American Association of Engineers of India Origin launches Innovation Hub
The American Association of Engineers of India Origin organized a holiday party for its members at Bolingbrook Golf Course's Kennedy Hall on Dec. 19. Several members, including leading CEOs, academicians, fellow engineers with their spouses were present.
U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, 11th District, along with AAEIO President Gladson Varghese, President-Elect Ajit Pant, and Vice President Nitin Maheshwari and other board members inaugurated the AAEIO Innovation Hub. Innovation Center is an AAEIO partnership with leading institutions (India and U.S. hovernments, Purdue University, Northwestern University among others) to commercialize key technologies.
Dr. Deepak Vyas, CEO Redberri Group, talked about the need to drive innovation and how AAEIO platform can help. He emphasized that there are over 16,000 technologies that NASA has which need to be commercialized. As part of the innovation center, AAEIO will set up a fund where state and other grants can be used in conjunction with AAEIO's startup, vorporate and regular members can use these funds on a select technologies. These efforts gathered a lot of excitement from AAEIO members.
Dr. Promod Vohra, former Engineering Dean of Northern Illinois University and current president of ProBys, also spoke to the gathering on the need for engineering to work together to solve current challenges and stated that he will AAEIO board to further its mission to engage, innovate, and educate engineers of Indian origin.
Gladson Varghese and Ajit Pant thanked all members for becoming part of AAEIO. They also informed how AAEIO quickly became a major force in the last 4 months since its inaugural event on Sept. 26. Gladson is very excited about the future and would like this organization to have more than 10,000 members in next the 10 years, driving innovation.
AAEIO has also partnered with Pan IIT Midwest Groups to bring joint programming to both association members. Ray Mehra, president, Pan-IIT Midwest group, addressed the gathering and called for increased partnership between the two group to solve some of the challenges that engineers, and larger communities face and bring both communities together.
Nag Jaiswal, chair of membership, asked all present to work together to bring more members to help with AAEIO's mission. He also announced the recent partnership with the Indian Consulate where AAEIO is working with the consulate to reach out to all Indian Student Associations and its engineering community. All student members will get complimentary membership. To become a member, write to membership@aaeiousa.org or visit www.aaeiousa.org
Madura Sane, an AAEIO board member, along with Praveen Jaligama, a great singer and Saregama finalist along with Ranjit Gopal, made the event lively by singing melodious songs and keeping the tempo of the evening high and made the event festive.
Nitin Maheshwari, vice president, talked about future AAEIO plans for the year 2021:
• Job fair on March 9 from 4 to 8 p.m. CST. Vinoz Chanamolu, CEO, Mall of America, provided that over 20 employers are already registered. The seminar also will provide workshops on resume review, soft skills.
• Spring startup event: This will bring all startups in the Chicago area to come together along with CEOs, venture capitalists, and mentors to help startups learn. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has been invited to this meeting.
• Bimonthly Business Networking Event: Starting January 2022, AAEIO will organize a breakfast event with key speakers/guests on key topics such as crypto technologies, digital transformation
• Fall Gala Event: Event with a keynote speaker to bring the AAEIO and other sister communities together. With a lot of excitement, AAEIO closes its inception year 2021 on a high note. The AAEIO board wishes everyone a very happy holiday, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and thanks all the sponsors of the event.