Ramachandra Divakaruni Legacy Endowment - 1988 Batch

Description

Born on Jan 7, 1967, in Chennai, India, Ramachandra Divakaruni (“Rama”) exhibited curiosity and great talent for science and mathematics from a young age. Rama graduated with a B.Tech in Electrical Engineering from IIT, Madras in 1988. He then earned his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from UCLA. Rama joined IBM in 1994, where he worked for the next three decades in the area of advanced semiconductor process technologies. At IBM his inventions covering dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), semiconductor process scaling, chiplets and multi-cloud hybrid technologies earned him over 300 patents. His pioneering spirit and innovative endeavours paved the way for numerous technological advancements in R&D as well as in production. Rama also served as a guiding light and mentor to hundreds of aspiring engineers and scientists, leaving an enduring legacy as a role model.

In addition to his passion for electronics and exploring how nature works, Rama was an active member of the community, supporting a wide range of causes including education for underserved children, inmates in prisons, the theatre and the arts. His dedication to these pursuits brought him great joy and created lasting friendships.

Rama was a champion of India’s fledgling semiconductor efforts, and was a frequent speaker at conferences in India. He was also fiercely proud of IIT-Madras and cherished the high-quality foundation from his undergraduate years.

Rama passed away in May 2024. We would like to celebrate his life by creating an endowment in his honour at his alma mater IIT Madras. The interest from the endowment fund will be used to support a couple of Merit-cum-Means scholarship for undergraduate students in the department of Electrical Engineering. In addition, funds available after setting up 2 scholarships may be used for (a) supporting the Career and Life Coaching (“CLIC”) program for IIT Madras students upto an extent of INR 15 lakhs and (b) supporting 1 post graduate research initiative with a focus on semiconductor devices and their associated process technologies.