IIIT-H scholars pass out with flying colours

Hyderabad: The 18th convocation of the International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIIT-H) was held on Saturday and 477 students graduated. This time, a record number of 142 research students, including 17 PhD scholars, received their degree.

Dr M V S Valiathan was the chief guest at the ceremony and delivered the convocation address. Speaking on the occasion he said, IT may be a recent phenomena, but Technology is very old. Prof Raj Reddy, Chairman, Governing Council of IIIT-Hyderabad presided over the ceremony. Speaking on the occasion he said the twenty years old IIIT Hyderabad is gifting quality education to the youth from all over India.

Patel Chaitanya Pankajkumar, B Tech Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) were awarded the IIIT gold medal in recognition of his outstanding academic performance. The B Tech Best All-rounder awards were presented to Sreya Mittal and Pranav Bhasin in CSE. Nine students received programme gold medals.

Shreya Mittal already got a job in Google in London and Pranav Bhasin got in Facebook in London. Congratulating the graduating students and their parents, IIIT-H, Director Prof P J Narayanan said, "We encourage the new batch of students joining the ever-growing network of alumni to go out and conquer the world in their own unique ways and request them to keep a little bit of IIIT-H in their hearts and connect back with the institute of tomorrow to help push it forward.

It has been our privilege to be a part of your lives."Research-led education with a special focus on undergraduate research at IIIT-Hyderabad has resulted in the institute contributing immensely to the society through technology solutions as well as individuals who are equipped to solve unstructured problems. The institute lays emphasis on an education that produces competent, creative, and caring individuals with a mature world-view.

Faculty and students together last year produced and presented 325 research papers in top conferences and journals. The institute works with national organisations like the DRDO, ISRO, DAE, MCEME, NRDC, as well as the funding agencies like the DST, DBT, MeitY, MHRD, SERB, on sponsored research projects.

New MoUs were signed for collaboration with the Airport Authority of India and the Survey of India recently he stated. Pernod Ricard India Foundation (PRIF) gave us Rs. 3 crores to support six startups and to support research in areas with social impact.

Ripple, a leading Silicon Valley financial technology company selected IIIT Hyderabad for a Blockchain Centre of Excellence with a total support of $1M US Dollars over 5 years he told the gathering in address

Speaking further Prof PJ Narayanan said an agreement was signed with TCS Foundation in September for the second phase of funding of the Kohli Centre on Intelligent Systems for the next 5 years.

The Centre for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (CIE) of IIIT Hyderabad Foundation completed a decade in 2018. It has been home to early stage startups from all parts of the country. It focuses on startups built on deep technology now. CIE has incubated 250+ startups and generated employment to 1400+ youth. With 92 incubated companies and about 430 employees working in them, CIE holds its position as the largest academic incubator in the country, Prof Narayanan added.