IIT(ISM) recognizes the significant contribution made by distinguished personalities from Industry, Academics, and Research in the momentous function of IIT(ISM) Alumni Reunion “BASANT”, normally held on the first Sunday of February every year. This year’s BASANT event was held on 6th February (Sunday) through an online virtual session. Three IIT(ISM) Alumni from ISMAANA were recognized this year at the Basant Awards.

Pradip Kumar Gangopadhyay

In recognition of his outstanding contribution to his alma mater, Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines) Dhanbad is privileged to honor Shri Pradip Kumar Gangopadhyay with Nagendra Kumar Memorial Award for the year 2021.

Shri Pradip Kumar Gangopadhyay graduated in Petroleum Engineering with First Class Honors from the Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad in the year 1970. Later, he earned a master’s degree in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Oklahoma in 1981.

Before arriving in the USA in 1979, he worked with ONGC from Feb 1971 through December 1976 and in IRAN from January 1977 to Dec 1976. Shri Gangopadhyay worked with Bechtel Petroleum Corp, Houston as Senior Engineer & Towner Petroleum Company, Houston as District Engineer. Once the oil & gas industry took downturn in 1980s, he received an opportunity to work with AT&T and ended with North Carolina State Govt Information Technology Systems [ITS — now named as Dept of Information Technology (DIT)]. From 1987 to 2018 he worked in computer industry in almost all areas starting from physical layer, datalink, network, transport, session & application layers and carried on assignments in project management, systems engineering, computer networking, statistical analyses & evaluation.

Ashutosh Ashish’s (’94 PE) msg to Pradip Gangopadhyay
My heartiest congratulations on being the IIT(ISM) 2021 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient! Having worked with you to restart ISMAANA in early 2000s, I have experienced firsthand your passion for ISM. It was a pleasure working with you, knowing that I could always reach out to you to bounce ideas, guidance, and any help we needed in reaching out to any member. Your email signature says it all: CONNECT > COMMUNICATE > COOPERATE > COLLABORATE > CONTRIBUTE. No one does it better than you.

Shri Gangopadhyay contributed significantly to the ISM Alumni Association of North America (ISMAANA, a non-profit organization), and began constructing a database along with Manoj Choudhary & Ashutosh Ashish (both ’94 Petroleum Eng) and Pasupathi Sah (’98 Petroleum Eng) in late 1990s when he actively involved with ISMAANA. Subsequently, in addition to gathering the US domestic alumni data, he populated the database with all our ISM alumni around the world in which each pers on is uniquely identified with complete name, year of graduation, and major. He worked with all the ISMAANA presidents including Dr Ram Gopal Agarwal (’61 P. Tech), Mr. Jagjit Singh Yadav (’65 P Tech), Prof. Raja V. Ramani (’62 Mining Eng), Dr Ganesh C. Thakur (’70 Petroleum Eng) & Mr. Dipak K. Sarkar (’67 P Tech) and other ISMAA satellite/sister organizations for establishing the global communications, but he never held any officially elected, selected or appointed positions; simply performed communications duties so that ISM alumni from all around the world may communicate freely on a single platform on matters related to alma mater, her alumni, faculty members including higher administrative officials.

Once Shri Gangopadhyay received the Golden Jubilee Commemoration Volume (1926-76) from Mr. Rohini P. Sharma (’67 Mining Eng.), he converted into a PDF and distributed extensively among alumni around the world, for which he received great appreciation. Most of his work was done while Professor Emeritus Raja V. Ramani was Chairman and President of ISMAANA.

The first eight scholarships were instituted for the original four branches of studies, viz. Mining Engineering, Applied Geology, Applied Geophysics & Petroleum Engineering during the time when Dr Ganesh Thakur was the President and later many other scholarships and other fundraising activities expanded during the time of Mr. Dipak Sarkar as the President for common good of all. It may be worthwhile to mention that Shri Gangopadhyay met with almost all the individuals who sponsored scholarships &/or donated large philanthropic to our alma mater.

Shri Gangopadhyay is a life member of the Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Hyderabad ISMAA organizations. Last year, former NGRI Director Padma Shri Prof. Harsh Gupta (’63 Applied Geophysics) presented him with an award for his outstanding alumni services at the ISMAA-Hyderabad Chapter’s annual gathering/general meeting in Hyderabad on February 13, 2020.

Shri Gangopadhyay is a life member of the Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Hyderabad ISMAA organizations. Last year, former NGRI Director Padma Shri Prof. Harsh Gupta (’63 Applied Geophysics) presented him with an award for his outstanding alumni services at the ISMAA-Hyderabad Chapter’s annual gathering/general meeting in Hyderabad on February 13, 2020.

In recognition of his outstanding contribution to his alma mater, Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines) Dhanbad is privileged to honor Shri Pradip Kumar Gangopadhyay with Nagendra Kumar Memorial Award for the year 2021.

Avinash Ahuja

IIT(ISM) is pleased to inform that Mr. Avinash Ahuja was selected for the Distinguished Alumnus Award under the category “Entrepreneurship Award” for the year 2021. Please accept our heartiest congratulations.

Mr. Avinash C. Ahuja is President of Magnum Producing, LP, an oil and gas exploration and production company based in Texas. Prior to founding the company in 1987, Mr. Avinash Ahuja held key management positions in two oil and gas companies located in Texas and Louisiana.

Through ISMAANA Mr. Avinash Ahuja has been a generous supporter of multiple programs at IIT(ISM). He is currently awarding 10 merit cum means scholarships per year of $1000 each. He has also funded conversion of one classroom into a smart classroom with a donation of $25,000.

Mr. Ahuja is very active in local, National, and international organizations, including: Pratham USA, Magic Bus USA, Miracle Foundation, The Art Museum of South Texas, Christus Spohn Health System, Deaf and Hard of Hearing Center of Corpus Christi, YWCA, American Heart Association, American Diabetes Association, American Cancer Society, MD Anderson Cancer Center and World Affairs Council of South Texas. He also serves on the advisory board for Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi College of Business.

Mr. Ahuja received a BS in Petroleum Engineering from Indian School of Mines in 1967 and an MS from the University of Houston in 1970. He has two grown children Ranika (late Dr. Ruben Cohen) and Rajan (Callie), three grandchildren (Lia, Ellie, and Avinash), and lives with his wife Peggy in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Anil Ambastha

In recognition of his outstanding contribution to his alma mater, Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines) Dhanbad is privileged to honor Shri Anil Ambastha with Research and Academic Excellence Award for the year 2021. Please accept our heartiest congratulations.

Dr. Anil Ambastha is a Chevron Fellow and Senior Principal Simulation Engineer for the Field Development (International) Chapter at Chevron Technical Center in Houston. In this role, he is responsible for providing technical guidance to assigned Chapter members carrying out reservoir simulation assessments. He has been with Chevron for 23 years and has held positions of increasing responsibilities over the years. Prior to joining Chevron, Dr. Ambastha worked as a faculty member in Petroleum Engineering at the University of Alberta (1988-1996) and a Staff Reservoir Engineer at Shell Canada Limited (1996-1998). He completed BTech, MS, and PhD degrees from the Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), University of Tulsa, and Stanford University, respectively, all in Petroleum Engineering. He also completed an MS degree in Operations Research from Stanford University.

Dr. Ambastha has authored or coauthored more than 80 papers in various areas of applied reservoir engineering/simulation, pressure transient analysis, and improved / enhanced oil recovery. Dr. Ambastha has been a Technical Editor since 1992 for SPE Reservoir Evaluation and Engineering (SPEREE) and its predecessor journal, including being Executive Editor for SPEREE journal from 2008-2011. He was also a SPE “Distinguished Lecturer” for the 2015-2016 tour season. Dr. Ambastha has received SPE “Lester C. Uren Technical Excellence” (2009), “Distinguished Membership” (2009), “Distinguished Service” (2010), “IOR Pioneer” (2018) and “DeGolyer Distinguished Service Medal” (2020) awards. He has been honored with “A Peer Apart” award for having reviewed 100 papers by SPE in 2007 and has also received “Outstanding Technical Editor” award 14 times from the SPE Editorial Committee. In 2021, Dr. Ambastha was also a recipient of “Career Achievement Award” from the US-based Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers.

Dr. Ambastha was inducted as a Chevron Fellow in 2021 which represents the “highest technical recognition” Chevron bestows on an employee.

List of 2022 Awards