BIS Mumbai
BOSCO INFORMATION SERVICE #3146
ILLUMINUS: A CONFLUENCE OF EXTRAORDINARY MINDS
Prof. Mirza Imran
KURLA-MUMBAI, SEPTEMBER 27, 2012 : On September 21, 2012, Don Bosco Institute of Technology, Kurla and ACM-DBIT in collaboration with project Praviin of IBM hosted a 
symposium titled ‘Illuminus – A confluence of extraordinary minds’ at the Santino Mondini Hall. The event featured some of the biggest IT industry heavyweights as panelists to discuss an imperative topic – Meeting the industry demands by academia.
The star studded lineup of panelists consisted of Mr. Mohammed Lokhandwala, Chief Software Architect, Worldwide Software, Mr. Premal Saiya, Delivery Head – Blue Star Infotech, Mr. Rahul Ghorawat, Senior Consultant L&T Infotech, Mr. Brett Sedgewick, Vice President , NASSCOM Foundation, Mr. Vinay Patkar Executive VP - Mindcraft Software Pvt. Ltd., Mr. Lawrence Mohanraj, Relationship Manager, IBM Project Praviin, Dr. Santosh Kumar Mohanty, Head, Components Engineering Group, TCS and Mr. Maninder Singh, President – Enterprise Products, Infrasoft Tech.
The ardent participation of students and faculty from the invited colleges as well as DBIT ensured a house-full at the Santino Mondini Hall. The participating colleges were: M. H. Saboo Siddik College of Engineering, MGM, CRCE-Bandra, CRCE - Vashi, St.John's - Palghar, Xavier Institute of Technology, Sardar Patel Institute of Technology, St. Francis Institute of Technology, Shah and Anchor, Saraswati College of Engineering and Don Bosco Institute of Technology. A whopping two hundred and twenty five participants attended the event (ninety seven off-campus + one hundred and seventeen in-house). These included twenty two in-house and seven off-campus faculty members.
The event commenced with opening remarks by Fr. Adolph Furtado sdb, Director DBIT and Dr. N.G. Joag, Principal DBIT briefly describing the need for having the event. Mr. Brett Sedgewick played the role of moderator and took over the proceedings from thereon. This was 
followed by a self-introduction by each of the panelists. Then began the centerpiece of the event; “Illuminus” the panel discussion. The panelists spoke at length about what they felt was required of students in order to bridge the gap that exists between academia and the industry. Some suggestions advocated by the panelists were, having a clear idea of what one wants to achieve, strengthening one’s fundamentals, being proficient in one’s field of interest and being a good communicator. The session was comprehensive and thoroughly informative as it offered a firsthand insight into what the head honchos expect of engineering graduates. Next on the agenda was the much awaited Question & Answer session. The panel tried their best to accommodate as many questions as time would permit. One of the participants asked “What are the top qualities you look for in prospective employees?”, while another asked “Colleges seem to be training us to be a Jack of all trades and master of none, is that what the industry requires?” All questions posed were answered cogently and to the point as reflected by the applause that a lot the responses generated. Dr. Krishnamurthy then summarized the event in a well-constructed A to I abbreviation, each letter depicting a different quality mentioned 
during the event, after which Mrs. Nilakshi Joshi delivered the vote of thanks. Illuminus concluded with the screening of two videos – one by Project Praviin as a part of their centenary celebrations and the second a slideshow with the inspirational track ‘The Power of The Dream’ by Celine Dion.
The Program was attended by the Heads of various Institutes of the DBCL Campus. It had the patronage of Fr. Mario Vaz, Executive director DBMIR, Fr. Bosco, Campus Minister, Fr. Edward, Administrator, Dr. Joag, Principal DBIT and Research Director, Dr. Krishnamoorthy.
Thanks to the detailed planning and excellent arrangements by Prof. Mirza Imran and his team, the afternoon was profitably spent. Most participants found the panel discussion and the Question &Answer round very informative and engaging. They were yearning for more as a majority wanted the session to have been a day long. Undoubtedly DBIT’s “Illuminus” has enlightened the teaching and student fraternity to contribute to a more dynamic and brighter future for India.
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