San Francisco, July 26 (Agency) Sundar Pichai, the Chief Executive Officer of Alphabet and its subsidiary Google, was on Thursday presented an honorary Doctor of Science Award by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur at a programme here. IIT Kharagpur Director V K Tewari bestowed the award to Pichai in the presence of the latter’s parents and his daughter Kavya Pichai. Sundar Pichai’s wife Anjali Pichai was also presented with Distinguished Alumnus Award. The Pichais are alumni of the premier institute. The award ceremony was attended by renowned alumni of IIT Kharagpur including Vinod Gupta and Ranbir Gupta along with Prof. Rintu Banerjee, Deputy Director and Prof. Debashish Chakravarty, Dean Alumni Affairs of the institute. A B.Tech (Hons) in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering from IIT Kharagpur, Sundararajan Pichai is the recipient of the country’s third highest civilian award, the Padma Bhushan. In recognition of his remarkable contribution towards digital transformation, affordable technology and path breaking innovations, the President of India Droupadi Murmu, the Visitor of the Institute, bestowed the honorary Doctor of Science in absentia at the 69th Convocation of IIT Kharagpur on December 18, 2023.
On receiving the award, Pichai remarked, “This is indeed a great honour that IIT Kharagpur has bestowed on me. Standing with this award in my hands reminds me of the young boy that I was who dreamed to be in the world that I am trying to create with my inventions. “IIT Kharagpur holds a special place in my heart as this was the place where I first met my beloved wife, Anjali and had beautiful memories of my second home that I grew up in. “The ambience, the people, the environment, the culture imparts a diaspora of knowledge learnings that one can implement in shaping up their practical wisdom. I am grateful to my institute for rewarding me with this award and there is nothing in the world that can compare to this emotional euphoria that I feel right now,” he said.