Indian-American engineers body to honour nine achievers

American Society of Engineers of Indian Origin (ASEI) will honour nine engineers at its 29th National Convention at the University of California, Irvine, campus Sep 27.

The theme of the convention is 'STEM: Ideas for the 21st Century' with presentations in four tracks on biomedical devices and life sciences, disruptive technologies focusing on big data and internet of things, emerging trends in engineering and growth of STEM.

Over 500 professionals including scientists, engineers, technologists, entrepreneurs and corporate leaders are expected to attend the convention, according to a media release.

"The conference tracks will cover all new emerging technologies and look at the growth of engineering sciences," said ASEI Chairman Subba Gopavarapu.

According to Convention Chairman Kupp Sridhar, 50 experts will serve as panellists and technical presenters drawn from different spectrum of industries. In addition, four students will be presented with scholarships.

"We have selected the best from a pool of nominations received," said Dr. Thomas Abraham, Chairman of the ASEI Awards committee.

Award recipients are:

ASEI Entrepreneur of the Year: Vishwa Prasad, CEO and founder, People Tech Group, Bellevue, Washington.

ASEI Exceptional Merit Award: Gabriel D. Roy, ONR Global, Fairfax, Virginia, Propulsion and Power Engineering.

ASEI Engineer/Scientist of Year:

G. K Surya Prakash, Professor and George A. and Judith A. Olah Nobel Laureate Chair in Hydrocarbon Chemistry, Organic and Polymer Chemistry, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California;

Abraham Pannikottu, Operations Manager, American Engineering Group, Akron, Ohio;

Shailesh Naik, President, Charles A. Manganaro Consulting Engineers, P.C., Hawthorne, New York.

ASEI Lifetime Achievement: Paul Sikand, The Boeing Co., Long Beach, California.

ASEI Founder's Award - Ganapati S Sridhar, PriceWaterHouseCoopers (PwC)

Health Care Practice and President, Spinovation Corp., Dulles, Virginia.

Student of the Year: Deeksha Seth, PhD candidate, Drexel University, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.