IIT Delhi alumnus Mr Saurabh Mittal (B. Tech. in Electrical Engineering, 1995 Batch) has endowed two Chairs in honour of Prof G.S. Visweswaran and Prof Manoj Datta at IIT Delhi.
The “Prof G.S. Visweswaran Chair” aims to promote excellence and leadership in teaching, research, and development in the area of Microelectronics & VLSI Design and the “Prof Manoj Datta Chair” will encourage and support research in “Geotechnical & Geo-environmental Engineering”.
Dr. Visweswaran joined the Electrical Engineering Department at IIT Delhi in 1980 and retired in 2015. He is well-known for his work in Analog and Mixed-Signal Circuit Design, Memory Design, and Digital Electronics. During his stint at IIT Delhi, he also served as President, Board of Student Welfare and Head, Students Counselling Service. After superannuation, Prof Visweswaran joined IIIT-Delhi as Dean of Student Affairs and held that office till July 2017.
Prof Manoj Datta has been with the Civil Engineering Department of IIT Delhi since 1980 and is now an Emeritus Professor. Prof Datta is well-known for his work in geotechnical and geo-environmental engineering and received the Lifetime Achievement Award (2017) and the Leadership award (2008) of the Delhi Chapter of Indian Geotechnical Society. He was Director, Punjab Engineering College (Deemed University), Chandigarh from 2008 to 2013 and Dean (Alumni Affairs & International Programmes) at IIT Delhi from 2004 to 2007.
Mr Saurabh Mittal is the Founder and Chairman of Mission Holdings, which focuses on building strong operating platforms in technology, financial services, and media. Before founding Mission Holdings, Mr Mittal was a partner at Noonday, an affiliate of Farallon Capital Management, one of the world’s largest hedge funds where he was responsible for large public and private investments in the areas of Financial Services and Technology, Media, and Telecom (TMT). In 1999, Mr Mittal co-founded Indiabulls, India’s leading financial services, and real estate conglomerate, where he served as Co-founder & Vice Chairman from inception till 2014.
Mr Mittal received the best graduate and Alok Saxena Memorial Award at IIT Delhi in 1995. In 2017, he was conferred the Distinguished Alumni Award by IIT Delhi in recognition of his contributions to Corporate Business Development & Entrepreneurship.