On Sept 2nd 2023, at the Silver Jubilee celebrations, IIIT Hyderabad announced the names of eight alumni for the Outstanding Service Awards, for exceptional service to the Institute. Two Outstanding Service Awards were announced for this year. On Sept 2nd 2024, The Institute’s Foundation Day, the award-winners of both years were felicitated in a gala awards function on campus. In the words of Dr. Raj Reddy, IIIT Hyderabad’s first Chairman, “As alumni for life, our alumni are the end owners of the Institute. What sets these alumni apart is their investment in the ideas and ideals of the institution that moulded them.” Chairman of the Governing Council, Prof Ashok Jhunjhunwala, in his inspiring convocation address this year, stressed that it is the obligation of the alumni to give back and nurture their alma mater, which has no financial support from the government or industry, and help it become the top ranked Institute in the country.

“Our alumni serve as our ambassadors, and their achievements, whether in technology, entrepreneurship, governance, service or academia tend to reflect on the Institute”, explains Prof. P J Narayanan, Director of IIITH. “It is our desire to highlight exceptional achievers; to connect them to current students and fellow alumni, because these are the people celebrating with you. That’s the spirit with which these awards were instituted. Being a 25-year young Institute, we acknowledge that even the senior alumni are still comparatively young and we would need a decade for the system to set in place. Many institutions have a Young Alumnus award, who are typically below 40. In our case, our senior-most alumni are just straddling that boundary. So, ten years from now, we could possibly be looking at the Young and Distinguished award categories”.

Two categories of awards were established to mark the 25th year celebration – the Alumni Achiever Award and the Outstanding Service Award. “The Alumni Awards Committee was created last year to formalize the framework and mechanism for selecting award winners”, explains Alumni Committee member, Dr. Praveen Paruchuri, alumnus of the founding batch, a Ph.D from the University of Southern California and postdoctoral research from Carnegie Mellon, who worked in industry, before returning to his Alma Mater. “Being an alumnus and faculty member, I am doubly proud to be part of the Alumni Awards process”.

And the 2023 Awards go to

Vivek Mandava (Batch of 1998)

Alumnus of the founding batch of 1998, Vivek Mandava graduated with a B. Tech in CSE from IIIT Hyderabad. He is currently a Senior Manager at ServiceNow, Kirkland, Washington State, USA.

The joy of giving and the desire to fund financially needy candidates, fuelled Vivek Mandava and his friends to establish the IIITH Alumni Foundation in USA, a global platform to connect and engage alumni to give back to their alma mater. The Foundation is legally registered in the US to get 501(c) 3 charity benefits and matching donations. Vivek’s engagement with the Alumni Fund Council in India and his experience working with other US non-profits, were invaluable in the thoughtful and futuristic structuring of the IIITH Alumni Foundation USA which partners with matching programs like Benevity and Double the Donation to amplify donations. He is currently exploring a Donor Advised Fund, a more tax efficient way that allows you to donate stock, and increase the quantum of donation. Vivek was a key organiser of the 20th and 25th anniversary alumni meets in Seattle and helped create the Bangalore and other area alumni chapters. From helping set up the library at the Institute to the Alumni Foundation in the USA, it has been about IIIT Hyderabad all the way for Vivek.

“All we did was the initial starter. In 2003, likeminded alumni like Vipul Kedia, Subhash Karri, Jayachandra Sunkara and Jayaram banded together to form the Alumni Fund Council” says Vivek Mandava. We had just entered our professional careers. But surprisingly, that was the year I probably donated the most; almost 30% of my salary.” In 2004, while at Microsoft India, Mandava worked with Prof. Jayanthi Sivaswamy on income tax benefits under Section 80G. When he moved to the US, he used his personal funds to test out the ease of flow process with non-profits like the TANA Foundation and Benevity “That is when the penny dropped that we should probably be starting an organisation of our own”, says Mandava who drove the brainstorming and announcements through a series of alumni family picnics in Seattle and the Bay Area. “My work was more on platform building and creating the donation pipeline rather than soliciting funds” says Mandava who came in person to receive the honor.

Subhash Karri (Batch of 1998)

Alumnus of the founding batch of 1998, Subhash Karri graduated with a B. Tech in CSE from IIITH and an MBA in strategy, leadership and finance from ISB, Hyderabad. Subhash, a senior start-up leader and entrepreneur, working out of the San Francisco South Bay Area, is a co-founder of Questbook along with three alumni, Madhavan Malolan, Abhilash Inumella and Sriharsha Karamchati, from three different generations of IIIT Hyderabad.

Subhash’s deep commitment to the creation and operation of the Alumni Fund is personal, and his way of paying back the kindness shown to him by a relative during his time of need. He continues to champion the Alumni Fund-raising drives, that have consistently increased alumni contributions, year on year. The ‘Admissions Evangelist’, was responsible for setting up the Student Parliament and the Library system at the Institute. Subhash easily straddles across the different batches of alumni, weaving a strong alumni network and is a key organizer of all alumni meets, especially those in the Bay Area. His passion to innovate, nurture, and mentor has resulted in the enviable Alumni Entrepreneurial Ecosystem that we have today.

“As the founding batch, the faculty has a special place for us because when we kids joined IIITH, it had no name. But beyond the doubt was the excitement that something big is going to happen in the emerging IT city of Hyderabad”, observes Subhash who was nicknamed “The Composer” by Prof. Govindarajulu for his proclivity for opera-style conducting of filmi songs.

Apart from setting up the Alumni Fund, Subhash, has over the decades been the mover and shaker in getting alumni to contribute, and helped raise Rs. 40 lakhs last year just through the Google Give program. “The donations are still rolling in”, says the alumnus who is working on a formal fund-raiser with the Bay area community for IIITH’s new academic block.

Santhosh Kodipaka (Batch of 1999)

Alumnus of the batch of 1999, Santhosh Kodipaka graduated with a B. Tech (Hons) in CSE from IIIT Hyderabad and went on to complete his Ph.D from the University of Florida. He is currently Principal Machine Learning Manager for Microsoft’s Ads – Creative AI division in the Bay Area.

Santosh was fully involved in co-funding the IIITH Alumni Foundation USA along with Vivek Mandava and took charge of the bookkeeping for the Foundation. Donations can now avail of 501(c) 3 tax benefits.

His organising capability that started with organising the first Felicity at IIIT Hyderabad blossomed into social volunteering and helped create a strong alumni base at Seattle and in the Bay Area. Santosh was a key organiser of the Seattle Alumni Meets for the 20th and the 25th anniversary.

“Ours was the first batch to organise Felicity” recalls Kodipaka, who has fond memories of also organising Holi and Ganesh puja celebrations on campus. “I was very fortunate that in the first two years, we were exposed to different areas in computer engineering”, he states. When he began his Ph.D at Florida, he realised how strong his academic foundation was. “At undergraduate level, our coursework was comparable to masters’ students. After I left IIITH, everything I have been doing, is a continuation of what I learned there”, says Kodipaka. “That clarity was seeded at the Institute and I am so very thankful for it”.

Jayachandra Sunkara (Batch of 2000)

Alumnus of the batch of 2000, Jayachandra Sunkara graduated with a B. Tech in CSE from IIIT Hyderabad and completed his MBA from the IIM Bangalore. He is currently an Engineering Lead at Amazon, Hyderabad, and the founder of Umashankar Agri Pvt. Ltd.

Jayachandra Sunkara was deeply involved with the creation of the Alumni Fund, an initiative that is especially dear to him. During his stint at Microsoft, he ensured that IIITH was registered for the Matching Program on Microsoft’s donations site, which motivated other alumni to do the same in their workplace. He was the brand ambassador for the SPEC program, (a special channel of admission for rural and needy students) during its launch and his convincing presentation to the students was a key factor for its success. The sustainable repayment models he presented, form the basis of the pay forward model the Institute follows today. An active participant in all the alumni meets, Jayachandra is a strong binding force among the alumni.

Jayachandra’s razor-sharp mind went into conceptualising the Alumni Fund and framework of the IIITH Alumni Foundation. “In corporate life, we could clearly see that the quality of education from IIITH had set us apart. That’s when we realised the hard work that our professors had put in, to mould us. A completely self-funded Institute, IIITH set the highest standards, in terms of quality of intake and the depth of research. Since our fee structure was on the higher side, we as alumni felt that anyone who deserved to be in the Institute, shouldn’t be deprived of the opportunity, for want of funds. Subhash Karri from the first batch, Vipul Kedia from the second and all of us in the third batch, felt the same. That was the background for setting up the Alumni fund, an initiative that was dear to me”.

It was a modest beginning and Prof. Jayanthi Sivaswamy was a beacon of support, creating a separate ledger for monies received. “We communicated a ‘pay forward model’, where beneficiaries of a fully-funded education would invest in one student after graduation and see them through college. At that time, the alumni were still trying to get a foothold in life and yet were helping others”, observes Jayachandra.

He reminisces that Theory of Action was a humanities elective that fetched him the least grades, but had the greatest impact on him. ” In an IT-focused Institute, my greatest learning was not about computer architecture or distributed database management systems, but the essence of Karmayoga, explained by an 84-year-old visiting professor”, observes Jayachandra. “I can now appreciate what a great job our professors did, in coming across as approachable, but limiting their decisions to some tenets that they were firm on. Prof. Jayanthi Sivaswamy in particular, made a remarkable impression on me. She has the art of listening, with a smiling face that makes the student reach his own answers. The Institute is so ingrained in my blood that I always see myself as its brand ambassador”, smiles Jayachandra.

Vardhman Jain (Batch of 2001)

Alumnus of the 2001 dual degree batch, Vardhman Jain graduated with a B. Tech (Hons) and a MS in CSE from IIITH. After exploring the startup ecosystem at Logic hub, People AI and co-founding a start-up, he recently rejoined Google as a Senior Engineering Manager, in the Bay Area.

As an early board member of the IIITH Alumni Foundation, he continues to bring successive batches of graduates into the alumni fold in the Bay Area and Seattle. Vardhman was part of the first batch to join Google Hyderabad where he helped set up the match funding program and then carried it over to the US, where his alumni involvement increased. He spearheaded the fundraising drive within Google, channeling the donations through the matching program of Benevity. The alumni at Google remain as one of the top donors till today. As one of the first board of directors of the IIITH Alumni Foundation USA, Vardhman played a key role in drafting the documents, reviewing feedback, organising fundraising events and guiding alumni on the various means to donate funds to accrue benefits and generating receipts after donations. He is now mentoring his juniors to take over the organising.

“When I started the dual degree program, I had a bit of an existential crisis and was ready to quit. It was amazing how empathetic Prof PJ Narayanan’s advice was”, he muses. “He told me to take a couple of weeks off and that did the trick. Otherwise, it would have been a breaking point. Many of us from my batch were heavily influenced by Prof. P J Narayanan and Prof. C V Jawahar” he adds fondly.

“I developed a deep interest in Linux. At that time, the trend was to buy a basic assembled computer from Abids, and Sunil Adapa and other seniors would guide us on compiling things and writing programs to make the machine run”, he recalls. “IIITH shaped me as an engineer. The curiosity and interest in problem solving is the most exciting part of the job and that’s what transferred over”, says Vardhman. “That excitement of building something ourselves still remains strong”.

“Whenever Prof. P J Narayanan visits Seattle or the Bay Area, we initiate alumni get-togethers. We have had some of the biggest alumni meets. Last year, we started nudging the juniors to take over the organizing and going forward, I think it will be easier to sustain”, observes Vardhman.

Maliha Mariyam (Batch of 2001)

Alumna of the 2001 batch, Maliha Mariyam graduated with a B. Tech in CSE from IIIT Hyderabad and went on to obtain a diploma in law from NALSAR. She is now a Managing Partner in her own software firm APPSY since 2016.

As a student, Maliha happily volunteered to be in every committee of her batch – the lab, the girls’ hostel mess, the library committee and was also class representative. She was called to work on the first draft of the PG Admissions portal as part of her RA ship. As an organiser of Felicity, she helped raise significant amount of funding for the event. As an alumna, she continues to be on the Institute’s speed dial and fully participates in all the events, be it workshops, R&D showcase, start-up showcase, invited talks etc. She easily cuts across all batches of alumni, maintaining close connects with them and is a brand ambassador for IIITH representing the women alumni. She is now part of the Byelaws committee for the IIITH Alumni Association.

“As an organizer for Felicity, I did the leg-work to get funding worth Rs. 35,000, which was a big deal then”, she admits. “I have attended almost everything that I have been invited to at the Institute”, says Maliha who has witnessed the different avatars of IIITH events over the years and participated in the Alumni interactive session for NAAC accreditation. She was an Alumni speaker at the Convocation in 2021. Championing diversity, gender equality, and inclusivity in the campus, Maliha is actively involved in alumni discussions on Women of IIITH and in orientation programs for freshers.

“I learnt how to view the world as a young woman, from Prof. Jayanthi Sivaswamy. What I love most about IIIT Hyderabad is that it took me from an uncomfortable and awkward teenager and has made me who I am today”, observes Maliha.

Manohar Paluri (Batch of 2002)

Alumnus of the 2002 batch, Manohar Paluri graduated with a B. Tech in CSE from IIITH. After a stint in the industry, he went on to pursue his research and graduated with Ph. D from Georgia Tech. He is currently the Vice President at Meta (AI).

The poster boy of Computer Vision at IIIT Hyderabad, Manohar has maintained strong ties with the Institute and always showcases the cutting edge research of the Institute everywhere. IIIT Hyderabad is one of the 12 universities globally, working in egocentric vision’s Ego 4D program, the future in augmented reality. He regularly visits the campus for workshops during summer school, or to give talks about the latest and greatest in CV and AI. Over the past decade, Manohar has placed several students from IIITH, guided alumni on university and course selection, connected students to professors in different universities, and helped with internships at Meta and other organisations. Last year, the Paluri Foundation, a philanthropic organisation set up by Manohar Paluri and his wife Ashwini, pledged 1 crore rupees over the next 5 years to help fund the academic block. With his zeal for innovation and sharing-knowledge Manohar has played a big role in connecting successive batches of alumni and Institute incubated start-ups to the US entrepreneurial system and core technology.

“If I were to summarise what has kept me excited to keep connecting back to CVIT, I’d say that IIITH is the first entity in my life which asked me questions about what I wanted to become, rather than telling me what success is and what I should do. The first year was formative and taught me to compete in that melting pot of diversity where everybody around you is smart, hardworking and at the top of their game. The second year asked questions of what I wanted to learn and the final years taught me that the onus for defining success was within me. The university also sets high standards for you. Several core tenets and values learnt at IIITH were instrumental for future successes in my career; whether it’s innovation in research, working really hard and long hours, building social relationships, or whether it was the purity of learning and not asking how it will be useful”, says Paluri unassumingly.

Sugandh Rakha (Batch of 2003)

Alumnus of the 2003 batch, Sugandh Rakha graduated with a B. Tech (Hons) in CSE from IIITH. He is currently the Principal Product Manager at Service Now, Bay Area and leads their Integration Hub.

Sugandh Rakha is a pillar of IIIT Hyderabad’s vibrant Alumni Association Network and entrepreneurial ecosystem. He joined the IIITH seed fund that was later reorganised as the SucSEED Indovation VC Fund, as a limited partner. He enjoys funding-mentoring for CIE incubated startups in the AI domain, helping them to grow in the US and Canada market. At IIITH, he wore his many hats with aplomb; as election commissioner for the first student body elections, building the election portal, PG admissions, the Institute’s internal portals and refurbishment of the website as IT admin. For IIIT Hyderabad’s 20th anniversary celebration, Sugandh was part of the alumni team that set up the alumni database and organised events in multiple cities – Hyderabad, Bangalore, Seattle and the Bay Area. As an alumnus, he has been the go-to guy, as mentor, judge or jury or speaker at multiple events.

“I gave the alumni address at the Convocation in 2020”, says a proud Sugandh who was born with a speech impediment. In thanksgiving, Sugandh now runs a school for autistic children to help them use their weaknesses as a stepping stone to rise above everything. Sugandh and his wife also run India’s largest career portal ‘The Urban Fight’. Among his several volunteer roles, one impactful one is with the Vancouver’s North Shore Emergency Management. I believe that when you need to build a network, the faster way to do it is to become a giver, rather than a taker” he comments humbly.

And the 2024 Awards go to

Vipul Kedia (Batch of 1999)

Alumnus of the batch of 1999, Vipul Kedia graduated with a B. Tech (Hons) in CSE from IIIT Hyderabad and went on to do a post graduate diploma in management from IIM- Ahmedabad. As an early team member of Affle India with over 18 years in the company, Vipul currently serves as the Chief Data and Platforms Officer. Affle is a publicly listed company with 600 people and revenues over 1800 crores.

Vipul stands out for his deep commitment and prodigious contributions to the Institute in multiple roles. He is a founding member of the Alumni Fund team which managed to establish a sizable corpus within just 3 years of their graduation, to help incoming students in need. He continues to be an active member of the Alumni Fund committee, providing it with a purpose and direction. As a Member of the Executive Council, he helped conceptualize the Banyan intellectual initiative, the seed for the entrepreneurship center, CIE. He donned several hats as a student; Secretary of the student body; founding member and coordinator for Felicity, Co-ordinator of placement committee; and continues to be the Go-To alumnus even today. As an alumni observer in IIITH’s Governing Council for 6 years, he helped shape several of the Institute’s policies. Easily connecting with alumni across the batches, ably organizing and attending all the major alumni meets (the 10th, 20th and 25th) across the globe, Vipul embodies the quintessential spirit of IIIT Hyderabad.

“It has been 25 years with IIITH and it is definitely the best thing that happened to me”, says Vipul Kedia. “I always call IIITH my first startup because when we joined the Institute, we were identifying what was missing and putting it in place”, observes Vipul who co-organised the first 3-day Felicity with debates, cultural and sports programs. “From concept to execution, Felicity was my first large scale undertaking”, he declares

The strong sense of belonging and ownership that Vipul feels towards his alma mater shines through. “Initially, our alumni community had just four batches of graduates but we still collected almost 30-40 lakhs over two years. This led to a more formalised Alumni Fund where we created a sustainable model of loan disbursement and repayment, in lieu of scholarships. IIITH is like a second home for me and I will do things for the Institute, just as I would for my family”. says Vipul with warmth and pride.

Soujanya Lanka (Batch of 1998)

Alumna of the founding batch of 1998, Soujanya Lanka graduated with a B. Tech in CSE and a PhD from IIIT Hyderabad. She is currently a Field Solutions Architect at Google Singapore.

Soujanya’s strong ties to the Institute are showcased by her involvement at many fronts. She is the force behind the Chaduvula Thalli scholarships which champions women’s education at IIIT Hyderabad. Be it co-advising MS students on their theses or implementing industry sponsored research projects or referring students for internships in the industry, Soujanya always has the best interest of the Institute at heart. She served as an alumni observer in IIIT-H’s Governing (2017-2022) for 6 years and helped steer its policies and decisions. She is a brand ambassador for the Institute’s diversity initiatives in admissions. Easily connecting with alumni across batches, Soujanya has made overseas trips just to attend alumni meets and show her support to the Institute.

Soujanya’s long tenure at IIIT Hyderabad witnessed major milestones in her life – her marriage, an inter-continental shift to USA, relocation to Singapore and the birth of her baby. “I used to joke that I’d be the Grand old lady of IIIT” laughs Soujanya who spent thirteen years as a scholar, from 1998 to 2011 specialising is in NLP, information retrieval, ML and data mining. “My peer group, batch mates and friends on campus range anywhere up to 10 years younger than me” she adds, smiling.

She was part of many firsts, helping set up the library, the Student Disciplinary Committee etc. “We were a fearless batch because everything was being done for the first time”, says Soujanya who recalls the thrill of meeting Prof. Raj Reddy, the first time he came to IIITH.

“As alumna, I have always seen myself as a brand ambassador for the Institute” says Soujanya. “Wherever I go, I always have some IIITians in my team. When internship positions opened up at the organisations I was with, the information shared with professors resulted in almost 60 students coming in, based on my referrals”.

Winning moment for Alumni and the Institute
“It is my fond hope that IIITH would be fully owned and run by its alumni one day. “Most institutions like ours, that raise their own funds, have special schemes that allow naming of buildings, classrooms, labs or scholarships on an individual or even on an entire alumni batch, to be remembered permanently, through their contributions”, states Prof. Narayanan. “IIITH has embarked on a large construction activity of a new academic block and Student Recreation and Introspection Centre and is starting a big reach-out to its alumni. Alumni are eager to help and we look forward to their support and continued engagement and many more Alumni Awards in the next 25 years.

The Award winners came from around the world to the felicitation ceremony, while those who joined online were represented by their parents and families. The awardees were cheered by the faculty, staff, students and alumni in person and online. It was a proud moment for the Institute and particularly those who have been at the helm of alumni engagement. From Prof. Jayanthi Sivaswamy, the founding member of the Alumni Affairs committee, who nurtured the alumni relationship over the last 20 years, ably supported by Mr. P L Murthy who took care of all the administration and bookkeeping, to older faculty and staff who proudly flaunt their their apron strings, to the current faculty, staff, students and alumni, everyone felt a winner!

Alumni Awards Ceremony Youtube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGG4A4KD9iY (from 26:20 mins)