani Campus

    K K Birla Goa Campus

    Prof. Jagarlamudi Venkateswara

    Rao

    4 Convocation 2013, K K Birla Goa Campus

  • Prof. A. Michael Alphonse Prof. V.R. Vinayaka Rao

    Prof. Amit Kumar Gupta Prof. N. Suresh Kumar Reddy

    Prof. Chittaranjan Hota Prof. Morapakala Srinivas

    Prof. Jeevan Jaidi Prof. P.K. Thiruvikraman

    Prof. Vidya Rajesh Prof. A. Vasan

    Prof. Somasundaram Arumugam Prof. K. Kumar

    Prof. Maneesha Bhagchandani Prof. Surendra Kumar

    Prof. Adhir Baran Chattopadhyay Prof. Sankaram M.

    Prof. Tapan Kumar Datta Prof. B. Muralidharan

    Prof. Vijaya Ilango Prof. K. Nithyananthan

    Prof. Kavita Sunil Jerath Prof. R Udayakumar

    Prof. Ram Karthikeyan Prof. A. Srinivasa Rao

    Prof. Anand Kumar Prof. B. Vijayakumar

    Prof. Geetha B Prof. Pradipkumar Haribhau

    Keskar

    Prof. Debashish Bandyopadhyay Prof. Manoj Kumar

    Prof. Anil Kumar Bhat Prof. Jitendra Panwar

    Prof. Navneet Goyal Prof. Subit Kumar Saha

    Prof. Anu Gupta Prof. Kuldip Singh Sangwan

    Dr. Suresh Gupta Dr. Arvind Sudarsan

    Prof. Hemant Ramanlal Jadhav

    Prof. K.R. Anupama Prof. S. Krishnaswamy

    Prof. Sunil Bhand Prof. Prasanna Kumar N.

    Prof. Bharat M. Deshpande Prof. Patincharath Nandakumar

    Prof. Mridula Goel Prof. Meenakshi Raman

    Prof. Utpal Roy Prof. Pravin M. Singru

    Dr. R. Gururaj Dr. Kannan Ramaswamy

    Dr. Balaji Krishamurthy Prof. Y.V. Daseswara Rao

    Dr. P. Lalitha Prof. K. Sumithra

    Prof. Bivudutta Mishra Prof. Ramakrishna Vadrevu

    Dr. Chandu Parimi Dr. V. Vamsi Krishna Venuganti

    Dr. M.G. Prasuna Prof. Y. Yoganandam

    Hyderabad Campus

    Dubai Campus

    Heads of Departments

    Pilani Campus

    K K Birla Goa Campus

    Hyderabad Campus

    Convocation 2013, K K Birla Goa Campus 5

  • Dubai Campus

    Co-opted Faculty

    Librarian

    Workshop Superintendent

    Chief Wardens

    Admissions Officer

    Placement Officer

    External Members

    Student Members

    Prof. Bharat Bhushan Gulyani Prof. Mary Lourde R.

    Prof. Ramadoss Roop Kumar Prof. Shah Jabeen Shazi

    Prof. C. Periasamy Prof. Neeru Sood

    Prof. D.V. Prasad Prof. S. Vadivel

    Ms. Madhuri Bayya, Hyderabad Campus

    Mr. Manoj Kannan, Pilani Campus

    Dr. Leela Rani, Pilani Campus

    Dr. Ishwara Bhat M.,

    Dr. N. Radhakrishnan,

    Shri G.J. Desai, KK Birla Goa Campus

    Prof. Sanjiv Kumar Choudhary, Prof. Dibakar Chakraborty,

    Dr. N.K. Miller Jothi, Dr. Kumar Pranav Narayan,

    Prof. Sudeept Mohan

    Prof. Mani Sankar Dasgupta

    Dr. Malini Balakrishnan Dr. Rishi P. Jamadagni

    Dr. S. Ganguli Dr. Chandra Shekhar

    Shri Aayush Agarwal

    Shri Arnav Jain

    Shri Aatif Mehraj Kababi

    Shri T. Harsha Vardhan Reddy

    Pilani Campus

    Dubai Campus

    Pilani Campus KK Birla Goa Campus

    Dubai Campus Hyderabad Campus

    6 Convocation 2013, K K Birla Goa Campus

  • INTRODUCING THE BIRLA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND

    SCIENCE, PILANI AND THE K K BIRLA GOA CAMPUS

    The Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani is an all-India Institution declared

    as deemed to be university established under Section 3 of the UGC act. It is privately

    supported, fully residential and admits both male and female students. The primary

    objectives of the Institute are "to provide for and otherwise promote education and research

    in the fields of Technology, Science, Humanities, Industry, Business, Public Administration

    and to collate and disseminate in such fields effective ideas, methods, techniques and

    information as are likely to promote the material and industrial welfare of India" and to "train

    young men and women able and eager to create and put into action such ideas, methods,

    techniques and information".

    The Institute was initially registered as a Society under the Rajasthan Societies Registration

    Act of 1958 on the 13th May, 1964. Subsequently, by notification published in the Gazette of

    India dated the 27th June, 1964, the Ministry of Education, Government of India, declared

    that the Institute being an institution for higher education shall be "deemed to be a

    University". The Institute started functioning with effect from 1st July, 1964 with late Shri G.D.

    Birla as its Founder Chairman.

    The Institute started as a small "Pathshala" in Pilani way back in the year 1901 by Seth Shri

    Narainji Birla with one teacher for educating his grandsons, late Shri G.D. Birla and late Shri

    R.D. Birla. Pilani was then a small isolated desert village in Rajasthan. The Pathshala

    evolved slowly and steadily into a High School in 1925 and became an Intermediate College

    in 1929. The Birla Education Trust was founded in the same year. The Intermediate College

    developed into a Degree College in 1943. In 1947, this college was raised to postgraduate

    level. In 1950, Pharmacy courses were started in this college, and in 1952, it was bifurcated

    into College ofArts and the College of Science, Commerce and Pharmacy.

    During World War II, the Government of India established a Technical Training Centre at

    Pilani for the supply of technicians for Defence Services and industry. In 1946, late Shri G.D.

    Birla decided to convert it into an engineering college with degree programmes in Electrical

    and Mechanical Engineering. Master's programme in Electronics was started in 1955. B.E.

    programmes in Civil Engineering and Chemical Engineering were started later. In 1964 with

    the inception of the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, the colleges, viz., Birla College

    of Science, Commerce and Pharmacy, Birla College ofArts and Birla College of Engineering

    situated at Pilani, as also all properties, movable and immovable, together with educational

    facilities, hostels, staff quarters, playgrounds, etc., became part of the Institute and all these

    properties were vested in it. During the early years of its inception, i.e., 1964 to 1970, the

    Institute with the support of Ford Foundation Grant had the advantage of having

    collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA. It adopted the

    semester system, modular structure of courses, continuous and internal evaluation, letter

    grading, etc. It also created institutionalized linkages with the industries. Over a period of

    time, the Institute also introduced several flexibilities in its educational programmes.

    Convocation 2013, K K Birla Goa Campus 7

  • Dr. K.K. Birla who took over as the Chairman of BITS in 1983 was deeply involved and

    closely associated with his visionary father in running both the earlier Birla Colleges and the

    current institute BITS, since its inception. With his spirited involvement in all the activities of

    the Institute, he was able to see the vision of his father Late Shri G.D. Birla unfolding. Taking

    over the responsibility of running the institute, Dr. K.K Birla who became the Chancellor in

    2003 realized the need for greater number of promising graduates in the field of science and

    technology in shaping up the nation's development. Hence he initiated an increase in the

    number of students at Pilani campus during 1999 which gradually carried the total strength

    from 2500 to 4000. Under his patronage, BITS started expanding by establishing three

    campuses, one in Dubai in the year 2000, in Goa in the year 2004 and in Hyderabad in the

    year 2008.

    Consequent upon the sad demise of Dr. K.K. Birla on 30 August 2008, Dr. Kumar Mangalam

    Birla was elected as the Chancellor and Smt. Shobhana Bhartia was nominated as the Pro-

    Chancellor of the Institute. Under the leadership of young and dynamic Chancellor, BITS is

    taking steps to scale greater heights.

    In the year 2000, BITS was accredited by NAAC with the highest possible rank in University

    accreditation. In 2008-2009, the NAAC peer team visited BITS campuses at Pilani, Goa and

    Dubai and BITS has been reaccredited with CGPA 3.71 on four point scale at the highest 'A'

    grade.

    The Institute has embarked on a journey to become one of the leading universities in the

    world by the year 2020. Initially, a task force was constituted to prepare the Vision 2020

    document and the draft 'Vision 2020' was released in February 2009. After several

    deliberations and discussions, Vision 2020 was formalized and logically split into 3 year long

    milestones, known as 'Mission Programmes'. First such milestone, , was

    accomplished in the year 2012, after being formally launched in October 2009.

    Mission 2012 focused and achieved significantly in six thrust areas - Academic Programs

    and Pedagogy, People, Research & Consultancy, Campus Life, Infrastructure & Facilities

    and UniversityAdministration. 16 Task Forces comprising of more than 110 faculty members

    were involved in realizing 33 different goals under these six thrust areas. Several initiatives

    such as curriculum bench marking and redesign, strengthening student feedback, seed

    grant, research initiation grant, sabbatical leave policy, performance appraisal, faculty

    recruitment among others were fully completed and institutionalized into regular operations

    at BITS.

    Other initiatives with varying degrees of completion would be taken up by existing offices,

    completed and institutionalized. Off Campus programmes (WILP), initially an intrinsic part of

    the People thrust area, was recognized to be a significant component in realizing Vision

    2020. Several initiatives to engage with the industry have been taken up that will be achieved

    over 2-3 years.

    Vision 2020:AStrategic Plan for BITS

    Mission 2012

    8 Convocation 2013, K K Birla Goa Campus

  • Mission 2012 was formally concluded on a celebratory note, with a formal event 'Reflections

    2012', presided by the Chancellor, Dr Kumar Mangalam Birla. The event was held in the K K

    Birla Goa campus, and was attended by several faculty & staff members. The Task force

    members were felicitated for their valuable contribution towards Mission 2012 goals.

    In March earlier this year, , the next milestone in the journey towards Vision

    2020, was formally launched. The Mission 2015, expected to bring a quantum jump in the

    aspirations of the objectives set forth, entails focusing on 7 imperatives: Faculty & Staff

    Development, Industry Engagement, Inter-Disciplinary Research, Internationalization,

    Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Quality Assurance & Assessments and Technology

    Enablement. One team per imperative has been identified and the teams have already

    started working on refining and actioning the goals.

    A growth plan for the next 10 years has been developed and under implementation. While

    projecting growth in number of students from 11,000 to more than 17,000 by 2020-21 across

    its four campuses, the plan outlines a strategy for transforming BITS into a research-focused

    university while continuing to consolidate its First degree and Higher degree programmes.

    Establishment of new research labs is an important ingredient of the growth plan, for which

    the plan envisages an aggressive push to sponsored research grants from Govt. agencies

    and from industry. As a result of extensive efforts to benchmark the First degree and Higher

    degree programmes against the best in the world, the curricula of all First degree and Higher

    degree programmes have been completely re-designed while ensuring greater focus on

    discipline-specific courses, on courses in Humanities, and on hands-on learning through

    lab-based experimentation and thesis work. The new curricula was implemented starting

    August 2011.

    Transforming BITS into a research-focused university is at the top of BITS' agenda. To take

    that forward, BITS has undertaken several measures. These include (i) Significant increase

    in the number of “teaching assistantships” that offer tuition waiver and stipend to full-time

    PhD students and (ii) Streamlining of its processes from admissions to evaluation of PhD

    dissertation. BITS has undertaken several initiatives to encourage, facilitate and incentivize

    faculty to seek and execute research grants.

    Mission 2015

    BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus

    The idyllic and sylvan beauty of Goa sets the right ambience for BITS Pilani, K.K. Birla Goa

    Campus, an Institute of excellence in Technology and Science. Nestling in the lap of verdant

    hills, overlooking the Zuari River, the campus is spread over an area of 180 acres. The

    location of campus is unique in the respect of scenic beauty and panoramic view of

    picturesque surrounding sencompassing the river Zuari, hillocks, waterways, forests and

    landscape. The Campus is about 25 kms south of Panaji (capital of Goa), 10 kms west of

    Vasco-da-Gama, 22 kms north of Margao and 5.5 kms from the Goa airport, along National

    Highway 17B. The campus houses the main building, having academic and administrative

    offices, Visitor's Guest house, hostels for boys & girls, student activity centre, faculty & staff

    quarters, medical centre, playground and shopping complex.

    Convocation 2013, K K Birla Goa Campus 9

  • BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa campus was commissioned in August 2004 and was formally

    inaugurated by Honorable Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh on May 5, 2006. In

    keeping with the tradition of innovation and creativity, it has given a state-of-the art touch to

    the infrastructure of the entire institute without diminishing in the least, the natural beauty of

    Goa surrounding its campus. Spacious laboratories, state of art classrooms with soundproof

    acoustics, modern furniture, computer labs with Internet facility and library define the

    infrastructural pillars of the institution. Being fully residential, separate hostels are provided

    for girls and boys with single rooms. Prof. T. C. Goel was the first Director of Goa campus and

    continued till June 2008. Prof. K. E. Raman took over the office of the Director in July 2008.

    http://www.bits-goa.ac.in

    10 Convocation 2013, K K Birla Goa Campus

  • VICE-CHANCELLOR’S REPORT

    It is a special honour for us to have

    as our Chief

    Guest for our Convocation in Goa. We are deeply indebted to you, Mr. Dravid for readily

    accepting our invitation.

    Chief Guest for the occasion, Padma Bhushan Shri Rahul Dravid, Our Chancellor, Shri

    Kumar Mangalam Birla, Member of the Board of Governors, Mr. Kris Ramachandran,

    Directors of our campuses, Prof. V. S. Rao, Prof. G. Raghurama, Prof. R. K. Mittal and Prof.

    K. E. Raman, Members of the Senate, Faculty and Staff of K K Birla Goa campus, the

    graduating Class of 2013 and members of your families, Ladies and Gentlemen: a very Good

    Morning to all of you.

    It is my proud privilege to welcome you to this happy occasion, and to present to you the

    Convocation Report 2013 on this occasion.

    Padma Bhushan Shri Rahul Dravid, Former Captain of

    Indian Cricket Team and one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket,

    ,

    I will now present the report on BITS Pilani, and its four campuses taken together. The report

    highlights its achievements, while bringing out its future plans, and the challenges BITS

    Pilani faces going forward. Prof. Raman, Director of the Goa campus, will present a report

    that is specific to the Goa campus.

    As you are aware, BITS Pilani was declared "deemed to be university" by UGC in 1964. It

    offers undergraduate, post-graduate and PhD programmes in Science, Engineering,

    Pharmacy, Management and Social sciences to over 11,500 students from its four

    campuses in Pilani, Goa, Hyderabad and Dubai. While today students in the undergraduate

    programmes account for nearly 88% of the student body, we expect the share of post-

    graduate and PhD students to grow from the current 12% to 22% by the year 2020. These

    numbers partly reveal our growing emphasis on pursuing an agenda for research that aims

    to grow the number of PhD students from the current figure of 450 to over 1700 by year 2020.

    I am happy to report that BITS Pilani was, in 2005, the first institution in India to conduct

    BITSAT, an online examination for admission to its undergraduate programmes. But, more

    importantly, it has conducted BITSAT every year for nine years without any disruption. This

    Prof. Bijendra Nath Jain

    Convocation 2013, K K Birla Goa Campus 11

  • summer, nearly 140,000 students took the exam at 40 centers, including the one in Dubai, an

    increase of nearly 30% over last year. Students have the option of taking the exam in any one

    of over 50 sessions spread over 21 days. This reflects our commitment to using technology

    to ensure our admissions process is fair, transparent, and efficient. Most other institutions in

    the country have only recently woken up to the potential use of technology in admissions.

    Pilani

    Pilani

    Pilani

    Invariably, and justifiably, BITS Pilani is ranked amongst the top 7 or 8 publicly privately

    funded engineering institutions in India. And this is improving year-on-year. That standing is

    mainly on account of its emphasis on excellence in teaching, its

    Pilani

    or

    You will be pleased to note that during the academic year 2012-13, 3,300 students have

    graduated from BITS with an undergraduate or post-graduate degree. Of these, over

    350 have graduated with two degrees under the Dual-degree programme, an option that

    only BITS provides to its students. An additional 56 students have graduated this year

    with a PhD. In the coming years, we expect these numbers to grow significantly. By year

    2020, the number of students completing an undergraduate or post-graduate degree is

    expected to surpass 3,800, and those graduating with a PhD should exceed 200.

    Thus far I have reported on programmes that we run for students who reside on our four

    campuses. You are perhaps aware of BITS 's pioneering role in running academic

    programmes for working professionals in partnership with industrial organizations. While

    over 20,000 industry professionals are currently enrolled in one of 24 UG or PG

    programmes, the expected enrollment is expected to touch 38,000 by 2020. It is to be noted

    that such programmes allow industry professional a second chance to obtain a formal

    degree, or to upgrade their skills in keeping with a fast changing environment in the world.

    7-month internship

    programme through Practice School, and its focus on soft-skills development. Clearly, we

    are not content with that.

    Going forward, we aspire to be listed as one of India's top 3 research-led technical institutes

    by 2015, and be counted by 2020 amongst the leading 25 technical universities in Asia. And

    to realize that dream we have just completed a number of projects under Mission 2012, only

    to give way to a new set of imperatives under the recently launched Mission 2015. Together,

    these will enhance our capability and capacity to run a world-class university whose faculty

    and students excel in both teaching and research or in innovation and entrepreneurship. I will

    outline some of the projects we have completed. Later, I will mention imperatives that have

    been launched this month. Before closing, I will speak about some of the challenges that we

    face.

    Our new curriculum is being followed starting with students that entered BITS in

    2011. Consequently, those graduating in the coming months and years will be exposed to

    increased emphasis on discipline-specific courses, to more courses in humanities and to

    increased hands-on laboratory work.

    Our PhD programme and sponsored research projects are not simply growing at the

    expected rate, they are feeding into each other's growth. Success in these two areas

    12 Convocation 2013, K K Birla Goa Campus

  • gives us the confidence that we are on track to be recognized globally for our focus on

    research and innovation.

    BITS 's aggressive plan to recruit research-focused faculty is gaining traction. We

    have received and processed an unprecedented number of applications for faculty

    positions. While fewer than 2% of the applicants are offered a position, 8 in 10 candidates

    readily accept the offers we make. What is more, three professors have joined or are

    expected to join shortly. Another three faculty members who are of Indian origin are

    expected to join soon.

    Our plans to upgrade the physical infrastructure are beginning to take shape across all

    our campuses. Project “Parivartan” in Pilani campus envisages an investment of over

    Rs. 650 crores to renovate or expand housing for students and faculty and other

    academic areas. Similar projects for expanding our capacity in Hyderabad and Goa

    campuses to cater to increased number of students are on the anvil.

    I cannot help but share with you the successful opening of the multi-crore state-of-the-art

    high-definition video conferencing facility that connects conference rooms and lecture

    classrooms across our campuses. Using this facility, not only does our faculty teach

    classes across our campuses, the leadership is now able to better engage with its faculty

    across our campuses.

    I will now turn my attention to the seven imperatives that we have taken up as part of Mission

    2015. I will however speak about only three of them, which to my mind are game changers.

    “Technology enablement” is a major game changer for us. Over the last nine years, we

    have already seen in the context of BITSAT. In the last six months, we have reaped

    rich dividends from the high-definition video-conferencing facility we have implemented

    across our campuses. Now that a full-scale implementation of ERP is nearing

    completion, we can see how ERP will impact transparency, efficiency and speed in the

    way we do things. Going forward, we will develop and deliver digital content as a

    substitute for large-format lecture classes to address the issues of quality and scale of

    our on-campus and off-campus programmes. For a country with a growing economy and

    growing aspirations, this is possibly the only way to educate or train the growing number

    of young men and women. BITS aspires to be a leader in this area.

    The second imperative for BITS is applied research and innovation, but one that

    addresses the very many and serious problems faced by the diverse population in this

    country. We have, therefore, decided to give special impetus to inter-disciplinary

    research. And to do so we are establishing a Centre for Excellence in Water, Waste and

    Energy Management. Faculty and students from across disciplines and across

    campuses are expected to compete for funds that this virtual centre will make available,

    while also seeking research grants from government agencies and industry.

    Internationalization is one imperative that will not only allow BITS to be ranked

    amongst the very best global universities, it will bring together people from diverse

    full

    not

    that

    Pilani

    Pilani

    Pilani

    Pilani

    Convocation 2013, K K Birla Goa Campus 13

  • backgrounds or cultures to work together and thereby prepare themselves for

    opportunities in this globalized world. Exchange of faculty with foreign universities,

    followed by research collaboration, is expected to reinvent and re-energize our faculty to

    excel both in teaching and research.

    Various projects and programmes that are currently under implementation, together with the

    seven imperatives we have launched as part of Mission 2015, are part of a larger plan to

    grow the student body significantly over the next decade, while transforming BITS to

    become one of India's finest science and technology institution.

    I must pause here and speak about the growing set of challenges that limit the growth of

    universities, particularly those that are independent, and not publicly funded. While there are

    many, I will focus on three challenges. These relate to (a) induction and retention of

    research-focused faculty, (b) creation of lab infrastructure to support research or innovation,

    and (c) a growing role that independent universities, like ours, play in preparing our children

    for fruitful and satisfying careers.

    Having seen an explosive growth in the number of colleges that offer UG or PG programmes

    in science and engineering, we have also witnessed a huge decline in standards of

    education to the point that a majority of graduates in science or engineering are

    unemployable. To a large extent, the prime reason is lack of motivated, talented young men

    and women who wish to take up teaching and research as a career in India.

    BITS has assigned the highest priority to recruiting the best talent available anywhere

    in the world. Today, across its four campuses, BITS has over 600 faculty members,

    resulting in a student-to-faculty ratio of over 18 students to one faculty. Given our experience

    over the last two years, we are confident of hiring and retaining faculty that excels in both

    teaching and research enough to achieve a ratio of 13::1 by year 2020. This, together with

    greater use of technology, will result in our faculty having more time to engage in research or

    innovation.

    Funding to create lab infrastructure necessary to support a growing community of faculty and

    over 1700 PhD students is the other challenge we face. Given the disciplines that BITS

    has emphasized over the years, BITS has decided to invest over Rs. 200 crores

    in upgrading or expanding its research infrastructure. That will not be enough. We must

    necessarily depend upon competitive research grants from government agencies, such as

    DST or DBT, and the industry. I am happy to report that our efforts in this area are beginning

    to bear fruit. However, going forward this is going to be a challenge since any shrinkage in

    Government of India budget for research will have a greater impact on funding being made

    available to independent universities that are not publicly funded. I fear the rules for funding

    research in publicly- or privately-funded universities will be increasingly different, to the

    detriment of growth of research in universities that are not publicly funded.

    Pilani

    Pilani

    Pilani

    Pilani Pilani

    14 Convocation 2013, K K Birla Goa Campus

  • This brings me to the third challenge that independent universities, such as ours, currently

    face. Statistics clearly bear out the fact that privately-funded universities and colleges have

    played a significant role in increasing the Gross Enrollment Ratio, or GER, in India to 18% or

    so. The government expects, and correctly so, that privately-funded universities must

    assume greater responsibility in increasing our GER to 30% in the coming decade. Further,

    and again correctly so, the government is hugely concerned with the quality of education

    provided by all our institutions, both publicly funded and those privately funded. However, its

    actions are largely targeted to regulating privately funded universities, particularly the so-

    called deemed universities. While the new UGC regulations for deemed universities impose

    several, and severe, constraints on deemed universities, it offers no solution on how to

    address issues in quality of education imparted by universities funded by central or state

    governments. Going forward, we need regulations that address issues of quality,

    transparency and accountability across all our universities, including the IITs, IIMs,

    NITs, and Central Universities.

    Before I close, I would like my faculty and staff to join me in congratulating all our students

    who will be graduating today from our campus in Goa. To all those graduating today, I hope

    you were able to get the most of what BITS had to offer, and that you will use your

    knowledge and experience fruitfully to serve the people of this country and those elsewhere.

    I wish you all the very best in your lives, both professional and personal. And, as you move

    forward in your life, do reflect upon the many contributions that your family, your teachers,

    and your communities have made to your lives. Do remain connected with your alma mater

    and visit us whenever you yearn to re-live some of your fine moments at the .

    Congratulations, once again.

    , thank you once again for readily agreeing to be with us at this very joyous

    moment. My faculty, staff and students are eagerly waiting to hear your convocation

    address.

    I would also like to thank our Chancellor, Shri Kumar Mangalam Birla, and members of the

    Board of Governors for their unflinching support to BITS .

    Last, but not the least, I want to thank my faculty and staff in Goa, and elsewhere, for their

    commitment to excel in every aspect of teaching and research, both inside and outside the

    classrooms. Their continued effort helps BITS Pilani retain its position as a top destination for

    students, faculty and recruiters from India.

    Thank you for your attention.

    uniformly

    Pilani

    Goa campus

    Mr. Dravid

    Pilani

    Bijendra Nath Jain, Senior Professor & Vice Chancellor

    Birla Institute of Technology and Science

    Pilani | Dubai | Goa | Hyderabad

    Convocation 2013, K K Birla Goa Campus 15

  • DIRECTOR'S REPORT

    Chief Guest of today's convocation at the BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa campus, Padma

    Bhushan Shri Rahul Dravid; Chancellor, Dr. Kumar Mangalam Birla; Vice Chancellor, Prof

    B.N.Jain; distinguished guests present in the audience; my colleagues from all the four

    campuses of BITS, Members of the Senate, proud parents of the graduating students,

    students, faculty and staff of K K Birla Goa campus, members of the press and, the real

    heroes of today's function – BITSians graduating today from this campus

    Awarm welcome to one and all!

    This year we have 687 of our students eligible to receive their degrees, 440 of them their first

    degrees, 149 of them, their first degree along with another degree under the dual degree

    scheme, 93 of them, their higher degree, and 5 of them their PhD degree. In this batch, we

    have three medalists: a gold, a silver and a bronze.

    Sir, this campus is the dream-come-true of our respectful former Chancellor, Dr Krishna

    Kumar Birla, and the son of the legendary Dr. Ghanshyam Das Birla. He was a successful

    industrialist, a renowned philanthropist and an active Parliamentarian. When Dr. K. K. Birla

    decided to build campuses outside Pilani, Goa was his first choice. Known for his vision and

    meticulous planning, Dr. Birla saw to it that the campus came up with all the necessary

    infrastructure in two years time well before admitting the first batch of 600 students inAugust

    2004. Dr Birla evinced keen interest in the progress of this campus till his demise in August

    2008. In respectful homage to the memory of Dr. K. K. Birla, this campus was renamed as

    BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa campus on 21 April, 2011 by Shri Rahul Gandhi.

    Sir, this fully residential campus has been built on an area of 180 acres with a capital

    investment of about 155 crores. 11 first degree programmes, 6 higher degree programs and

    PhD programme are being offered from this campus. With an annual intake of 660 students,

    the campus has now a total strength of about 2800 students.We are now embarking upon an

    ambitious growth plan over the next 7 years, wherein the student population will almost be

    doubled and the focus would be on post graduate and research programmes.

    st

    Sir, you might be aware that, BITS has implemented all the educational reforms

    Prof. K. E. Raman

    16 Convocation 2013, K K Birla Goa Campus

  • Convocation 2013, K K Birla Goa Campus 17

    recommended by various commissions in the country right from the seventies. Notable

    among them are credit based system, transparent admission process, semester system,

    continuous and total internal evaluation, letter grading, academic flexibilities which include

    the well known dual degree scheme, by which BITS has provided a fillip to science education

    in the country, periodic revision of curriculum in tune with the needs of industry and practice-

    oriented learning apart from classroom teaching.

    The last one that I have just mentioned, which is popularly known as BITS Practice School

    programme running for the past 4 decades is unique in this country wherein students are

    required to spend seven and a half months on projects in the industry. This programme is an

    integral part of the curriculum enabling our students to practice what they learn in the class

    rooms. As on today, about 300 students of this campus are occupied in about 50 locations

    supervised by an equal number of faculty members. I am proud to share with you the fact that

    industry supports the students for this period by giving stipends.

    As an alternative to Practice School, our students are encouraged to pursue their thesis work

    either at our research labs or in the prestigious institutions of national and international

    repute. Students of this campus have been carrying out their thesis work in IISc., TIFR, in

    India and IECR (Institute of Energy and Climate Research) Germany, University of Michigan

    USA, INRAFrance, Imperial College London, etc.

    BITS Pilani along with BITSAA, its global alumni association, launched a first of its kind multi-

    million dollar cross-campus technology initiative named BITSConnect 2.0 on 9th of January

    2013. Pioneering a unique model of multi-campus education in India, the initiative

    comprises Immersive Telepresence, High-definition Video Conferencing and Live

    Streaming technologies that are set to transform the learning experience by connecting all

    campuses at an unprecedented scale. This University-Alumni initiative was launched

    simultaneously at Pilani, Goa and Hyderabad campuses, while being connected to Cisco's

    offices in San Jose and Boston, jointly by Prof. Bijendra Nath Jain, Vice Chancellor, BITS

    Pilani and Raju Reddy, Chairman, BITSAA, in the presence of His Excellency the Governor

    of Goa, Shri Bharat VirWanchoo and Shri J. Satyanarayana, Secretary, Department of IT,

    Government of India.

    As a part of Mission 2012, ICT Infrastructure team implemented a Centralized e-mail solution

    for 30,000+ users of BITS campuses and WILP students using google. User is given 25 GB

    mail box size and 5 GB file storage.

    The Centre for Entrepreneurial Leadership (CEL) at BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus in

    association with the Department of Information Technology, Government of India has

    established a Technology Business Incubator under the TIDE scheme in the area of

    Electronics and ICT to embolden the spirit of technology based innovation and

    entrepreneurship. Four promising Goa Campus startups , ,

    and have commenced using the services offered by this

    incubator.

    inTuitor Dinasource

    Brainbrought.com Cubito.in

  • Research at BITS is an integral activity that encompasses teaching and utilizes its linkages

    with the outside world of Academia and Industry. A large number of students from all the

    three-tiers are involved in research. In addition to Doctoral research, at the first degree level,

    a one-semester full-time, thesis-cum-seminar course and at the higher degree level,

    dissertation course offer excellent research opportunities to our students.

    Our faculty members have brought laurels to this campus through their academic and

    research endeavors:

    Four faculty members have been deputed on sabbatical to spend some time in reputed

    institutions in India and abroad to pursue their research interests. Two faculty members from

    Goa campus were selected to attend the recently launched Industry Immersion and the

    University Immersion Programme: Prof. Pravin Singru of Mechanical Engineering was sent

    for Industry Immersion Program to Tata Technologies, Pune during June 2013. Dr. Judith

    Braganca of the Department of Biological Sciences visited Goethe-University Frankfurt,

    Germany during June – July 2013 under the BITS University immersion Scheme.

    A number of research projects have been sponsored by various funding agencies such as

    Department of Science and Technology (DST), Defence Research and Development

    Organisation (DRDO), Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), University

    Grants Commission (UGC), Ministry of Earth Sciences, Ministry of New & Renewable

    Energy, Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers, The Indian

    Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), and the Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL). At

    present, the campus has 53 sponsored research projects worth Rs. 21.52 Crores funded by

    various National and International funding agencies. Among these research projects, 21

    projects worth Rs. 4.2 Crores have been approved during 2012-13, the funding agencies

    being CSIR, DST-FT, DBT, DST, UKIERI-DST, BRNS, BRFST, DSTE GOAand ICSSR.

    In this context, I may now briefly mention about some of our significant , ongoing research

    projects:

    Prof. Sunil Bhand of the Department of Chemistry has received a funding of Rs. 5.36 Crores

    for two projects: (i) Development of Biosensors for analysis of contaminants in milk and ii)

    Detection and mitigation of dairy pathogens using chemical biology under National

    Agricultural Innovation Project NAIP, funded by ICAR and the World Bank.

    Prof. N N Ghosh, Department of Chemistry has been granted Rs. 91 lakhs under the UKIERI

    (DST& British Council) for a collaborative research project with the University of Leeds, UK in

    the area of Nanomaterials.

    Prof. Srinivas Krishnaswamy of the Department of Chemical Engineering has been pursuing

    a project worth Rs. 3.82 Crores granted by GAIL India Ltd to work on Seawater desalination

    using Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) refrigeration.

    Prof. K. R. Anupama of the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering along with

    her colleagues from the Pilani campus is working on Design and Development of Condition

    18 Convocation 2013, K K Birla Goa Campus

  • based Monitoring of Pipelines using Wireless Sensor Networks with the funding of Rs. 80

    Lakhs sanctioned by GAIL

    Dr. Ram Shankar Patel of the Department of Physics has been granted a project worth Rs.

    49.09 Lakhs on Magneto transport in Magnetic Tunnel Junctions.

    Six patents have been filed by our faculty members during 2012-13. Prof. Sunil Bhand on

    Microwell Biosensor chips; Prof. Srinivas Krishnaswamy on a treatment process in ammonia

    plants; Dr. Shalini Upadhyay (Humanities) on a method for generating spiritual intelligence,

    Dr. Dibakar Chakraborty (Biology) on a method forAssessment of FibrinolyticActivity and Dr.

    Meenal Kowshik (Biology) on Nanomaterial based DNAdelivery vehicle.

    Dr. M. Srikanth of the Department of Biology has been appointed by the Government of Goa

    as the Member of Expert committee constituted for technical evaluation of bids for the

    Municipal solid waste (MSW) processing facility going to be set up at Bainguinim, North Goa.

    Research work done by Dr. HalanPrakash and his group from the Department of Chemistry

    featured as a front page cover article and highlighted in, March, 2013 issue of PPS, Royal

    Society of Chemistry, UKPPS.

    Anumber of conferences and workshops held at this campus during 2012 – 13 have enabled

    the students and faculty to network with experts from various fields and exchange ideas with

    them:

    International Conference on Emerging Technologies in Micro to Nano (ETMN –

    2013) ( Departments of Mechanical Engineering, Chemistry and Biology)

    Workshop on Higgs boson and top quark physics HIGGSTOP-2013 in collaboration

    with RECAPP (Regional Center for Accelerator based Particle Physics), Harish-

    Chandra Research Institute (HRI, a autonomous DAE Institute), Allahabad and

    Department of Science &Technology(DST), Government of India HiggStop-2013.

    (Department of Physics)

    Workshop on Graph and Geometric Algorithms was sponsored by National Board

    for Higher Mathematics. Department of Mathematics in association with School of

    Technology and Computer Science, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research,

    Mumbai organized this workshop.

    International Workshop on Data Analytics and Applications (IWDAA 2013)

    (Departments of Computer Science & Information Systems of Pilani& Goa

    campuses)

    Workshop on Negotiations and Negotiating (Department of Humanities and

    Management)

    Introductory Workshop on Mathematica(Department of Mathematics)

    Workshop on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) during 2-5 January 2013

    ( Department of Mechanical Engineering )

    Convocation 2013, K K Birla Goa Campus 19

  • The Institute has collaborative arrangements with several foreign universities in order to

    promote joint research activities and the exchange of faculty, students and published

    material. Notable among them is the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences,

    Bethesda, Maryland, USA, Laboratoire de Biotechnologie de l'Environnement, INRA,

    Narbonne, France, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig, Germany and

    Cypress Semiconductors, California, USA.

    During 2012-13, the Goa Campus established collaborations with Vergo Pharma Research

    Laboratory, Goa, in the area of environmental chemistry; with DUCOM Instruments

    Bangalore, in the area Bio-Tribology; with Deer Tree Technologies Pvt Ltd, Goa, in the

    area of Biogas Plants and with University of Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy for Students

    Exchange.

    Our students as have always enjoyed a pride of place in our success by winning honors in

    various spheres. Often we find number of students opting for internships abroad (France,

    Germany, and USA) out of their own initiatives during the summer of their third year. They

    participate in various competitions and win accolades for the campus. Our research scholars

    too have received a number of awards and scholarships. Some of the achievements for the

    year 2012-13 are:

    39 students have completed their first degree thesis at various national and international

    organizations of repute such as University of Michigan, USA ; University of Alberta, Canada,

    University of Stuttgart, Germany; North Texas University, USA; INRIA, France; University of

    Calgary, Canada; University of Vermont, USA; Institute of Neuroinformatics, Zurich,

    Switzerland; INRIA, Paris; Imperial College, London; Institute of Energy and Climate

    Research (IECR), Germany; DRDO, Hyderabad; IIM, Bangalore; IISc, Banglore; TERI,

    Mumbai etc.

    Ms. Ramya Ramachandran a DST-JRF being supported by Department of Biotechnology,

    India presented a paper 'Antimicrobial Prowess of a Soil Isolate Bacillus subtilis' authored by

    Ramya, R, Ram Lal and Utpal Roy at the 2nd International Conference on Antimicrobial

    Research (ICAR-2012) held at the UNIVERSITY of LISBON, Portugal on 23 November 2012

    Ms. Bhakti Salgaonkar and Mr. Kabilan Mani, both pursuing their PhD under the supervision

    of Dr. Judith Braganca received DBT CTEP grant for presenting research papers at the 9th

    International Congress on Extremophiles 2012 at Seville Spain.

    Ms. Kshipra Naik, research scholar working under the supervision of Dr. Meenal Kowshik

    won the best Poster Prize for her poster entitled Silver Embedded Titanium Dioxide

    Nanoparticle Films as Efficient Inhibitors of Biofilm Formation at the Nanomedicine

    Conference held at Rey Juan Carlos Hotel, Barcelona, Spain on 11-12April 2013.

    Mr. Raghavendraprasad Suryavanshi an M.E. Biotechnology student won the 1 prize in TiE

    50K Big Idea Business Plan Competition final round held on 22 May 2013 at TiE Hubli.

    Malte Esra Horvat from University of Leipzig, Germany and Linus Lorenz from Technical

    st

    20 Convocation 2013, K K Birla Goa Campus

  • University, Hamburg have joined Dr. M. Srikanth's research group in the department of

    Biology to work on "Terra Preta composting" and "Case study on a new sanitation

    approach” respectively.

    Ms. Priyadarshini Parakh, Mr. Gokulakrishnan Subramanian, and Dr. HalanPrakash, won

    the Best Poster award in Second International Conference on Advanced oxidation Process,

    Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, during September, 2012.

    BITSAA Travel Scholarship was awarded to Mr. Priyans Murarka to present a paper `A

    Ubiquitous Sensor Network for Domestic Energy Monitoring and Energy Consumption

    Optimization' at the IEEE iThings – 2012 Conference, held at Femto-st Institute, France.

    BITSAA Financial Assistance instituted by Class of 1966-71 was awarded to two the

    following ME students of the campus:

    (i) Mr. Nishad Kamdar to present a paper entitled `Design and Implementation of a

    Cross-Layered Protocol Stack for Sensor Networks in an Indoor Environment' under

    the guidance of Dr. K.R. Anupama at the Ninth IEEE International Conference on

    Wireless and Optical Communication Networks, IEEE WOCN 2012 at Indore,

    Madhya Pradesh (Sept 2012)

    (ii) Mr. Akhil Mohan to present a paper entitled “ Conceptualizing an Adaptive

    Framework for Pervasive Computing Environment” at the Second International

    Conference on Computer Science, Engineering and Applications ( ICCSEA-2012)

    held in New Delhi( May 2012)

    Rishabh Goel (2009B3A4446G) and Tejas Pandey (2009A3TS168G) finished as runner-

    upsS of the Tata Crucible Campus Quiz, Goa and won Rs. 35000/-

    Palnitkar Aditya Devdatt (2008A7PS701G) secured admission in Stanford

    University.

    Arnav Goel (2010A3PS077G) worked as an associate intern at Indian Institute of Science

    (IISc) Bangalore under MMSoC2013 Program.

    Balasubramanian Viswanathan (2012A4PS143G) and Pradhyumna Bhat

    (2012A3PS127G) won the "Times College Quiz" conducted by Goa Times. Arka

    Bhattacharya (2009A3PS047G) and TejasPandey (2009A3TS168G) finished third i n t h e

    same.

    Shobhit Sharma (2009B5A7540G) was selected for CERN Summer Student

    Program and was accepted by Queens University, Canada for his thesis on Neutrino

    Physics.

    Raunak Sharan (2009A7PS142G) successfully completed his internship at the

    prestigious International Thermo-Nuclear Experimental Reactor project in

    Cadarache, France. He worked with the executive team at SAP Labs Bangalore in the OEM

    enablement program of their global business incubation project

    Convocation 2013, K K Birla Goa Campus 21

  • Apart from their scholastic records, students of Goa campus are actively involved in various

    extracurricular activities: Three festivals, namely, Waves (Cultural), Quark (Techno-

    management) and Spree (Sports) all were organized by students at the All-India level with a

    host of interesting and challenging events. They also demonstrate their sensitivity to the

    needs of the society by organising social service activities through two forums, Nirman and

    Abhigyan. The TEDxBITS Goa event organized by our students for the successive fourth

    time during the techno-management festival Quark presented an extraordinary range of awe

    inspiring stories from the most fascinating and extraordinary individuals who enthralled and

    encouraged the audience to participate, promote and propagate.

    Reflections 2012, a celebration to review Mission 2012 as well as to redefine Mission 2015

    as a part of Vision 2020 programme was organized at the K K Birla Goa Campus on 21st

    November 2012. Reflections 2012 witnessed the Task Forces presenting their

    accomplishments and the tasks yet to be achieved.

    Prof. D M Kulkarni received the Prof. S. Venkateswaran Faculty Excellence Award 2012

    instituted by Karthik Krishna of 93 batch for excellence in teaching, research and contribution

    to institution development.

    Retired Army Chief, General V. K. Singh interacted with the Faculty and Staff of BITS

    Pilani, K K Birla Goa campus on 17th October 2012.

    His Excellency Shri Bharat Vir Wanchoo, Governor of Goa inaugurated the 3-day Goa State

    Convention 2012, organised by SPIC MACAY at BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus, on 24

    August, 2012

    All such achievements of our faculty and students, we hope would go a long way in fulfilling

    our mission of achieving the first position among Indian universities in the near future.

    Sir, as envisioned by our Vice Chancellor and presented in his address, BITS is gearing up to

    meet new challenges with an ambitious growth plan for the coming years and we are quite

    sure of our success under the dynamic leadership of our Chancellor Dr. Kumar Mangalam

    Birla and with the active support from our faculty members, staff and students.

    My best wishes to all the graduating students. Thank you.

    th

    22 Convocation 2013, K K Birla Goa Campus

  • INTRODUCTION TO THE CHIEF GUEST

    Shri Rahul Dravid, former Captain, Indian cricket team, also hailed as 'The Wall' or 'Mr.

    Dependable', has been described as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket.

    Rahul Dravid was probably one of the last Classical Test match batsmen. His progress into

    the national side has been steady and methodical. Armed with an orthodox technique drilled

    into him by Keki Tarapore, he became the cement that held the foundations firm while the flair

    players expressed themselves.

    Born in Indore, he did his schooling in Bangalore and earned a Degree in Commerce while

    representing Karnataka at various levels. He made his first class debut in 1991 against

    Maharashtra, and straight away making a mark by scoring a brilliant 82. With his

    international debut in 1996, he has given brilliant knocks like Headingley, Adelaide,

    Rawalpindi and Kingston. He was named one of the best five cricketers of the year by

    Wisden Cricketers'Almanack in 2000 and received the Player of the Year and the Test Player

    of the Year awards at the inaugural ICC awards ceremony in 2004. In December 2011, he

    became the first non-Australian cricketer to address at the Bradman Oration in Canberra.

    Rahul is the third-highest run scorer in Test cricket, after Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky

    Ponting, and is only the second Indian cricketer. In April 2009, he became the only player to

    score a century in all the ten Test-playing countries. He also holds the record for the most

    number of catches taken by a player (non-wicket-keeper) in Test cricket.

    From an enthusiastic child to becoming one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket,

    he has shown dedication, hard work, concentration and sheer excellence. From missing a

    century at Lords on his debut to scoring it in 2011, he has made his name prominent in the

    record books. He has always justified that “CRICKET IS A GENTLEMAN'S GAME” and has

    been appreciated by his fans, fellow team mates and even by opponents.

    Rahul has a number of awards to his credit. Notable among them are the Arjuna award in

    1998, Padma Shri in 2004 and Padma Bhushan in 2013.

    Shri Raul Dravid

    Convocation 2013, K K Birla Goa Campus 23

  • LIST OF STUDENTS WHO ARE AWARDED MEDALS

    Sl.No

    Name and ID No. Photograph CGPAobtained

    Positionobtained

    Type ofMedal to

    beawarded

    1

    2

    TUSHAR MANDAR2009A7PS011G

    JOSHI ABHIJITMOHAN2009A3PS083G

    CHITHRA2009A3PS001G

    9.79

    9.56

    FIRST

    SECOND

    GOLD

    SILVER

    3 9.53 THIRD BRONZE

    24 Convocation 2013, K K Birla Goa Campus

  • GRADUATION DATA (73 AWARD)

    BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus

    CONVOCATION 2013

    rd

    Convocation 2013, K K Birla Goa Campus 25

    M.E.Biotechnology

    M.E. Chemical

    M.E. Embedded Systems

    M.E. Software Systems

    M.E. Design Engineering

    M.E. Microelectronics

    Chemical Engineering

    Electrical & Electronics

    Engineering

    Electronics & Instrumentation

    Mechanical Engineering

    Computer Science

    Information Systems

    Biological Sciences

    Chemistry

    Economics

    Mathematics

    Physics

    ProgrammesB.E./B.Pharm.

    (Hons.)S. No.

    M.Sc.

    (Hons.)

    M.Sc.

    (Tech.)H.D Ph.D. Total

    69 - - - - 69

    119 - - - - 119

    107 - 107

    116 - - - 1 117

    121 - - - 2 123

    - - 53 - - 53

    - 31 - - - 31

    - 20 - - 2 22

    - 44 - - - 44

    - 32 - - - 32

    - 26 - - - 26Physics

    - - - 20 - 20

    - - - 8 - 8

    - - - 20 - 20

    - - - 19 - 19

    532 153 53 93 5 836

    10 - 10

  • 73 Award

    CONVOCATION - 201311 August, 2013

    LIST OF STUDENTS RECOMMENDED FOR CONFERMENT OF VARIOUS DEGREESBITS PILANI, K K BIRLA GOA CAMPUS

    rd

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  • “On this solemn occasion, Convocation 2013 at Goa and in the

    presence of my teachers and family, I pledge to use my

    knowledge and experience gained at BITS Pilani and

    elsewhere in the service of the people of my country and of the

    world. I will do so while adhering to the highest ethical

    standards, in harmony with the environment, and with utmost

    humility, honesty and devotion, and thereby bring glory to my

    family, my Alma mater, my profession, and my country.”

    Oath

  • leadinnovate achievevate

    Phone: +91 8322 580106www.bits-goa.ac.in

    Birla Institute of Technology & Science, PilaniK K Birla Goa CampusNH 17B, Zuarinagar,Goa, India.