IIIT Bangalore celebrates graduation of 372 students
Three institute gold medals, along with several other academic and merit-based awards, were presented to outstanding students.
Valipireddy Pranathi walked away with two prestigious honours: the institute gold medal in MTech and the Visvesvaraya Scholarship Award. 'I had software job offers after my BTech, but my heart was always in core electronics,' she said. 'With constant push from my professors, unwavering support from family and friends, and a desire to keep growing, I'm proud to graduate with a 4.0 CGPA.'
Bengaluru girl Sookthi Bhatt Kav won a gold medal in MSc Digital Society. 'Coming from a History background, I never imagined this. But IIIT-B showed me that tech is also about people and power. My thesis explored how UPI impacts inclusion and surveillance. This win is for all social science voices in tech.'
'I was probably one of the last to make it into IIIT-B,' recalled Monjoy Narayan Choudhury, the iMTech CSE topper and Google-bound graduate from Guwahati, who also got the Visvesvaraya Scholarship Award. 'From struggling in science as a kid to switching streams and publishing AI research, I wanted to prove that people like me, from the Northeast, belong here too.'
For Chaitanya Manas, who was named Student of the Year, the key was consistency and involvement.
'You can't plan for an award like this. I just showed up at debate club, TEDx, council work, and still kept my grades up. It still feels surreal.'
Quietly working behind the scenes, Anshul Akhilesh Madurwar earned the Late Shri N Ramarao Medal for All-Rounder of the Year. 'I'm not the loudest person. But I kept pushing quietly, eight papers, assistive tech, global collaborations. This medal means everything.'
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