We were together in the best of times,
And when he got separated it was because of sweat and grime,
I tried other friends, but it wasn’t quite the same,
It didn’t look right, feel right, gel right, soon became a shame,
But one fine day, after a nice long shower,
I found myself in a colorful tower,
And who should I see, in one corner of the pile,
Lying on the ground, looking forlorn without a smile,
He seemed to have suffered the same fate as me,
But who cares now, it all is history,
I jumped as soon as the time was right,
His face showed glee, I will never forget the sight,
They say, our best healer is time, our favorite clock,
And I gladly agree, now that my friend is found, the other sock!

-by Pulkit Bhatnagar

Pulkit Bhatnagar is the son of Yogesh Bhatnagar, a Petroleum Engineering Alumnus of IIT(ISM). He works in the field of Fiber Optics and lives in Atlanta with his wife Pragya and daughters Maanya and Sumira. In his free time, he loves to garden, play tennis, and put on a circus with his two girls.

Dear ISMAANA members:

We wish you and your family a very happy holiday season. For the last 20 months we have been living with the Covid-19 pandemic but the ferocity of the pandemic has now ebbed with an aggressive program of vaccinations. Many nations are opening their borders for visitors and there is a sense of relief and hopefulness. Recent development of the new Omicron variant however is creating new sense of anxiety and frustration.

Over sixty percent of population in US is fully vaccinated, This, still leaves a large share of the population unvaccinated, many of whom are opposed to vaccination. It is a matter of considerable concern as unvaccinated population continue to get infected and prolong the misery of this pandemic.

India went through a severe second wave of pandemic in spring of 2021 with large number of hospitalizations and deaths. Many of us lost our near and dear ones and the whole nation underwent a prolonged grieving period. With a very aggressive program of vaccinations cases are down over 97% since the peak and death rates are down over 95%. Currently over 30% are fully vaccinated and another 30% had one shot. It is estimated that by first quarter 2022, most eligible adults will have at least one shot of vaccine.

Pandemic had great impact on educational institutes. All of 2020-21 academic session at IIT (ISM) was held online. While students are gradually trickling back during new academic session of 2021-22, full in-person classes are expected to resume in January 2022.

We congratulate Dr. Raja Ramani (MinE.’62) for being inducted into National Mining Hall of fame Museum located at Leadville Colorado USA. It’s a great honor and first time an IIT (ISM) alumni is inducted into such a prestigious museum.

During the pandemic, ISMAANA’s role of helping our alma mater continued. We had 2 fund raising initiatives for Covid relief raising over to Rs. 50 lakhs for PM Cares fund. We continued to award 56 merit cum means scholarships, and eight academic achievement awards. Piyush Datta innovation award of Rs 1 lakh was awarded to 2 groups of students for their innovative projects. Additionally, eight more innovation awards were started and expected to be awarded during the current academic session.

Naresh Vashisht Center for Tinkering and Innovation was utilized for seminars and two innovation competitions. As in-person classes resume activity for the center is expected to accelerate. We started a monthly online seminar for students under the leadership of Dr. Ganesh Thakur. We also started an online internship program mentored by alumni faculty members in North American Universities. Currently we have 5 interns under mentorship of Dr. Anil Kumar, VP ISMAANA and Dr. Amit Acharya of Carnegie Mellon University.

We started a fund-raising program in 2018 to enhance our endowment funds to continue and expand the academic excellence award program and to fund outstanding research projects at our alma mater. Additional funds are also needed to help IIT (ISM) students attend international seminars and conferences. Scarcity of funds limits us from considering many such requests during the year. We thank many of you have already contributed to the alumni fund. If you wish to donate, please write your tax-deductible donation check to “Indian School of Mines Alumni” and send it to our treasurer Atul Kumar at 46 Huntsman Horn Circle, The Woodlands, TX 77380.

If you have any feedback to improve ISMAANA’s role or would like to contribute articles or news events or have any other comments, please send us a note.

Thank you.
Sincerely
Dipak Sarkar
President ISMAANA (’67 PE)

At 34th Annual National Mining Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in Denver CO on October 23, 2021, Dr. Raja V. Ramani was inducted into the National Mining Hall of Fame. The museum is located in Leadville, Colorado, USA, dedicated to commemorating the work of miners and people who work with natural resources. The National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum is the only national mining museum with a federal charter, set up by US Congress in 1988.

DR. RAJA RAMANI

Dr. Raja V. Ramani is currently Emeritus Professor of Mining and Geo-Environmental Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University His current activities include teaching, research, consulting and service to the worldwide mineral industry through his academic and professional affiliations.

Dr. Ramani, is a graduate of the IIT IISM) (Mining Engineering, 1962), He obtained his M.S. (1968) and Ph.D. (1970) degrees in mining engineering from Penn State University

Dr. Ramani’s contributions to mineral engineering have been widely acknowledged with awards from academia and technical and professional societies. Dr. Ramani is the recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award of the Indian School of Mines (1978), SME Book Publications Award (1981), JSPS (Japan) Eminent Scientist Fellowship Award (1983) and Fulbright Scholar Award to Soviet Union (1989-1990). In 1989, he was elected a Distinguished Member of SME and was awarded the APCOM Distinguished Achievement Award for outstanding contributions to the application of computers and operations research in the mineral industry.

Dr. Ramani is married to the former Geetha V. Chalam, has two sons Deepak [Ph.D.] and Gautam [M.D.], and lives in State College, PA.

Dr. Ganesh Thakur, a 1970 Petroleum Engineering graduate of IIT (ISM), and currently chairman Emeritus of ISMAANA, has been elected to the rank of U.S. NAI (National Academy of Inventors) Fellow as he has demonstrated a highly prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on the quality of life, economic development, and welfare of society. This prestigious award is only given to a few prolific academic inventors every year.

About the NAI: The National Academy of Inventors is a member organization comprising U.S. and international universities, and governmental and non-profit research institutes, with over 4,000 individual inventor members and Fellows spanning more than 250 institutions worldwide. The NAI was founded in 2010 with a focus on recognizing and encouraging inventors with patents issued from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, enhancing the visibility of academic technology and innovation, encouraging the disclosure of intellectual property, educating and mentoring innovative students, and translating the inventions of its members to benefit society.

In February 2016, Dr. Thakur was elected to the NAE (National Academy of Engineering) for leadership in the implementation of integrated reservoir management techniques. Election to the National Academy of Engineering is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer. Academy membership honors those who have made outstanding contributions to “engineering research, practice, or education, including, where appropriate, significant contributions to the engineering literature” and to “the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of engineering, or developing/implementing innovative approaches to engineering education.

Dr. Thakur also served as the 2012 SPE International President and 2019-21 SPE Foundation President (the first person of Indian origin to serve in these capacities). He currently serves as a Board Member and Treasurer of TAMEST (Texas Academy of Medicine, Engineering, Science and Technology).

Dr. Thakur is a veteran of the oil and gas industry, serving almost four decades with Chevron Corp. and retiring as Vice President of Technology in 2014. Since 2016, he has been serving as Distinguished Professor of Petroleum Engineering and Director of Energy Industry Partnership at the University of Houston in Houston, Texas, USA, where he leads a team of researchers, scientists and professors in the areas of CCUS (Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage), machine learning and artificial intelligence, and management of oil and gas reservoirs.

Currently ISMAANA has two types of ongoing scholarship and academic excellence programs.

Academic Excellence Awards

Following is a list of eight final year students who were chosen for ISMAANA academic excellence awards in November 2021.

ISMAANA started these awards in 2015 to recognize top two students from four earth science branches based on the first three years of academic performance. Starting new academic year in August 2022, these eight academic excellence awards shall be awarded to top 8 students in four earth science branches and four major departments of electrical, mechanical, electronic engineering and Computer science.

Merit cum means scholarships

These scholarships started in 2017 and currently ISMAANA has alumni commitment for 56 such scholarships that are based on family income and academic performance. Amount of these scholarships range from $1000/year to $1370/year. These scholarships are intended to mainly cover student expenses related to room, board, and transportation. During 2021-22 academic year 38 scholarships were continued for undergraduate students who carried over their scholarships from 2020-21, while 18 new awardees will be selected from new applications at the beginning of second semester starting January 2022. Following is a list of our generous alumni with number of scholarships each of them are funding.

Ishwar Singh (PE’70) is starting a $3000/year scholarship in the Petroleum Engineering Department of Texas A & M University (TAMU) for an IIT (ISM) graduate pursuing Master’s or PhD degree program at TAMU. The scholarship is scheduled to start in Fall semester 2021.

If you need more information about these scholarships or would like to sponsor additional scholarships, please call Dipak Sarkar at 714 826-2810 or write to dksarkar@aol.com.

ISMAANA members have sponsored several innovation awards to foster innovative thinking and ideas at IIT (ISM)

Dr. Piyush Dutta (Mining’60) Innovation and Invention Prize of Rs. 1 lakh was established in January 2019. Dr. Dutta is now sponsoring 3 additional innovation awards that shall be given to First, second, and third year, students.

In addition, following innovation awards are sponsored by ISMAANA members and are in place to be implemented in the current academic year of 2021-22.

1. Dr. Anil Kumar (PE’65), ISMAANA Vice President has sponsored 2 innovation awards of Rs 50,000 each for any undergraduate student of IIT (ISM). Awards shall be given for original engineering products design/concepts, and prototype demonstrations that will reduce import of that product/component to India.
2. Ishwar Singh (PE’70) ISMAANA board member has proposed 2 innovation awards of Rs 50,000 each for any undergraduate student at IIT (ISM). Awards to be given for the best original conceptual idea presentation, report, and/or prototype demonstration that shows advancement in technology.
3. Madhuchhanda Das (PE’93) is sponsoring an innovation award of $700/year for any undergraduate student at IIT(ISM). The award shall be given to winners of annual competition for most innovative idea, conceptualization, presentation and prototype demonstration.