Sweet are the fruits of success

After the initial success of live streaming of BITSAA-SVC panel discussion a month back, it was time for doing just exactly why embryo was formed for - conduct lectures. Encouragements from BITS faculty, especially Prof Rahul Banerjee and the GLs we got permission to conduct lectures for CS/IS and Mech junta on Sunday. The green signal spurred off the volunteers both here and at Pilani, arranging rooms, getting audience, testing technologies etc. etc.

Fast forward one month, yesterday it felt awesome. I gave my first research talk to BITS students - an audience which was thousands of miles sitting in a familiar remote corner of earth. Undergraduates, MEites and some professors (Dr. Kodali) sat and heard and saw me over internet, and asked questions. I could see them too! The lecture went off without any major hitch. It was an awesome feeling, standing on the other side of class, virtually and sharing my ideas and experiences with them. Cool.

If my note got you inspired to contribute - do visit www.bitsaa-svc.org/embryo/ you will be amazed by what the synergy between a bunch of enthued alumni and encouraging BITS Faculty can do for students at BITS.

Shilpa
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Embryo project showcased at BITSAA - Silicon Valley Reunion

We were looking to launch the Embryo project with a bang. The choice of event couldn't have been better - 7th Annual Reunion of BITSAA – Silicon Valley Chapter. Featuring a panel discussion on "Power of the BITSAA network for the BITSian Entrepreneur".

We decided to stream this event *LIVE* to Pilani. We floated the idea around and it was very well received. Prof. Rahul Banerjee provided some guidance and appointed Virendra Nirban from BITS faculty as PoC.

Several dry runs later, we were confidant to publicize the event. CEL at BITS did a good job of motivating students to attend the event at 7:30 in the morning with just one day to go for APOGEE inaug!

Seeing is believing - was the right phrase to describe the day of reunion. 230 alumni across the Bay Area communicating video conferencing live with a classroom full of students at Pilani!

Moving forward, we would like to iron out the remaining technical issues and make this concept scalable. Our aim is to enable any alumni in any corner of the globe to communicate live to Pilani.

Watch out for this space for more updates. This project is going to change the way teaching is done at BITS, Pilani!

Mayur Shah
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