ISAA Hosts Second SSC Alumni Meeting in New Delhi: A New Direction for Regional Meets

The 2nd Alumni Meeting in India was held on Saturday, 15 February in New Delhi at IIT Delhi Lecture Hall Complex (Room LH-318). 100 alumni attended the meeting which lasted from 13:00 until 17:40. Out of alumni meetings held in eight countries around the world so far, this is the first overseas meeting autonomously planned and executed by one of the Club’s overseas chapters, ISAA─India Sakura Science Club Alumni Association headed by main coordinator Dr. Jeetender Chugh. The team from JST and SSC secretariat would like to extend deep appreciation for all operational work handled by ISAA and the coordinators in India.

Along with presentations by young researchers, master/doctorate students, university students, this meeting featured a poster-session Science Contest for high school students-the first of its kind held in conjunction with an alumni meeting. Some high school students received awards of excellence for their works.

Founder of Sakura Science Plan (SSP), Mr. Okimura Kazuki (Japan Science and Technology Agency-JST Principal Fellow), Ambassador of Japan to India H.E. Mr. Suzuki Satoshi, Smt. Lamchonghoi Sweety Changsan, Joint Secretary from the Ministry of Human Resource Development and Dr. Sanjay Mishra, Adviser to the Department of Science and Technology congratulated the alumni and encouraged continuous cooperation between India and Japan.

During the meeting, new SSC coordinators who recently joined ISAA to liven up coming ISAA activities also introduced themselves on stage. India’s first alumni meeting was held back in October 2018. It was organized through JST, but the 2nd meeting in New Delhi this time was independently and swiftly implemented by ISAA led by Dr. Chugh and resulted in great success. JST sincerely wishes to thank all who were involved and hopes that this meeting will trigger exciting alumni activities in the future. The meeting could not have materialized without Dr. Jeetender Chugh’s dedication and extensive support from Professor D. Sundar, who kindly allowed SSC and ISAA to use the Lecture Hall at IIT Delhi.