Novel “BITSAA-Silicon Valley Miles Program” helps BITS student present at IEEE Nano Conference

Oct. 2, 2009 - PRLog -- Silicon Valley: “This has been an amazing experience! It was exciting to meet eminent academicians like Professor Steven Goodnick, Programs Chair for the conference & Director of the center for nanotech at the Arizona State University and gain new perspectives and ideas. It was a rich experience, not just from an academic point of view, but also from a cultural viewpoint. I thank BITSAA-Silicon Valley for providing me with the travel scholarship in a timely fashion”, said Arvind Pawan, class of 2010, BITS Pilani.

Arvind Pawan was the only undergraduate student invited to present at the IEEE Nano 2009. The BITSAA Silicon Valley Miles Program enabled Arvind to travel to Italy, present his paper at the prestigious IEEE conference and interact with leading researchers in Nanotechnology, his field of study at BITS Pilani.

In 2006, a student from BITS Pilani was invited to present his paper at the ACM conference held in Milan but he had no means to pay for the air ticket. That was the impetus for establishing BITSAA-Silicon Valley Miles Program, an initiative by BITS Alumni Association - Silicon Valley (BITSAA-Silicon Valley), to support the international travel requirements of students and faculty from BITS Pilani. This is a very unique program that is funded by donated airline miles, which may otherwise expire and be wasted. Besides supporting travel requirements to renowned international conferences, BITSAA-Silicon Valley Miles Program opens new opportunities for both students and faculty of BITS Pilani to interact with the best in the world.

Arvind Pawan, a dual degree, electrical engineer and M.Sc Physics, student from the class of 2010 was the very first recipient of this program. His story is a testimony to the success of BITSAA-Silicon Valley Miles Program and its objective to enable BITS Pilani to be more active globally.

“We are extremely happy with the success of our first award in this program; it is one more way to further the potential of BITS Pilani at the global level. We are even more delighted to learn that Arvind’s paper co-authored with his Professor V.K. Chaubey and his class mate has been accepted at the IEEE International nanoelectronics conference to be held in Honk Kong in January 2010”, said Jayan Ramankutty, Founding President, BITSAA Silicon Valley.

About BITSAA Silicon Valley Miles Donation Program
The program was launched in April 2009 with a seed fund, provided by some members of BITSAA-Silicon Valley and sufficient for first few travel awards. The mission is to create a sustainable program funded through donated airline miles to support international travel requirements of both faculty and students from BITS Pilani to actively participate in reputed conferences. BITSAA-Silicon Valley has established a relationship with Rotary International to consolidate donated Airline Frequent Flyer Miles and award travel tickets to the selected candidates. Currently, the program is accepting United Airlines Frequent Flyer Miles.

More details are available at www.bitsaa.org/?page=Miles (BITSAA Silicon Valley Miles Donation Program) or you can send an email to milesadmin@bitsaa.org .

About BITSAA Silicon Valley
BITSAA, Silicon Valley Inc., is a not-for-profit alumni association of BITS incorporated in Silicon Valley, USA with a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) status and Tax Id 82-0587411. Its mission is to enable alumni to initiate and participate in activities for the general development of BITS Pilani, its faculty and students. Additionally, it aims to strengthen the ties among alumni, faculty and friends of BITS through such initiatives.

About Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani
Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS Pilani), India’s leading private university, has the reputation of setting the benchmark for industry-university collaboration and pioneering online examinations through the path-breaking BITS admission test. The University offers degrees in Engineering, Sciences, Business Administration, Economics, Humanities, languages and Arts at its campuses in Pilani, Dubai, Goa, and Hyderabad. In addition, BITS offers a number of work integrated learning programs for Human Resources Development that are utilized by a broad spectrum of Indian corporations.