An official delegation from the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee—comprising Dr. K.K. Pant (Director IIT Roorkee), Dr. Vimal Chandra Srivastava (Dean, International Relations & Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering), and Dr. Suraj Prakash Harsha (Professor, Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering)—recently visited Purdue University, USA, as part of IIT Roorkee’s ongoing global outreach and deepening academic partnerships.
IIT Roorkee and Purdue University already share a strong institutional connection through an existing Letter of Intent (LoI) that establishes a framework for academic cooperation and collaborative research. During this visit, the institutions renewed the LoI for the next five years, further strengthening their commitment by exploring additional avenues for impactful and long-term engagement. The LoI was signed in the presence of Prof. Dimitrios Peroulis, Senior Vice President for Partnerships and Online; Reilly Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering; Prof. Vijay Raghunathan, Vice President for Global Partnerships & Programs; Director of Semiconductor Education; Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering; and Prof. Ananth Grama, and Prof. Samuel D. Conte Professor of Computer Science.
During the visit, the delegation engaged in meaningful discussions with senior administrators and distinguished faculty members at Purdue University, including:
- Gaurav Chopra, Director, Merck-Purdue Center & James Tarpo Jr. and Margaret Tarpo Professor of Chemistry
- Patrick A. Brunese, Assistant Head, School of Industrial Engineering
- Shweta Singh, Associate Professor of Agricultural & Biological Engineering; Sustainability & Environmental Engineering
- Young-Jun Son, James J. Solberg Head & Ransburg Professor, Industrial Engineering
- Neera Jain, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering
- Shubhra Bansal, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Engineering
- Arun Kumar Mannodi Kanakkithodi, Assistant Professor of Materials Engineering
Overall, the visit was coordinated by Mr. John Thurow, Managing Director, Purdue-India Partnerships.
The meetings focused on advancing joint research clusters, promoting faculty and student mobility, developing co-hosted academic programs, and collaborating in emerging interdisciplinary fields such as materials engineering, sustainability, semiconductor technologies, and advanced manufacturing.
This visit strengthened the longstanding academic partnership between IIT Roorkee and Purdue University, with both institutions expressing keen interest in moving beyond the current LoI toward deeper, more structured collaborations, including the future development of a formal MoU.
