DEAN ACR NEWSLETTER – JANUARY 2026

From the Dean's Desk January-2026

Prof. Upendra V. Bhandarkar

Dean – Alumni and Corporate Relations
Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering IIT Bombay

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Dear Alumni,

 

We wish you a very happy and joyful New Year!

 

My warm greetings to you as we draw the curtain on an eventful and fulfilling year.

 

 

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Dean ACR Annual Report

2024-25

CHARTING IITB’S FUTURE


IIT Bombay Unveils ‘Strategy Plan 2026–2030 & Beyond’

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INCUBATING DEEP TECH







IIT Bombay Launches Y-Point Venture Capital Fund


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SPECIAL REPORT

Alumni Day

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Hostel Celebration Day 2025

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Education Day

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ALUMNI GIVING


• Dr. Pramod Chaudhari
• Dr. Vinaya Kapoor and Dr. Samir Kapoor
• Anil Kshirsagar
• Three Alumnae Enrich Campus Through Art

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ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT


• Dr. Shridhar Shukla
• Dr. P.C. Jain
• Dr. Kaustav Chatterjee / Dr. Ashutosh Kumar / Dr. Chaidul Haque Chaudhuri

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CORPORATE COLLABORATION


• Vertiv
• Ainwesha Engineering

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CENTRES OF EXCELLENCE


• TechnoCraft Centre for Applied Artificial Intelligence (TCA2I)

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FACULTY SPOTLIGHT







• Prof. Amit Agrawal Receives IIT Kanpur Distinguished Alumni Award 2025


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STUDENT SUCCESS STORY


• IIT Bombay's iGem Team Secures Silver Medal at Paris Competition
• IITB Students Participate in Winter School, TU Wien, Austria

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RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT


• New Study Reveals How Ultrasonic Vibration Solves Microhole Drilling Problem in Brittle Materials Like Glass
• Nanotatrapods as Flowmakers for Plastic Melts
• TB Bacteria's Tough Armor: A Cellular Shield Against Treatment

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LECTURE SERIES


• Prof. Dr. Joachim Kopp
• Dr. Vinod Mengle

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INSTITUTE HIGHLIGHTS

IIT Bombay Welcomes Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh

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Alumni Meets (Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Pune)

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IIT Bombay Inaugurates Hostel 19

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Faculty Accolades

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INSTITUTE HIGHLIGHTS PART – 2

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Upcoming Events
PG Reunion

Join us for the Post Graduate Reunion 2026 – a celebration bringing together postgraduate alumni from across IIT Bombay. This is your opportunity to reconnect with batchmates, engage with faculty and students, explore campus developments, and enjoy meaningful interactions within the IITB community. The reunion features institute-wide engagements, networking sessions, interactive discussions, and visits across […]

Day & Date: Feb 27 - Feb 28, 2026
Time: 10:30 am
Venue: IIT Bombay, Main Gate Rd, IIT Area, Powai, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
DJRU – Class of 1966 – Diamond Jubilee Reunion (60 Years)

60 years, a lifetime of memories, and friendships that have lasted through time. The Class of 1966 is returning to IIT Bombay for their Diamond Jubilee Reunion – a special moment to reconnect, reminisce, and celebrate six decades together. Come back to the campus that shaped you, walk the grounds, see how things have changed […]

Day & Date: Feb 13 - Feb 15, 2026
Time: 4:00 pm
Venue: IIT Bombay, Main Gate Rd, IIT Area, Powai, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
GJRU – Class of 1976 – Golden Jubilee Reunion (50 Years)

Half a century has flown by, yet the memories of our IIT Bombay days remain vivid. The long walks to lectures, evenings by the lakeside, hostel camaraderie, and the simplicity of a campus before cafés, food courts, and modern luxuries. Now, 50 years later, it’s time to return to the place where it all began, […]

Day & Date: Feb 02 - Feb 05, 2026
Time: 4:00 pm
Venue: IIT Bombay, Main Gate Rd, IIT Area, Powai, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Class of 1980 – 45 Years Reunion

45 years later, the bond remains unbreakable. Join us as the Class of 1980 returns to campus to celebrate a milestone filled with memories, laughter, and lifelong friendships. Whether it’s your first reunion or your fifth, this 45-year celebration promises a memorable weekend of nostalgia, joy, and renewed connections. Come back to where it all […]

Day & Date: Jan 17 - Jan 19, 2026
Time: 9:00 am
Venue: IIT Bombay, Main Gate Rd, IIT Area, Powai, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

From the Dean's Desk January-2026

Dear Alumni,

 

We wish you a very happy and joyful New Year!

 

My warm greetings to you as we draw the curtain on an eventful and fulfilling year.

 

This month marks an important moment in IIT Bombay’s journey, as we take significant steps toward shaping the Institute’s future. We recently unveiled the Strategy Plan 2026–2030 & Beyond, a comprehensive roadmap that charts our aspirations for global leadership in education, research, innovation, and societal impact. Complementing this long-term vision is another landmark development—the launch of the Y-Point Venture Capital Fund, India’s first deep-tech VC fund established by an academia-linked incubator.

 

Amidst these forward-looking developments, our alumni community continues to be one of our greatest strengths. We were delighted to celebrate our first-ever Hostel Celebration Day that marked the largest gathering of alumni across generations on campus. Similarly, it was truly heartening to witness the energy and camaraderie at this year’s Alumni Day. The spirit of connection, pride, and shared purpose that our alumni bring back to campus is always inspiring, and this year was no exception. As we look ahead to the many batch reunions scheduled for January and February 2026, I am reminded of how deeply our alumni community continues to enrich the Institute. I look forward to welcoming many more of you back on campus in the months ahead. We have more in a Special Report on our Hostel Celebration and Alumni Day. In our third Special Report, we feature Education Day.

 

Our alumni continue to give back to their alma mater. We were privileged to honour one of our biggest cheerleaders and supporters, our very own Distinguished Alumnus, Dr. Pramod Chaudhari, by naming the brand-new Dining Hall at Hostel 4 after him. Our alumni couple, Dr. Vinaya Kapoor and Dr. Samir Kapoor, have graciously contributed to a second Chair Faculty at the Institute, even as we declared the winners of yet another of their initiatives, the ACCESS Awards. We are grateful to Anil Kshirsagar for his visionary support in conceptualising the idea of ‘Lumina’ at IIT Bombay. Also, we were delighted when three alumnae from the Class of 2000, Debjani Das, Mita Mathur, and Dr. Anuradha Raghunathan, came together and donated their art to their alma mater. You can find more about our generous alumni in the Alumni Giving section.

 

In our Alumni Spotlight section, we are delighted to feature Dr. Shridhar Shukla, Dr. P.C. Jain, Mr. Anand Garde, Dr. Kaustav Chatterjee, Dr. Ashutosh Kumar, and Dr. Chaidul Haque Chaudhuri.

 

The Institute collaborated with Vertiv and Ainwesha Engineering – details of which are in the Corporate Collaboration section.

 

Key Institute Highlights for the month include our Alumni Meets in Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Pune; the launch of Hostel 19, and many more. As always, you’ll also find our regular features, including Centres of Excellence, Lecture Series, Research Spotlight, Faculty Accolades, Student Success Stories, other Institute News and Highlights, Upcoming Events, and more in this month’s newsletter.

 

I request you to engage with a few initiatives that are shaping our community’s future. The Dean ACR Annual Report 2024–25 offers a snapshot of what we have accomplished together this past year. And as part of Regular Giving, please consider contributing to our annual GO-IITB India:  Open the door to tomorrow campaign, as well as Benevity. Each of these efforts reflects the generosity and shared commitment that make our alumni network so strong.

 

As the year draws to a close, I wish you all peace, strength, good health, well-being, and renewed hope for 2026.

 

And for our alma mater, I hope that as we step into a new year, may it open new doors, new ideas, and new connections for our extended IIT Bombay community.

 

Warmly,

 

Prof. Upendra V. Bhandarkar
Dean – Alumni and Corporate Relations
Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering
IIT Bombay