Mr. Vivek Sawant (Chairman of Advisory Committee)

Mr. Vivek Sawant(Chairman of Advisory Commitee) Mr. Sawant is the Managing Director and Cofounder of Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation Limited (MKCL). Mr. Sawant started his career as Lecturer at Fergusson College, Pune during 1979 to 1987. He was later on invited by the Symbiosis society as the Deputy Director of Symbiosis Institute of Computer Studies and Research. After a short stint at Symbiosis, he joined Center for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) a national flagship R&D mission to design and develop India’s indigenous PARAM Supercomputers. During his tenure at C-DAC he founded the nationwide network of Advanced Computing Training Schools of C-DAC. After a long tenure at C-DAC, Mr. Sawant was invited by the Hope Foundation as the Director of International Institute of Information Technology (I2IT), Pune Infotech Park, Hijawadi, Pune. He made pioneering contributions during the years 2000 to 2002 at this institute in the field of advanced IT education and incubation of innovative start-up enterprises in IT. Mr. Sawant has served on many committees at state and national level including the Prime Minister’s IT Task Force. He is the co-author of the PradhanMantri Gram SadakYojana. He has served on Boards of Studies and Academic Councils of several universities, academies and boards and is also an honorary fellow of Maharashtra Academy of Sciences. His areas of interest include research and development in eLearning, eGovernance, eEmpowerment of communities, building knowledge society and building life long learning communities. Mr. Sawant has been felicitated by various awards for his distinguished contributions in the field of IT education and IT enabled education. Some of the awards are -- Dnyanasurya Award, Rotary’s Young Recipient Award, Rotary’s Vocational Excellence Award, C-DAC’s Awards of Honor and Distinction, Maharashtra IT Award in HRD 2004, and the Yashokeerti Award of Computer Society of India to name a few.

Dr. Uday N. Gaitonde

Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay. Passed B.Tech. and Ph.D. (Mechanical) from the same Institute. Field of specialization in thermodynamics, Heat transfer and Energy Conservation. Since 1980 works with IITB, seven doctorate and 50 Master’s thesis supervised. Worked as Head MED, Professor-in-Charge Alumni affairs and Chairman GATE 1995.

Mr. Dinkar M. More

Born in Agriculture rural family. Graduated in Civil Engineering from University of Pune securing first rank and gold medal. Joined irrigation department of Government of Maharashtra & served in various capacities. Managed the work of Maharashtra Water & Irrigation Commission in capacity of Chief Engineer & Secretary and drafted commission voluminous reports (2000+ pages). Handled Interstate River Valley project and received Vanashri Award. Associated with several professional organizations like Sinchan Sahayog, Eitihas Panchayat, VidyaParishad etc.

Hon. Dr. V. V. Mahajani

Ex. Professor of Institute of Chemical Technology Matunga, Mumbai

Hon. Dr. S. A. Halkude

Principal of Walchand Institute of Technology College, Solapur

Think Tank:

Dr. Vijay P. Bhatkar

An Indian computer scientist, IT leader and educationalist. He is best known as the architect of India's national initiative in supercomputing where he led the development of Param supercomputers. He is a Padma Bhushan, Padma Shri and Maharashtra Bhushan awardee. Bhatkar has been chancellor of Nalanda University, India since January 2017. Prior to that, he served as the Chairman of Board of Governors of IIT Delhi from 2012 to 2017.Currently he is serving as the Chairman of Vijyana Bharti, a nonprofit organization of Indian scientists.

Prof. B. M. Naik

B.E. Civil, M.E. (Germany), worked as Principal, SGGS college of Engineering, Nanded (1983-1999), Professor IIPA, Delhi. At university level Chairman BOS, Member of Academic Council and Dean Engineering. Member of various committees appointed by UGC, AICTE, and Government of Maharashtra. Presented papers at International conferences in various countries. Published 2 books and over 80 papers. Currently working as consultant for Quality Management. Innovation Center and Intellectual Property Right

Mr. N. A. Joshi

Graduate in Electrical Engineering from Osmania University. Joined MSEB as Junior Engineer and subsequently worked in various capacities as Superintending Engineer, Chief Engineer, Director-Technical and Technical Member of Board. After retirement Technical Advisor to Board. Visited many countries in connection with Power Development and study. Published papers at National and International level. Also Guest faculty for CME Pune and Engineering Staff college of India, Hyderabad.