IIT Foundation

Dear Kgpian,

It’s been years that we entered the place - we lovingly call IIT Kgp, the experience profoundly shaped us. There, we had the craziest fun, striking up unbreakable bonds and meeting so many extra-ordinary people. Memories are indelible; from our signficant others to our kids to our friends, we passed those stories, some of which sounded so unreal.

Well, you get to relive those days again, show your loved ones what it really meant to be an IITian, what an incredible journey we embarked on and why, after so many years, we still remain those “idiots” at heart.

Plan to see “3 Idiots” together, recreate Netaji down here in Houston and most importantly, get to share and relive those memories yet again on silverscreen. Be there for an incredible journey to some of the most memorable years of our lives…

IIT Kgp Houston
Hemant Jha (1993 RK CH)
Partha Chatterjee (1987 RK CS)

What: Watch “3 Idiots” with your fellow KGPians

Where: Bollywood Cinema 6, Houston, Texas

When: Friday, 29 Jan 2010, 9:30pm

RSVP: http://www.evite.com/pages/invite/viewInvite.jsp?event=KIXOHBNSPBGSYDLKISWR

Cost: $8/adult, $6/kid

Date & Time: Saturday, January 30th, 2010 11:00 am – 2:00 pm
Venue:

Gaylord Banquet Room at Tanzore (Indian Restaurant)
50 North La Cienega Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90211
Phone: 310-652-3894

Registration: Students (IIT Alumni) - $25; IIT Alumni - $30; General - $40
Register Early to ensure a place. Seating is limited to 60 people.

Parking: Parking is available at the restaurant for $2.50 with validation. Park in the lot at 50 N La Cienega Blvd, between Tokyo Table and Lawry’s and get your ticket validated at Tanzore.

More…

Dear Kgpian
It gives us great pleasure to announce a Family Lunch cum picnic for kids is planned for SUNDAY, the 07th of February, 2010 at NTRO Officers Mess, Ghitorni, Meharauli - Gurgaon Road New Delhi-110047.
(Access to the place is from Mehrauli Gurgaon Road - coming from Delhi take left on Metro Pillar No 154 into Shashastra Seema Bal 25 Battalion campus)
The following is proposed:

1. Timings 12.00 AM till 3.30 PM.
2. Games for children.
3. Party games for all; Ladies and kids included
4. Welcome DRINKs and snacks.
5. Sumptuous Vegetarian / Non-vegetarian Lunch
6. High tea at departure time.
7. Lucky Draw for participants who have confirmed and paid before 31Jan 2010

The previous picnics have been most memorable and the members and their families have enjoyed to their fill. We are looking for the same this year also. To add new to the picnic mahol, we need your ideas, so think of some more and convey it to us to make it more memorable.

All this at a token cost of Rs. 200/- (Single), Rs. 400/- (Couple) & Rs. 500/- for the entire family including 2 kids. Parents, of the members will be our honoured guests.
Additional Guests of members are charged @ Rs. 300/- Single, Rs. 500 for Couple and Rs. 800/- for a Family of four.

Please do confirm your participation by 31 Jan 2010 to avail of the above costs and participate in the Lucky Draw.

Confirmation recieved after 31st Jan 2010 will be charged Rs 150 extra per head.
Please confirm your participation and arrange to pay to any of the following:

Ø Mr. Ashok Madhukar : 9811199133
Ø Mr RK Caprihan : 9810194390
Ø Mr Chakresh Jain : 9810080495
Ø Mr. Arvind Saluja : 9968274360
Ø Ms Harpreet Kaur : 9313728292
Email id : taakgp@gmail.com

Sincerely,

(Arvind Saluja)
Secretary – TAA

Dear KGP- ians,

On August 18 2011, our alma mater, IIT Kharagpur will celebrate its 60th anniversary, and kick-start a year long ‘Diamond Jubilee’ celebration.

Many alums have asked the question: how can we contribute to making this once in a lifetime event a grand success?. In response, Prof. Damodar Acharya (Director) and Prof. Amit Patra (Dean, Alumni Affairs) visited alumni across the USA and shared the strategic vision and plans for expansion of IIT Kharagpur with over 200 of us. They asked us to “make a difference” by contributing our money, our contacts/connections, and our time, so that results of our efforts are visible by 2011/2012. More specifically, they asked us to:

1. Support various Diamond Jubilee Programs curently being planned. ($5M)
   • Publications (0.5 M$); Mementos (0.1 M$); Light & Sound (0.2 M$); Lecture Series (0.12 M$); Old Building Complex (4 M$)
2. Help attract and retain teaching resources at IIT KGP ($100,000 endowment per chair)
   • Build an endowment to create Chair Professorships in memory of revered professors. ($100,000 per endowment)
   • Deliver short lecture courses / mentor students.
   • Join as Faculty and/or help in locating one.
3. Financially contribute to build/upgrade infrastructure ( $117 M) .
   • International Medical Center ($100 Million)
   • Convention Hall and Students’ Activity Center ($10 Million)
   • Alumni and Visiting Faculty Home-Away from Home ($5 Million)
   • Renovate the Open Air Theater ($2 Million).

I realize that this request is much larger than what our community has supported in the past, however challenges are what KGP-ians excel at, so I ask all alums to come together to :

• Personally contribute a minimum of $11 Million by 2011. ($2M in 2009, $4M in 2010, $5M in 2011). This can be achieved easily if all North American alums registered at IIT Foundation contribute just $2.00 per day and can be exceeded if you get your employer to make a matching contribution.
• Use your connections in industry, government, academia, etc. to close the funding gap, for infrastructure projects — especially for the creation of a $100M Medical Center, that will benefit the entire IIT Kharagpur campus community.

Please make your contributions immediately at http://www.iitfoundation.org/donate and maximize your US tax benefit for 2009. All contributions to the IIT Foundation are tax-deductible for U.S. federal taxpayers.

On behalf of IIT Foundation, I would like to wish you and yours a very happy, healthy and prosperous holiday season.

Best Wishes

Roy daSilva, (1974 RK EE)
President IIT Foundation

Vijaya B. Kolachalama (2002 AE PH), a Postdoctoral Associate at the Edelman laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an ORISE fellow at the US Food and Drug Administration developed state-of-the-art computer models to predict physiologically realistic drug delivery patterns from stents - metal mesh tubes that open clogged arteries.

Specialized stents that release drugs are now widely used all over the world for the treatment of obstructive arterial disease (that causes heart attacks) and yet several important questions remain unanswered. Annually, over a million patients undergo stent treatment and the associated costs are in billions of dollars. The success of these devices is unprecedented but unfortunately, recent clinical reports suggested that some patients with these stents developed blood clots that cause sudden death. Stent use is however only increasing with time and therefore, the scientific, clinical as well as regulatory communities realize an urgent need to develop more efficient devices for clinical use that could have fewer side effects as well as to expedite the evaluation of new prototype designs using emerging technologies such as computer modeling.
Techniques developed by Vijaya can be used by device manufacturers at the pre-clinical trial stage to confirm desired activity of a prototype stent within a reasonable time frame and cost. Also, device companies interested in developing new stent designs, modifying their existing device can readily use this approach to test their ideas even before performing any clinical or animal trial.

Related links:
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2009/personalized-stents-1202.html
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2009/better-stents-0105.html