Tuesday, 19 March 2013

Sundar Pichai – IIT Khargpur topper and now head of Google Chrome and Android

Who is Sundar Pichai, presently most of them known as head of Google’s Android, but Professors of Indian institute of technology known him as P Sundarajan, an unassuming student from Chennai who joined the metallurgical department at IIT Kharagpur in 1989.

Presently Pichai is leading some biggest products of Google, Google Chrome and Android.
“Teaching students for 44 years and hearing news of their success is what makes it worth and is my main source of satisfaction,” said Sanat Kumar Roy, 69, who taught Pichai. “He was very well mannered and soft spoken. He was the topper in the metallurgical batch from the first year itself,” said Prof Roy, who taught at IIT Kharagpur for 44 years before retiring.
Achievements of Sundar Pichai at IIs:
Topper of metallurgical batch 1993 pass out
Won the Institute Silver Medal for excellence in academics
Interest of Sundar Pichai – Though Sundar was students of metallurgical department at IITs, but he was very interested in the field of electronics. t was the flexibility of the IIT system that allowed him to pursue his interest in electronics while being a student of metallurgy. “He was doing work in the field of electronics at a time when no separate course on electronics existed in our curriculum. His thesis dealt with implanting molecules of other elements in silicon wafers to alter its properties. It was very clear from the beginning that he was enthused about electronics and materials,” said Prof Roy.
Journey of Pichai :
From IIT, Pichai moved to Stanford for postgraduate studies. “After studying there, he joined Applied Materials which gave him a good opportunity to nurture his ideas in the fields of electronics and associated materials,” said Prof Roy. He also has an MBA from the Wharton School, where he was named a Siebel Scholar and a Palmer Scholar.
Pichai finally landed at Google in 2004. Twitter is said to have tried to poach him from Google to lead its products. However, it is said that Google gave Pichai a bonus that persuaded him to stay on. Reports peg the bonus anywhere between $10 million and $50 million.

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