America
Pichai a brilliant student who never showed off: IIT professor
Kolkata, Aug 11
Sundar Pichai, the new CEO of
the core business of Google, was a shy but brilliant student who never
showed off his knowledge unnecessarily, recalls his teacher at the
Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.
The Chennai-born
Pichai, then known by his full name Pichai Sundararajan, cleared the IIT
entrance test in 1989 and enrolled for a four-year undergraduate course
in metallurgical and materials engineering.
"He passed out in
1993 with a B.Tech (honours) degree. Being the topper, he was awarded
the Bidhan Chandra Roy Memorial silver medal," Sanat Kumar Roy,
professor in the institute's metallurgical and materials engineering
department, told IANS over phone.
Roy, who taught metallurgical
thermodynamics to Pichai, said he showed a keen interest in electronics
material and did his final year thesis on the subject.
He was shy, calm and quiet, and "very, very brilliant".
"Such
was his brilliance, that it was very much evident that he wanted to do
something different. His interest in material sciences was visible from
the second year itself. He alone opted for electronic material in his
batch," recalled Roy, himself an IIT alumnus.
Pichai, who came from an ordinary middle class family was "unquestionably intelligent".
In
August, 1993, Pichai left for US, where he joined Stanford University
and completed an MS course in material sciences and engineering and an
AMBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he
was adjudged a Siebel Scholar and a Palmer Scholar.
Last year,
Pichai was invited as the chief guest in the annual fest of the
institute. "But he could not come. And instead interacted with the
students through a video conference," said Roy.