Gala Honors the Creativity and Prominence of Indian Engineers and Architects

 

 

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By Dinesh Shah

HOUSTON: Among the cluster of Fall Galas that fill up the calendar between August through November, the one group that represents the largest base of Indian professionals in the city celebrated two decades of its founding this past Wednesday, September 24 at the Hilton Post Oak.
Established in 1994, the American Society of Indian Engineers has endeavored to provide networking and professional development opportunities through continuing educational seminars, workshops and field trips to engineers, architects, designers and technicians of Indian origin in the Greater Houston Area. In the past twenty years, the organization has been involved in diverse activities such as annual participation in the Mathcounts competition sponsored by the Texas Society of Professional Engineers; volunteering as judges during the Science and Engineering Fair of Houston; offering scholarships to engineering student and Disaster relief fundraising.

In 1999, ASIE began the Young Engineer/Architect of the Year Award and in 2011 the ASIE Engineer/Architect of the Year Award for members who have excelled in the field of engineering. This year, during Engineer’s Week (in February), another award has been added: the “Indian Engineers Engineering the Future”.

The red, white, and blue color theme of the Gala added a celebratory touch for the awards presentations. The blue backdrop curtain was festooned with flags and the banners of sponsoring engineering companies, many of them also highlighted in the floor banners displayed during the social hour. The sold out event brought in a larger than expected turnout of almost 400 guests. The donations from this year’s gala will enable ASIE to fund scholarships for college-bound students pursuing degrees in engineering programs from public universities in the Greater Houston Area.

Sanjay Ramabhadran, a professional engineer and two time past president of ASIE and Komal Bansal, a young female engineering student emceed the event. ASIE Vice-President and Gala Chair, Showri Nandagiri applauded the sponsors and their guests and thanked the Gala Committee Chairs Vishal Merchant (Fund Raising); Mahendra Korivi (Food and Venue); Dinesh Shah (Publicity); Raj Basavaraju (Reception ); Chetan Vyas (Program); Naresh Kolli (Finance); Ravi Raj Yanamandala (Silent Auction); Srinivas Chintalapati (Souvenir) and Krishna Vavilala (Recognition of Class of 2014) and added “It was obvious to me that getting the right people in the right place was the key to a successful function”.

ASIE President, Sekhar Ambadapudi shared twenty years of history of the organization with a remarkable list of technical and professional activities and goals achieved by the group. “Historically, the experienced and well established members of ASIE have provided guidance and encouragement to the young and dynamic generation of the future”, he said, adding “We strive to provide a unified voice for our members and the community we live and work within.” He announced that the ASIE charter would be changed starting this year to include architects too.
The Gala brought in Harris County Judge Ed Emmett as a Keynote Speaker and Jimmie Schindewolf, a General Manager of North Harris County Regional Water Authority and former Director of Public Works at the City of Houston as Chief Guest. They congratulated ASIE and the Indo-American design community for the important role they play in Harris County and City of Houston for many diversified and all engineering discipline projects.

The Gala highlighted the two goals of ASIE: “building the future for young engineers and architects” and “recognition of Outstanding Engineers and Architects” who served for long in Houston area. Last year, under the leadership of President Vishal Merchant, the 11 engineers of the “ASIE Class of 2013″ were honored at a luncheon. “Their enthusiasm and commitment has resulted in decades of creativity and thousands of projects not only in Houston, but all over the country”, Merchant had said then. “We, the young generation, look up to them as our role models and inspiration as we move forward in our professional careers.”

Today, there are more than one thousand engineers and architects of Indian origin reside in Greater Houston area and contributing to engineering and technical industries. Many of them have excelled in their fields as entrepreneurs and professionals, but many hidden jewels who have made a difference need to be recognized. This year, the ASIE selected five professionals for the “ASIE Class of 2014” and awards were given to Dr. Durga Das Aggrawal, Showri Nandagiri, Sam Kannappan, Ram Gupta and Randhir Sahni, the first architect to win the award, presented by Emmett and Schindewolf.

The program began with the singing of the US National Anthem in stylized in her heavy voice by the young Chloe Choudhury who also followed up with the Indian National Anthem. Before and after the three course dinner catered by the hotel, a cultural program featuring a bhangra and a raas garba performance, both by university students and a song medley by a harmony choir of Rice University students. The event ended with the announcement of the silent auction winners and a vote of thanks by Yanamandala and Vyas.

For further information about ASIE, please visit http://asiehouston.org