IIT (BHU) Foundation

IIT (BHU) Foundation is an alumni driven endowment fund based in New York, USA to support transformative work being done under infrastructure, research, and education at IIT (BHU).

The Future of Academic-Industry Collaboration: Confluentia 2025

The Future of Academic-Industry Collaboration: Confluentia 2025

The inaugural edition of Confluentia 2025, held at the Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), Varanasi, created a dynamic platform where academia and industry converged. This significant event, organized by SAIC and AASSII on 20–21 September 2025, facilitated meaningful connections among students, alumni, and professionals. Confluentia’s vision of aligning academic knowledge with industrial expertise signifies a pivotal milestone, underscoring the institution’s commitment to innovation and continuous engagement with the evolving industrial landscape.

 

Keynote Sessions: Insights into the Future

The event featured inspiring keynote sessions by industry leaders such as Mr. L.C. Singh, Mr. Vishwanathan Iyer, Mr. Raj Yavatkar, Mr. Shub Bhowmick, Mr. Deepak Pahwa, Mr. Ashutosh Gupta, Mr. Kameswara Rao.and Mr. Abhinav Chaturvedi. These sessions provided insights into leadership, technology, and product development, focusing on future opportunities in AI/ML and innovation-driven industries. These discussions were instrumental in bridging classroom learning with real-world applications.

 

Panel Discussions and Workshops

Panel discussions fostered engaging conversations that connected theoretical knowledge with practical insights. Workshops conducted by Cisco and Ati Motors offered a strong technical dimension, allowing students to explore practical applications of their learning. These sessions encouraged problem-solving mindsets and highlighted the significance of applying academic concepts to emerging industrial challenges.

 

Hackathon: A Catalyst for Innovation

A major highlight of Confluentia 2025 was the 24-hour hackathon powered by Tredence Inc. Over 150 student teams participated, creating more than 55 innovative submissions under the guidance of industry mentors. The hackathon offered an excellent real-world experience, allowing students to design and demonstrate working MVPs. The outcomes extended beyond immediate competition success, helping students strengthen their portfolios and opening opportunities for internships and collaborations.

 

Networking Opportunities

The networking dinner and mentorship lunch were crucial elements, enabling alumni, students, and professionals to interact in a relaxed setting. These events emphasized the strength of alumni-student connections and the importance of mentorship in career development. Such interactions are invaluable for providing realistic industry insights and career advice.

 

Conclusion: Setting the Stage for Long-term Collaborations

Confluentia 2025 successfully amalgamated various components like keynote addresses, workshops, panel discussions, and networking into a cohesive format. It demonstrated the potential of academia-industry collaboration to create value, inspire innovation, and build robust professional networks. This first edition laid a solid foundation for future collaborations, ensuring each new event will build on this vision of knowledge sharing and innovation-driven progress. For more details, visit the official blog.

The Future of Academic-Industry Collaboration: Confluentia 2025
Kathy Durivage

Kathy Durivage

Fundraising Consultant

Kathy has been a professional fundraiser for 30 years in the education and wellness space creating and implementing fundraising plans that raised six and seven figure gifts. She has also worked with numerous small/high growth businesses and funding sources evaluating match and loan approval. In 2022, Kathy and her husband sold their company focused on regulatory compliance in the cosmetic space. Kathy oversaw and implemented all go-to-market strategies, business development growth, admin/employee professional development and HR policies. Kathy is also a Certified Yoga Instructor and Certified Holistic Health Counselor. She has a BS in Business/Marketing from Skidmore College, and her favorite quote is: "Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right doing, there is a field - I'll meet you there." - Rumi.

Asit Goel

Asit Goel

Marketing Chair

Asit is a seasoned marketing and digital transformation expert with over 20+ years of corporate experience. He has led brand strategy, market development, and innovation at leading B2C and B2B companies including Nestle, Kellogg’s, United Rentals Inc, and United Site Services. Most recently, he is the founder/CEO of a Boston based, award-winning technology start up helping commercial fleets improve maintenance and safety. He was a MassChallenge 2020 Boston finalist and winner of the TiE Silicon Valley Top 50. Asit holds a Masters in International Management (MIM) from Thunderbird School of Global Management in Phoenix, AZ, an MBA from University of Delhi, and an undergraduate in Mechanical Engineering from IIT-BHU in India. Additionally, he completed the High Potentials Leadership Program at Harvard Business School (HBS).

Dr. Raj Yavatkar

Dr. Raj Yavatkar graduated with B. Tech in Electronics Engineering from IIT-BHU, followed by a M.Tech in Computer Science at IIT Bombay, and a PhD in Computer Science from Purdue University. Raj, an IEEE Fellow, has been granted more than 70 patents, has published more than 60 papers, and has co-authored five Internet standards. He has also co-authored the book, "Inside the Internet's Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP)," published by John Wiley. Raj has held senior executive positions at Intel, VMware, and Google. Currently, Raj is the Chief Technology Officer at Juniper Networks, a leading vendor for networking systems and services. At Juniper, Raj leads technology strategy, innovation, and Juniper Networks' AI transformation, architecting solutions that span from enterprise Generative AI adoption to AI-optimized network infrastructure. Raj also serves as an advisor to and is an early investor in many startups. Raj is passionate about giving to his alma mater. He has donated $1.6mm to the Foundation towards the construction of a new convention center on campus to be called "Yavatkar Convention Center".
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Sagar Bhimavarapu

CEO

Sagar graduated from IIT (BHU) in 1988. Post graduation, he worked at Tata Motors in India for two years before deciding to pursue an MBA in the US. Sagar was awarded the Freeman School Fellowship at Tulane University where he earned his MBA in 1992. Since, Sagar has worked for various investment banks in NY including RBC, JPMorgan, and CIBC in senior roles specializing in structuring, marketing and trading of various fixed-income products & solutions for institutional clients. Sagar was successful in launching new businesses at these fine institutions through various economic cycles and challenging market events.

Sagar is very passionate about giving back to his alma mater. He has been active in fund raising, mentoring, and recruiting at various community organizations including Tulane University.

As CEO of the IIT (BHU) Foundation, he is committed to giving significant time & donation in furthering the Foundation’s mission.

Sagar earned his MBA in Finance with honors from Tulane University and Bachelor’s degree in Electronics Engineering from IIT (BHU). In addition, Sagar holds the CFA charter from the CFA Institute and the FRM certification from GARP (Global Association of Risk Professionals).

Shivani Dhiman

Shivani Dhiman

Marketing & Content Intern

Shivani is a Mining Engineering student at IIT (BHU), Varanasi, with a strong passion for problem-solving and software development. She thrives on the excitement of tackling puzzles and crafting creative solutions. In her free time, Shivani enjoys reading, listening to music, and expressing herself through writing, whether it’s blogs, poems, stories, or articles. Her active involvement in initiatives that connect alumni and enrich the campus community reflects her dedication to fostering meaningful connections and contributing to the vibrant IIT (BHU) environment.

Sahil Shekhar

Marketing and Content Intern

Sahil is currently pursuing Mining Engineering from IIT (BHU) and presently resides in Varanasi. Besides being a content writer for the Foundation, he is deeply passionate about software development and enjoys exploring the intersection of technology and finance. In his short stint at the Institute, Sahil has actively contributed to various academic and extracurricular domains.

He harbors a keen interest in reading books, solving mathematical problems, and engaging in puzzles during his leisure time. Beyond academics, Sahil has an impressive sports record, having excelled in kabaddi and boxing. His multifaceted interests and dynamic personality make him a valuable member of the Foundation team.

Prakhar Bhatnagar

Prakhar Bhatnagar

Front-end Developer

Jazmin Luchini

Jazmin Luchini

Executive Assistant and Development Associate

Jazmin has 2 years of experience as an Executive Assistant for non-profit organizations. During her time as an executive assistant, she has also focused a great deal on public relations and marketing. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication Studies with a minor in Journalism from California State University, Long Beach. Jazmin is passionate about helping non-profit organizations and other companies grow and develop to become self-sustaining and successful. Jazmin currently serves as the Executive Assistant and Development Associate for IIT (BHU) Foundation. She assists the board and the rest of the team with administrative and fundraising duties, as needed, to promote growth and success of the Foundation.

Sabrina Houser

Sabrina Houser

CFO

Sabrina Houser is the owner of the Capital CFO. She started Capital CFO in 2016. Having worked in the nonprofit arena for twenty years, Sabrina saw first-hand the need for accuracy, efficiency, and transparency regarding a company’s finances. She has the unique perspective of working as a CEO of a nonprofit (Big Brothers and Big Sisters of the Capital Region) and experience managing multiple funding sources and contracts. As the CEO, she oversaw all fiscal and fiduciary responsibilities for the organization. She provided direct leadership and oversight for the agency’s finance and accounting functions, including compliance with relevant government regulations. Sabrina believes that your financial health leads investors, customers, and clients to feel confident in a company’s stability and potential for growth. Sabrina serves as the CFO of the IIT (BHU) Foundation. In addition to providing bookkeeping services, she and her team at Capital CFO also prepare financial statements, assist with planning and budgeting and review Foundation’s financial position.

Geoff Mullen

Geoff Mullen

Accountant

Geoff is currently a Partner at Teal, Becker & Chiaramonte, an accounting firm in Albany, NY. He has over 20 years of extensive experience in Real Estate Partnerships, Mergers and Acquisitions, Private Equity Portfolio Companies; Technology Companies; State and Local Taxation and Tax Credits; Flow-Through Companies; consolidated Corporate Tax filings; International Tax Planning; and Real Estate Transaction Planning. Geoff received Bachelors in Business Administration from Siena College and subsequently earned Masters of Science in Taxation from the State University of New York at Albany. Geoff serves as the Accountant of the IIT (BHU) Foundation, performs auditing function and also acts as the liaison with state and federal tax entities.

Arun-tripathi

Arun Tripathi

President

Arun Tripathi is an Executive Vice President (EVP) at Guaranteed Rate, a top US mortgage bank based in Chicago, Illinois. Prior to joining Guaranteed Rate, Arun worked for HSBC, Bank of America and USAA in New York City, New York, Charlotte, North Carolina and San Antonio, Texas respectively in various leadership roles across product/pricing, capital markets, sales/marketing, operations and marketing/strategy. He started his career in Tata Steel as a Graduate Trainee in Jamshedpur, India and also worked for Infosys, Bhubaneshwar, India briefly. Arun received a Bachelor of Technology in Mechanical Engineering degree from IIT (BHU) and an M.B.A. in Corporate Finance from The Pennsylvania State University. Arun feels a deep connection to IIT (BHU) and the city of Banaras as that is where he spent his formative years and made lifelong friends. The creation of IIT (BHU) Foundation, with the singular goal to raise funds, has given him a great opportunity to contribute meaningfully to his alma mater. Arun also co-chaired a very successful IIT (BHU) Centenary Celebrations event that was held in Princeton, NJ in 2019.

Deep M. Jariwala

Deep M. Jariwala

Chairman Faculty

Deep Jariwala is an Assistant Professor in Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn). His research interests broadly lie at the intersection of new materials, surface science and solid-state devices for computing, sensing, opto-electronics and energy harvesting applications. Deep completed his undergraduate degree in Metallurgical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University in 2010. Deep went on to pursue his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering at Northwestern University graduating in 2015. At Northwestern, Deep made contributions to the study of charge transport and electronic applications of two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors and pioneering the study of gate-tunable, mixed-dimensional, van der Waals heterostructures. Deep then moved to Caltech as a Resnick Prize Postdoctoral Fellow from 2015-2017 working on nanophotonic devices and ultrathin solar cells before joining Penn in 2018 and starting his own group. Deep’s research has earned him awards of multiple professional societies including the Russell and Sigurd Varian Award of the American Vacuum Society, The Richard L. Greene Dissertation Award of the American Physical Society, Johannes and Julia Weertman Doctoral Fellowship, the Hilliard Award, the Army Research Office Young Investigator Award, Nanomaterials Young Investigator Award, TMS Frontiers in Materials Award and IEEE Young Electrical Engineer of the Year Award in addition to being named in Forbes Magazine list of 30 scientists under 30 and is an invitee to Frontiers of Engineering conference of the National Academy of Engineering. He serves on the Editorial board of the journals Electronics and Micromachines and on the Early Career Editorial Advisory Board of Nano Letters. He has published over 80 journal papers with more than 13000 citations and 5 patents. At Penn he leads a research group comprising more than ten graduate and postdoctoral researchers supported by a variety of government agencies (NSF, DARPA, ARO, AFOSR), industries and private foundations.

Gaurav Gupta

Gaurav Gupta

Vice President, IBGAA

Gaurav is an engineering lead at Cabon Health, a startup making healthcare accessible to everyone. Gaurav is a hands-on engineering leader with more than 11 years of experience building and scaling technology products and teams. Before joining Carbon Health, Gaurav led security and technology at Eligible as their CTO and CSO from 2013-2021. Eligible is a YCW12 startup making healthcare insurance infrastructure available to everyone; Gaurav joined Eligible as their first engineer, built the platform, led security/compliance/privacy initiatives, and led the technology and security for eight years. Gaurav has worked at more prominent companies like IBM and Amazon before joining the startup world. Gaurav received a Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science and Engineering degree in 2010 from IIT (BHU). Gaurav's time at IIT (BHU) and Banaras had a significant impact on his life and career, and Gaurav has been giving back to the institute and students in every capacity. Gaurav was part of the founding team of Codefest, an online coding festival to promote coding. Gaurav joined the IBGAA board of directors in 2019 and is currently vice president of IBGAA.

Prof. Rajeev Srivastava

Prof. Rajeev Srivastava

DORA

Prof. Rajeev Srivastava is currently working as a Professor in the Dept. of Computer Sc. & Engineering, Head of the Centre for Computing and Information Services (CCIS) and the Dean (Resource and Alumni Affairs), Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), Varanasi. He also served as Head of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering during August’2017-December’2020. He holds the degrees of B.E., M.E., and PhD all in Computer Science & Engineering. He has around 23 years of teaching and research experience. He joined IT-BHU/IIT (BHU) in 2007 as an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering and currently serving as a Full Professor in the same Dept. since August’ 2015. Prior to joining IT-BHU/IIT (BHU) he worked for around 9 years in few other Government Institutions. He is Fellow of Institution of Engineers (India) (FIE), Institution of Electronic and Telecommunication Engineers (FIETE), Senior Member IEEE USA, and Member ACM USA. He has published 160+ research publications in reputed international journals/conferences, 04 research reference books, and 12 book chapters and completed few Govt. funded research projects. He has produced 10 PhDs, and 9 PhDs are under-progress. He serves as Expert Member on different panels of various Govt. of India Institutions/ Bodies like NBA, UGC, UPSC, DRDO, UPPSC, reputed Institute and Universities. He is on the reviewer panel of many International Journals and Conferences. He is recipient of research publication awards by IIT (BHU) Global alumni association in 2010 and 2014 respectively. His biography was listed in Marquis Who’s Who in Science and Engineering, USA, 11th Edition, 2011-2012 and "2000 Outstanding Intellectuals of the 21 st Century-2011" by International Biographical Centre (IBC), Cambridge, England. His research interests lies in the areas of Image and Video Processing, Computer Vision, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, Deep learning and Computational Bioinformatics.

Prof.-Amit-Patra

Prof. Amit Patra

Director

Prof. Amit Patra, received the B.Tech., M.Tech. and Ph.D. degrees from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur in 1984, 1986 and 1990 respectively. During 1992-93 and in 2000 he visited the Ruhr-University, Bochum, Germany as a Post-doctoral Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. He joined the Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur in 1987 as a faculty member, and became a Professor in the Higher Academic Grade Pay in 2009. During 2018-19 he visited the University of Maryland, Baltimore County as a Senior Visiting Research Scientist and between 2019-22, he was recognized as an Honorary Adjunct Professor.

He was the Professor In-Charge, Advanced VLSI Design Lab, at IIT Kharagpur during 2004-07. Between 2007 and 2013 he served as the Dean (Alumni Affairs and International Relations) at IIT Kharagpur. Between 2013-15 he served in a voluntary role of the Executive Advisor, Institutional Development at IIT Kharagpur. From April, 2020 to December 2021, he was the Professor In- Charge, Rajarhat Research Park and from July, 2021 to May, 2024 he served as the Deputy Director of IIT Kharagpur. Currently, he is serving as the Director of IIT (BHU), Varanasi.

Soumyo Sarkar

Soumyo Sarkar

Board Member

Right after graduating from IIT (BHU), Soumyo headed to the States, where he graduated with an MBA from the University of Iowa, Iowa City. Soumyo has always believed that whatever career success he has had, is strongly attributable to the excellent education and caring professors at both these institutions. He feels an obligation to give back to them, so that future students can have the same excellent opportunity, that he was privileged to have. With that in mind, Soumyo created a Professorship at the University of Iowa Tippie School of Business, as well as an annual scholarship fund for a deserving MBA student. Soumyo is keen on donating to IIT (BHU) as well. He is excited to be part of the IIT (BHU) Foundation to help create a solid fundraising platform for years to come and contribute to the success of his alma mater. Soumyo also chaired a very successful IIT (BHU) Centenary Celebrations event that was held in Princeton, NJ in 2019. Soumyo spent his career in Wall Street research and proprietary trading. From 1982-1990, he was engaged in quantitative research at Salomon Brothers, Merrill Lynch, and Lehman Bros. From 1990-1995 he formed and led an Equity proprietary trading group called Equitech at Credit Suisse. From 1995-2010, he was a Managing Director and Founder of the Matched Book Arbitrage Group, with operations in New York and London. In this position, he led multiple teams of traders and ran multi-million dollar long / short books. His annualized net returns, for both Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank, were in excess of 25% and his team had no down years. In 2010, Soumyo founded Sūmit Capital, an equity long / short hedge fund. In 2017 the fund was converted to an asset management firm where he continues to manage friends and family assets.

Ramesh Srinivasan

Ramesh Srinivasan

Board Member

After graduating from IIT (BHU) (Metallurgical Engineering) in 1982, Ramesh Srinivasan completed his MBA (PGDM) from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B) in 1984. Ramesh has also attended the 2-month Advanced Management Program (AMP) at the Harvard Business School (HBS) in 2010. Ramesh represented the Institute in cricket and debates between 1977 and 1982, won the carrom championship during one of those years, was in the Cultural Committee when the Kashi Yatra cultural festival was launched for the first time, and was awarded the Gandhi Jubilee Best Graduating Student Medal by the Metallurgical Engineering Department in 1982. Ramesh remains keen to contribute significantly to the Institute, which shaped his life in many immeasurably positive ways. Ramesh has spent most of his three and half decades plus professional career in the field of application enterprise software. He has been the President and CEO of Agilysys Inc. (Nasdaq: AGYS) since January 2017, leading the company to a 260% increase in market capitalization value as of November 2020. Ramesh was at Bally Technologies (NYSE: BYI) for a period of 9 years between 2005 and 2014, serving initially as EVP, Systems before being promoted to President & COO and then to President & CEO. Bally Technologies enjoyed an 8-fold increase in its share price (market capitalization value) during that period. Prior to Bally, Ramesh was a senior executive at Manhattan Associates (Nasdaq: MANH) for close to 7 years between 1998 and 2005, when the company’s annual revenue increased 6-fold. Ramesh led the creation of highly successful software development centers in India for all three companies mentioned above currently employing 1,000s of software professionals. He is currently based in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

Naresh Jain

Naresh Jain

Chairman

After graduating from Banaras Engineering College (BENCO) in 1967, now called IIT (BHU), with a BS in Mechanical Engineering, Naresh traveled to the United States to further his education. In 1969, he was accepted into Cornell University’s prestigious Master’s program with tuition aid from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Naresh worked on and programmed the sensor arms for NASA’s Moon Rover in 1969 to procure funds for his education. Naresh began working in Rochester, New York as an engineer in the garment industry. By 1977, he was the VP of Hart Schaffner Marx; a Chicago-based, high-end garment manufacturing company. By 1982, Naresh was promoted to the Executive Vice President (EVP) of the Fortune 500 company. From 1982 through 1997 he was the EVP of Pincus Brothers, Inc. and Seitchik & Sons, Inc., both couture garment manufacturing companies. Until Naresh’s presence, all of these companies were performing poorly in the marketplace. He was able to turn these companies around into thriving, lucrative entities. He also performed many consulting jobs aiding other failing businesses. In 1999, he created Diamond Express Car Wash, Inc.; a group of car washes which is still in operation today. Naresh has always been a prolific philanthropist, especially amongst the underprivileged. In 2011, he founded the Naresh C. Jain Scholarship fund, which sends 24 students a year to IIT, tuition-free. In 2014, he was honored with the IIT (BHU) Global Alumni Association’s Distinguished Alumnus Award. In 2017, Naresh received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Mechanical Engineering Dept. of IIT(BHU). In 2019, he received both the “Alumni Lifetime Achievement Award” from IIT (Delhi) and the “Distinguished Alumnus Dedicated to Alma mater Award”, which was presented at the IIT (BHU)’s Centenary Celebrations in Varanasi, India. A new college at the institution has also been named “The Naresh C. Jain School of Decision Science and Engineering” due to his significant financial contribution. Recently, Naresh, along with a few other dedicated Alumni formed the IIT (BHU) Foundation with the hopes of raising funds to improve and enrich the institution. Naresh strongly believes that it is a moral obligation of each of us to help our alma mater and our country of birth, India, which is still a poor country.

Vikash Agrawal

Vikash Agrawal

Secretary

Vikash is highly motivated to support his alma mater regain its glory as of the premier engineering college in India. Vikash feels indebted for the life-shaping experiences that he received in the holy city of Banaras as a teenager. After graduating with a Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from IIT (BHU), Vikash completed Masters degrees in Chemical Engineering and Management of Technology from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He then received his MBA from The Harvard Business School. In his professional career, Vikash Agrawal is a Serial Entrepreneur and Investor who has founded several digital health companies. Currently, he serves as Executive Chairman of Levrx where he is responsible for the strategic direction of the company. Prior to Levrx, Vikash served as Chairman & Co-Founder of Etransmedia, a software company that provided Electronic Health Records, and Patient Engagement software to physician practices and hospitals. Vikash helped grow this company to over 700 employees located in 12 offices serving over 15,000 healthcare entities across the US. His past experiences also include Sales roles at Ariba, Product Management at Symantec, and Engineering design at GE Power Systems.