Penn State hosts NIT visitors from India
On July 29, Penn State welcomed seven prominent visitors from the National Institutes of Technology (NITs) in India and a distinguished Indian government official for a day of international relations in State College. NITs are the 20 premier colleges of engineering and technology education in India.
Hosted by Soundar Kumara, Allen E. Pearce/Allen M. Pearce Chaired Professor, industrial engineering, and Raj Acharya, professor and head, computer science and engineering, the eight visitors toured labs in the Leonhard Building, met with College of Engineering administration, visited labs in the Information Science and Technology building, and explored The Learning Factory.
The Indian visitors included S.K. Ray, joint secretary & financial adviser, department of secondary & higher education, ministry of human resource development, government of India; Madan Mohan, director, NIT, ministry of human resource development, government of India; Swapan Bhattacharya, director, NIT; Moin Uddin, director, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar NIT; S.S.Gokhale, director, Visvesvaraya NIT; P.D.Porey, director, Sardar Vallabhbhai NIT; and M. Chidambaram, director, NIT.
Penn State participants included Raj Acharya; Michael Adewumi, vice provost, global programs; M. Jeya Chandra, professor, industrial engineering; Edward De Meter, professor, industrial engineering; Renata Engel, associate dean for undergraduate studies, College of Engineering; Soundar Kumara; Anil Kulkarni, professor of mechanical engineering; Akhlesh Lakhtakia,Charles Godfrey Binder Professor, engineering science and mechanics; Keefe Manning, assistant professor, bioengineering; Vijaykrishnan Narayanan, professor, computer science and engineering; Ram Narayanan, professor, electrical engineering; Nirmal Pal, regional director for India, Smeal College of Business; Jean Pytel, assistant dean, College of Engineering; Padma Raghavan, professor, computer science and engineering; Arvind Rangaswamy, Anchel Professor of Marketing, Smeal College of Business; Kendra Sharp, associate professor, mechanical engineering; Timothy Simpson, director, The Learning Factory, professor, mechanical and industrial engineering; and Srinivas Tadigadapa, associate professor, electrical engineering.