Alumni Meet 2019

Date of the Event	25.08.2019
Title of the Event	Alumni Meet 2019
Name of the Chief Guest	Dr. Abhijeet Makhijani, CEO, Lsquare Eco Products Pvt. Ltd.
Name of the Guest of Honour	Mr. Karthik Gopalakrishnan, Vice President, Gartner
Presided by	Mr. K A Chandrakanth, Director, Software Consulting Services, Neudesic

MVJ College of Engineering organized Alumni Meet on 25.08.19 (Sunday), in the Smt. Rajalakshmi Jayaraman Seminar Hall. The meet was attended by around 81 alumni, to celebrate their homecoming to MVJCE and rejoice in the accolades of their Alma mater. The programme started with alumni registration, after which the alumni visited the Project Exhibition.

 

Ms. Manasa (Master of Ceremony) from CSE department welcomed the gathering, quoting John F Kennedy: “The success of any institution can be measured by the contribution the alumni make to our national life”. Ms. Madhuri from the Department of Mechanical Engineering presented the Invocation Song, to seek the blessings of Almighty.

The event was inaugurated by lightning of the lamp by the Chief Guest Dr. Abhijeet Makhijani (CEO, Lsquare Eco Products Pvt. Ltd.), along with the other dignitaries, Mr. Karthik Gopalakrishnan (Vice President, Gartner), Mr. K A Chandrakanth (Director, Software Consulting Services, Neudesic Technologies Private Limited) and Dr. Nagaraj Sitaram (Principal, MVJCE).

Dr. Nagaraj Sitaram (Principal, MVJCE) welcomed the gathering and presented the College report. The report highlighted the various milestones achieved by the college, students and faculty, in the past year. He also briefed the audience about the projects presented by our students on Industry Day that was organized on 24^th August 2019. The report provided a detailed insight into the various steps taken by the institute for the development of students, faculty and the College, by way of Industry Collaborations, Cubs & Forums, Guest Lectures, Idea Box Concept, EDC, Tomorrow’s Engineers Club, FSIPD, Tinkering Lab, Placement Activities etc. The Principal then introduced the members of the Alumni Association to the gathering.

Mr. K A Chandrakanth (Alumnus – CSE) – President
Mr. Leni Davidson (Alumnus – ME) – Vice President
Mr. Karthik Gopalakrishnan (Alumnus – CSE) – General Secretary
Mr. Venkateshwar G (Alumnus – ECE) – Treasurer

Dr. Nagaraj Sitaram defined the term ‘Alumni’ as an individual possessing a sustained sense of belonging to his / her alma mater, connecting the institution to the real society. He stated that students are the base to any institute, and they are the ones who see and revel in the growth of their institute. He requested the alumni to give their valuable inputs to the present students to make them placement ready.

Prof. Sanchari Saha (HOD – ISE & Alumni Coordinator) introduced the dignitaries – the Chief Guest Dr. Abhijeet Makhijani, Guest of Honour Mr. Karthik Gopalakrishnan, and Mr. K A Chandrakanth.

The Chief Guest Dr. Abhijeet Makhijani, an alumnus from the Mechanical Department, is the Co-founder, Managing Director and CEO of Lsquare Eco Products Pvt. Ltd. He spoke about the pleasure he gets, whenever he comes back to the College. He stated that the life of every individual changes as one grows older, but the school where he studied remains the same. He applauded the growth of MVJCE, and the people associated with it. He reminisced on the memorable days when he was a student at MVJCE, way back in the 90s. He was overwhelmed looking at the phenomenal progress of the MVJCE infrastructure. He thanked senior faculty member, Prof. Muralidhara (HOD – Civil Department), for serving the students for so long, at the institute.

Dr. Makhijani opined that the life of every student involves the same things – studies, job, the company, his boss, marriage etc. This is constant for every student. But how much each student gives back to his alma mater and society will differ, depending on the college where he studied. Dr. Makhijani stated that basic academics will always remain the same, but whether the student is industry ready is the topic that is discussed at every forum. According to him, the basic principles of academics are not going to change, and the faculty are taking care of these. There are numerous Industry challenges which the student must be aware of, and this is where alumni enter the scene. He shared his experience while visiting the Project Exhibition and said that he was delighted to see how much the students have learned; he was impressed with the enthusiasm with which they explained the working of their project. He requested the alumni to come forward to contribute and connect. Before he ended his speech, he thanked the College for inviting him and wished the students the very best.

After that, the audience was addressed by the Guest of Honour Mr. Karthik Gopalakrishnan (Vice President, Gartner). Mr. Karthik Gopalakrishnan is an alumnus from the Computer Science & Engineering Department. He is also the General Secretary of our Alumni association. He began his address by thanking everyone for the opportunity. He shared his experience of the previous Alumni Meet, at which the number of alumni who participated was fewer; he appreciated the efforts taken by the College to reunite alumni.

He recalled a student’s life – full of both good and bad memories from school and college, friends and some faces which we may forget. According to him, the role of alumni starts when they come back to their college and start the process of giving back their learning to the society. He stated it’s a dual responsibility of an alumnus to connect, share their experience. Mr. Gopalakrishnan said that we are all socially connected and we need to be truly connected – give time, give learning, come back to your alma mater. We can grow if we impact our community, and as a senior, the alumnus should make a start and people would join in.

After this invigorating talk by the Guest of Honour, Mr. K A Chandrakanth (Director, Software Consulting Services, Neudesic Technologies Private Limited) addressed the gathering. Mr. Chandrakanth is an alumnus from the Computer Science & Engineering Department. He is the President of the Alumni association. He appreciated the efforts taken by the Principal and Management to connect all the alumni.

He first shared his feedback of the last year’s Alumni Meet, and asserted that it was a great event. He recalled his student life in MVJCE, way back in 1996-2000 (affiliated to Bangalore University), a time when fewer placement opportunities were available. He told that Alumni is a blend of experience and youth, which will take the institution forward. He appreciated the efforts of Prof. M Brindha, Vice Principal, MVJCE, in forming the Alumni Association. He was full of praise for Dr. Jayaraman, Founder, MVJCE, a great visionary leader who created this institution. He lauded MVJCE for producing not merely leaders, but global leaders. He requested all MVJCE Alumni to inculcate the ‘Art of giving’. He said that Alumni is a collective effort, not a one-man show, and requested everyone to share their knowledge in different streams.

He read out the objectives of the MVJCE Alumni Association, and offered a suggestion to set up an Incubation Centre, where students can be trained on starting start-ups and assisted in obtaining government support. According to him, students need to become all-rounders – people who are good at academics may not be good in the outside world and this gap needs to be bridged.

The event proceeded further, with the distribution of Distinguished Alumni Awards & Recognition Awards for the year 2019.

Distinguished Alumni Award under Entrepreneur Category:

Mr. Rajiv Nair, CEO of Terrabit Consulting Group (Alumnus of Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering)

Distinguished Alumni Award under Technology Category:

Mr. Anil T Chacko, Delivery Manager at Capgemini, Bangalore (Alumnus of Department of Computer Science & Engineering)

A few more nominated alumni were chosen for recognition awards.

1^st Recipient of the Recognition Award – Mr. ANIL KUMAR K (Alumnus of Civil Department)

2^nd Recipient of the Recognition Award – Mr. Rajesh R (Alumnus of Electrical Department)

Recipient of Young Entrepreneur Award – Mr. Balkishan Kumar (Alumnus of Department of Computer Science & Engineering)

The Award ceremony was followed by a Cultural Program presented by Music Club, Dance Club and Theatre Clubs of MVJCE.

Later on, a few Alumni from the ‘91-‘95 batch were called up on stage to share their thoughts with the gathering, under the head ‘Vox populi by Alumni’.

A ‘Token of Honour’ was presented to the Chief Guest Dr. Abhijeet Makhijani.

‘Token of Honour’ was presented to the Guest of Honour and General Secretary of the Alumni Association Mr. Karthik Gopalakrishnan, President of the Alumni Association Mr. K A Chandrakanth, Vice President of the Alumni Association Mr. Leni Davidson and Treasurer of the Association Mr. Venkateshwar G.

The Principal and Vice Principal of MVJCE then presented a Token of Thank You to all the alumni, for accepting the invitation and attending the Alumni Meet.

The Alumni Meet concluded with a group photo, Vote of Thanks and National Anthem.

Outcome:

The students got an opportunity to interact with the Alumni and to share their views. The Meet certainly enhanced the bonding between Alumni, Students and Faculty.