Mr. Satish Pai currently serving as the MD of Hindalco Industries, one of the largest producers of aluminium in the Asia, graduated from IIT Madras with a B.Tech degree from the Department of Mechanical Engineering. He serves as a board member of the Aditya Birla Group after having served in Schlumberger for 28 years. He shares with us his amazing journey from a young graduate to being one of the top business executives in the country. Here is a short excerpt from our intervi

Have you ever wondered how the human brain works? Have you ever thought of the difficulties in mimicking it, to create the much talked about deep learning artificial intelligence?  Have you ever asked about the limits of the seemingly ever-evolving computer technology? Have you ever wondered how your online transactions are safe from the 3rd party apps in your phone? Meet Dr. Anand Raghunathan, alumni of IIT Madras 1992, Electrical Engineering, who has thought about and solve

Dr. Ramayya Krishnan graduated from IIT-M in 1981 with a B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering. He is currently the Dean of the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy and Professor of Management Science and Information Systems at Carnegie Mellon University. He has been conferred the Distinguished Alumnus Award for the year 2017. His research interests focus on consumer and social behavior in digitally instrumented environments. His work has addressed technical, pol

Dr. M.R.Madhavan, President and co-founder of PRS Legislative research, graduated from IIT Madras with an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering in the year 1990. He went on to do a MBA and a PhD from IIM Calcutta. After a long career of working in leading banks in the world including ICICI securities and Bank of America, he co-founded PRS Legislative Research with his former colleague C.K. Madhukar. PRS is dedicated to help national and state legislators with interpr

Being a freshie might seem like an intimidating task, it’s the time of taking fundaes without knowing what fundaes are, whom to take it from and what fundaes to take. To make your life a little easier, Chennai36 has come up with a guide to make your life a little easier. The best part about being a freshie is that everything is about you, there is no other year where you get an exclusive Schroeter and LitSoc events just for you. Almost all your seniors are going out of their

Dr.Nandita DasGupta received her B.E. degree in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering from Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India in 1982, M.Tech and PhD from I.I.T. Madras in 1984 and 1988 respectively. She was awarded Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship in 1991 and spent one year in Germany doing Post-doctoral research in the area of Surface Passivation of Compound Semiconductors. She has been a Faculty member in the Department of Electrical Engineering, I.I.T. Madras si

Priyanshu Mishra (insti name – “mistake”), one of the most famous stand-up comedians in Chennai circuit, originally wanted to be a fighter pilot. He graduated from department of Aerospace Engineering of IIT Madras and currently works with an interesting start-up. In this interaction with Chennai36, he opens up about his unconventional career choices and a lot more. Did your experience at IIT Madras somehow shape your career as a stand-up comedian? Oh definitely! I think there

R. Srikumar, a well-known name in the IPS, completed his Electrical Engineering at IIT Madras in 1970. Having chosen to serve the society, he went up to become the DGP of Karnataka. Currently, he serves as the chairman of a public Trust called Indian Centre for Social Transformation. In an interview with Pranit Mehta from Chennai36, he shares why he chose this Unconventional career and his experiences ranging from institute life to solving the Rajiv Gandhi case and his other

Surya Srini just released his first original single “Kadhal Aadhirai” while also working in a corporation. He graduated from the Department of Mechanical Engineering of IIT Madras in 2019. In this interaction with Chennai36’s correspondent Sujay Srivastava, he opens up about his unconventional career choices and a lot more. When and how did you start developing an interest in music? I was in 1st grade when my mother enrolled me in a keyboard class because she was a busy worki

The Other Side is back with a brand-new podcast series, From Insti & Beyond, in collaboration with the Alumni Relations Cell of IIT Madras. Here, they aim to talk to distinguished alumni of IITM to enable young graduates and students across IITs to make better and more informed decisions regarding their careers and lives. In the first episode, The Other Side hosts Mr. Shiv Shivakumar, a leader who needs no introduction. Shiv Sir, a distinguished alumnus of both IIT Madras and

The journey to founding his startup started in the second year of his insti life, when he began tutoring students as a part of the Acad Buddy program. Taran Singh, an alumnus of the 2019 batch of the dual degree program of the Aerospace Department, tells us his story on founding Melvano. Besides Acad Buddy, Taran had begun to home tutor students nearby, who were preparing for JEE, and realized his passion for teaching. He understood the core problems faced by students who wer

Since my childhood telecommunication technologies have fascinated me. I always wanted to be an engineer, specifically a Telecommunications engineer.My parents wanted me to be a doctor, and I did my best to ensure that I score passing marks in biology in 12th, after which, I was allocated a seat in Civil engineering and was quite depressed till I got a seat into E&C. After B.E, I came to IITM to do my M.Tech in Digitial Communications. After M.Tech , I worked with many compa

“Passion is the genesis of genius”. This beautiful and motivational line seemed very true as soon as we started our talk with Dr. Ramani Ramakrishnan, a man of immense talent and experience in his field of expertise. A member of the Professional Engineers of Ontario (1984), he is an amazing person to talk to. Very humble and self-effacing, he finished his pre university from Loyola College and B. Tech in Civil Engineering from IIT Madras in 1970. He is currently a full profes

Prof R Nagarajan (1981/ B.Tech/ Chemical) is currently a Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Dean, International and Alumni Relations. Below is an excerpt of his interaction with the Chennai36 team. Sir, what is you first memory of the institute? My initial memory was the counselling session that lasted 10 seconds. They simply asked me whether I would prefer to study at Madras. I nodded. I had no clue which branch I wanted and picking out Chemical Enginee

Umesh Malhotra (BTech, MM/1990) is the founder of Hippocampus which is a network of libraries and schools that is attempting to change the face of rural education in India. He is an entrepreneur, a philanthropist and a Godavite at heart. Read on to know more about his vision behind Hippocampus, on occupying the all-powerful post of Quark Manager and the eternal feud between Saras and Godav. Q.1 After 4 years in IIT, you took up a managerial position at Infosys. How did this d

Dr Arumugam Manthiram is one of the Distinguished Alumnus Awardees of the year 2015. He earned his PhD in Chemistry from IIT Madras in 1981, and currently directs one of the largest and most productive research groups at the University of Texas at Austin. We ask about Dr Arumugam’s path from Madurai to Austin. How did it happen? Dr Arumugam explains that his path was not a straight line, and that he had no idea what his future would hold. He tells us that he didn’t plan or wo

“The best period of my life, in a sense” , says Prof Suraishkumar GK (name changed from Suresh to Suraish, credits going to mailing issues in IIT Bombay) while taking a bite of his Chilli Cheese Sandwich (which didn’t turn out to be as expected, CCD’s absence clearly felt) when asked about his stay in IIT Madras. GK( that was how people referred to him in insti, sadly no interesting funda, just initials) a man of great simplicity and clear thoughts is an Alumnus of IIT Madras

The Classical Music club  has been one of earliest and longest standing club at IIT Madras. One of the pillars and a mainstay in this club that has churned out some great musicians and attracts the top performers, is Professor T.T. Narendran. In a candid interview with the Professor who’ll never turn down an opportunity to interact with a student, Prasanna Venkatesh, an editor of Chennai36, attempts to trace the history of the illustrious club. How active was the classical mu

Shaastra Spons and PR Core The journey begins Krishna (who also goes by as AKT) still remembers the date; it was the 11th of July 2017. He was too scared to check his own JEE rank that his parents had to do it for him. The moment he realised he was getting into his dream college, he was elated but, more importantly, relieved. Entering the campus felt like entering a forest – nothing but trees, grass, and animals all around and he would often be lost in the campus during his e