Chennai, Jul 19 (PTI) Even an average individual can achieve a measure of success through hard work, persistence, an element of luck and a great deal of help from family, friends and colleagues, Nobel Laureate Brian K Kobilka said on Friday.
His career is an example of how an average individual can achieve success, Kobilka, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2012, said while speaking at the 61st convocation of IIT Madras where a total of 2,636 students graduated.
A highlight of the event was that ISRO Chairman S Somanath received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering.
As many as 3,016 degrees (including joint and dual degrees) were awarded to the students on the occasion. A total of 444 PhDs were awarded including seven Joint Degree PhDs with universities in foreign countries including Australia, Singapore, France and Germany, and Dual Degree PhDs.
Dhananjay Balakrishnan, who received the Governor’s Prize for the best all-round proficiency in curricular and extra-curricular activities in dual degree in Mechanical Engineering called for measures to create awareness among engineering graduates on the latest developments in the world and to leverage technology to “lift every single person out of his misery.” The young engineers should also be made aware of the consequences of the work they do, he remarked in the light of the killing of thousands of people in Palestine.
C Aditya of the Computer Science and Engineering Department was awarded the President of India Prize for the highest CGPA amongst BTech and dual degree courses and also the Bharat Ratna M Visvesvaraya Memorial Prize.
K V Vikram of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering was given the Sri V Srinivasan Memorial Prize for the highest CGPA in a dual degree course, while and S Joel of Mechanical Engineering department was conferred the Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma Prize for the best all-round proficiency in curricular and extra-curricular activities in BTech.
Congratulating the graduating students and prize winners, Dr Brian K Kobilka, who was the chief guest, said, “When I look back at my career, I am amazed by how often I was in the right place at the right time, with the right people.” At the convocation, Director of IIT Madras Prof V Kamakoti awarded degrees to 2,636 graduates including 764 BTech (of whom 27 with honours), 277 Dual Degree BTech and MTech, 481 MTech, 151 MSc, 42 MA, 50 Executive MBA, 84 MBA, 236 MS, and 107 Web-enabled MTech for executives, a release here said.
Congratulating the graduating students the Chairman of Board of Governors, IIT Madras, Pawan Goenka said India was placing big bets in ground-breaking technologies across digital, fintech, space research, health tech and other areas.
“The road to ‘Viksit Bharat’ will come from technology and innovation. And this is where you, the graduating class of IIT Madras, can play a big role,” he said. PTI JSP ANE
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