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Bangalore, 3
April 2006. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute officials today
announced a $250,000 fellowship gift commitment from Ajit
Prabhu ’98 in support of the $1 billion Renaissance at
Rensselaer Campaign. The Ajit Prabhu ’98 Fellowship will be
added to the Rensselaer endowment, and income from the gift
will be used to provide fellowship support directly to
master’s or doctoral degree students, with first preference
to those enrolled in the biomedical engineering program.
Additionally, Rensselaer and Prabhu’s company, QuEST, a
leading provider of product development and engineering
solutions to major global companies in the aerospace,
automotive, energy, and industrial products domains, have
agreed to mutually promote educational and research
cooperation between the two institutions through the signing
of a formal memorandum of understanding.
“Endowed fellowship funds and meaningful cooperative
arrangements such as we have forged with Ajit Prabhu and
QuEST are tangible investments in the future of science and
technology,” said Rensselaer President Dr. Shirley Ann
Jackson. “Ajit Prabhu understands that graduate fellowship
support such as he has provided will attract world-class
students to Rensselaer to work with faculty at the forefront
of research innovation in biotechnology, information
technology, and the interdisciplinary areas. As a result,
these individuals will become tomorrow’s professors and
research scientists, inventors and innovators, leaders and
entrepreneurs.”
“Hailing from a small town in India, born and brought up in
a middle-class family, going to America for education in
itself was a dream. I have been fortunate to have met with
excellent faculty at Rensselaer, who have had a significant
impact on my current enterprises’ success, through guidance
and support during QuEST’s incubation period--especially my
adviser, Dr. John Brunski, for funding my research and his
constant encouragement to explore,” said Ajit Prabhu, who is
CEO of QuEST. “I am pleased to create this opportunity for
future graduate students, because a global outlook and an
entrepreneurial spirit are alive and thriving at
Rensselaer.”
With this gift commitment, Prabhu earns membership in
Rensselaer’s Livingston W. Houston ’13 Society of Patroons,
in recognition of those who have achieved lifetime support
of the Institute of $250,000 or more.
Prabhu earned a master’s degree in biomedical engineering at
Rensselaer, a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from
Old Dominion University, Virginia, and a bachelor’s degree
in mechanical engineering from Karnataka University, India.
He earned the Young Investigator Award from the
International Association for Dental Research. A Six Sigma
Greenbelt certificate holder, Prabhu gained practical
experience at General Electric Company’s Global Research and
Development Center in Schenectady, New York. Prabhu is now
the chief executive officer of QuEST, Inc., a global
engineering solutions provider with offices in the United
States, the United Kingdom, India, China, Italy, and Japan. |
