Mukund Padmanabhan shares some details of his beneficence for UCLA and IIT Kharagpur
Mukund Padmanabhan has a soft spot for supporting education opportunities for underprivileged children. So why has he given large sums to his alma maters, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and IIT Kharagpur?
He explains his rationale to The South Asian Times: “I came to the US as a graduate student on a full scholarship, without which I would not have been able to study here. As a foreign student entirely dependent on financial aid to survive, when money got tight, things sometimes got a little tense. On the other hand, Indian students who come here to study generally thrive and make good contributions to society. So, guided by my personal experience, I wanted to make it easier for those students.
“Thus was born GKF’s ‘Higher education’ focus, which sets up Fellowships at institutions of higher learning to make it easier for well-qualified Indian students to come here. We have set up these fellowships at UCLA, SUNY Stony Brook, and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.” The last two are on Long Island in New York.
Mukund argues that higher education and scientific research lead to inventions and innovations that benefit humanity in many ways. Though such institutions receive ample government support, these days, private institutional funding also plays a major role in their operations. The growth and impact of an institution depends on the quality of the faculty, students, and infrastructure, which in turn depends on the funds they can raise.
“I benefited greatly from my education at UCLA and would like to give something back. The growth and profile of the school also indirectly benefit all alumni. Consequently, when UCLA was looking to expand the Samueli Engineering School, they reached out to alumni to sponsor parts of the new Engineering VI building, and I sponsored one of the labs there. Similarly, on the advice of the Dean of the Engineering School, I established a couple of endowed faculty chairs there,” says Mukund.
The Dean’s message to the SATimes attests to the breadth of Mukund’s support for UCLA’s engineering school.
At the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, Mukund names The Academy of Classical and Folk Arts (ACFA) as a major project he is funding.
Undergrads at the IITs are typically required to take some required credits in areas other than their main concentration. In the past, the only option for these credits were avenues like NCC (National Credit Corps), but a few years ago the Indian government added options such as classical Indian arts immersion to satisfy these credits. ACFA, inaugurated in 2020, addressed this need, and is growing in popularity. Now they get topnotch names in music and other arts to give classes here. Guru Krupa Foundation’s beneficence has included the formation of a music auditorium with good acoustics, administration of folk arts workshops, and the engagement of teaching Fellows.
ACFA is off the main track. On the main track, Mukund initiated a project to support IIT KGP students who opt to go abroad for the required summer internships in their third and fourth years. The IIT KGP Foundation vets the students who apply for funds to go abroad. He sponsors about 15 students yearly, and another 10 are supported by other KGP alumni here in the US.
Indian media reported in 2022 that a generous donation from IIT-KGP alumnus Mukund Padmanabhan will boost the Nehru Hall Ka Tempo Modernization project. His contribution is renovating, refurbishing, and modernizing all the rooms in the D-Top West Wing of the Nehru Hall residential block. The report quoted Mukund as saying, “I’m proud to be a graduate of IIT KGP and have fond memories of my stay in Nehru Hall, a feeling shared by all my wingmates from that time. On behalf of the Nehru D-Top West batch 1987, I felicitate our juniors and wish them the best of success going forward.”
The love between alumni and their alma maters runs both ways. Mukund Padmanabhan deservedly received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from IIT Kharagpur in 2021 and a Professional Achievement Award from the Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science at UCLA in 2019.
