Dr. Gangan Prathap

Dr. Gangan Prathap graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras with a B.Tech. in Aerospace Engineering in 1974. He is an eminent scientist in the Structures Division at the National Aerospace Laboratories, Bangalore, India. He received the "Distinguished Alumni Award" in 1999.

 

Mr. Prakash Damodaran

Mr. Prakash Damodaran's talent lies in combining technology and public policy particularly with respect to the newly emerging fields of IT where inputs in both areas are required.

Mr. Damodaran obtained his B.Tech. degree in Aerospace Engineering in 1974 from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras. He obtained his postgraduate diploma in management from the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta in 1976 for which he received the Institute's Honor Roll for academic excellence and the Dunlop scholarship. His first job was at Binny Limited in Chennai. Mr. Damodaran later joined the IAS and served in various positions in the Tripura cadre from 1979 to 1988. He then served the Government of India as Commissioner, Central Vigilance Commission, during which period he set up commission's first computerized information system. He then studied at Harvard University in the U.S. where he obtained his Master's in Public Administration and received the Edward S. Mason and U.N. fellowships.

From 1996 Mr. Damodaran has been with the Government of Tamil Nadu as Secretary to the Government and was responsible for the creation of the new Department of Information Technology. He formulated and implemented the State's first IT Policy and its Optical Fiber cables policy. He has also served as a member of the expert group on Citizen-IT interface of the National Task Force on IT of the Government of India. His work in IT department has placed Tamilnadu and India in the forefront. IIT-Madras is happy to bestow the Distinguished Alumnus Award on Mr. Prakash Damodaran.