IIT Kharagpur Calls for Nominations for the Nina Saxena Excellence in Technology Award

New Delhi, Delhi, India , 2007-03-01

-- A first of its kind India-wide award to encourage and promote technical innovation directed towards social development

-- Entries open to all Indian Technologists

In a bid to encourage and promote technical innovation, IIT Kharagpur in mid 2006 announced the Nina Saxena Excellence in Technology Award. The award commemorates the spirit and memory of its illustrious alumna Dr. Nina Saxena, B.Tech (Hons.), ECE 1992, who passed away tragically in 2005. Open to all Technologists who are Indian citizens (resident or non-resident), the award was announced at the IIT Foundation Day on August 18th, 2006.

Nominations for entries to the award are now open and will remain open till April 30th 2007. The nomination form is available and can be accessed through the official award website

http://www.iitkgp.ac.in/topfiles/nina.php

and the tribute web site

http://www.ninasaxena.com

Nominations may be submitted either by post to The Director, IIT Kharagpur, West Bengal, PIN-721302, INDIA, or by e-mail: [email protected].

The award venerates the spirit and drive of Dr. Nina Saxena, who personified technical excellence. Professor Madhusudan Chakraborty, Deputy Director, IIT Kharagpur said, “Nina was a truly brilliant person. Her stellar intellectual achievements and technological excellence will always be remembered. Words are not enough to describe the void she has left behind. The award has been set up to keep the spirit of Nina alive and encourage the brightest technical minds in India to come ahead and innovate for India.”

The Award will be given out to the most deserving technologist who has done breakthrough technical work. The nominations will be adjudged on the basis of the following dimensions and in the following order of importance:

a) Innovation above and beyond well known results
b) Novel Application of a well known result
c) Societal improvement
d) Benefit to India
e) Application of Technology to underdeveloped areas and causes

A distinguished committee is being formed by IIT Kharagpur to adjudge the nominations for this award. The first award will be conferred on August 18, 2007. The award committee will be chaired by Director of IIT Kharagpur and will be comprised of Deans and selected faculty members of IIT Kharagpur and well known alumnus, based in India and the US.

Added Professor Ajoy Chakraborty, Dean of Alumni Affairs and International Relations, IIT Kharagpur, “We believe that this will be the first of its kind award in Technology Excellence in India, recognising the remarkable contribution by a citizen to harness the power of technology for the greater good of the nation. With rapid growth of the Indian economy, there is an urgent need to address the growing chasm between the haves and have nots, in order to secure economic progress that is both sustainable and equitable. The award seeks to emphasize this urgent need and acknowledge efforts put in this direction. We want to make this the number 1 technology excellence award in India, year after year.”

The award is funded through an endowment of the Nina Saxena Memorial fund that has been collected through IIT Foundation (a non-profit organization and a US 501(c) organization). The intent of the fund is to perpetuate excellence despite all odds. The charter of the Fund is to provide facilities, mechanisms and opportunities to enable individuals to rise above expectations and better serve society.
Contact

Namrata Bhalla, IPAN, +91 (011) 4249 2100
[email protected]