IIT Kanpur receives $200,000 donation from alumnus Ashish Karandikar, three endowed programs to be established

A tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between Karandikar, IIT Kanpur, and the IITK Foundation, USA as part of the donation.

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur alumnus Ashish Karandikar has donated USD 200,000 (INR 1,60,00,000) to his alma mater aimed at establishing three endowed programs to foster innovation, excellence, and academic growth within the Electrical Engineering department.

Ashish Karandikar, Vice President at NVIDIA & IIT Kanpur alumnus

According to a press release issued by the institution, a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between Karandikar, IIT Kanpur, and the IITK Foundation, USA.

As per the release, the three endowments consist of:

• ‘Smt. Lata and Shri K.G. Karandikar Faculty Chair’ awarded to IITK faculty, to empower them to drive ground-breaking research and mentor future generations of engineers.
• Karandikar Best Ph.D.Thesis Award that recognizes outstanding scholarly contributions celebrates exceptional doctoral theses, and encourages innovation and academic rigor among doctoral candidates
• Karandikar Student Scholarship aims to nurture and support students, providing them with financial assistance to pursue their academic endeavors

Ashish Karandikar, who is currently based in the US and the Vice President at NVIDIA, said, “I fundamentally believe that education has the power to change lives. It certainly has changed mine and IIT education has played a significant role in that.”

Prof. S. Ganesh, Director, of IIT Kanpur expressed his gratitude to Karandikar and said that setting up these endowed programs will pave the way for newer avenues of growth for the faculty, researchers, and students of the Electrical Engineering Department alike.

(For more information, visit the official website.)