Local BITSAA Savor Holiday Season Luncheon, No Bitcoins Accepted!
Front row (from left): Nikhitha Punna, Viveka Nalluri, Rachna Shetty, Palak, Sandeep Gade, Sharva, Utkarsh Gupta and Rajat Jain. Back row (from left): Krishna Vavilala, Ashish Rohil, Vidya Sagar Ronanki, Shweta, PS Raju, Vyom, Ashwin, Manish Sood, and Hari Krishna
HOUSTON: Members of the BITSAA International – Houston Chapter met at Nirvana restaurant on the city’s westside on Saturday, December 15 to celebrate the Holiday season with a luncheon. It also provided an opportunity for the young Bitsians who moved to Houston recently to meet with the senior Bitsians living in Houston. The event was coordinated by Nikhita Punna.
The eminent Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) is a private institute of higher education and a deemed university established in its present form in 1964 in Pilani, Rajasthan. The institute’s transformation from a regional engineering college to a national university was backed by the late Indian philanthropist Ghanshyam Das Birla or the industrialist Birla family.
The institute is one among the 6 Indian ‘Institutes of Eminence’ recognized by the Government of India. It has expanded to campuses at Goa, Hyderabad and Dubai across 4 campuses and has 15 academic departments. It focuses primarily on higher education in engineering and sciences and on its management program.
Though accurate numbers are unavailable, it is estimated that there are more than three hundred Bitsians living in and around Houston greater metropolitan area, mostly employed in the oil and gas, IT, engineering and financial fields.
BITSAA (BITS Alumni Association) International is a not-for-profit organization registered in New Jersey with several chapters throughout the US. The local Houston chapter was officially launched on BITSAA Day, August 2, 2013 by then erstwhile Indian Consul General Parvathaneni Harish who himself was an engineer before becoming a diplomat.
BITSAA’s mission is to “maximize the potential of BITSians and BITS Pilani”. It engages in charitable and educational activities by raising funds for setting up endowments, creating scholarships, rewarding teaching and research and generally promoting the development of resources at Birla Institute of Technology and Science at Pilani, Dubai, Goa and Hyderabad campuses. The Government of India has recently named BITS-Pilani as one of the six Institutes of Eminence in India, a special category.
BITSAA International aims to strengthen the ties, friendship and communication amongst former students, alumni faculty and friends of the Institute. BITSAA International provides a number of channels for people to stay connected with each other and with Birla Institutes of Technology & Science.
For more information, please visit BITSAA at www.bitsaa.org/page/about-bitsaa-international or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/groups/BITSAAHouston. For information on BITSAA Houston chapter, call Krishna Vavilala at 713-795-5169.