Speakers

Susan Hockfield

Susan Hockfield has served as the sixteenth president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology since December 2004. A strong advocate of the vital role that science, technology, and the research university play in the world, she believes that MIT can best advance its historic mission of teaching, research, and service by providing robust and sustained support for the ideas and energies of its faculty and students.

A noted neuroscientist whose research has focused on the development of the brain, Dr. Hockfield is the first life scientist to lead MIT and holds a faculty appointment as professor of neuroscience in the Institute's Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences. Dr. Hockfield encourages collaborative work among MIT's schools, departments, and interdisciplinary laboratories and centers to keep the Institute at the forefront of innovation. She believes that MIT's strengths in engineering and science uniquely position the Institute to pioneer newly evolving, interdisciplinary areas and to translate them into practice. Together with MIT's traditions of excellence in architecture and planning, management, and the humanities, arts and social sciences, these strengths will allow the Institute to continue to develop powerful solutions to our era's greatest challenges.

Under her leadership, MIT has launched a major Institute-wide initiative in energy research and education and continues to expand its activities at the intersection of the life sciences and engineering, with a particular focus on cancer research. The Institute has also embarked on a sustained effort to strengthen support for student life and learning, including undergraduate curriculum renewal, and is undertaking major campus construction and renovation projects with a combined value of approximately three-quarters of a billion dollars.
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Dr. Arun Majumdar

With the nomination from President Barak Obama, Dr. Arun Majumdar became the first Director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E), the country's only agency devoted to transformational energy research and development, in October 2009.  

Prior to joining ARPA-E, Majumdar was the Associate Laboratory Director for Energy and Environment at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley.  His highly distinguished research career includes the science and engineering of energy conversion, transport, and storage ranging from molecular and nanoscale level to large energy systems.  In 2005, Majumdar was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering for this pioneering work.  

At Berkeley Labs and UC Berkeley, Majumdar helped shape several strategic initiatives in the areas of energy efficiency, renewable energy, and energy storage.  He also testified before Congress on how to reduce energy consumption in buildings. Majumdar has also served on the advisory committee of the National Science Foundation's engineering directorate, was a member of the advisory council to the materials sciences and engineering division of the Department of Energy's Basic Energy Sciences, and was an advisor on nanotechnology to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

Additionally, Majumdar - also an entrepreneur - has served as an advisor to startup companies and venture capital firms in the Silicon Valley.   He received his bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay in 1985 and his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1989.

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Prem Das Rai

Mr. Prem Das Rai was educated at IIT Kanpur (B. Tech, Chemical Engineering) and at IIM Ahmedabad (MBA). In 2002, he was awarded the prestigious and selective Eisenhower Fellowship (USA) for his contribution to Sikkim’s economic and industrial growth. Mr. PD Rai joined the SDF in its formative years. He served as the party’s General Secretary and has worked at all its various structural levels. He has helped with SDF’s manifesto and vision, and continues to work for the party and for the prosperity of the Sikkimese people.

Most recently, he served as the Deputy Chairman of the State Planning Commission of the Government of Sikkim. Mr. PD Rai’s professional background includes: Senior Executive at Bank of America (Kolkata), Managing Director of Sikkim Milk Union, establishing Sikkim Flour Mills, Chairman of Sikkim Industrial Development and Investment Corporation (SIDICO) and Sikkim Scheduled Tribes and All Other Backward Classes Financial Development Corporation (SABCO), founding Chairman of the Ecotourism and Conservation Society of Sikkim (ECOSS), and CEO (Northeast) of BASIX. At BASIX, one of India’s largest microfinance and livelihood promotion institutions, he implemented microfinance initiatives for Sikkim and other NE states by working with farmers, villagers, and non-governmental organizations.

Mr. PD Rai is widely recognized as the man to have introduced Information Technology (IT) and sustainable ecotourism to Sikkim. Furthermore, he has contributed immensely to the building of NGO’s and to a proactive Sikkimese civil society.

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Dr. Anil Kumar Chopra

Dr. Anil Kumar Chopra obtained his B.Tech. in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. He received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Houston in the area of fluid mechanics and multi-phase flows. Dr. Anil Chopra entrepreneurial skills eventually led him to start PetroTel Inc. in 1999. His company’s vision is to help find major sources of hydrocarbons in India and across the globe using the latest technology available to only a few multinationals. One of the first consulting projects of Dr. Chopra and PetroTel was the seismic interpretation of Reliance's onshore and offshore blocks. This work led to the biggest discovery of gas in India. PetroTel also helped Reliance put together the very first field development plan of the Dhirubhai field. Today, Dhirubhai field produces more than 1 BSCF/day of gas and is supplying India's energy needs. Dr. Chopra and his company PetroTel's work led to another giant discovery in the KG basin in India with GSPC. As a result of this discovery, PetroTel has executed the field development plan for GSPC for commercialization of the Deen Dayal Field.

Dr. Anil Chopra is presently the Chairman and Founder of Petro Tel Inc. as well as Plano Research Corporation. Dr. Chopra is a visionary entrepreneur who has pioneered a number of technological innovations in the field of energy resources across various countries in the world, including India. He is one of the few IIT-ians that have had long-term success in the oil and gas industry. Today, Dr. Chopra’s PetroTel is recognized worldwide as an industry leader in oil and gas field consulting in the areas of enhanced oil recovery, reservoir characterization and simulation, coal bed methane, production, and exploration technologies. It provides professional consulting and advisory services along with integrated project management support to domestic and international petroleum companies. Dr. Anil Chopra has been continuing his dream of providing the world with its energy needs for over three decades. He started a new company, PetroJava International Inc. in 2004. Dr. Anil Chopra has always been very thoughtful in supporting cutting edge research and giving back to the society. In the year 2004 he funded the Distinguished PetroTel Lecture series in Chemical Engineering at IIT Kanpur.

He has been a prominent supporter of the Ispatbharti Foundation, which works towards energy efficiency technologies for the small and medium manufacturing enterprises in India. To help deserving students to achieve their dream of high quality education Dr. Chopra started the Legacy Park Foundation in 2003 to provide scholarships for under-privileged students. Dr. Anil Kumar Chopra has been conferred with the Distinguished Alumnus Award of IIT Kanpur for his outstanding entrepreneurial contributions in the field of petroleum, software and energy, as well as service to society in promoting education.

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Dr. Peter Fox Penner

Dr. Peter Fox-Penner, principal and chairman emeritus, specializes in economic, regulatory, and strategic issues in network industries. His practice centers on energy and environmental policies and electric regulatory planning and competition issues. He is also experienced in the natural gas, communications, transportation, and environmental industries and is a frequent expert witness on these issues.

He is a frequent speaker on energy topics and the author of numerous published articles and books, including the highly acclaimed Electric Utility Restructuring: A Guide to the Competitive Era and his new book from Island Press, Smart Power: Climate Change, the Smart Grid, and the Future of Electric Utilities.

In Smart Power, Dr. Fox-Penner provides an in-depth look at the policy and business challenges electric utilities face due to the combined impacts of climate change, the smart grid, and energy efficiency policies. Drawing upon his expertise as a utility consultant, Dr. Fox-Penner examines potential sustainable business models and reviews the current prospects for long-term power generation alternatives.

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Dr. Pankaj Agarwal

Dr. Pankaj Agarwal has extensive experience in the business development and commercialisation of new technologies in the renewable energy and cleantech sector. Prior to co-founding Indian Energy, he founded Panitek GmbH, a renewable energy advisory firm. Previously, he worked for a Dutch subsidiary of Metrohm AG, a Swiss analytical instrument manufacturer, where he was responsible for international business development.

Pankaj has also worked as a research scientist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he consulted for energy, alternative power, and new material development organisations in North America, Western Europe, and South Asia.

He has a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Florida, Gainesville and an MBA from the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus Graduate School of Business Netherlands, with a focus on globalisation and sustainable development. Pankaj also has a Bachelor in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India.

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Dr. Triveni N. Upadhyay

Dr. Triveni N. Upadhyay, Founder & Chairman, Mayflower Communications has over 25 years of advanced GPS product development and senior level project management experience with the primary focus on developing and marketing low-cost, low-power GPS receivers, integrated GPS/IMU, cellular wireless communications and GPS anti-jam products. As the founder and Chairman, he has been the technical director of projects for the numerous government and industry projects that have made fundamental contributions to the field of GPS anti-jam techniques, GPS/INS navigation and wireless communications systems.

In March 2000, Dr. Upadhyay founded and served as President and CEO of Envoy Networks, Inc., a venture capital funded company focused on developing and marketing third generation (3G) commercial mobile cellular technology and products. At Envoy, Dr. Upadhyay developed innovative technology to enhance the capacity and coverage of wireless cellular networks for both voice and data, which are subjects of several US patents. Envoy Networks was acquired by Texas Instruments, Inc in 2002.

Dr. Upadhyay has published over twenty-five papers in technical journals. He is the co-inventor of six U.S. Patents: 2 in wireless communications technology and 4 in GPS technology. He is a Senior Member of IEEE, member of ION and AIAA, and a Charter Member of TiE (the Indus Entrepreneur) www.TiE.org - a global, not-for-profit organization with more than 40 chapters worldwide promoting entrepreneurship. Dr. Upadhyay is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology, received his M.S. from Princeton University and Ph.D. from the University of Texas, Austin.

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Dr. Gitanjali Swamy

Dr. Gitanjali Swamy is managing director of The Zuci Group, a private equity advisory and fund business that she founded. Swamy is or has been a board member, founder, or a personal investor of several companies including Aarm Corporation, Cyota, Oat Systems, and Noble Devices. She has more than a decade of experience in building high-growth technology, wireless, and software companies as an investor, entrepreneur, and operating executive. She is also adjunct faculty at Columbia University, where she teaches financial technology.

Earlier, Gitanjali was an investment professional with The Carlyle Group, investing in venture and growth equity, and with Matrix Partners, advising them on investment strategy and portfolio incubation. Her career includes senior executive and operating roles in strategy, marketing, product management through successful fundraisings and acquisitions at companies like Smartlink, Envoy Networks, The MathWorks, and Mentor Graphics.

Swamy received her bachelor's in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, and her PhD in computer engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, where she was a National Science Foundation Fellow, and her MBA from Harvard Business School.

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Muktesh Pant

Muktesh Pant obtained his BTech in Chemical Engineering from IIT Kanpur in 1976, after which he joined Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL) as a Management Trainee in Marketing. Here he contributed immensely by developing many new HLL businesses for increasing exports of several Indian goods. During this period he also worked with Unilever PLC, London. Currently he is the President, Global Branding for Yum! and Chief Marketing Officer for Yum! Restaurants International.

In this role, Mr. Pant provides global focus and prioritization of the company's actions and establishes their global strategy in over 100 countries. Yum! is the world's largest restaurant company in terms of units, with 35,000 restaurants of the following brands - KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, A&W and Long John Silver. In 1992,he joined PepsiCo India Holdings as its Executive Director, developed food-processing operations in Punjab and served as the Chairman of Dukes Beverages and of Panagarh Bottling. In 1995, he was appointed the Managing Director of Reebok India, where he rose to become the Regional Director of Reebok International and the Chairman of Reebok India and of Reebok South Africa. He served Reebok International at Boston, Massachusetts, USA as the Senior Vice President of its Global Marketing Division and took care of advertising and promotion, licensing and sports marketing, the internet and web-marketing, global retail presence and the management of Olympic federations. Mr. Pant today specializes in consumer marketing and brand management and has risen to the top echelons of international business management. He was instrumental in establishing Reebok in emerging markets in Asia. In recognition of his truly exceptional skills, he was appointed a member of the Task Force set up by the Government of India on Indian Trade Policy for promoting India's Export in 1994. In 1996 he was nominated one of the "Stars of 2000" by Business India. Calling him a wizard of business management, India Today in 1999 declared him one of the "Faces of the Millenium".

Trained in the Indian environment and rising to the heights of global recognition, Mr. Pant is often said to be a 'walking, talking, delivering global advertisement for a Made in India product' in today's globally competing business world. He is keenly interested in passing on his own management experiences to younger generations. He has earlier taught as a visiting faculty for the MBA students at the Bombay University and does the same today at Suffolk University in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He is on the panel of the visiting faculty of several other prestigious business schools and has also co-authored a book on exports and their promotion in today's global world.

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Anupam Khanna

Anupam Khanna obtained his BTech in Electrical Engineering from IIT Kanpur in 1974. His studies at Stanford University spanned electronics and systems engineering, exploration geophysics, management science and economics, earning him three graduate degrees including a PhD with a dissertation entitled "An Approach to Modeling Systems of Political Economy: Towards Introducing the Notion of Power in Economic Analyses".

Dr. Khanna is currently on leave from the World Bank, and is presently a Visiting Senior Fellow at the Global Development Network (GDN), now an independent international organization headquartered in New Delhi, supported by multilateral and bilateral agencies as well as private foundations to promote excellence in research and policy analysis in developing countries. At GDN, Dr. Khanna is in charge of launching two new flagship Global Research Projects - Climate Change and Urbanization in Developing Countries; and coordinating an effort to stimulate policy research and its usefulness for shaping debates in Africa and South Asia relating to trade and agriculture. Prior to coming to GDN in November 2008, Dr. Khanna spent five years as Senior Manager, Policy Support in the Corporate Secretariat of the World Bank in Washington D.C. He oversaw analytic and policy work for the standing committees (Audit, Budget, Development Effectiveness and Personnel) of the 24-member Board of Executive Directors and advised senior management and the Board on strategy, policy, fiduciary and compliance issues. From September 2000 through March 2003 Dr. Khanna was the Chief Economist for the Royal Dutch/Shell Group based in London, United Kingdom. He advised top management on global economic trends, business environment and country risks; supported corporate strategy and planning functions; and was a core member of the Shell Scenarios Team that developed Global Scenarios upto 2020.

Dr. Khanna joined the World Bank through the Young Professionals Program in December 1980. When the World Bank set up its office in China, he lived in Beijing (1986- 89) and was responsible for industrial development, electric power and state enterprise reform. On returning to headquarters in 1989, he was selected to be the Special Assistant to the President of the World Bank and supported two chief executives, Barber Conable through the end of his tenure and Lewis Preston during his first four months in office.

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Rathin Datta

Rathin Datta obtained his BTech. degree in Chemical Engineering from IIT Kanpur in 1970 and his PhD from Princeton University, USA. Currently, Dr.Datta is the Chief Scientific Officer at Coskata. He has done pioneering work in the area of providing biologically-derived renewable resource alternatives to petroleum-based solvents. He has devoted himself to renewable resources for energy and chemicals - from the development of innovative technologies to the creating of organizations and companies in this field and leading them to commercialization. He has developed chemical processes that can transform municipal waste, car tires, agricultural waste etc., into bio-fuel, which could cost as little as $1 a gallon.

Dr. Prior to joining Coskata as Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Datta was the founder and Chairman of Vertec Biosolvents, Inc., a technology manufacturing and marketing company dedicated to providing biologically-derived renewable resource alternatives to petroleum-based solvents. Prior to Vertec Biosolvents, Dr. Datta was the Vice President of Research for the Michigan Biotechnology Institute, where he led the research for the commercial development of lactic acid/polymer technology and the commercial development and successful implementation of a fluidized bed reactor for specific waste treatment technology.

Dr. Datta has received several awards which include The Presidential Green Chemistry Award (1998) given by the President of the United States, Discover Magazine's Award for Environmental Technology of the Year (1998); the Ernst W. Thiele Award (1996) sponsored by Amoco and the AIChE; and a R&D 100 award for the development of an electro-deionization technology. He has over 40 publications and more than 20 US patents in the areas of bio-products, bioprocess technologies, fermentation, separation, enzyme catalysis, energy conversion, and process economics. In this day and age, Dr. Datta's contribution could be vital to societies like India, where his technologies can make India less dependent on foreign oil and can help sustain natural resources for a long time to come.

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Dr. M. Anandakrishnan

Dr. M. Anandakrishnan obtained his Ph.D in Civil Engineering (1960) from the University of Minnesota, USA and was Professor of Civil Engineering at IIT, Kanpur (1963 to 1974). He was the first Science Counselor at the Embassy of India Washington, D.C. (1974 to 1978). He served in the United Nations Centre for S&T for Development, New York from 1978 to 1989 and later as Vice-Chancellor of Anna University for two terms from 1990 to 96. He was Vice-Chairman of the Tamil Nadu State Council for Higher Education from 1996 to 2002 and concurrently the Advisor to the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu on Information Technology and e-Governance. He was Chairman, Madras Institute of development Studies from 2003 to 2008.. Since June, 2007 he is the Chairman, Board of Governors, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur. His honours and awards include Padma Shri from the President of India (2002); The Order of Scientific Merit from the President of Brazil (1996); Distinguished Leadership Award of the University of Minnesota (2003); Honorary Fellow of the Indian Society for Technical Education (2005); UGC National Swami Pranavananda Saraswati Award in Education (2006); Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) from Kanpur University (2008); Fellow of the Institution of Engineers, India and Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India.

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Dr. Satish V. Kulkarni

Dr. Satish V. Kulkarni is currently Associate Vice-President for New initiatives and Partnerships at Georgetown University. In this role, he is engaged in the University’s globalization efforts and in developing partnerships with universities, national laboratories, and other consortia. Before coming to Georgetown, he was the Counselor for Science, Technology, Environment and Health Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, India with the Department of State. Prior to that, on deputation from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), he held the position of Executive Director, Laboratory Programs/Laboratory Management in the Office of the President at the University of California in Oakland. He was previously the Division Leader of the New Technologies Engineering Division (formerly the Nuclear Test Division) at LLNL. While there, he transformed the Division from its nuclear testing focus to a multi-program role in homeland security, nonproliferation, energy and environment, and biosciences. He has studied at Calcutta University, IIT Kanpur and has a Ph.D. in Engineering Mechanics from Virginia Tech. He was the first winner of the Jagadish Bose National Science Talent Search Award (modeled after the Intel Awards in the US) In India. He received the Society of Sigma XI Research Award for outstanding graduate research and was recently inducted into the Academy of Engineering Excellence at Virginia Tech for “meritorious lifetime achievements and contributions to the engineering profession”.

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Michael DiPaula-Coyle

Michael DiPaula-Coyle serves as Director at the U.S.-India Business Council, a premier business advocacy organization under the auspices of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce representing America's top companies investing in India. Founded in 1975, the Council works to enhance bilateral investment and trade flows and serves as a direct link between business and government leaders. In his role, Michael he oversees a broad management and policy portfolio, including digital economy, insurance and pensions, financial services and media and entertainment.

Prior to joining USIBC, Michael served as Chief of Staff at the International Trade Administration in the U.S. Department of Commerce. He served as the Under Secretary’s senior staff member, political advisor, and speechwriter and as a member of the senior management team leading an agency with 2,200 employees with operations in the United States and in 77 countries.

Prior that that, Michael was a Special Assistant and Policy Advisor at the Bureau of Industry and Security, where he helped develop, coordinate and implement national security policies regarding high-technology trade and dual-use export controls.

He served as the lead U.S. Government policy coordinator for the U.S.-India High Technology Cooperation Group, a bilateral high-technology and nonproliferation dialogue which helped lead to a strengthening of the Indian export control system, enhanced bilateral nonproliferation cooperation, and increased high-technology and defense exports to India. He also participated in executive branch reform of the U.S. dual-use export control system.

Michael received his undergraduate degree from the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, and his Master’s Degree from King’s College, London.