Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian wins top ASEI award

Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, received the American Society of Engineers of Indian Origin’s (ASEI) prestigious Lifetime Achievement award at its 35th National Convention focusing on next-generation engineering innovations in Southfield, Michigan.

ASEI National convention and celebratory awards gala dinner and entertainment event also honored six other outstanding individuals for their contributions to the engineering profession, society, and the community at large, according to a press release.

The annual ASEI awards were presented to the following in different categories:

• ASEI Entrepreneur of the Year: Dheeraj Pandey, Founder & CEO, DevRev;
• ASEI Scientist of the Year: Dr Nina Tandon, CEO, EpiBone;
• ASEI Engineer of the Year- AI: Rama Akkiraju, Vice President, NVIDIA;
• ASEI Engineer of the Year- Transportation & Sustainability: Dr Praveen Vayalamkuzhi, CEO MobilityVision;
• ASEI Service Excellence Award: Surbhi Kaul, Vice President, Juniper Networks; and
• Hari B. Bindal ASEI Founder’s Award: Muthu Sivananthan, Energy & Materials Industry Solutions Leader, Dassault Systèmes.

The Corporate Excellence Recognition Program (CERP) was also revived as part of ASEI CorporateConnect initiative and employees nominated by sponsoring organizations Detroit Engineering Products and GHD were recognized.

READ: Indian American engineers take a leap into the future (February 7, 2022)

GMS Registrar honored the original founders of the CERP, Dr Ravi Rout, Jag Kottha and Mahesh Reddy, in addition to their Vice President Anjali Kottha.

ASEI President Piyush Malik said, “On behalf of ASEI, I am very pleased to recognize and congratulate each awardee for their dedication, hard work, and exemplary contribution in their respective fields.”

“For the past four decades, ASEI has served the community well in Indo-US technology relations and provided mentoring, networking and learning opportunities for young technologists & engineers through our strategic initiatives. We are now gearing up for our future 40 years!”

The convention’s objective was to provide a forum to promote and share advancements related to the latest cutting-edge innovations and technologies across various engineering disciplines, according to the release.

Read more about the American Society of Engineers of Indian Origin

The convention was attended by over 400 professionals including scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, and corporate leaders across the USA.

ASEIcon2023 featured keynotes and multiple interactive sessions with prominent business and technology leaders, scientists, media personalities, educators, policymakers, and venture capitalists.

ASEIcon 2023 featured a stellar line-up of speakers. In the opening keynote, Mamatha Chamarthi, Chief Growth Officer at Stellantis, spoke about disruption and networked talent, encouraging attendees to have a bolder planet-wide vision to disrupt oneself as well as their organization.

She emphasized “Discover your authentic leadership style and learn to exit your comfort zone” and lauded ASEI on its “School to University to Profession to Planet” vision articulated by Malik.

Rophin Paul, CEO of Wipro Pari, Ashwini Balasubramanian of Harley Davidson and Ankur Ganguli of General Motors, were among 30+ CEOs and engineering executives who spoke at the convention.

Apart from talks and panel discussions in parallel tracks covering Automotive, Mobility, Infrastructure and Energy, there was a youth technology exposition (YTE) featuring projects by prize-winning STEM students as well.

A deep-dive on policy decisions for the Mobility Industry by K. Venkatesh Prasad, of CAR was the closing keynote where he stressed that “Innovation today needs research and investments from decades ago.” Noting that the US is investing heavily in Mobility, AI, and Space, Materials, he said it will keep it relevant on the global stage.

Shawn Lee of TEDx Detroit energized the awards banquet audience with his talk on DEI, people investment and selfless giving.