Plaksha University to have 1500 students and 100+ faculty on campus over the next 5 years

Havells Research Building to further cutting-edge research and development inaugurated


India, December 17, 2022: Plaksha University, one of India's largest collective philanthropy efforts to build a tech university of global eminence, aims to have 1500 students and more than 100 faculty on campus over the next 5 years. The university's vision is to reimagine technology education and research in India and one of the 3 pillars for achieving this aim is to create a vibrant ecosystem of innovation and research.

To further this, Havells Research Building was inaugurated at the recently held Founders Day. This research building will house 4 cutting-edge research centers - Center for Clean Energy & Climate, Center for Digital Agriculture, Center for Digital Health and Center for Water Security.

Dr. S. Shankar Sastry the Founding Chancellor of Plaksha University, said, “It is our collective vision, commitment and deep involvement that has resulted in this amazing journey of co-creating a technology and research institute that reimagines education in India. Since the inception of Plaksha, our aim has been to collaborate with the best minds in the industry and academia.” The Investiture Ceremony for the Chancellor was also held at the recently concluded Founders Day. The faculty at Plaksha will triple to 100+ over the next five years, he added.

Two eminent academicians who joined Plaksha in leadership roles recently are - Dr. Srikant Srinivasan, who did his Ph.D. from Purdue University and was previously with IIT Mandi and Dr. Sunita Chauhan, who did her PhD from Imperial College of Science, London, and was previously with Monash University, Australia.

Neeraj Aggarwal, Chairman - Asia Pacific, Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Founder, and Chairperson, Board of Trustees, Plaksha University said, “I am proud to be a part of Plaksha's journey - onboarding eminent faculty members, introducing advanced technology research labs, forging partnerships with global educational institutions of excellence and providing experiential learning opportunities to students. Our vision is to nurture fearless future leaders who will address and navigate some of the most complex challenges facing the world.”

About Plaksha University

Founded by a global community of 100+ technology and business leaders, Plaksha envisions to reimagine technology education and research for India and the world. With strong partnerships with UC Berkeley, Purdue, UC San Diego, IIT Kanpur, and IISc Bangalore, Plaksha aims to nurture and empower a generation of catalytic leaders and create an ecosystem of research and innovation. The university collapses the traditional boundaries of engineering and promotes interdisciplinary learning by combining technology, design and entrepreneurship.

Plaksha is guided by an eminent academic board including Dr. Vijay Kumar, Nemirovsky Family Dean of Penn Engineering, University of Pennsylvania; Venkatesh Narayanamurthi, former Dean of Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Sriram Rajamani, Managing Director, Microsoft Research India Julia Ross, Dean of Engineering, Virginia Tech; Krishna Palepu, Ross Graham Walker Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School; Sanjay Sarma, Fred Fort Flowers and Daniel Fort Flowers Professor of Mechanical Engineering, MIT; and business leaders such as Neeraj Aggarwal, Chairman – Asia Pacific, BCG; Hitesh Oberoi, Co-promoter & CEO, Info Edge (Naukri.com); Srikanth Velamakanni, Co-founder, Fractal Analytics; Manas Fuloria, Co- Founder, Nagarro; Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Vice Chairman, Bharti Enterprises; Navin Chaddha, Managing Director, Mayfield Fund; Sujeet Kumar, Co-founder, Udaan.com; Dalip Pathak, Special Limited Partner, Warburg Pincus LLC; CP Gurnani, MD & CEO, Tech Mahindra; Pramod Bhasin, Chairman, Clix Capital among others. Corporate donors include companies like Bharti Foundation, Havells, HT Parekh Foundation, Mphasis, Axis Bank and Motilal Oswal. The global community of business leaders who founded Plaksha can be seen here.

Presently, Plaksha has four programs - Young Technology Scholars (summer program); B.Tech (4 years | 4 majors); Technology Leaders Program (1 year Masters program) and PhD. The Ph.D cohort of 2022 has almost 55% women students.