Media Release
Udupi, Jun 11: The principal of Shri Madhwa Vadiraja Institute of Technology (SMVITM), Bantakal, Udupi has been promoted as director of the same institute with immediate effect.
Dr Aithal has been promoted to this coveted post considering his dedicated and sincere services to the institution, in particular and to the higher education sector, in general. An 'external technical advisory board' constituting distinguished researchers and eminent professors from USA has been formed which aims at developing collaborations and interactions with universities and institutions abroad. This committee under the able direction of Dr Aithal will be visiting the SMVITM campus on June 15 to hold detailed discussions on creating a one of a kind engineering institute that blends the knowledge of current science and technology with the wisdom of India's past heritage and to come up with a strategic action plan to be implemented at SMVITM.
The delegation is led by prof Dr P R Mukund from renowned Rochester Institute of Technology, New York, US, and comprises prof Dr Roger Easton, Centre for Imaging Science, RIT, NY; Dr Keith Knox, Technical Fellow(Retd), The Boeing Company, Hawaii; Dr Vanditha Mukund, Sr VP, NanoArk Corporation, NY, Dr Anand Gopalan, VP, Design Engineering, Rambus Inc, CA, Dr Raghuveer M Rao, chief (IPD), US Army Research Lab, Washington DC and S Satish, advisor, Karnataka Science and Technology Promotion Society (KSTEPS), Bengaluru, as members.
Dr Thirumaleshwara Bhat, a renowned mechanical engineer and academician, with over two and half decades experience in technical education, has been nominated as the principal of SMVITM from the academic year 2015-16. Ratnakumar, secretary of Shri Sode Vadiraja Mutt Education Trust Udupi, which governs SMVITM, has described the above moves as major milestones in its journey towards excellence and creating a world class institution in a rural place like Bantakal and has expressed hope that SMVITM will climb to greater heights without compromising on its mission towards providing value added quality technical education, under the leadership of Dr Bhat and Dr Aithal.