Dear IEOR alumni,
This is an attempt to create an alumni engagement page to see how best IEOR can build on the relationship with our students. It is also open to others in the field of IEOR who are well wishers of our program and the area. So please use this broader term when you see the term alumni below.
It is an open ended effort, to be driven by the aspirations of our alumni, and which the department can try to facilitate. To start with, Prasanna Kharshikar has listed the following broad set of possibilities that alumni could consider engaging with our department. Comments in brief from NR (Narayan Rangaraj) are also added. Many alumni, in addition to those mentioned below, have been in touch over the years.
Offer Internships and Job Opportunities: Leverage your professional network to provide internship and job opportunities for current IEOR students, helping them gain valuable industry experience.
Mentor Students: Share your expertise and experiences with current students, offering guidance on career paths and professional development. [NR - Alok Patel and several others!]
Guest Lectures: Participate in guest lectures or workshops to share industry insights and real-world applications of IEOR principles. [NR - this is happening in small ways already.]
Research Collaboration: If you're in academia or industry research, explore collaborative research projects with IEOR faculty and students. [NR - Tilak Raj Singh, among others, has tried to do this with some success, with our group.]
Alumni Network Engagement: Actively participate in alumni events and help strengthen the IEOR alumni network, facilitating connections between graduates and current students.
Sponsor Student Projects: Financially support student research or projects, particularly in areas aligned with current industry needs. [NR - This has worked in a few past instances, Mercedes Benz, General Mills, DHL, Unilever etc. and this can be expanded with the support of alumni, who are willing to be the initial contact, or more!].
Contribute to Curriculum Development: Offer insights on emerging trends in the field to help keep the curriculum relevant and up-to-date.
Support Department Events: Participate in or sponsor department events, such as the recently organized IEOR Day. [NR - Alumni participation in IEOR Day(s) in our department has been increasing.]
Promote the Department: Share your success stories and experiences to help attract top talent to the IEOR program at IIT Bombay.
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For those who want to start small: Some alumni have expressed a wish to start engagement in a small, but meaningful way. Here is a suggestion. We will soon have a provision for a Supervised Learning Project (for our B.Tech and possibly M.Sc. students) and we already have an R and D project for our M.Tech, M.Sc. and Ph.D. students. This is a 6 credit (one course equivalent) formal registration of a student in an area of work, approved by faculty. This can be co-mentored by our alumni or outside professionals, together with a faculty member and after a final report and presnetation evaluated by a committee, the student is given a grade. Alumni and others can volunteer or suggest topics and guidance support and hook up with a faculty member - this last step is essential, as a grade has to be awarded at the end of the exercise, and only a faculty member can do that). The time commitment can be 2 or more meetings with the student during the semester (online or in person) and participating in a final evaluation/presentation at the end of the semester (45 minutes). Anything more is welcome.
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From our side, we would like to propose that alumni can themselves identify an activity that they would like to contribute to, as a group, and we can see whether our effort from the faculty and student side can support it. This could be academic in nature (e.g. the future of quantum computing and its impact on OR), or professional issues (e.g. advocating IEOR related areas in curriculum or in industry forums or government initiatives) or civic issues (e.g. traffic management and public transport advocacy in Bengaluru!) or social issues that we agree upon (if any!). Anything is worth discussing, at least initially.
A very broad based initiative supporting the Department has been the endowment created by Nivesh Kumar, who has contributed generously to support student and faculty research.
Our department admitted its 50th batch of students (Masters) in July 2025 and we are planning some events around the golden jubilee of the area in IIT Bombay. Suggestions are welcome and we hope you will participate in some way.
Informally, it appears that the largest congregation of alumni may be in Bengaluru, so we will plan an event there, in the coming months.
If you would like to nominate anyone from your batch or any alumni for recognition by the department or institute, please do write to nh@iitb.ac.in and narayan.rangaraj@iitb.ac.in
Please be in touch with any/all of us here at IEOR@IIT B and we will try to respond positively. If any of you would like to volunteer to host a short meeting where interested alumni can brainstorm together, please write to narayan.rangaraj@iitb.ac.in and we will try to participate also.
Narayan Rangaraj