Surendra Ullal
CHICAGO: The American Association of Engineers of Indian Origin (AAEIO) organized a holiday party for its members at Kennedy Hall, Bolingbrook Golf Course on December 19, 2020. Several members, including leading CEOs, academicians, and fellow engineers with their spouses were present.
Bill Foster, Congressman-IL, 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 Governments, Purdue University, Northwestern University among others) to commercialize key technologies.
Dr. Deepak Vyas, CEO Redberri Group talked about 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 start-up, Corporate 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 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, President, 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 month since its inaugural event on Sep 26th, 2021. Gladson is very excited about the future and would like this organization to have more than 10,000 members in next 10 year, driving innovation.
AAEIO has also partnered with Pan IIT Midwest Group 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 groups to solve some of the challenges that Engineers and larger community faces 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 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 members, please write to membership@aaeiousa.org or visit our website www.aaeiousa.org
Ms. Madura Sane, AAEIO Board Member, along with PraveenJaligama, a great singer and Saregama finalist along with Ranjit Gopal made the event lively by singing melodious songs and made the event festive.
Nitin Maheshwari, Vice president, talked about future AAEIO plans for the year 2022:
- Job fair on March 9th 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM CST. VinozChanamolu, CEO, Mall of America provided that over 20 employers are already registered. The seminar will also provide workshops on resume review, soft skills,
- Spring Start-Up Event: This will bring all start-ups in the Chicago area to come together along with CEOs, Venture Capitalist and mentors to help start-up learn. Microsoft CEO Mr. Satya Nadella has been invited to this meet.
- Bi-Monthly Business Networking Event: Starting Jan 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, and the Board of AAEIO wishes everyone very happy holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy New year and thanks all the sponsors of the event.
