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

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.

But it starts with the students having an idea.

Yes.

What if there is a student who has no idea?

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.

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] 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 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.

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

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

Yes, yes, yes, I have.

We will do that, too.

Sure.

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] -

Sure

... and discuss it a bit.

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