Exceptional Indian American Grad Students Named Siebel Scholars for 2017

Several Indian American and South Asian American graduate students were among the 2017 Siebel Scholars announced last month.

The Siebel Scholars Foundation announced Sept. 7 its annual scholar award recipients, awarding scholarships to exceptional students at the world’s leading graduate schools of business, computer science, bioengineering, and energy science.

Several Indian American and South Asian American graduate students were among the 2017 Siebel Scholars announced last month.

The Siebel Scholars Foundation announced Sept. 7 its annual scholar award recipients, awarding scholarships to exceptional students at the world’s leading graduate schools of business, computer science, bioengineering, and energy science.

This year’s awards program was expanded to honor top energy science students at two leading educational institutions, Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., and Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, the Foundation said.

A total of 92 students were honored this year, joining the more than 1,000 entrepreneurs, researchers, and philanthropists from past Siebel Scholars classes.

Through the program, this group brings together their diverse perspectives from business, science, and engineering to influence the technologies, policies, and economic and social decisions that shape the future, the Foundation noted.

“The class of 2017 represents the best and brightest from around the globe and it’s my great pleasure to welcome them into this ever-growing, lifelong community,” said Foundation chairman Thomas M. Siebel. “The program’s continued expansion into energy science furthers the potential for Siebel Scholars to achieve even more through their work with an incomparable group of equally talented peers.”

Akshay Chaudhari was a recipient in bioengineering. Chaudhari earned his bachelor’s from U.C. San Diego and is currently pursuing his doctorate in bioengineering from the Stanford University School of Engineering.

Sruti Balakrishnan was honored as a Siebel Scholar in the business category. A graduate of the University of Virginia, double majoring in commerce and economics, the Indian American is pursuing her M.B.A. at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

In the computer science category, Akash Bharadwaj, Chamila Amithirigala, Vipul Venkataraman, Vayu Kishore, Karan Kashyap, Srinivasan Raghuraman and Gaurav Bharaj were among the honorees.

Bharadwaj earned his bachelor’s at the National Institute of Technology in Karnataka, India, and is currently pursuing a master’s degree at Carnegie Mellon University.

Amithirigala is a five-year B.S./M.S. student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Venkataraman earned his bachelor’s in computer science at IIT Bombay and is currently pursuing his master’s from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Kishore earned a dual degree, receiving a B.A. with majors in biology and computer science and a B.S. in economics at the University of Pennsylvania. He is currently pursuing a master’s at Stanford’s School of Engineering.

Kayshap earned his bachelor’s in computer science from MIT and is currently an M.Eng. student at MIT.

Raghuraman is a graduate of IIT Madras with a B.Tech. in computer science and engineering. He is currently pursuing his master’s at MIT.

Bharaj earned his master’s at the University of Pennsylvania. He is currently a fourth-year doctorate student at Harvard University.

Janam Jhaveri was awarded in the energy science category. Jhaveri, who is pursuing a doctorate from Princeton University, earned his bachelor’s in electrical engineering from Purdue University.

The big list of Indian Americans and South Asians named in 2017 comes a year after another large group was named in 2016. The 2016 recipients included Ranjit Deshmukh, Malav Desai, Anusuya Ramasubramanian, Deepak Mishra, Melina Mathur, Vivek Jain, Amay Bandodkar, Rohan Rajiv, Rohit Girdhar, Shivam Agarwal, Ankit Garg, Shilpa Nadimpalli, Rajesh Ranganath, Tarique Siddiqui, Akhil Langer and Shashank Yaduvanshi.

Founded in 2000 to recognize the most talented graduate students in business, computer science, bioengineering and energy science, the Siebel Scholars Foundation provides more than 90 graduate students each year with scholarships. Siebel Scholars, chosen by the deans of their respective schools, receive a $35,000 award for their final year of studies.

This article was orginally published by IndiaWest.