info@iitagne.org

Past Events

Role of Technology in Improving Quality of Life

If you were to close your eyes (you won’t be able to read this….so hold that thought) and tried to walk across your own bedroom, how many things will you bump into? Are you aware of the distinction between “above the knee” obstacles vs. “non-contact” obstacles?

On March 20th, 2021 IITAGNE in association with Vision-Aid hosted a webinar on Assistive Technology for Vision Impaired People presented by Prof. M Balakrishnan. The very engaging session not only provided clarity and context to the role of technology in improving quality of life, it provided a great view into the various solutions being developed in IIT.

Hope you will enjoy the video recording of the webinar and find ways to support our IIT community.

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Consumers at the Cutting Edge of Technology Feb 2019

Consumers at the Cutting Edge of Technology

The last few years have seen a tremendous resurgence in applications of technology in the consumer sector. Today’s consumer has never had it so good: you can order any type of good or service and it is delivered within days with complete reliability. Home devices like Alexa or Google Home talk to us and understand our requests to play music, make phone or video calls and turn the lights on. Services like Netflix and Spotify make personal recommendations for music or movies based on your taste and personal history.

This growth in advanced technology available to consumers is driven by convergence of multiple technology trends, including Big Data and Data Analytics, Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. In the future, the use of delivery drones and autonomous vehicles will take this to the next level. This also opens up issues of data security and privacy controls for individuals and groups.


Register

In this event, a distinguished panel of speakers working at the cutting edge of consumer tech will delve into the the convergence of technology trends, the challenges they face and the future of these technologies.

Where:

Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC), 1 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02142

When:

Saturday, February 9, 2019 3:00 PM – 6:00 PM EST

TiE Boston Logo
Co-sponsor
CIC
Venue Sponsor

Panelists

Pragati Mathur

Rama Ramakrishnan

Venki Nagesha

Pragati Mathur

Pragati Mathur, EVP/CTO and CIO, Staples

Pragati Mathur has led enterprise level technology information architecture at General Motors, Boeing and Biogen Idec. As senior vice president for technology and business solutions,  Biogen Inc. she oversaw enterprise architecture, analytics, integration and collaboration services, and led the business intelligence team to determine how to aggregate and extract the right data from multiple sources. Recently appointed as CIO at Staples Inc., she leads the public cloud and devices initiative; and owns retail, point-of-sale, corporate and supply chain systems. She has a MS from Carnegie Mellon; and an MBA from Walsh College.

Rama Ramakrishnan

Serial Data Science Entrepreneur

Rama Ramakrishnan is a serial data science entrepreneur, seasoned tech executive (VP Oracle, SVP Salesforce), advisor to startups, angel investor and board member. He has founded or been a senior executive in 4 software companies that have exited to technology titans Oracle, Salesforce and Demandware and delivered exceptional returns to venture capital investors. The complex analytics/machine-learning systems built by Rama’s companies are in widespread use today globally and benefit hundreds of millions of consumers daily. Earlier in his career, he was a consultant at McKinsey. An IIT Madras graduate, Rama got his M.S. and Ph.D. in Operations Research from MIT.

Venki Nagesha

Research Scientist, Siri, Apple Inc.

An expert in the area of speech and voice recognition over networks, Venki Nagesha, currently works on Siri at Apple. Starting his career at AT&T Bell Laboratories, he went on to work at Dragon Systems and it’s successor, Nuance Communications, where he led the research team for Dragon Naturally Speaking line of products for consumer and medical dictation. Venki is a graduate of IIT Madras, with a Ph.D. from the University of Rhode Island.

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IIT AGNE General Body Meeting and Elections: November 10, 2018

Bala Balasubramanian, outgoing Executive Vice President of the previous board provided an overview of the accomplishments of IIT AGNE over the past year, including a number of very highly successful events in Robotics & AI, Blockchain and hosting delegations from a number of different IITs. Neeta Agarwal, the outgoing Treasurer gave an overview of the current finances.

This was followed by the Elections to the Executive Committee for the next two year term. The election committee consisting of Anil Saigal, Ravi Rastogi and Raj Laad conducted the elections. While most of the positions were uncontested, there were three candidates who were nominated for VP, IIT Bombay. On the other hand, there were no candidates to represent IIT Kanpur, Kharagpur, Madras and one of 2 VP positions from the newer IITs did not have any nomination. Floor nominations of one candidate from Madras and one from Guwahati were made and accepted by all present. There was a motion to add the other two candidates from IIT, Bombay as Members-at-Large to complete the number of members needed on the committee. This motion was accepted unanimously.

We are very pleased to announce the new board for IIT AGNE for a two year term (2019-2020)

President : Bala Balasubramanian, IIT Kharagpur
Executive Vice President : Roopesh Mathur, IIT Madras
Treasurer : Praful Thakkar, IIT Kharagpur
Secretary : Mayuresh Rajwadkar, IIT Bombay
Vice President from IIT Delhi : Kartik M. Varadarajan, IIT Delhi
Vice President from IIT Bombay : Alkesh Shah, IIT Bombay
Vice President from IIT Madras : I. P. Singh, IIT Madras
Vice President from Newer IITs : Nishant Gandhi, IIT Patna
Vice President from Newer IITs : Rakesh Roshan, IIT Guwahati
Member-at-large : Duriya Doctor, IIT Bombay
Member-at-large : Ranjani Saigal. IIT Bombay

This was followed by a spirited discussion on the events to be held next year resulting in an exciting potential calendar for next year consisting of seminars in topics such as consumer data, health-care, assistive technology for care giving for disabled elders and children with special needs, design of high end vehicles, vehicle automation and sports analytics. To add to this we are also considering a science fair for the public at large. We also want to create a mentoring program and host a job/intern fair. On the topic of social events while concurring that the summer picnic was a great hit, everyone was looking for a change to the format and timing of the second annual social event.

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Diwali Party 2018

IITAGNE will be hosting a Diwali party on October 28, 2018. 


When:  October 27, 2018 7:00 PM – 10:30 PM
Where: United Church of Christ, Burlington, MA

Please join us for an evening of dinner and variety entertainment. Families are welcome and bring your children too.

People who are interested in performing in the cultural program, please contact Venkat Prashath at venkat.prasath@ashoka.edu.in.

7:00 –  7:30 PM  : Networking and appetizers
7:30 –  8:00 PM  : Cultural program
8:00 –  8:30 PM  : IITAGNE year in review and photo session
8:00 –  9:00 PM  : Dinner
9:00 – 10:30 PM  : DJ and Dance

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IITAGNE Election 2018

Nomination

The nominations for the of office bearers were due by October 8, 2018. 

The election is for the following posts. The full slate of candidates will be published shortly. 

  1. President
  2. Executive Vice President
  3. Secretary
  4. Treasurer
  5. Vice Presidents: five Vice Presidents from the five original IlTs plus two additional vice presidents from any of the newer llTs.

Prospective candidates should e-mail a brief bio-data including the following information to the Election Committee:

  • Mandatory Information:
    1. Name
    2. Name of IIT institution
    3. Year of graduation
    4. Department
    5. E mail address
  • Optional information
    1. Phone Number
    2. Name of Organization where you work
    3. Designationwer

Eligibility

We request all IIT alumni to become members of IITAGNE. Only IIT AGNE Life Members, Regular Members and Student Members have the right to vote and are eligible for Executive Committee positions. Members that have registered by September 30, 2018 will be eligible to vote and to be nominated, in this year’s election. Please register as a member, if you have not already done so or do not recall.

Life Members from IIT SINE will need to reregister and pay as Life Members of IIT AGNE since IIT AGNE was organized as a nonprofit and funds from IIT SINE cannot be rolled over. Currently, membership is FREE for Regular and Student members, while Life Members pay one-time membership dues of $150. The Executive Committee has decided to impose membership dues for all categories beginning January 1, 2019 and to charge nonmembers for future events in 2019. You can sign up as a member at our web page Become A Member. We urge you to do so as soon as possible.

We need all IIT alumni residing in New England area to

  • Participate in Election process either by submitting nomination or electing the office bearers
  • Volunteer to organize IITAGNE events, and
  • Represent your institution at the events organized by IITAGNE.

Please spread the word by forwarding this mail to your friends as many of them are not members of IITAGNE and are not in our database.

Election Committee, IITAGNE

  • Ravi Rastogi (rsrastogi@gmail.com)
  • Anil Saigal (mr.asaigal@gmail.com)
  • Raj Laad (raj_laad@yahoo.com)
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US and India: Building the joint future of Artificial Intelligence

This event is sold out. Sorry, no walk-ins allowed.

The flood of data being unleashed together with advances in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Natural Language Processing have companies scrambling to apply these techniques to address some of the intractable problems they face. AI seems to be the magic bullet that will solve many things from driver-less cars to medical diagnosis, from virtual assistants to the next generation of robots. What are some of the challenges that the next wave of innovation will need to address? What are some of the opportunities for countries like India with their talented technical workforce? How can AI help alleviate the social developmental challenges of our times? Join us to explore the future of Artificial Intelligence with Prof. P.P. Chakrabarti, Director of IIT Kharagpur, one of the premier technology institutions in India, in dialogue with Venkat Srinivasan, a serial entrepreneur and an expert in knowledge-based systems architectures and artificial intelligence, and David Cox, IBM Director of MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab, a first of its kind industry-academic collaboration between IBM and MIT. Partha Ghosh, former partner at McKinsey & Co and head of Partha S Ghosh & Associates will moderate the discussion.

Where:

Hubspot,
25 First St, Cambridge, MA 02141

When:

Tuesday, Sept 11, 2018 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm


Sold Out

Co-Sponsors

IITKGPFoundation Logo
TiE Boston Logo

Venue Courtesy of

Panelists

David Cox

Venkat Srinivasan

Prof. P. P. Chakrabarti

Partha S. Ghosh

David Cox

IBM Director, MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab

David Cox is the IBM Director of the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab, a first of its kind industry-academic collaboration between IBM and MIT, focused on fundamental research in artificial intelligence. The Lab was founded with a $240m, 10 year commitment from IBM and brings together researchers at IBM with faculty at MIT to tackle hard problems at the vanguard of AI. Prior to joining IBM, David was the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Natural Sciences and of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University, where he held appointments in Computer Science, the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology and the Center for Brain Science. David’s ongoing research is primarily focused on bringing insights from neuroscience into machine learning and computer vision research. His work has spanned a variety of disciplines, from imaging and electrophysiology experiments in living brains, to the development of machine learning and computer vision methods, to applied machine learning and high performance computing methods. Recently, he led the ARIADNE project, a multidisciplinary, multi-university research project spanning Harvard, MIT, Notre Dame, NYU and the University of Chicago. The project aimed to apply advanced techniques in functional and structural brain imaging to guide the development of new biologically-inspired machine learning methods, and resulted in some of the largest combined structure-function neuroscience datasets ever collected. David is a Faculty Associate at the Berkman-Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School and is an Agenda Contributor at the World Economic Forum. He has received a variety of honors, including the Richard and Susan Smith Foundation Award for Excellence in Biomedical Research, the Google Faculty Research Award in Computer Science, and the Roslyn Abramson Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. His academic lab has spawned several startups across a range of industries, ranging from healthcare to autonomous vehicles.

Venkat Srinivasan

Managing Director, Innospark Ventures

Dr. Venkat Srinivasan currently the Managing Director at Innospark Ventures, a venture firm investing in early stage AI led businesses in the Boston area. Venkat has successfully built several AI based businesses including eCredit, Corporate Fundamentals and recently Rage Frameworks.

Venkat has also founded EnglishHelper, KnowYourMeds, and AIinGov all of which are double bottom-line enterprises leveraging AI, focused on education, health and the public sector, respectively. EnglishHelper aims to address literacy challenges at scale and is being successfully used by 2.5 million+ children in economically disadvantaged communities across 13 States in India and is being piloted in Honduras, Sierra Leone, Nicaragua, and Sri Lanka. KnowYourMeds is focused on informing patients and consumers the effects of pharmaceutical drugs and health foods so they can be educated patients and advocate for themselves. AIinGov is aimed at making the public sector become more efficient, transparent and improve their engagement with citizens/constituents across the board. In addition, Venkat has founded Intelligent Machines Lab to create next generation technology based on fundamental research and innovation in AI that will both dramatically change the way software is developed and the way knowledge is acquired for AI machines.

Venkat is an expert in knowledge-based systems architectures, natural language processing, computational linguistics, corporate finance and accounting. He has published his research extensively and holds several patents related to flexible technology architectures and natural language processing. His book titled, The Intelligent Enterprise in the Era of Big Data was published by Wlley in 2016. He was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by The Indus Entrepreneurs [TiE] http://indianewengland.com/2017/12/tie-boston-bestows-lifetime-achievement-award-venkat-srinivasan/ in 2017.

Venkat is a Vice-Chair of the Board of the American India Foundation [AIF]. Venkat also serves as member of the Board of Newprofit, a U.S. nonprofit venture philanthropy fund. He is also a Trustee of BUILD, a non-profit organization focusing on entrepreneurship focused on disengaged, low-income students through high school to college success in the U.S. Venkat also serves on the Advisory Board of the Center for Emerging Markets at Northeastern University.

Prof. P. P. Chakrabarti

Director, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur 

Prof. Partha Pratim Chakrabarti is the director of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (IITKGP), the first engineering institute of national importance set up in India. IITKGP has consistently been ranked among the top three universities of higher learning by the national ranking systems. He completed his PhD in 1988 from the IIT KGP Department of Computer Science and Engineering. He was also the co-Director of the strategic General Motors-IITKGP Collaborative Research Laboratory on Electronics, Controls and Software. He pioneered the development of the Incubation Program at IIT KGP. His areas of expertise include Artificial Intelligence (AI), Formal Methods, CAD for Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) & Embedded Systems, Fault Tolerance, and Algorithm Design. Prof. Chakrabarti received the President of India Gold Medal (1985), the INSA Young Scientist Award (1991), and INAE Young Engineer’s Award (1997) among numerous other honors. He is a Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, the Indian Academy of Science, and the Indian National Academy of Engineering. 

 

Partha S. Ghosh

Panel Moderator

Partha S. Ghosh a true global citizen, as a policy advisor and a strategist for Corporates and Governments, as well as member of the academic community (Tufts University & MIT) is respected worldwide as an innovator of Business and Economic models. He currently enjoys advisory relationships with multiple organizations in more than half a dozen nations. Particularly over the past 15 years as Professor of Practice Tufts Gordon Institute and as management consultant to large and small companies, he has done extensive work to assess strategic and technology issues and led leadership development programs/workshops on digitization of industries, – through different phases of evolution of Information & Communication technologies, Artificial Intelligence (including machine learning, advanced sensing technologies) in Aerospace, Bio-pharma, Defense, Energy (both conventional & renewable systems) industries. Earlier Mr. Ghosh was a partner at McKinsey & Company (1977 thru 1989) and the Managing director of Strategy/Policy advisory firm Partha S Ghosh & Associates (since 1990).  His clients view him as a “creative problem solver” and a “visionary leader.” He also chaired several start-ups such as Boston Analytics, Global-Online and serve the boards of several companies. More recently he has been teaching Globalization & Economics, Advanced Analytics at Tufts Gordon Institute, Innovation & Strategic Technologies at the Fletcher School, and Leadership at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). 

He has two advanced Engineering (MS) and Management (MBA) degrees from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, later one in association with Harvard Business School.  He did his undergraduate work from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur in Chemical Engineering.  An avid public servant, he is one of the founding members of The Boston Pledge, and is involved with multiple philanthropic initiatives around the world.”

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IITAGNE Annual Picnic

When: Saturday, July 28, 2018 
Where: NARA Park, Acton MA.


Register For Free

This year’s Annual IIT AGNE Picnic promises to be a fun event at a NEW location with plenty of FREE parking! The covered pavilion can accommodate over 200 and ensures we will have fun come rain or shine.

Relive your IIT days with plenty of fun activities planned including old favorites like Anthakshri, Quizmaster, badminton and many more. A great time to meet new friends and renew old friendships.

The picnic is open to all IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) Alumni, their families and friends and is FREE. We should have plenty of food for everyone. You are also welcome to bring some food for yourself and to share with others.if you are bringing any food. please email picnic@iitagne.org. If you would like to volunteer to organize the event, email picnic@iitagne.org.

Please RSVP by clicking the green button above, so we know how many to plan for and please remember to share the event on your Facebook / Twitter feeds.

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Are physicians needed in the future?

An IIT Madras BioMedical Technology Summit 2018

IITMAANA, IIT AGNE and IIT Madras Foundation are pleased to invite you to the IIT Madras Biomed Technology Summit 2018, on June 3rd from 1-5PM at the MIT Stata Center. 

Prof. R. Nagarajan, Dean of International Alumni Relations, will kick off the event which will feature in-depth presentations, panel discussions, and networking opportunities with faculty members from the Biotech Department and Health Care Technology Incubator Center.  An all-star panel of IIT Madras faculty, entrepreneurs and executives will discuss the need for innovation and entrepreneurship in healthcare technologies and devices in an interconnected world, and how the Boston healthcare ecosystem can work with institutions like IIT Madras to develop solutions at scale.  

This event will be chaired by Rekha Ranganathan, VP and GM, Philips Healthcare. The panel will explore technology trends that are making healthcare accessible and the expectations of physicians with the changes in global healthcare, how technology can address challenges globally and locally in India. Learn how IITM and Indian bio-sciences ecosystem are developing innovations to address critical healthcare needs. Generate ideas for collaboration between IITM, Boston Bio-cluster and life science entrepreneurs.

This event is a great opportunity for the local Boston ecosystem to leverage Research and Development at IITM in areas of Biotech and Healthcare. We welcome Technologists, Researchers, Venture Capitalists, and Business leaders,  interested in low cost mobile healthcare devices and technologies, that can be commercialized for rural and urban deployment. 

When : June 3, 2018,  1-5 PM 
Where : Room 32-155, Ray and Maria Stata Center at MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts 
Register Early as seats are limited. 


Register

Why you should attend ?
  • Learn about innovation in Biotech and Healthcare at IITM
  • How you can leverage and influence R&D at IITM
  • Network with your classmates, peers, and industry experts

We look forward to strong participation from IITM, IIT Alumni to show your support for your alma-mater. This event is open to everyone. 

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Visit of Dean of Alumni Affairs, IIT Kharagpur

Please join New England IIT Kharagpur Alumni in welcoming Prof. Subrata Chattopadhyay, the newly appointed Dean of Alumni Affairs at IIT Kharagpur.

Prof. Chattopadhyay will provide an overview of the services available to all alumni of IIT KGP. He will also highlight the various Alumni initiatives at KGP and solicit suggestions from alumni. 

Agenda: 

  • Networking
  • Dinner
  • Talk by Prof. Chattopadhyay
  • Interactive Discussion

When:  May 29, 2018, at 7:00pm
Where: Masala Art, 990 Great Plain Avenue, Needham, MA 02492 


Register

Previously Prof. Chattopadhyay was head of the department of Architecture, which has now been ranked as the number 1 program in Architecture in India by the Government of India. Prof. Subrata Chattopadhyay is also the Avinash Gupta (KGP1968 Arch) Distinguished Chair Professor in the Department of Architecture at KGP. He also serves as a Governor for the School of Planning and Architecture in Delhi. Dr. Chattopadhyay graduated from BE College Kolkata and has done post-graduate studies at New Castle Upon Tyne, UK; Lund University, Sweden; and School of Planning and Architecture in Delhi. He received his PhD from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.

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Blockchain: Bitcoin and Beyond

Is Blockchain going to disrupt all of technology and finance? Or is that mostly just hype? This seminar will help you  understand the technology underlying Blockchain and get a sense of its promise, perils and limitations. Blockchain is the underlying technology that enables cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. To its proponents, however, the Blockchain is nothing less than a radically new way to address foundational issues in technology, banking and commerce. It could enable cheaper money transfers, easier identity-verification and new modes of commerce via smart-contracts. However, much of this promise is yet to be realized– there are many unresolved questions about its applicability in the real world. Our panel of distinguished experts will help you to better understand this technology and its uses. 

Where:

Cambridge Innovation Center,
Havana Conf. room, 5th Floor,
1 Broadway, Cambridge MA

When:

Saturday, May 19th, 2018 1:45 PM – 5 PM

Panelists


Register

Space Courtesy CIC Cambridge

CIC

Shyam Kamadolli

Havell Rodrigues

Nick Lasurdo

Raghav Chawla

Rohit Singh

Shyam Kamadolli

Managing Partner, AVG Blockchain Fund

As the Managing Partner at AVG Blockchain Fund, Shyam leads venture capital style investments in blockchain/distributed ledger technology projects. This follows a long career as a technology entrepreneur, VC investor, and dealmaker for over 20 years in the Boston ecosystem.  Most recently, he led venture capital investments in technology at Fidelity Investments’ Eight Roads and F-Prime Capital platforms.  Shyam earned dual MBAs from Columbia Business School and London Business School; an MSEE from Clarkson University, and a BE in Comp. Engg. from Mumbai University. 

Havell Rodrigues

CEO and Co-Founder of Adjoint

Havell Rodrigues is an accomplished finance and technology executive and innovator. He leads the Boston and London offices, leveraging blockchain and secure, accurate smart contracts to help their enterprise clients realize better margins and create new business models.

Prior to Adjoint, Havell spent eight years at an emerging markets hedge fund, Venus Capital, managing a hedge fund-of-funds portfolio, investing in OTC Derivatives and structured notes. Before that, he worked at Bodkin Design, a U.S. defense industry focussed research company that built high precision, imaging technology for military intelligence systems. He also served as CFO and Board Member of Greenbean Recycle, a payments/cleantech company that was acquired by Tomra Systems ASA in 2014. He holds an MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurship from Babson College and a BS in Statistics from the University of Mumbai. He is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst and a Charter Member of TiE-Boston.

Nick Lasurdo

Counsel, Goodwin Procter LLP

Nick Losurdo is counsel in Goodwin’s Financial Industry, FinTech, Digital Currency + Blockchain Technology and Privacy + Cybersecurity practices. Mr. Losurdo advises a variety of clients on regulatory, compliance, transactional and enforcement matters, including: 

  • Broker-dealers, ATSs, equity and option exchanges and investment advisers regarding SEC and FINRA regulations.
  • Technology and other companies in the area of blockchain and digital currency, such as initial coin offerings (ICOs) and other crypto- or blockchain-based initiatives (including compliance with federal and state regulations).
  • Private equity funds during strategic and financial acquisitions, dispositions and restructurings involving financial institutions.

Mr. Losurdo also utilizes his diverse capital markets and financial services experience (encompassing both in-house and private practice roles) to provide thoughtful and practical guidance on SEC rules and regulations, FINRA’s rules and membership, and the membership and compliance requirements of state regulators, equity and option exchanges, clearing organizations and other SROs.

Raghav Chawla

Director of Product Management, Fidelity Labs

Raghav is focused on building new products and services using cryptocurrencies, web 3.0 and blockchain technology. He is particularly interested in the topics of self-sovereign identity, governance, and the usability of DApps

Rohit Singh

Chief Executive Officer and Portfolio Manager at Tech Square Trading (Panel Moderator)

Rohit Singh is the Chief Executive Officer and Portfolio Manager at Tech Square Trading, a quantitative hedge fund based in Boston. Previously, he was at Merrill Lynch, on the firm’s proprietary trading desk, and at SAC Capital’s quantitative division.  Rohit holds a PhD in Computer Science from MIT, where his dissertation won the George M. Sprowls award. He received his Masters degree from Stanford University and his undergraduate degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, both in Computer Science. 

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