Sharad Kumar Saraf, an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, has been selected as the chairman of the IITB board of governors (BoG). According to a statement from IIT Bombay, this is the first time an IITB alumnus has been selected for this position.
Saraf, a member of the IIT Bombay BoG for the previous four years, was a member of the BTech 1969 electrical engineering class. At IIT Jammu, he also holds the position of BoG chair. A co-founder of Technocraft Industries India Ltd., Saraf currently holds the position of chairman and managing director. He succeeded Pawan Goenka, former chair of the board of governors at IIT Bombay and current chair of the Indian Space Research Organization (in space), department of space.
“I am really eager to take on this new duty that I have been given. I think the Ministry of Education took a very brave step by appointing an IIT Bombay graduate as the Chairperson of BoG for the first time in history. As the Chairperson of the Board of Governors at IIT Bombay, my three goals are to focus on research that is pertinent and commercially viable; ii) support start-ups, particularly those that are being funded by our alumni; and iii) improve the quality of education and student life on the IIT Bombay campus.
According to IIT Bombay, Saraf has contributed to the expansion of the institute. The Technocraft Centre for Applied Artificial Intelligence (TCA2I), according to the institute, was founded at IIT Bombay with assistance from Saraf and his brother Sudarshan Saraf. The centre was created with the goal of assisting academics and businesses in gaining access to artificial intelligence, machine learning, data sciences, and optimization to address issues in a variety of fields, including cybersecurity, healthcare, and education.
