Over 2000 students awarded degrees at 52nd convocation of IIT Delhi

Medals and degrees were awarded to more than 2,000 toppers of undergraduate, postgraduate and MBA programmes at the 52nd convocation ceremony of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi on March November 13.

Padmasree Warrior, a distinguished alumna and founder and CEO of Fable (former CEO, NIO US and CTO, Cisco and Motorola), addressed students as the chief guest at the event.

IIT Delhi awards students in several categories every year at the annual convocation ceremony. The Alumni Awards are also presented to its esteemed alumni.

A total of 2,117 degrees and diplomas were awarded this year, according to a statement issued by IIT Delhi.

Here’s a list of the awardees with exceptional achievements:

President’s Gold Medal: Ananye Agarwal, BTech in Computer Science and Engineering

Director’s Gold Medal: Shreyansh Chanani, BTech in Production and Industrial Engineering

Perfect Ten Gold Medal: Ajmera Sanketh Kumar, MS(R) in Mechanical Engineering

Institute Silver Medal: Aditya Singla, MTech in Thermal Engineering and BTech in Mechanical Engineering)

Padmasree Warrior congratulated all the award winners. “The future that we will inhabit will be planned and built by you. As technologists graduating from one of the top institutions of technology in the world, you must ask yourself — what will you build and how will you lead us into the future with the power of technology? Technology has always played an important role in our society,” she said.

Addressing the students virtually, Warrior said, “We all know that the curriculum at IIT is tough. It is rigorous (as the professors like to say), but brutal (as the students often call it). This brutal rigour taught me how to problem-solve from first principles — a great skill for engineers and technologists to possess. If you are confident about problem-solving capabilities, you can be successful in any role in any industry, which in turn boosts your self-confidence. This may sound simplistic, but trust me, problem-solving skills come in handy to build resilience in your life.”

“With your IIT education, you are now ready to take on the world. I won’t sugarcoat this address and tell you that the path ahead will be easy. Success is never easy. It will often take a lifetime of hard work, personal sacrifices, and dealing with frustrations. Take this as ‘funda’ from one of your seniors… after years of coping with the brutal exams at IIT Delhi — the life ahead will be a piece of cake, Warrior said.

Rajagopala Chidambaram, chairperson, board of governors, IIT Delhi, and former principal scientific adviser to the government of India addressed the graduating students. “India of our dreams, particularly of young people like you, is an India which is economically developed – where the Human Development Index is high; an India which is scientifically advanced, with a Knowledge Economy, and an RDI Ecosystem, with excellence in basic research, applied research, technology development, R&D-led Innovation, backed by high-quality manufacturing skills. We also want an India which is militarily strong. In all these areas, IIT Delhi is contributing in exceptional measure. You, young people, who are graduating today must also have an appetite for risk-taking,” he said.

At the 52nd convocation, IIT Delhi also presented coveted alumni awards to its esteemed alumni in teaching and research, entrepreneurship, corporate leadership categories.

Anant Yardi, president and founder of Yardi Systems, and a 1968 batch IIT Delhi alumnus, has announced 10 million US dollars as gift to IIT Delhi. Yardi’s gift would enable IIT Delhi to create state-of-the art laboratories and attract talented students and researchers to its newly set up School of Artificial Intelligence (ScAI).