BITSAA – Silicon Valley Chapter – 7th Annual Reunion and more …

Sunday, March 19, 2006

By Nishikanth Gaddam

[ Click here for photos and videos of the reunion ]

Outreach, exuberance and outright fun were the essence of the 7th annual reunion of the Silicon Valley chapter of Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS), Pilani. More than 230 alumni across the Bay Area converged at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Milpitas, CA to reach-out and give back to the members of the chapter and their alma mater.

In addition to the vast networking prospects and the provision of “catching-up” with each other, the event also served as a launch pad for three distinct programs – Plan_E (p.lan.ee), the local chapter’s entrepreneurial initiative, a mentorship program and Embryo, an augmented faculty program for BITS, Pilani.

The event started in the true BITSian way, with the classic BITSian “intro” and was followed by the launch of Plan E with a panel discussion on “Power of the BITSAA network for the BITSian Entrepreneur”.

The captivating and insightful discussion moderated by Jayan Ramankutty, featured BITSian veterans in the entrepreneurial space such as Vivek Paul, Prem Jain, Raju Reddy, Punita Pandey and Alagu Periyannan.  This feature highlighted the primary objective of Plan E - fostering collaborative entrepreneurial initiatives among the local alumni network.

The reunion also showcased a rather historic moment with the event being streamed real-time to students and faculty at BITS, Pilani mustering support for the launch of an augmented faculty project – Embryo. The two-way uplink into the Pilani campus unleashed the concept of classrooms without borders.

Real-time streaming to students on campus

The reunion facilitated the first ever mentor-protégée meeting emphasizing the launch of the mentorship project taking the traditional campus mentoring to a new level rekindling participant interest.

The evening was topped off with a live band by EasternWinds that brought back memories of BITSian music nites and, not to mention, scores to the dance floor. It wasn’t long before everyone present, were re-living the moment on the dance floor.

“Junta”dancing to the tunes of EasternWinds…

The launch of Plan E and the mentorship programs were targeted at advocating the concept of seeking out opportunities exemplifying member outreach and giving form to the theme “...harness the power of the BITSAA network...”

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