Civil engineering student scoops 13 gold medals, VTU record

Two students will be awarded maximum number of gold medals at the forthcoming annual convocation of Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) on July 4.

Namrata C Prabhu of Bengaluru's Oxford College of Engineering will take home 13, the largest amount of gold medals. "Growing up, I used to watch my dad, a civil engineer, work and was always amazed by it. Hence, I was leaning towards civil engineering rather than computer science, though that has been more sought after," she said.

Another topper student who has risen to the challenge is Navyashree Ganpishetty, a student of electronics and communications engineering at RV Institute of Technology, Bengaluru. She has won 11 gold medals. "I was fascinated by electronic gadgets since childhood. My father has completed his B.Tech in communication and electronics engineering. We had sufficient exposure in our college. We would do practical in lab and would have the needed questions from VTU," she added. She is going to pursue higher studies in VLSI (very large scale integration).

Karthik L of mechanical engineering at Bangalore Institute of Technology, Bengaluru, and Kavana A, electrical and electronics engineering student at GSSS Institute of Technology for Women, Mysuru, both bagged seven gold medals.

The 25th annual convocation of the Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) will take place on July 4 at its Jnana-Sangama campus in Belagavi. Ajay Kumar Sood, principal scientific advisor to govt of India, will be the chief guest and the convocation address.

VTU is conferring degree certificates on 60,052 students. BE degree on 58,861 students (20,707 autonomous college students included), B.Tech on 117 students, B.Plan on 10 students, B.Arch on 1,040 (234 autonomous college students included), and B.Sc (Honours) on 24 students. Aside from this, the university is conferring 262 PhDs and 2 integrated dual degrees on research scholars.

VTU will award honorary doctorate degree 'Doctor of Science' this year to V Narayanan, chairman Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and secretary, department of space; Prashant Prakash, founder, Excel India; and CS Sunder Raju, chancellor, Atria University, Bengaluru.

Six gold medals will be awarded to computer science and engineering student of Dayanand Sagar Academy of Technology and Management, Mohini V.

Top five institutions with the most VTU ranks are Mangalore Institute of Technology and Engineering (MITE), Moodabidri with 16 ranks, and Bangalore Institute of Technology (BIT), Bengaluru with 13 ranks.