Phase II kickoff successful

We're pleased to share with all of you that the Phase II of Project Embryo has been kicked off successfully.

Since this semester started on Aug 1, we have organized 3 sessions

1. MS/Phd - Overview of Higher Studies (Sagnik Nandy from Bay Area)
2. MBA Admissions - ISB (Subramanian K from Bangalore)
3. MBA Admissions - IIMs (Madhurjya Banerjee from Bangalore)

The response has been overwhelming - with 150-200 students attending each session. Each session was 60-90 mins including QnA

Here is a photo of the classroom as we could see here
http://www.bitsembryo.org/images/lectures/2006_08_12_msphd_sagnik.jpg

Project Goals:

1. Short Term: The short term goal for this semester is to conduct 25 lectures in various topics (list is on the website). We're working with Prof Banerjee and the Embryo Club on-campus to schedule these lectures.

2. Medium Term: (a) The core part of the project is to conduct video-conferencing lectures from all over the world. We're planning to iron out all operational issues and set a process in stone during this semester. (b) We're also building up a bigger team, specially on campus, to help run the project. (c) We plan to get the word out there to all alumni through publications like Sandpaper and encourage them to contribute

3. Long Term: Bring alumni much closer to the students and faculty, and we hope this interaction will lead to sharing of knowledge and experience, and collaborative research projects.

We are thankful to all the alumni who have agreed to spend their valuable time to talk to advise students. We also wish to thank Prof Banerjee, Stueti, Virendra and Embryo Club team at BITS for a great execution at the BITS end. We also wish to thank Prof Maheshwari and all Deans and BITSAA BODs for their help, encouragement and support.

We hope that with our combined efforts, we'll bring the trio - alumni, students and faculty - much more closer.

-Shashi