The Indian Institute of Technology’s (IIT) Southern California alumni gathered on September 14 at the Long Beach Marriott to investigate whether “nerdy engineers” from the “Ivy League school of India” have had an image makeover to one of contemporary professional diversity.
Currently, working in the U.S. are IIT alumni who are project consultants, internet entrepreneurs, and global industry advisors to mention a few professions. Among this group is a 2017 technical achievement Oscar winner, and a chancellor of a major university in the area.
The event featured multiple panels discussing topics of relevance in today’s business world on subjects such as Technology in Business, Technology and Media, and Reducing our Plastic Footprint. The panels were moderated by experts in the field: Amritt’s Gunjan Bagla was one of them, along with Hitesh Ahuja, Smita Bagla, Priyank Saxena, and Vinatha Nathan.
The highlight of the event was an interview with two IIT stalwarts: Ananth Krishnan, vice president and CTO of Mumbai-based Tata Consultancy Services; and Dr. Pradeep Khosla, Chancellor of the University of California, San Diego.
Krishnan spoke about his company at a chat facilitated onstage by Gunjan Bagla. “Tata Consultancy Services has been in the USA for 40 years and the U.S. is our most significant international market accounting for more than half of our revenues. In the last five years we have made significant efforts to increase our footprint in America in terms of local hiring,” he said.
Vinatha Nathan moderated the discussion with Khosla who noted that University of California, San Diego was a student-centered, research-focused, and service-oriented public university, to which he has added a new vision of destination-destination for students and the local community.
Last updated: December 26th, 2025
