Prof Nagarajan did it all: boosted alum ties, reimagined Heritage Centre & got a Mills & Boon award!

1. 0:00 – 1:05

   Introduction

   1. NRNagarajan R.0:00

      To me, there are certain things that are quite unique to IIT Madras that I don't find in the other IITs that I have visited. Someone today writing the joint entrance exam, and I'm trying to decide which IIT to go to, I think it's important to have multiple interests in your life, both to prepare for entry into IIT and also to deal with life in case you didn't get into IIT.

   2. SPSpeaker0:20

      But it starts with the students having an idea.

   3. NRNagarajan R.0:22

      Yes.

   4. SPSpeaker0:22

      What if there is a student who has no idea?

   5. NRNagarajan R.0:25

      For example, in the US, if you look at the annual salary survey, chemical engineers are always number one, number two, or number three. We felt that by going abroad, we could make more money. I think y- you really should not, uh, lock yourself into thinking that you will only be happy in one geographical location or even in one profession.

   6. SPSpeaker0:43

      Some of the things that students and faculty here are doing are sort of, like, unbelievable to people outside. [upbeat music] Hi, this is Amrit. We are at IIT Madras, my alma mater, and India's top university for people who like to build. We are here to meet some builders, ask them: What are you building? What does it take to build? And what makes IIT Madras the best place to build? [upbeat music]

2. 1:05 – 1:45

   Welcome to the Best Place to Build Podcast

   1. SPSpeaker1:22

      Hello, and welcome to the Best Place to Build Podcast. Today, we are sitting with Professor Nagarajan, recently retired faculty from the chemical engineering department at IIT Madras. He used to be the first dean of international alumni relations at IIT Madras, during a very interesting period in IIT's history. We'll go over it a little bit. Uh, also, if you have come to the campus and seen the new Heritage Center, uh, professor was leading the

3. 1:45 – 2:34

   Introducing Prof Nagarajan

   1. SPSpeaker1:45

      team that relaunched it, and that- that's why it looks like that today. Um, professor was also in the team that set up CFI, first from the alumni side, and then from the faculty side. So lots to learn, lots to unpack today. Um, uh, welcome, Professor.

   2. NRNagarajan R.2:01

      Thank you. A- and I'm from chemical engineering, [chuckles]

   3. SPSpeaker2:03

      Yes. [chuckles] Sorry. Uh, you've written two books on chemical engineering, right?

   4. NRNagarajan R.2:07

      Yes, yes, yes, I have.

   5. SPSpeaker2:08

      We will do that, too.

   6. NRNagarajan R.2:09

      Sure.

   7. SPSpeaker2:09

      Uh, Professor, I, I have spoken to you over many years on this one topic that is-- uh, that we have discussed and debated a lot, uh, which is that all old IITs are good, but there are some differences. And, um, what is unique about IIT Madras that sets it apart? Would love to hear it again from you for our audience [chuckles] -

   8. NRNagarajan R.2:29

      Sure

   9. SPSpeaker2:29

      ... and discuss it a bit.

   10. NRNagarajan R.2:31

       Yeah, I mean, if, if I'm, uh, someone today

4. 2:34 – 4:30

   What is Unique About IIT Madras?

   1. NRNagarajan R.2:34

      writing the, uh, joint entrance exam, and I'm trying to decide which IIT to go to, I think I, I get input from a lot of people, my parents, my seniors, the coaching school, and so on. But I think, um, y- I, I would expect that I will also try to make that decision somewhat independently by, um, looking at what, what makes each IIT different from the others. And to me, there are certain things that are quite unique to IIT Madras that I don't find in the other IITs that I have visited. Uh, the first one, I would say, i- is the whole innovation ecosystem. In fact, the place we are sitting in, the Center for Innovation, um, is, is on the ground floor of the, um, Sudha and Shankar Innovation Hub. This place didn't exist twenty years ago. In 2006, when we had our silver reunion, I'm class of '81 from IIT Madras, um, Professor Unni Chandy, who was the dean of students at the time, and one of my batchmates, um, Shankar Vaidyanathan, actually did a joint proposal to our batch to fund this center. Their thesis was that you needed a place like this, where, um, students could kind of get together as a team and do something interesting, something innovative, something path-breaking. And they felt that if, if they had a place like this, they would come, and so we agreed. I mean, the batch, um, we were the first batch to walk into a reunion with a 1.4 crore fund raised. And, uh, so we, we did it. We had a voting process, and there were several projects that were presented to us, and we voted. And, um, so back then, I didn't have any association with the alumni activity, so I was, like I said, sitting on the other side of the table. But, uh, the Center for Innovation was a clear winner by almost 70% of it.

   2. SPSpeaker4:24

      Professor, for somebody who has never been here, how would you describe the Center for Innovation?

   3. NRNagarajan R.4:28

      Yes. So, so the, uh, the tagline for

5. 4:30 – 8:00

   CFI's Motto: Idea to Prototype

   1. NRNagarajan R.4:30

      the center is simply, "Walk in with an idea, walk out with a prototype." The idea was to, uh, provide them a, a facility where they had everything they needed, and all they had to do was bring an idea to the table. And so we give them all the mechanical equipment, all the electrical equipment, all the computational facilities, and even mentoring help, mostly featuring alumni and corporates, so that, um, any student that really has an interesting idea can use the center to develop that idea to the next stage. And, and, you know, from the ideation stage, the next stage is obviously building a small prototype for show and tell. And they could do this individually or actually preferably as a team and very, um, interdisciplinary teams. So virtually, every one of these, uh, teams would have representation from many of the engineering departments, some of them from the science departments, some even from humanities and social sciences, and management studies, and so on. So they will come up and create something really fresh and exciting.

   2. SPSpeaker5:29

      Mm.

   3. NRNagarajan R.5:29

      And, um, um, eventually, they will graduate out of Center for Innovation. And so, again, if you look at this building, the ground floor is CFI. The floor above us is something called, there is something called Nirman. Nirman is a pre-incubator. So the idea is, every year, there's a team that would look at all the projects that had been done at the s- at CFI, as we call the Center for Innovation, and choose about 10 to 15 to inject additional funding-

   4. SPSpeaker5:58

      Mm

   5. NRNagarajan R.5:58

      ... so that they could take it from a, you know, rough prototype to the next level of sophistication from a product viewpoint. And, um, um, a-... be ready to actually start thinking about commercializing their idea, which is a major step. But we are, we are very vertically integrated, I mean, physically and-

   6. SPSpeaker6:16

      Yeah, [laughing]

   7. NRNagarajan R.6:16

      - literally and figuratively. So, um, so they just graduate to the first floor. They want maybe some additional funding, additional help, and they refine their idea further. And then the sec- next floor up, um, is, uh, is we have something called the Gopalakrishnan and Deshpande Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which was co-funded by two of our most illustrious alumni, um, Desh Deshpande and Chris Gopalakrishnan, when I, when I was the dean. And, um, it's the first time they actually funded something together. Um, they have been huge donors to IIT Madras individually. That, that center has an even broader mission. It, it kind of forces these teams to really self-assess, on are they cut out to be entrepreneurs or not? And it, it asks them to do things that are beyond the technology part. It asks them to do customer surveys. It asks them to figure out if, uh, the product they're working on has any chance in the, in the marketplace.

   8. SPSpeaker7:12

      Mm.

   9. NRNagarajan R.7:12

      So it, it, it really broadens their horizon to a large extent. So they have these cohorts that go through these, um, these sessions, and if they come out of this with a, with a firm idea that, yes, they have a product that they do want to sell, and that it will work, then they're ready to take the next step, next step, which is, um, actually to go into... get into an incubator. And-

   10. SPSpeaker7:34

       P- professor, let me ho- hold you.

   11. NRNagarajan R.7:36

       Yeah.

   12. SPSpeaker7:36

       We started this thread by saying that what is unique-

   13. NRNagarajan R.7:38

       Yeah

   14. SPSpeaker7:39

       ... is this a sort of-

   15. NRNagarajan R.7:40

       Right

   16. SPSpeaker7:41

       ... integrated CFI, Nirman, GDC, and I, I'm sure you're going to talk about-

   17. NRNagarajan R.7:44

       And Research Park. Yes.

   18. SPSpeaker7:45

       Yeah, Research Park innovation ecosystem.

   19. NRNagarajan R.7:47

       Right.

   20. SPSpeaker7:48

       But it starts with the students having an idea.

   21. NRNagarajan R.7:50

       Yes.

   22. SPSpeaker7:50

       What if there is a student who has no idea?

   23. NRNagarajan R.7:53

       So I think that's where the faculty play a role. Um, by the way, faculty can lead this effort. In fact, many faculty have also been incubated through our

6. 8:00 – 10:25

   The Startup Pipeline

   1. NRNagarajan R.8:00

      pipeline, so it's not just for students, and it's not just for undergraduate students. Many of our, um, graduate students have also benefited from this pipeline. Faculty have to encourage and instill creativity in the classroom.

   2. SPSpeaker8:11

      Mm.

   3. NRNagarajan R.8:12

      So it, it's very important that when, when the first-year students come in, um, you don't just bore them with theory, you know? Uh, you have to, um, let them, um, really think outside the box, you know, when in the classroom itself, so that the creative juices are, are kind of, um, you know, kindled, and, and that is important. Te- uh, creativity in the classroom translates to innovation outside the classroom. So-

   4. SPSpeaker8:38

      Interesting.

   5. NRNagarajan R.8:39

      Yeah.

   6. SPSpeaker8:39

      So from, from a student point of view-

   7. NRNagarajan R.8:41

      Yeah

   8. SPSpeaker8:41

      ... say, 20 years back-

   9. NRNagarajan R.8:42

      Right

   10. SPSpeaker8:42

       ... when CFI and all these things were not there, there are classrooms-

   11. NRNagarajan R.8:46

       Right

   12. SPSpeaker8:46

       ... um, where they meet, where they interact with faculty, and if they are more interested with the faculty, if they're interested in the subject, they may, uh, sort of work in the lab, or they may have, uh, they may be volunteering in the lab.

   13. NRNagarajan R.8:59

       Sure.

   14. SPSpeaker8:59

       They may be a research assistant or a teaching assistant. Um, so those were ways to be academically more involved.

   15. NRNagarajan R.9:05

       Exactly.

   16. SPSpeaker9:05

       And on the other side, they could be culturally more involved, like be in sports or be in some kind of a cultural event or something. Uh, this innovation ecosystem is a totally new ecosystem.

   17. NRNagarajan R.9:17

       So it's, it's another extracurricular opportunity for students. It's not that every student is gonna want to spend time here, but our estimate is almost 40% of, uh, IIT Madras undergraduates spend significant time in sci- in CFI-

   18. SPSpeaker9:30

       Yeah

   19. NRNagarajan R.9:30

       ... and, you know, going through this ecosystem. But there are other opportunities. In fact, the other thing that I think makes IIT Madras unique is, in addition to this innovation ecosystem, which eventually leads to an incubator and presence in IIT Madras Research Park, and, and venture funding from alumni and others-

   20. SPSpeaker9:47

       Yeah

   21. NRNagarajan R.9:47

       ... and so on, you also have all these other clubs, you know, that really encourage activity in multiple spheres.

   22. SPSpeaker9:52

       For sure, but every university-

   23. NRNagarajan R.9:54

       Right

   24. SPSpeaker9:54

       ... most universities have that.

   25. NRNagarajan R.9:55

       Yeah.

   26. SPSpeaker9:55

       And especially the old five IITs will have that.

   27. NRNagarajan R.9:58

       Yeah.

   28. SPSpeaker9:58

       I want to understand from a, uh, from a h- how this campus has changed in the last 20 years. What role has this innovation ecosystem played? How have people thought differently? How have people behaved differently?

   29. NRNagarajan R.10:10

       Right.

   30. SPSpeaker10:10

       The choices that they have taken, have those changed?
7. 10:25 – 14:15

   The Shift from Studying Abroad to Indian Entrepreneurship

   1. NRNagarajan R.10:25

      because many of our alumni are entrepreneurs. And they previously would have seen very little reason to come back to campus, because what they were doing... First of all, they get out of their core area very quickly, most of them.

   2. SPSpeaker10:36

      Mm.

   3. NRNagarajan R.10:36

      If you're a chemical engineering undergraduate, chances are you are not a chemical engineer by profession. I'm one of the exceptions. And so why would they want to come back to campus? Why would they want to interact with the, the students and the faculty? But this entrepreneurship is now a common thread, which pulls a lot of alumni to the campus in terms of mentoring. We have many, many alumni who are, uh, formally and informally mentoring, uh, either individual students or teams of students. Uh, funding many of... This, this center has attracted funding from, you know, alumni again, and the reason is that, uh, they were, um, entrepreneurs, and they want to see entrepreneurship take root on campus. And I think, you know, you've got on the campus, the, the main difference that I see is very few students now go abroad for higher studies. When I was a student here, almost 80% of, uh, of my graduating class went to the US for higher studies. Now, it's down to, like, 1%, 2% at best. Many of them-

   4. SPSpeaker11:33

      I-

   5. NRNagarajan R.11:33

      ... are have, the ones who would have gone abroad earlier, are now, uh, rather thinking about either starting companies or joining small startups, and, and late and growing with the, with the startup. So that's, again, a big difference that it's made.

   6. SPSpeaker11:47

      Professor, I think that number is 5 to 10% and-

   7. NRNagarajan R.11:50

      Yeah

   8. SPSpeaker11:50

      ... varies from branch to branch. But I want to ask you a question here. Sometimes when we look at that number, and people don't have the entire context, they w- look at it and say: "Why have people going abroad come down? Does it mean that our students are less competitive globally?" Is that-

   9. NRNagarajan R.12:06

      No, no. I think it's, it's mostly that they are perfectly comfortable now-... staying back, and, and they realize that, you know, India is a growing economy, and opportunities are just endless here on campus. And they just don't see- I mean, the reason we all went abroad, to be perfectly honest, is because we felt that by going abroad, we could make more money. I mean, it simply comes down to that. It's not that we were devoted to the idea of higher education and higher learning. I mean, you could have done a PhD at IIT Madras or in IISc. That's what we were after. The reason that pe- people go abroad in general is because they find that the, the pasture is greener over there compared to here, right? Now I think, um, it's just as green in, in India as, as elsewhere. So it's- I would say it's a very positive outcome in the sense that more are staying back, but I actually wish that, you know, the, the brain drain would, would, uh, unclog a little bit. I would like to see m- at least a, you know, higher percentage of our alumni go abroad and, and make a name. Because, I mean, the way IITs have gained their global reputation is because of our alumni who have-

   10. SPSpeaker13:14

       Gone everywhere.

   11. NRNagarajan R.13:14

       Yeah, and, and established themselves. I mean, look at CEOs of major companies around the world. Many of them would have a, an IIT connection.

   12. SPSpeaker13:21

       Correct.

   13. NRNagarajan R.13:21

       I think we are losing that to some extent, but India is gaining, so, you know. [chuckles]

   14. SPSpeaker13:25

       Yeah. Yeah, it's a very interesting point. Um, these 40% of students who are part of the innovation ecosystem, either as... Maybe they're tinkering in CFI, or maybe they're trying a startup, or something like that, um, do they behave differently in class? Do they have a, a- Has, has it impacted the way they think about engineering?

   15. NRNagarajan R.13:46

       I think it can impact in both ways. I mean, they can be so bedded to that idea or, or that product that they don't pay attention in class. But [chuckles] it could just as easily work the other way. I remember, you know, we had a satellite project which was funded by, uh, one of our alumni, Krishna Chu Kula, who later on funded our new alumni-

   16. SPSpeaker14:04

       New alumni building blocks. Yeah.

   17. NRNagarajan R.14:06

       But, um, you know, um, Professor David Koilpillai and, uh, Harishankar were, were the faculty in charge, and they have... They made the observation that the

8. 14:15 – 17:39

   CFI Integration: Projects as Academic Credit

   1. NRNagarajan R.14:15

      students who were part of the team building the IIT Madras satellite, um, who had not previously paid attention to courses, all of a sudden started taking them a lot more seriously because they realized that the learnings from these courses would help them in their project.

   2. SPSpeaker14:31

      Mm.

   3. NRNagarajan R.14:31

      So I think that some of them do make that connect, that if you want to be a successful entrepreneur, what you bring to the table is, is not just ideas, but also deep knowledge, you know?

   4. SPSpeaker14:41

      Yeah.

   5. NRNagarajan R.14:41

      Because the, the kind of startups from the IIT Madras ecosystem are, again, very different from the other IITs. They're mostly in deep tech.

   6. SPSpeaker14:47

      Yeah.

   7. NRNagarajan R.14:48

      Right? And so you have to have a solid grounding of the fundamentals in your field-

   8. SPSpeaker14:52

      Yeah

   9. NRNagarajan R.14:52

      ... or, yeah, can be successful.

   10. SPSpeaker14:54

       Fair enough. If you're doing something in robotics or-

   11. NRNagarajan R.14:57

       Yeah

   12. SPSpeaker14:58

       ... aeronauticals or-

   13. NRNagarajan R.14:59

       Right

   14. SPSpeaker14:59

       ... AI, you need to have aced your courses.

   15. NRNagarajan R.15:02

       Oh, yeah, and you gotta pay attention, you know, not just pass.

   16. SPSpeaker15:05

       Yeah.

   17. NRNagarajan R.15:06

       Yeah.

   18. SPSpeaker15:06

       From a faculty point of view, uh, I remember when we were starting CFI, the... I, I was a student here from 2003 to '8, so a faculty would sort of look at CFI a little suspiciously, saying that, "Oh, this is gonna take more time away from classes." Um, has that changed?

   19. NRNagarajan R.15:22

       I think, uh, it has in two ways. Now, there's projects that students do at CFI can actually be taken for academic credit as well. So, you know, anyway, students have to do a BTech project-

   20. SPSpeaker15:33

       Mm

   21. NRNagarajan R.15:34

       ... and an MTech project, and so on, and they can easily integrate what they're doing in CFI as part of their project. So faculty don't feel like they're kind of wasting their time playing.

   22. SPSpeaker15:45

       Mm-hmm.

   23. NRNagarajan R.15:46

       But, uh, it also, I think the faculty have started to realize that it just activates a brain, right? I mean, when you do something like this, and you do something creative, it does unlock certain portions of your brain that may have never been unlocked otherwise. So at least my experience, when I was a faculty member, and I had, I had a lot of- I used to have seven or eight BTechs doing a pro- a project every year. I could see a big difference in, in their work when they were doing something like this outside of classroom hours versus, you know, just maybe going to the library and reading books and journals, you know?

   24. SPSpeaker16:19

       Yeah, or biding their time till they get a job.

   25. NRNagarajan R.16:22

       Yeah. [laughing]

   26. SPSpeaker16:24

       Right. Um, it's very interesting. I wanna ask you, when in 2006, when your, your batch-

   27. NRNagarajan R.16:32

       Yeah

   28. SPSpeaker16:32

       ... batch of 81 were looking at these projects, did you expect this kind of a change?

   29. NRNagarajan R.16:38

       We were certainly hoping for it. I think that, uh, we had every reason to believe that, um, it will have a massive impact on student life, but obviously, we had, um, no case histories to go by.

   30. SPSpeaker16:51

       Mm.
9. 17:39 – 26:00

   Launch of the IIT Madras Research Park (RP) & Rise of Opportunities

   1. NRNagarajan R.17:39

      right? So we have seen a much higher percentage of our, um, students turning towards entrepreneurship now than they, they did. I mean, we literally think CFI was a game changer. In fact, 10 years after, in 2016, we had a reunion of CFI alumni. I don't know if you were there for that, but-

   2. SPSpeaker17:56

      Ah

   3. NRNagarajan R.17:57

      ... this was during our alumni day program, and we had about seven or eight people that were involved with startups out of CFI, who are now very successful entrepreneurs, and they actually came and shared their experiences. And it was very interesting that their bonding as CFI alumni was, if anything, even stronger than their bonding as IIT Madras alumni- [chuckles]

   4. SPSpeaker18:15

      ... or their bonding of the hostel ecosystem.

   5. NRNagarajan R.18:18

      Yes.

   6. SPSpeaker18:19

      ... So just to complete this part, the things that we missed were the research park and the-

   7. NRNagarajan R.18:24

      Right

   8. SPSpeaker18:24

      -incubation center, right? So how did those come up and-

   9. NRNagarajan R.18:26

      Yeah. So research park was, uh, created when Professor Ananth was the director, and it was to, to bring industry close to us, actually. Originally, the, the focus was not so much on entrepreneurship, but to bring industry R&D adjacent to the campus, so that you cut down the, the time between the, the contacts within industry and IIT Madras. And, um, it's a very interesting model. It's based on a credit system. You know, just like for students, um, the companies that took up R&D space in Research Park had to earn as, as sufficient number of credits every year, which scaled by the total square foot that they occupied, and they did that by working with IIT Madras in various capacities. Could be simply sponsoring research, but it could also be things like taking students as interns or providing your employees as, uh, lecturers or, or top-up, to give top-up lectures in classes, and so on. In fact, we created about 25 to 30 ways in which the companies could earn credits, but at the end of the year, they didn't make enough credits, initially their, uh, their rent will go up, and if they still didn't reform, they'll get chucked out. And Professor Ashok Jhunjhunwala was the w- the first faculty in charge of Research Park, and he was very hard-nosed about it. He didn't care if you were alumni, he didn't care [chuckles] if you were faculty. He said, "You better meet the credit, uh, credit system, or, or you're out." And so, um, so that was the, um, original idea behind Research Park. But we quickly realized that, um, by creating incubators in, in Research Park, and the Rural Technology Business Incubator was the first one to take space, and now we have four incubators. Um, we have the incubation cell, which is kind of, uh, like a overarching incubator.

   10. SPSpeaker20:08

       Mother incubator.

   11. NRNagarajan R.20:08

       Yeah, and then we have the bio incubator, and we have the med tech incubator, and so on. Um, by creating these incubators, you attract startups, and we now have something like 200 startups at, at steady state in our Research Park ecosystem. And these, uh, startups and the industries that we are a- attracted to Research Park set up their own little ecosystem. So the company started making in- investments in the startups, and the startups started refining their own technologies with, uh, by interacting with these, um, industries. So this whole Research Park concept, again, has worked so even better than what we had anticipated. We have phase one, and we recently completed phase two, and they are all fully occupied and just, a, you know, buzzing with activity if you go to Research-

   12. SPSpeaker20:52

       Yeah.

   13. NRNagarajan R.20:53

       Yeah.

   14. SPSpeaker20:53

       It's actually quite hard to get space in research now. [laughing]

   15. NRNagarajan R.20:56

       You want to find parking space. I met Shankar, uh, once, uh, somewhere, I think at an alumni function, and I was telling him, "This new CFI building is so beautiful," and all that, and his first comment to me was that, "It looks like it's already full. We need a new building." [laughing]

   16. SPSpeaker21:10

       Yeah, well, that's what happens, right?

   17. NRNagarajan R.21:13

       So yeah, so now the students are... don't have to stop with, uh, you know, getting their ideas, um, perfected. Now, they actually have an incubator that will provide them all the other help they need to become successful startups, and they now have the potential of linking up with one of these industry partners and scaling up very, very quickly. And so, you know, that, that, the whole, um, flow is going extremely well. And Research Park, I think, was the first of its kind, again, when we started it. Now I know several other IITs have, um-

   18. SPSpeaker21:44

       Yeah

   19. NRNagarajan R.21:44

       ... have it as well, but, you know, we, we, um, we can-

   20. SPSpeaker21:48

       Good idea gets copied.

   21. NRNagarajan R.21:49

       Ah, well, so we are very happy about that. [chuckles] Um-

   22. SPSpeaker21:52

       Wish them all success. Pr- Professor, I want to make a comment, and, uh, maybe you can tell me if I'm right or wrong. I feel like earlier, maybe 20, 30, 40, 50 years back, when students joined IIT, they would think of IIT as sort of a step between them and a great job, or between them and a, a, a visa to US or whatever.

   23. NRNagarajan R.22:13

       And a good marriage.

   24. SPSpeaker22:15

       Fair enough. [laughing]

   25. NRNagarajan R.22:16

       [laughing]

   26. SPSpeaker22:17

       But today it feels like there is something to do here, like-

   27. NRNagarajan R.22:20

       Yeah

   28. SPSpeaker22:21

       ... this is a destination in itself.

   29. NRNagarajan R.22:22

       Right.

   30. SPSpeaker22:23

       Uh, would that be a fair assessment?
10. 26:00 – 28:44

    The Importance of Alumni Giving Back to the Alma Mater

    1. SPSpeaker26:00

       Thank you for sharing all of that.

    2. NRNagarajan R.26:01

       Yeah.

    3. SPSpeaker26:02

       Uh, Professor, you were also involved with, uh, the setting up of the INAR or the scaling of the INAR effort. Um, is it in- International and Alumni Relations? Uh, before we go into what that means, I want to understand from you from an institute point of view, I studied here, I graduated, why should I care about the institute?

    4. NRNagarajan R.26:21

       Correct.

    5. SPSpeaker26:21

       How much do alumni really help me?

    6. NRNagarajan R.26:23

       Yeah.

    7. SPSpeaker26:23

       Uh, why should... Like, I look at my friends who are from other universities, and they don't have that kind of alumni connection, so it's really hard to explain to them. So yeah, so my question really is: Why should an alumni care about-

    8. NRNagarajan R.26:37

       Hmm, well-

    9. SPSpeaker26:38

       ... the institute after they graduate?

    10. NRNagarajan R.26:39

        So alma mater, by the way, literally translates to mother of nourishment. When you are a student here, IIT Madras is your nourishing mother, and, and you have taken advantage of all the nourishments for four years. And just like in a real family, I mean, your parents bring you up, and initially they are helping you, but then a- as you, as you get older and they get older, if anything, it turns around, and you start helping your parents, right?

    11. SPSpeaker27:10

        Mm.

    12. NRNagarajan R.27:10

        So think of it that way. I mean, this is your academic mother. I mean, the nourishment they pro- she provided you is basically all your knowledge and know-how, which, which is really what you... what has made you what you are today. So in a sense, you... It's just like with your, with your birth mother, your, your academic mother is somebody that you should be, you know, rewarding for her, for her role in, in turning you out the way you are. So I mean, that's a more sentimental reason. [chuckles]

    13. SPSpeaker27:37

        Yeah. [chuckles]

    14. NRNagarajan R.27:37

        And of course, there are nostal-

    15. SPSpeaker27:38

        But that's beautiful. Thank you so much.

    16. NRNagarajan R.27:40

        Oh, yeah. There are nostalgic reasons, you know. Uh, certainly your best memories are probably the days that you spent in campus, and so I think there is a natural urge to, um, go back. Um, in fact, I, I say that, uh, very active alumni show an aversion to adulthood and a reversion to childhood. [chuckles] Uh, it's really what it is, right? I mean, uh, and I think so there's a lot of emotional gratification by becoming more involved in... with the, with your alma mater. But on a, in a more practical side, like I said, uh, depending on where your line of work is, um, there are many ways in which the institute can be of, um, help to you. Um, certainly, we talked about entrepreneurship. If you are an entrepreneur, you know, one of the first things you need is good people, right? Any business, uh, rises or falls with its people.

    17. SPSpeaker28:31

        Mm.

    18. NRNagarajan R.28:31

        And we certainly have some of the best people, whether you're talking about the students or, or the faculty. So there is a lot to be gained by reconnecting with your alma mater and taking full advantage of, of these wonderful resources that

11. 28:44 – 30:01

    Alumni Relations: Association vs. Institutional Advancement

    1. NRNagarajan R.28:44

       they have. But at the same time, you can give back as well, right? I mean, there are certainly students who are very good in, for example, in technology, but they have no clue how to market. They know... No clue how to do HR. They have no how, clue how to do manage finances, and they don't know how to raise funds, right? And these are ways in which you can give back. So it becomes a mutually beneficial relationship. You, you get back as much as you give back. And so, uh... But the institute then has to provide maximum opportunities for you to come and spend time on campus. So that goes back to, you know, alumni institute networking, which is actually promoted by alumni-to-alumni networking.

    2. SPSpeaker29:25

       Mm.

    3. NRNagarajan R.29:25

       So at IIT Madras, we have, uh, two offices. There is the IIT Madras Alumni Association, which is an independent body with elected office bearers. Their primary role is to build this connectivity between the alumni. So they host all the chapters, they, they arrange the reunions. So they bring alumni to the table, to the institute, so to speak. And then we have the Office of, um, Alumni and Corporate Relations, whose o- one of the primary objectives is to then tap into this alumni resource and derive maximum benefit for the institute from the alumni, and, um, conversely, understand

12. 30:01 – 40:00

    Growth in Alumni Fundraising and Global Engagement

    1. NRNagarajan R.30:01

       what the alumni needs are that can be satisfied by the institute and make sure that the institute b- puts its, um, best foot, best foot forward.

    2. SPSpeaker30:08

       Hmm.

    3. NRNagarajan R.30:08

       And so that model works really well. And actually many universities, my other alma mater is Yale University, and they follow the same model. There is a separate alumni association whose job is only to do the building a network, the community-... And then there is the, um, development office or institutional advancement office, whose job it is to then, um, get all the financial benefits from this relationship, and also to provide the better connectivity between the institute and the alumni.

    4. SPSpeaker30:37

       Mm.

    5. NRNagarajan R.30:38

       So, um, I was- I think you mentioned that I was the first dean for, um, international and alumni relations. Those are two separate activities, by the way. International relations is basically global engagement, working with different universities, setting up student exchange programs, uh, joint degree programs, dual degree programs, um, research collaborations, and so on. So we do use alumni as catalysts for many of these activities-

    6. SPSpeaker31:03

       Mm.

    7. NRNagarajan R.31:03

       -um, and they certainly play a very crucial role in terms of giving us that initial toehold, you know, uh, after which we can make quick progress. But alumni relations is something that is, uh, you know, separate, and so, uh, I was kind of managing both, but since my time, we have now two separate deans, where there's one dean for alumni and corporate relations, and there's a separate dean for global engagement. And I, I think, uh, it's, it's basically the result of our fantastic growth. I mean, I remember when I took over the alumni office, our fundraising was about 50 lakhs a year. By the time I left in 2018, it had grown to about 80 crores a year, and now it's about... Last year we raised about 400 crores. So, I mean, talk about a growth story. We've been, uh, maintaining a very, very steep slope.

    8. SPSpeaker31:47

       I know I've- I recently saw a video from another IIT, [chuckles] I won't name it, and they were very proud of raising 100 crores. [laughing]

    9. NRNagarajan R.31:54

       I'm like, "Yeah, right."

    10. SPSpeaker31:55

        And we've been there 10 years.

    11. NRNagarajan R.31:56

        Yeah, and similar with global engagement. Um, initially, it was kind of a, sort of a, a low-key activity. So we used to get exchange students, mostly from Germany, because of our historical association with Germany and from Europe. And we had a few faculty who would go on sabbaticals, and so on, but it's very sporadic, very episodical. But again, by the time I left the office, we had something like, uh, 20 joint PhD programs with some of the best universities around the world. We had a large number of exchange students. We had programs where s- uh, our students could go for research internships to foreign universities, and we would get their students coming here. Faculty mobility was, was just growing exponentially, a lot of it funded by alumni. And, uh, so, but the thing that we made sure is from day one, we dealt with these foreign universities on an equal basis. It's, it's very easy to set up a relationship where you put money on the table, and the foreign university puts so-called brains on the table, and that's the, the mode of interaction. Right from the beginning, we said, "No, any money we put on the table, you put an equal amount of money on the table, and we have just as many brains as you have, if not more." [chuckles]

    12. SPSpeaker33:04

        Mm.

    13. NRNagarajan R.33:04

        And so we made that very clear that we were only interested in relationships where both universities benefited equally in all spheres of activity. And I think both offices have now grown to a point where we are way ahead of, you know, other IITs in terms of, uh, the level of engagement with alumni and the level of engagement with, uh, foreign, uh, universities. And of course, we recently started our first offshore campus in Zanzibar, and I think that's another step in the right direction in terms of internationalizing our, our institute.

    14. SPSpeaker33:32

        In these departments, uh, what, what metrics are tracked? I, I can understand that money raised from alumni could be a metric, but what are the other metrics that are tracked?

    15. NRNagarajan R.33:42

        So one of the key ones is, um, the percentage of alumni who are in your database with verified contact information-

    16. SPSpeaker33:51

        Mm

    17. NRNagarajan R.33:52

        ... uh, so that if you send them an email or, you know, if you c- contact by [clears throat] mobile phone or social networks, that they actually respond.

    18. SPSpeaker34:01

        Yeah.

    19. NRNagarajan R.34:01

        So-

    20. SPSpeaker34:02

        A very interesting metric, just the number of alumni who are engaged.

    21. NRNagarajan R.34:05

        Engaged.

    22. SPSpeaker34:05

        Yeah.

    23. NRNagarajan R.34:06

        Because once they're engaged, good things will happen. And the other metric that you can look at is when you have reunions, right? Again, what percentage of students actually show up for these reunions? When you have chapter meetings, what kind of turnout do you get? So there are very easy ways of quantifying your success in alumni engagement but, uh, you know, it's again, data analytics. Somebody has to do the, the work to track this data.

    24. SPSpeaker34:29

        Yeah, but, uh, I heard recently from IIT Madh, who now have given us these-

    25. NRNagarajan R.34:34

        Yeah, Davra cups. [chuckles]

    26. SPSpeaker34:36

        ... to put in our set.

    27. NRNagarajan R.34:37

        Yeah.

    28. SPSpeaker34:38

        Um, you can buy them from their shop. Uh, I heard that they're about to open 50 chapters. Like, now there are about 50 active chapters. That's a lot.

    29. NRNagarajan R.34:48

        Well, that's, uh, that's globally.

    30. SPSpeaker34:50

        Yeah.
13. 40:00 – 45:37

    Professor Nagarajan’s Personal Journey and Advice for Aspiring Students

    1. NRNagarajan R.40:00

       what was going, uh, going on around me. So I think it's very important. Uh, it's not enough if you just, um, if you just read up for, uh, for JEE. You have to make sure that you stay connected to the world around you. You know, back then, we didn't have these residential coaching schools, and JEE was just something else you prepared. I think we had one class after hours for, like, uh, an hour, an hour at Vivekananda College that you could attend if you wanted to, but nothing more serious than that. So the JEE was not the all-consuming, um, you know, effort that it is today. So I think it enabled us... I mean, even the week before the, the JEE exam, I was going to movies and reading books and stuff like that. So I was able to... Even if I hadn't got through, it wouldn't have killed me. I would have just looked for other opportunities, and in fact, I wanted to get into- I wanted to, uh, do my, um, MA in English Literature. That was my dream, and I was kind of disappointed when I got into IIT. But, um, I think it's important to have multiple interests in your life, both to prepare for entry into IIT and also to deal with life in case you didn't get into IIT, you know? This is... I just, I mean, [chuckles] thank you for sharing so much. But I just want to say that this is such a, l- like a contemporary... No, not a contemporary. Like, a, it, it happens every year, right? It's a timeless story- Yeah ... where you have this feeling that you have reached somewhere, you have some competencies, you are included in some spaces, but you're excluded in other spaces. But it has become worse now in, in a sense, because, at least in our time, 90% of the students entering IITs were from the city. They were from metros. Yeah. Now, it's the other way around. I think almost 70% of our incoming class is from, you know, outside the cities, because anybody can go to a coaching school and, and learn, right? Mm. So it's, it's great in a way. You know, a lot of people blame coaching factories for a lot of ills, but I think they have- But the- Absolutely, it's levelled the playing field, but that means that all these students that are coming from rural environments may be even weaker in English- Communication ... and other social skills- Yeah ... compared to the students from the cities. Right. So, um, they're gonna have trouble, I think, uh, after they enter IIT, and we do see that with, with our first-year students. Um, but also they're gonna have trouble preparing for JEE because they have to deal with all these other influences apart from the studies that they have to do. Just, just to clarify, you're not talking only of language skills, you're talking- Yeah ... of language and social skills. Social skills are very important because it prepares you mentally, right? If you feel isolated- Mm ... it's not gonna put you in the right frame of mind to prepare, you know. That's, I think that's what causes a lot of these depression-related issues- Mm ... that feeling of isolation.... Thank you for sharing. So then you were, uh, you were a BTech here, and then you went to the US. I think you mentioned that earlier. Yes, yes. Why did you decide to come back? Um, actually, I was very happy there. I did my PhD at Yale, then I did a year and a half as postdoc at a university, actually working with the Department of Energy. And then I got this call from IBM, and they said, "We want you to come and join us, and still do chemical engineering." And by the way, chemical engineering is a fantastic and very versatile discipline. I should do some, um, sales for my parent department as well. But, um, you know, chemical engineers are really process engineers. So in any business that runs a process, chemical engineers are in huge demand. And so IBM wanted me, even though I had all my work had been in coal combustion, and I had no idea why IBM wanted me. But it turned out that what they really wanted was my expertise in particulate science and technology. So that's the reason I migrated to IBM in San Jose, and I worked with them for fifteen years, moved rapidly through the ranks, very successful, very happy, and, um, very settled. But, um, you know, just personal stuff. My mother passed away in nineteen ninety-six, and then my father had, um, some difficulties with his health. He's a lawyer, he's ninety-four, still practicing. What? [chuckles] He still has clients who come and see him now that we are here. But we tried to get him to come and live with us in the US, and he couldn't take it. He got very restless, and so on. So in two thousand and three, we moved back to India so that he could live with us and, um, you know, apply to IIT Madras, and, uh, got, um... So IIT had advertised for professor-level openings at the time. Mm. So I applied, and, um, interestingly, they called me to interview as an associate professor because I didn't have any academic experience at the time, except- Yeah ... a couple of years I had spent at Western as a postdoc. As a postdoc, mm. Uh, but, uh, they offer-- after the interview, they offered me a professor position, so things worked out well. But, um, the only reason I would say is, um, is because of family kind of things, you know? Mm. It's not that-- I think, well, the US is a wonderful place to work. It's a wonderful place to bring up your families, so we had no issues. It's not that we wanted our kids to grow up in India. I think wherever they grow up, it's, it's how they model themselves after their parents, right? So as long as you are leading a good life, they will also. So we had no concerns on that score, so. But I think, you know, no regrets either. I think I've had a wonderful time in the last twenty years at, uh, you know, as a professor at IIT Madras. And even now after retirement, I'm keeping myself very busy doing a lot of different things, and I don't think I would have had any regrets if we had continued to live in the US. So I think y- you really should not, uh, lock yourself into thinking that you will only be happy in one geographical location or even in one profession. You have to, you know, leave yourself an out, because things are not always going to work out the way you plan. I mean, we had no idea that we'll be coming back to India in [chuckles] in two thousand and three. You know, we had planned for basically a lifetime abroad, like many IIT Madras alumni of our time. But, you know, we were able to roll with the change, so to speak, because we were prepared for it mentally. Yeah, some amount of fluidity

14. 45:37 – 56:20

    Chemical Engineering: A Versatile Process Discipline

    1. NRNagarajan R.45:37

       is required- Absolutely ... in your career. Yeah. You never know what the next year is gonna bring, I mean, let alone twenty years from now. So definitely, and things are even more fluid now, and, uh, it's also a much more, you know, global economy, right? So it's just as easy to stay where you want to stay and work where you want to work. All those possibilities exist. The two doesn- do not necessarily go together anymore. Mm. Professor, uh, w- uh, you, you mentioned something about, uh, selling your department. [chuckles] Mm-mm. What is chemical engineering broadly about, and why do people still ask: Is chemical engineering safe for women? [chuckles] Well, that's interesting, 'cause, uh, as I mentioned earlier, the statistics are that chemical engineering is the second most preferred discipline for girls after biotechnology. If you look at the percentage of students who enter chemical engineering as undergraduates who are girls. And by the way, at the postgraduate level, it's even higher. Almost, uh, fifty percent of our PhD students are female. Mm. So, um, I mean, chemical engineering, I think, is regarded actually as a fairly safe profession for, for women, um, because it has that somewhat of a soft connotation. I think mechanical engineering, kind of, it's very forbidding for women, just from the name. [chuckles] Mm-hmm. Chemical engineering, I think, is a lot more user-friendly. And by the way, the curriculum in chemical engineering, we always felt was, um, much more liberal than most- Mm ... of the other disciplines. And, uh, you know, chemical engineering has a lot of versatility built into it. Um, when I was the head of the department and I interacted with first-year students, I asked them: "What do you think is chemical engineering?" And they'll tell me: "It's chemistry. It's basically application of chemistry." [chuckles] I, I, I just was just blown away. In fact, chemical engineering has more to do with physics than c- than chemistry, by the way. And but they didn't know, right? They come from schools, and they know only know chemistry, and if they see chemical engineering, they think it's... the two are very closely allied. So one of the first courses that I reintroduced was an introduction to chemical engineering course, where every week I had a faculty member or, um, an industry person come and talk about what they were doing and how it related to chemical engineering. That, I think, enabled the first-year students to quickly see that chemical engineering is just a vast field, and it has... I mean, for example, data science, right? I mean, it's a huge thing these days- Yeah ... data science, AI, and so on. But it was- it's always been a traditional chemical engineering course, right? I mean, chemical engineering has, um- we used to-- you know, this whole data analytics, we used to kind of look down upon and call it black box modeling. Mm. You don't need to know anything about the process. You just monitor the input and the output, and you know the process, which I, I don't think is a smart thing to do, but, you know. But, but at least we, we, we had a pretty good idea of this, and because the focus was so much on processes, like I mentioned earlier, so we had courses in process modeling, process simulation, process analysis, process control-... process optimization. So by the time you go through a, a chemical engineering program, you're well-versed in all aspects of process, including definitely data analytics and feedback to the process in order to improve it, and so on. In fact, when I was with IBM, I went to their software lab at one time, and a fairly large number of, uh, managers were chemical engineers. So I asked one of them, "How come?" And he said, "IBM thinks p- uh, chemical engineers are best equipped to deal with processes in general, whether it's a chemical process or whether it's coding." A process is a process, and they feel that a chemical engineering curriculum has the maximum number of, uh, courses and, and training that's related to managing a process, and that's why they love to have chemical engineers as process managers. So I think the way to think about chemical engineering is it's not- it has something to do with chemicals, it can, but, uh, it hasn't necessarily... It's not restricted to chemistry, but it can be. But it, it pretty much, um, I would say, delves into every aspect of your life, right? I mean, any commercial product that you see around you has been commercially manufactured, right, whether it's soaps or detergents or whatever, and, uh, there is chemistry involved, but there is also, more importantly, the process of making the product, and that's where I think chemical engineers now bring maximum value add, and that's why those skills are very transferable. And if you live, uh, for example, in the US, if you look at the annual salary survey, chemical engineers are always number one, number two, or number three. It's, it's usually petroleum engineering and chemical engineering, they kind of switch places. And, of course, petroleum engineering is also kind of part of chemical engineering. So unfortunately, in India, that there seems to be sort of a negative connotation around chemical engineering, but I think, um, now the core chemical engineering branch has seem to be making a comeback.

    2. SPSpeaker50:22

       Yeah.

    3. NRNagarajan R.50:22

       So I think chemical will refi- reposition itself. And also, you know, all this emphasis on, on green processes, you know, environmental protection, and so on, chemical engineers have a lot to contribute. I think that's an area where we can focus also.

    4. SPSpeaker50:35

       Yeah. I think the, uh, in, the, the, the industry, the innovation in industry in India is also growing-

    5. NRNagarajan R.50:43

       Right

    6. SPSpeaker50:43

       ... significantly. So a lot more processes that we are building ourselves.

    7. NRNagarajan R.50:47

       Sure.

    8. SPSpeaker50:48

       Earlier, a lot of the processes were just imported.

    9. NRNagarajan R.50:50

       Yeah.

    10. SPSpeaker50:51

        Yeah, I guess, I guess if somebody is asking, "Is it safe for girls?" They may be thinking that it's chemistry, right? [chuckles] I wouldn't know why that's-

    11. NRNagarajan R.51:00

        [chuckles]

    12. SPSpeaker51:00

        ... unsafe for girls, but still.

    13. NRNagarajan R.51:02

        Yeah. I think their experience with chemistry lab in school, maybe. [chuckles] And by the way, a lot of the efforts that IITs are now doing is to reach out to schools and make sure that, you know, w- when the s- when the kids are in school, that's the time you need to let them know, I think, about making informed career choices.

    14. SPSpeaker51:18

        Yeah.

    15. NRNagarajan R.51:18

        And, um, so I think it's, it is important for the engineering departments to go to schools and inform them a little bit about what their engineering is about. So we have to do more homework, so to speak.

    16. SPSpeaker51:28

        O- o- one question comes to mind is, if, if it's not to do with chemistry, why is it called chemical engineering?

    17. NRNagarajan R.51:34

        I think-

    18. SPSpeaker51:34

        So-

    19. NRNagarajan R.51:35

        ... when chemical engineering was originally started as a discipline, they wanted to differentiate it from other branches of engineering.

    20. SPSpeaker51:43

        Mm.

    21. NRNagarajan R.51:43

        And, um, a lot of the early engineering work was in chemical industries, and that's where the name came from. It doesn't, again, necessarily have to do with chemistry, 'cause chemistry is only one ingredient, right?

    22. SPSpeaker51:55

        Yeah.

    23. NRNagarajan R.51:55

        I mean, if you're making a soap, right, you need the chemistry to make sure that it, it can remove contaminants in sur- surfaces and so on. But then, how do you put the product together?

    24. SPSpeaker52:03

        Yeah.

    25. NRNagarajan R.52:03

        How do you manufacture the product?

    26. SPSpeaker52:05

        Absolutely.

    27. NRNagarajan R.52:05

        So I think it was the early differentiator.

    28. SPSpeaker52:06

        Yeah.

    29. NRNagarajan R.52:07

        But, you know, actually, we could rename chemical engineering as process engineering, and it'll be much more apt than chemical engineering.

    30. SPSpeaker52:12

        Mm. That's very interesting. Thank you so much. As you were mentioning it, I, I recall that you're also an author of two books in chemical engineering.
15. 56:20 – 1:00:00

    Redesign and Impact of the IIT Madras Heritage Centre

    1. NRNagarajan R.56:20

       days ago.

    2. SPSpeaker56:20

       How old is your daughter? [chuckles]

    3. NRNagarajan R.56:21

       Well, she's now twenty-seven. But-

    4. SPSpeaker56:23

       So how long has she spent there? [chuckles]

    5. NRNagarajan R.56:25

       I think twelve, fifteen years, and finally I sat down and, and they were pretty good, you know.

    6. SPSpeaker56:30

       Okay.

    7. NRNagarajan R.56:31

       But, um, so right now I'm in the phase of rereading a lot of my favorites.

    8. SPSpeaker56:36

       I want to, um... And then the last set of conversation, I, I know I've occupied you for a long time. Last set of conversation is that you were also involved in renovating the Heritage Center.

    9. NRNagarajan R.56:45

       Yeah.

    10. SPSpeaker56:45

        And clearly, you care about heritage a lot, and I've heard you speak about it. We've all heard, all seen the Heritage Center. Um, can you tell us a little bit about that?

    11. NRNagarajan R.56:55

        Yeah, the Heritage Center has been actually in operation since two thousand and six, and, um, um, I think IIT Madras was the first to set up a Heritage Center. And, um, it, it basically houses a lot of the history of, uh, the institute, um, how it came about, particular focus on the German links, because, you know, that's how IIT was... Madras was originally launched, with a lot of assistance from Germany in terms of people, as well as equipment, and, and so on. But there's also a focus on contemporary things. For example, we had these, uh, display boards of our distinguished alumni. We give out Distinguished Alumni Awards every year. Um, I think, out of seventy thousand alumni, we still have only about two hundred and twenty distinguished alumni. So we- they-- we used to celebrate them in our Heritage Center. So, but when, when, when I looked at it, um, after I became faculty in charge of Heritage Center, we took a lot of feedback from visitors, and what they said is, "It's a nice place, but, but there's no, um, wow factor, you know, that would draw me back to Heritage Center, that would make me come to Heritage Center whenever I get a visitor from out of town." So we sat down and actually did a lot of brainstorming to look at what will make it a place that will be, like, the happening place on campus, you know, the first place people start from, the place that the director would bring visitors to-

    12. SPSpeaker58:17

        Yeah

    13. NRNagarajan R.58:17

        ... if they really wanted to blow them away.

    14. SPSpeaker58:18

        Yeah.

    15. NRNagarajan R.58:19

        And so we created the, or we well, we redesigned, reimagined the Heritage Center, based on basically input from the visitors that we have, which is, you know, mostly alumni, but we also have, um, prospective students and their families. We have current students. We have campus residents. We have international delegations from universities, as well as, you know, from governmental organizations. And we have visits from other institutes in India. So we had to find, we had to design a place that would cater to all of them and satisfy what, what they were looking for. So the design that we came up with was like a, was like a, almost like an apple with, uh, its core in the center and then slices.

    16. SPSpeaker58:57

        Mm.

    17. NRNagarajan R.58:58

        So the, at the center, we have this, uh, hall, um, that we use for, uh, revolving exhibits.

    18. SPSpeaker59:05

        Mm.

    19. NRNagarajan R.59:05

        So every three-

    20. SPSpeaker59:06

        Like a spotlight?

    21. NRNagarajan R.59:07

        Yes, so we could spotlight something. For example, we have, uh, spotlighted, um, uh, the, R2D2, uh, the Center for Rehabilitation, Research, and Device Development by, you know, Dr., Dr. Sujata in mechanical engineering. And so, uh, but these things change every few weeks. Like I said, we don't want to want them to become static. But around this core, we have essentially, um, a, a time sequence of things that happened to IIT Madras. So if you enter, and you go left, the first thing you come up against is all of our German history. And again, we try to make it very interactive. So for example, we have, um, um, uh, AR as part of the display. So you could actually just flash your mobile phone at an exhibit, and you'll, you'll get a, a video and a narrative about what that exhibit is. And, um, mostly,

16. 1:00:00 – 1:05:19

    Closing Thoughts & Reflections

    1. NRNagarajan R.1:00:00

       um, the, uh... And also we have several video exhibits, for example, Nehru and Indira Gandhi visiting Germany-

    2. SPSpeaker1:00:06

       Yeah

    3. NRNagarajan R.1:00:06

       ... uh, when the idea was first mooted. And then we kind of, as you keep going around, we'll move into more modern times, how the first, uh, IIT Madras campus was set up, and the first hostels were created, and then how the academic program shaped up, the early emphasis on workshop and drawing. I mean, when I was a student, we used to have alternating weeks. One week, all you do is workshop, and then the next week you have classes. I'm sure you have heard about it.

    4. SPSpeaker1:00:31

       Yeah.

    5. NRNagarajan R.1:00:31

       You know, you literally sit and file something for a week-

    6. SPSpeaker1:00:34

       Yeah

    7. NRNagarajan R.1:00:34

       ... and you don't even get a break, except for lunch, right?... uh, and, and drawing. Every, all engineering students had to take four semesters of engineering drawing, which was my weakest subject, by the way. [chuckles]

    8. SPSpeaker1:00:45

       It was my strongest. [laughing] Sorry, I had to mention that.

    9. NRNagarajan R.1:00:49

       Uh, so we kind of stepped through that, and then we then come to the more modern times-

    10. SPSpeaker1:00:54

        Yeah

    11. NRNagarajan R.1:00:54

        ... of how there is increasing emphasis on research, increasing emphasis on entrepreneurship and innovation, and the campus itself. We think we have a wonderful campus. You know-

    12. SPSpeaker1:01:03

        Yeah

    13. NRNagarajan R.1:01:03

        ... it's a nature preserve. It's a, it's a wildlife refuge, and we want to celebrate that, and so we have exhibits that, that do that around the Heritage Center. And we have a state-of-the-art theater, again, funded by an alumnus-

    14. SPSpeaker1:01:17

        Yeah

    15. NRNagarajan R.1:01:18

        ... with, uh, latest in projection technology and sound system. And we have made a really nice, uh, movie, a short version and a long version, called IIT Madras, um, Journey to Eminence, which, um, you know, uh, many of our visitors start with. And it gives them a kind of an overall perspective on how IIT Madras developed from its, uh, beginnings to where it is today. So I think, uh, the Heritage Center is now, of course, like IIT Madras, uh, Alumni Association gift shop is also located here.

    16. SPSpeaker1:01:46

        Yeah.

    17. NRNagarajan R.1:01:46

        So they can always buy these souvenirs-

    18. SPSpeaker1:01:48

        Yeah

    19. NRNagarajan R.1:01:48

        ... when they leave.

    20. SPSpeaker1:01:49

        Or this pen. [chuckles]

    21. NRNagarajan R.1:01:50

        So it's, um, it's a great place for people to start that journey into IIT Madras, and we have these golf carts that can then take them around the campus and show them the various landmarks on campus. I think it's, it's really made a big difference to the campus in terms of enhancing the visitor experience, but also our own students and faculty now spend quite a bit of time there, and, um-

    22. SPSpeaker1:02:09

        Yeah

    23. NRNagarajan R.1:02:09

        ... you know, we always like to see that. We encourage faculty to bring their visitors to the Heritage Center.

    24. SPSpeaker1:02:14

        Yeah.

    25. NRNagarajan R.1:02:14

        Instead of talking to them about IIT Madras, this is a place where we can show them everything about it. And, uh-

    26. SPSpeaker1:02:19

        One thing I've noticed is that a lot of students do take their parents also.

    27. NRNagarajan R.1:02:22

        Yes, indeed.

    28. SPSpeaker1:02:23

        Uh, and, um, when you go to an institute like this, which is a residential institute, uh, your parents do feel a little, like, n- uninvolved-

    29. NRNagarajan R.1:02:30

        Yeah

    30. SPSpeaker1:02:31

        ... uh, distant, and it does bring them closer to, "Okay, this is where my child-

Episode duration: 1:05:19