NALANDA 2.0

Mr. Shailendra “Shail” Kumar is the Founder and President of Nalanda 2.0 and the author of Building Golden India: How to unleash India's vast potential and transform its higher education system. Now. (2015) This book is a catalyst for and foundation of Nalanda 2.0. In 2017, Nobel Laureate Prof. Randy Schekman presented the book to India’s Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi.

Prior to writing the book , Shail was an administrator at UC Berkeley and UC San Diego. Prior to that, he spent over fifteen years in Silicon Valley working in high-tech companies. He was co-founder and CEO of two start-ups, and held progressively senior roles in corporate strategy, global operations and planning, business development, and finance in Fortune 500 companies such as Applied Materials, FMC Corp., and Lam Research.

Shail has a B.Tech with honors in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Kharagpur and an MBA from the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University, Bloomington. He served as President of the IIT Foundation and co-founded the Pan IIT alumni movement in the US. In recognition of his contributions, he received IIT Kharagpur’s Distinguished Service Award.

Mr. Arjun Malhotra is a pioneer of the Indian IT industry.  He served as Chairman of Headstrong’s Board of Directors before its acquisition by Genpact in May 2011.  Prior to Headstrong he was Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of TechSpan, which merged with Headstrong in October 2003.

Mr Malhotra is on the Board of Governors of ISB, Hyderabad, RGIIM Shillong and IIT (Kharagpur) Foundation. He is a past Co-Chair of the Global Pan-IIT Alumni Association. He is Fellow of IETE; A Member of Institute of Engineers, India. He is also a Member of IPSS and is on the Board of Governors of The Doon School. A Life Fellow of IIT Kharagpur, he has been awarded Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) in September 2012. Punjab Technical University conferred an Honorary PhD on him in 2013.

Mr. Malhotra studied at The Doon School, Dehradun, graduated from IIT Kharagpur with B.Tech. (Hons.) in Electronics & Electrical Communication Engineering and received the Dr. B.C. Roy Gold Medal.  In 1985, he attended the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.

Prof. Krishna Saraswat is Rickey/Nielsen Professor in the School of Engineering, Emeritus at Stanford University.

He was born in Pilani, Rajasthan, India and received all his initial education in Pilani leading to B.E. degree in Electronics in 1968 from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS). He moved to USA in 1968 and received M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering in 1969 and 1974 respectively from Stanford University. After graduating he joined Stanford University as a Research Associate in 1975 and later became a Professor of Electrical Engineering in 1983. He also has an honorary appointment of an Adjunct Professor at BITS, Pilani since January 2004 and a Visiting Professor during 2007 at IIT Bombay, India. He has been a technical advisor, board member and consultant to several industrial organizations in USA, Asia and Europe. He has also advised several academic and government organizations all over the world, including Indian Government, BITS Pilani, IISC Bangalore and IIT Bombay.

An award-winning faculty member, he is listed by ISI as one of the Highly Cited Authors in his field.

Prof. Sudhir Jain is the first Director of the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN) in Ahmedabad.

He is an internationally renowned scholar in Earthquake Engineering and a passionate academic administrator. Prior to IITGN and since 1984 he was on the faculty of IIT Kanpur. Prof. Jain is currently the President of the International Association for Earthquake Engineering.

Prof. Jain holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree from the University of Roorkee, and Masters and Doctoral degrees from the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena.

Dr. Devesh Kapur is Starr Foundation South Asia Studies Professor and Asia Programs Director at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, D.C.

Earlier, he was Director of the Center for the Advanced Study of India, and Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania. He holds the Madan Lal Sobti Chair for the Study of Contemporary India. Prior to that, he was Associate Professor of Government at the University of Texas at Austin, and before that the Frederick Danziger Associate Professor of Government at Harvard. 

His research focuses on human capital, national and international public institutions, and the ways in which local-global linkages, especially international migration and international institutions, affect political and economic change in developing countries, especially India.

Dr. Kapur holds a B. Tech in Chemical Engineering from the Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University; an M.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota; and a Ph.D. from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton.

Mr. Sridhar Rajagopalan is an educational entrepreneur who has helped change the way student learning outcomes are seen in India. He is an IIT Madras - IIM Ahmedabad graduate who co-founded and ran Eklavya School Ahmedabad before starting Educational Initiatives (EI) in 2001.

EI researches and creates diagnostic assessments and offers ASSET, India’s largest diagnostic assessment. Mindspark, EI’s adaptive learning program, is used by over 80,000 students in India, the Middle East and the USA. It was the topic of a Harvard Business School case and featured in an Economist cover story in 2017. EI has worked with government schools in over 20 Indian states. Its Student Learning Study (supported by Google, Inc.) provides the most detailed picture available of student learning levels in 19 Indian states.

Mr. Rajagopalan is a member of various central and state government committees related to assessment and learning. He is a board member of Central Square Foundation and trustee of Pratham, Gujarat. 

Dr. Parth Shah is the Founder and President of Centre for Civil Society (CCS). CCS advances social change through public policy. In the latest ranking of think tanks, CCS was ranked 51st globally and 1st in India.

Dr. Shah has a Ph.D. in Economics, taught at the University of Michigan and been a visiting faculty at JNU, Delhi and M S University, Vadodara. He is a member of the education taskforce of the governments of Delhi and Karnataka and serves on the Senate of the Central University of Himachal and Tamil Nadu. He has spoken and written extensively on the issues of livelihood freedom, education choice, property rights approach to the environment and new public management. 

He has written and co-edited several books and monographs like Law, Liberty & Livelihood: Making a Living on the Street; Terracotta Reader: A Market Approach to the Environment; Profiles in Courage: Dissent on Indian Socialism; Morality of Markets; Social Change & Public Policy.

Ms. Kim Walesh is former Director of Economic Development and Deputy City Manager, City of San Jose.

At the City of San Jose, Kim led the implementation of city’s comprehensive economic strategy to catalyze job growth, private investment, revenue generation, and talent attraction. Prior to joining City of San Jose, Kim was co-founder and managing director of Collaborative Economics--a Silicon Valley-based consultancy that works with business and civic leaders to build stronger economies and better communities.

Kim is co-author of the books Grassroots Leaders for a New Economy: How Civic Entrepreneurs Build Prosperous Communities and Civic Revolutionaries: Igniting the Passion for Change in American Communities.  She has written more than 50 other reports and publications, including key documents about the Silicon Valley region.  She is a founding board member SPUR San Jose, the ZERO1 Art and Technology network, and the Prospect Silicon Valley innovation center.

Kim holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and humanities from Valparaiso University and a Master of Public Policy degree from Harvard University, where she was a Kennedy Fellow.

Dr. Subhamoy Das is a senior research scientist at Terremoto Biosciences. He completed his B.Tech in Biotechnology and Biochemical Engineering from IIT Kharagpur, M.S.E. and Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from University of Texas, Austin, and post-doctoral research from Stanford University. He was born and raised in Rourkela, Odisha.

He is volunteering for Nalanda 2.0 because: "I firmly believe that education is the key to the success of not only the individual but for the society, community and the country. Knowledge is power! I have personally embarked on the journey of becoming an academician to contribute to this noble cause. Nalanda 2.0's vision and ideas resonate with me. I'm passionate and hopeful that we will be able to bring Nalanda 2.0's mission to fruition."

Dr. Das has been an integral member of Nalanda 2.0 team since the inception.

Dr. Vignesh Ganapathi-Subramanian is a Machine Learning engineer at Apple. He received his Ph.D. from the EE Department at Stanford University and B.Tech in EE, M.Tech in communication engineering from IIT Madras. He grew up in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

He is volunteering for Nalanda 2.0 because he believes that the need for higher-education reforms in India is urgent, and Nalanda 2.0's vision for the future of higher-education in India is something that deeply resonates with him.

Dr. Ganapathi-Subramanian has been an integral member of Nalanda 2.0 team since 2019.

Dr. Shailabh Kumar is a Staff Scientist at Samsung. Prior to this, he was a Postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University and Caltech. He earned his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities and holds a dual B.Tech/M.Tech degree in Biotechnology from IIT Kharagpur. He was born and raised in Patna, Bihar.

Dr. Kumar volunteers with Nalanda 2.0 because he strongly resonates with its mission: “Improvements in higher education and research in India have the potential to transform the country into a global technological hub. By advancing fields such as artificial intelligence, infectious disease management, antibiotic resistance, climate change, water management, and sustainable energy, we can address not only domestic challenges but also contribute to global solutions. A robust higher education infrastructure that empowers our youth to innovate is critical for India’s emergence as a major force in the world economy.”

He has been an integral part of the Nalanda 2.0 team since its inception.

Dr. Rakesh Misra is an R&D leader and entrepreneur at the forefront of AI-driven networking. He currently leads AI Networking for VeloCloud, a division of Broadcom, and was previously the co-founder of Uhana (acquired by VMware), a startup that pioneered mobile network intelligence. Dr. Misra earned his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University and holds dual B.Tech and M.Tech degrees from IIT Madras. He was born in Bhubaneswar and grew up in Berhampur, Odisha.

He has been an integral part of the Nalanda 2.0 team since its inception, volunteering his time and expertise because he shares its vision of a world-class higher education system in India.

Dr. Deepan Raj Prabakar is currently a faculty at Plaksha University, Mohali, India. Formerly, he was a Post-Doctoral Researcher at the University of California, Irvine and Cornell. He received his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley, and B.Tech./M.Tech. from IIT Madras. He was born and raised in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

He is volunteering for Nalanda 2.0 because "Transforming India's higher education is critical to prepare the growing young population for their lives and address many of India's grand challenges that accompanies the aspirations of this young population, which is food, water, health, clean environment and clean energy. In this regard, Nalanda 2.0's commitment for the same cause is timely, critical and commendable. Personally, I am very driven to do my part in addressing this grand challenge and so my support and time for Nalanda 2.0."

Dr. Prabakar has been an integral member of Nalanda 2.0 team since the inception.

Mr. Dibyendu Rana is an executive at International Battery Company. Previously, he was an engineer at Apple. He received his master’s degree from Texas A&M University and B.Tech from IIT Kharagpur. He was born and raised at Bokaro Steel City, Jharkhand.

He is volunteering for Nalanda 2.0 because "India’s transition from a poor nation to one of the fastest growing nation has been so far remarkable. But as we transition to a knowledge based economy, in order to sustain this growth, the vast potential of youth needs to be unlocked. Availability of world class higher education for the youth in India can truly transform our economy and lead India into the 21st century. Nalanda 2.0 is making a bold but necessary attempt to make this happen. Its success could fuel rest of the universities in India to seek similar excellence. Nalanda 2.0’s mission and the urgency to turbocharge India’s higher education through UFI resonates with me. "

Mr. Rana has been volunteering for Nalanda 2.0 since 2018.

Ms. Usha RJ received B.Tech and M.Tech from IIT Madras and MBA from IIM Kozhikode. Currently, she works as a consultant. She was born and brought up in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh.

She volunteers at Nalanda 2.0 as she believes that “Wholesome education has the power to transform society by equipping individuals with original, free and responsible thinking. In the age of artificial intelligence, it is imperative that institutions impart not just the necessary skills, but also educate, sensitize of the impact on the surroundings. An interdisciplinary understanding is the way forward in order to create sustainable and effective systems. One such mindful effort is UFI of Nalanda 2.0 which aims in setting up an interdisciplinary world class University in India.”

Ms. Usha has been actively working with Nalanda 2.0 since early 2020.

Ms. Momo Singh operates various social media accounts both in English and Chinese, as a freelance vloger and blogger, as well as a key opinion leader among China's online community. She received her bachelors in finance and accounting from Xiamen University, China and masters in finance from IESEG School of Management, France.

She is volunteering for Nalanda 2.0 because "I have benefitted greatly from China's higher education system. I grew up in China, when I was 18, there were 20 to 30 top tier universities I could choose from, each of them would grant me high chance of admission to top universities around the world for further education. And there were more than 200 second tier universities that were multidisciplinary, providing excellent quality of higher education. I believe India should develop a vibrant higher education system as soon as possible. Not only the huge mass of India's youth would have a brighter future. But as a nation to rise and stand tall in the world, higher education is surely on the top of the list."

Ms. Singh has been volunteering for Nalanda 2.0 since 2018.

Dr. Raj Shekhar Singh is a senior executive at Innovaccer Inc., San Francisco. He received his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley and B.Tech. from IIT Kharagpur. He was born and brought up in Bokaro Steel City, Jharkhand.

He is volunteering for Nalanda 2.0 because "I firmly believe that higher education is one of the key challenges facing India and a key blocker in making India a developed nation in the next couple of decades. I can also have much more impact in actually helping to solve this problem with my background and experience. My personal friendship with Shail Kumar and belief in his leadership also motivates me to volunteer for Nalanda 2.0."

Dr. Singh has been an integral member of Nalanda 2.0 team since the inception.