Mixed Reality based 59th Convocation of IIT Bombay held today

: Mumbai, August 7, 2021

The 59th convocation of IIT Bombay was held today online in Virtual Reality (VR) mode, keeping in view the safety measures during the ongoing pandemic. The personalized avatar of each graduate received the degree certificate from the personalized avatar of the Director Prof. Subhasis Chaudhuri. All medal winners received their medals from the personalized avatar of the Chief Guest Prof. Geoffrey Hinton, FRS, University of Toronto. The Institute thought it best to arrange such a VR-convocation for the graduating students so as not to put their health at risk but at the same time, they did not wish to deprive them of the sense of achievement and pride of passing out of India’s premier engineering Institute.

The convocation is normally a chance for students to socialize with their friends and faculty one last time before they embark on their next journey. Like last year, the institute provided an opportunity to students to do so via virtual presence, allowing students to roam around a virtual campus, visit their hostels and departments virtually, and bump into/ meet their friends and faculty. In addition, certain components of the convocation showcased a few graduates being actually present in the scene.

At the 59th Convocation, a total of 2501 degrees will be awarded. These include 178 PhD, 36 (MTech/ MPhil+PhD), 26 Dual Degree (MSc+PhD), 8 MS (by research), 689 MTech, 63 MDes, 18 Dual Degree (BDes+MDes), 13 MPhil, 109 MBA, 1 EMBA, 7 MPP, 235 two-year MSc, 324 Dual Degree (BTech+MTech), 663 BTech Degrees, 12 Interdisciplinary Dual Degrees (BTech/ BS+MTech/ MSc), 8 Dual Degrees (BS+MSc), 49 BS, 14 BDes, and 20 PDGIIT. Additionally, 28 joint PhD’s along with Monash University is being granted.

This year, 38 research scholars have been selected for the award of ‘Naik and Rastogi Award for Excellence in PhD Research’ for the year 2019-21.

This year, three students were presented the Gold medals for their exemplary performance. The ‘President of India Medal’ was bestowed on Siddharth Chandak, a (BTech) student from the Department of Electrical Engineering. The ‘Institute Gold Medal (2019-20)’ and the ‘Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma Gold Medal’ was awarded to Manu Srivastava, a student from the Department of Physics. Additionally, departmental toppers were presented with silver medals by the Chief Guest.

Presenting the Institute’s Report for the year 2020-21, Prof. Subhasis Chaudhuri, Director of IIT Bombay informed that IIT Bombay continues to be a much sought-after destination for UG and PG studies. Prof. Subhasis Chaudhari said, “We are happy to note that despite the pandemic, our students did not have to suffer academically. The training that our students received will definitely see them taking up leadership roles, as always, in academic and corporate world, thus contributing to the needs of our country”.

Chief Guest Prof. Geoffrey Hinton said, “I would like to congratulate the students who had difficulties with their studies but persevered and overcame them”. “I believe that the rapid progress of AI is going to transform society in ways we do not fully understand and not all of the effects are going to be good. I hope that many of the graduating students will choose to be part of the coming revolution in medicine that combines exciting new technology with helping fellow human beings”, he added. Prof. Geoffrey Hinton, often hailed as the father of artificial neural networks, is currently an Emeritus Professor at University of Toronto, the Chief Scientific Advisor of the Vector Institute and a Vice-President and Engineering Fellow at Google.

Prof. Margaret Gardner, President and Vice-Chancellor, Monash University, Australia, members of Board of Governors and several other distinguished guests from India and abroad attended the Convocation function online, besides the graduating students and their parents.

The event was screened on Institute’s official Youtube channel. It can be viewed in the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWMmvj3P3rk

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SC/PK/IIT Bombay