IIT (BHU) Foundation receives generous grant to create a sustainable Entrepreneurial Ecosystem at IIT (BHU)
$1 million donation from serial entrepreneur and IIT (BHU) graduate Jay Chaudhry establishes the Entrepreneurship Center with focus on software innovation, allowing students to explore technology and business.
(Albany, N.Y.) January 6, 2022 — The IIT (BHU) Foundation, a U.S.-based all volunteer, non-profit association of IIT (BHU) alumni, announced that Jay Chaudhry, IIT (BHU) graduate (EEE ‘80) and CEO and founder of cloud-based information security firm Zscaler, has donated US $1 million to the IIT (BHU) Foundation. The donation will fund IIT (BHU)’s Entrepreneurship Center with a focus on student development, faculty development, and entrepreneurship development.
Chaudhry’s donation both establishes the Entrepreneurship Center and provides four key elements to deliver on its promise of development. In collaboration with IIT (BHU), Deep Jariwala (MET ‘10) will institute a Software Innovation Center to provide a platform where students will be able to learn and innovate in the areas of Software Development, Quantum Computing, Cyber Security, IoT and Data Analytics. Jariwala is also helping to identify a faculty member to fill the role of Jay Chaudhry Professor of Software Innovation, who will oversee and manage the Software Innovation Center. In addition to a professorship and Innovation Center, Chaudhry’s generous donation will fund a lecture series on software innovation and a software technology seed fund. Both of those initiatives are being led by Vish Narayanan (EEE ‘83).
Jay Chaudhry has founded five successful tech companies in the U.S.: Zscaler, an industry leader in cloud security; AirDefense, a wireless security firm; CipherTrust, the first email security gateway; CoreHarbor, a managed ecommerce solution firm; and SecureIT, the first pure-play Internet security service.
“The education I received at IIT (BHU) played a pivotal role in preparing me for the business world,” says Chaudhry, who graduated from IIT (BHU) with a Bachelor of Technology in Electronics Engineering in 1980. “This Entrepreneurship Center will help educate young students to navigate their careers and learn practical skills to allow them to be more competitive in the world of cyber security. My hope is that the Entrepreneurship Center will afford students with big dreams and aspirations the same opportunities I was fortunate enough to experience.”
Arun Tripathi (MEC ‘97), President of the IIT (BHU) Foundation, noted that Chaudhry is a proud example of the heights that IIT (BHU) alums can reach. “Jay Chaudhry is an inspiration for students,” Tripathi said. “With this gift, we’ve secured funding that will help student development, faculty development and entrepreneurship development at IIT (BHU), blazing a trail of entrepreneurs of the future. As alumni, we all have a strong desire to rejuvenate our Institute, advance its mission, and strengthen its reputation as a world-class college of engineering. Jay’s gift helps us achieve all that and more.”
Director of IIT (BHU), Dr. P. K. Jain and the Board of Governors also expressed their gratitude and recognized the significance of the $1 million endowment. “The Entrepreneurship Center will go a long way toward enhancing the education and development of students, the retention of the best talent in the world on our faculties, and the promise of young entrepreneurs on our campus,” Dr. Jain said, “It’s this support from current alums for future alums that keeps IIT (BHU) at the forefront. We couldn’t be prouder to leverage this amazing donation for so many of our students to follow in Jay’s inspiring footsteps.”
Visit IIT (BHU) Foundation for more details about the Foundation and our other generous benefactors.
About Jay Chaudhry (EEE ‘80)
Jay is an accomplished entrepreneur, having founded a series of successful companies, including AirDefense, CipherTrust, CoreHarbor, SecureIT, and Zscaler, a public company since 2018.
Jay has a history of introducing visionary innovations to market that address the demand for securely enabling emerging technology trends, such as the Zscaler global security cloud for distributed and mobile enterprises. Jay’s considerable work in the security technology sector has made him a trusted advisor for many enterprise CIOs and CISOs. Jay leverages more than 25 years of security industry expertise, including engineering, sales, marketing and management experience with leading organizations, such as IBM, NCR and Unisys.
Click here for more about Jay Chaudhry.
About Zscaler
Zscaler security as a service is delivered through a purpose-built, globally distributed platform. The company was founded in 2008 on a simple but powerful concept: as applications move to the cloud, security needs to move there as well. Today, Zscaler is helping thousands of global organizations transform into cloud-enabled operations.