Carbon Zero challenge is a renewable energy innovation competition for college students, early stage entrepreneurs, innovators and researchers. It is a pioneering initiative by the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, in collaboration with the US Consulate General in Chennai, the Industrial Waste Management Association (IWMA) and Shaastra, to identify innovative and indigenous solutions to India’s unique energy problems. The contest is supported by Polaris, a Virtusa Company.
Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) was established in 1959 by the Government of India as an institute of national importance. IITM has been ranked #1 amongst research and teaching institutions in Engineering in the India Rankings 2017 released by The National Institutional Ranking Framework, Ministry of Human Resources Development, Govt. of India – https://www.nirfindia.org/engg
IIT Madras is hosting the Carbon Zero Challenge. This includes receiving submissions, shortlisting teams, finding mentors, facilitating funding and conducting the final demo event.
Dr Indumathi M Nambi is the Principal Coordinator of CZC from IIT Madras.
She spearheads the entire project and manages it strategically.
Dr. Indumathi is an Associate Professor, Environment and Water Resources Division, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras. She has been handling various roles in the Dept of Civil Engg, IIT Madras since 2005. Prior to this, she worked as a consultant at M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation. She also was a post-doctoral research fellow at University of Illinois at Urbana – Champaign, USA between 2000 and 2003.
Dr. Indumathi Nambi
Associate Professor
Environmental and Water Resources Engineering Division
+91 – 44 – 2257 4289 (O)
info@czeroc.com
The Consulate General of the United States of America Chennai represents the interests of the United States’ government in Chennai, India and surrounding regions. The Consulate reports to the Ambassador of the United States in the US Embassy in New Delhi.
US Consulate is the main sponsor of the Carbon Zero Challenge and will be vetting all the efforts made by the organizers.
Founded in 1993, Polaris Consulting & Services Limited is a global leader in Financial Technology (FT) for Banking, Insurance, and other Financial Services. Polaris is an expert in digital transformation, with over 25 years of experience and more than 300 clients across the globe. On March 3, 2016, Virtusa acquired a majority interest in Polaris Consulting & Services Limited (“Polaris”) to leverage the market presence and deep relationship that Polaris already built in the financial services space. Virtusa is a leading worldwide provider of information technology (IT) consulting and outsourcing services. They help accelerate business outcomes for Global 2000 businesses in banking and financial services, insurance, healthcare, telecommunications and media. (Next Para) Polaris, a Virtusa Company is the Principal Sponsor of Carbon Zero Challenge Contest 2017-18.
Industrial Waste Management Association (IWMA) was established as a not-for-profit organization in 2002, with an initial strength of 35 members from various industries and an Executive Committee of nine members. Apart from periodic review of landfill site operation, IWMA conducts seminars, training programs and offers consultancy services to industries/industry clusters in partnership with educational and research institutions.
IWMA provides external support to IIT Madras to conduct Carbon Zero Challenge.
Mr Sivaraman K is the main Coordinator of CZC from IWMA.
Mr Sivaraman K is the main Coordinator of CZC from IWMA
Mr Sivaraman K plays the role of Co-organizer of Carbon Zero Challenge – as part of IWMA. He leads the team by setting periodic goals for the project and planning day-to-day activities accordingly.
Sivaraman is an Advisor for projects at IWMA. Since November 2015, he is an Advisor with various organizations as well as an Independent Consultant on Environment and Sustainability. He has been advising Industrial Waste Management Association (IWMA), IIT Madras, IGCS (Indo German Centre for Sustainability@ IIT Madras), on environment projects for industry, society and Government of Tamil Nadu.
Dr Sriram Krishnan, Photon Consulting, Boston, USA
Dr Sriram Krishnan is one of the key members of CZC Steering Committee and also a Mentor and Guide for the project. Although being at Boston, USA, he constantly monitors the progress of Carbon Zero Challenge by being a crucial member of CZC steering committee. He constantly assists the team during various stages of the contest – like devising proper structure for judging applications, monitoring teams’ progress and organizing the event in a structured way.
Dr Sriram has held various roles in top notch companies like Mc Kinsey, SunEdison. He currently holds the position of Senior Analyst, Director of Relationships and Research at PHOTON Consulting, Boston Area, USA. Dr Sriram holds a B.Tech from IIT Madras, M.S. and Ph.D., from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA.
Shaastra is IIT Madras’s annual science and technology festival. It is a platform for students across the country to showcase their skills and talents in the field of engineering and technology. Shaastra is the first completely student run technology festival in the country to be certified with the ISO 9000:2008 certificate. With a footfall of over 35,000 spread over 4 days, Shaastra is one of the largest student technical festival in Asia.
Currently in its 19th edition, Shaastra will be collaborating with IIT Madras in conducting Carbon Zero Challenge.
Energy Alternatives India (EAI) is India’s leading Renewable Energy Consulting and Research firm. EAI is the knowledge partner for Carbon Zero Challenge contest. They provide marketing and Coordination support to the contest.
Carbon Zero Challenge – Core Team
Ramya Gopinath
Ramya is responsible for overall co-ordination of the CZC contest. Her responsibilities include Coordination with teams, Sponsors, Mentors, Judges and the Steering Committee, resolving queries, review of team budgets, monitoring teams’ progress and Overall process review.
Ramya is Business Development Manager at EAI.
Dhivya Vinnarasi
Dhivya provides Co-ordination support for the program. Her responsibilities include interaction with teams, mentors and overall coordination support for event organization.
Dhivya is Executive – Projects and Program at IWMA
Nivethidha R
Nivethidha is the Finance Coordinator for CZC contest. She takes care of the coordination with teams for fund disbursement, budget review under the supervision of the contest’s Audit Firm D’Souza & Associates
Nivethidha is Project Associate at EWRE, IIT Madras
D’Souza & Associates
D’Souza & Associates is the authorized accounting firm for managing and overseeing fund disbursement for CZC teams. The accounting & audit firm based at Anna Nagar, Chennai, provides Accounting & Finance Management Support to the contest.
