Ms. Rashika graduated in BBA Aviation Operation programme (2013-2016) from UPES. During this course, she says, she was introduced to concepts such as management and leadership, business communication, corporate social responsibility, financial management, organisational behaviour and many others which helped in her understanding of managing a business with a handful of employees. “These courses also enhanced my skills of communicating, decision making and team management,” she adds.

“I firmly believe that theoretical knowledge is incomplete until there is a real-life application. The subjects which we were taught in the programme helped me to apply all those learnings in my life, personally as well as professionally. There were several workshops and projects, such as dissertation and community service, that taught me valuable lessons in team management and collaboration,” Rashika remarks.

Sharing about her experience at UPES, she says, “The education system at UPES works like a well-oiled machine. It helped me in getting admission in one of the renowned universities in London for my Masters, post which I interned in Singapore for one year. This global exposure gave me a whole new perspective of the world around me. The faculty, seniors and career services team at UPES were also extremely supportive at every step of my life.”

Ms. Shivangi Jain (B.Tech ADE 2010-2014) was awarded the Nari Shakti Award on the occasion of International Women’s Day 2020. The award acknowledges her outstanding contribution in the field of entrepreneurship with her innovative startup – Empeeps.

When asked about her journey at UPES, she says: “UPES provides several platforms that let you explore your creativity and interests. Learning here nurtures one’s academic skills as well as life skills. It gave me the exposure to stand out of the crowd, and the courage to do so gracefully. These were opportunities to interact and communicate with people from all over the country. Four years at the university taught me so much about life, culture, ethnicity, and made me confident, which then became my driving force to do something of my own”

Under the aegis of Uttarakhand State Law Commission and Uttarakhand Human Rights Protection Center, 25 women from Uttarakhand were felicitated for their immense contribution in various fields on International Women’s Day 2020. Our faculty, Dr. Neelu Jyoti Ahuja, was awarded the Second Himalayan Nari Shakti Samman-2020.

Dr. Neelu Jyothi Ahuja is a Professor and Head-Department of Systemics, at School of Computer Science at UPES. Apart from academic teaching at the university level (both at post-graduate and under-graduate levels), she is an active researcher as well. Dr. Ahuja has successfully delivered half-a-dozen government-sponsored projects worth INR 2 crore under various domains. In the capacity of a member of the core group, she attended the Plan Meeting on improving access to Priority Assistive Products and Technology, 2017, at Sri Lanka Room, WHO – SEARO (South East Asia Regional Office), IP Estate, New Delhi. She was also a part of the Consultation Meeting for Improving Access to Assistive Products and Technology for Persons with Disabilities and Elders held at WHO SEARO Headquarters, New Delhi, India, in 2016.

When asked about her winning attitude, she says: “I have always been a disciplined, academically-inclined individual; a firm believer in continually upskilling and contributing to generating new knowledge through research interventions. Being extremely passionate about my goals, I have chosen a career to contribute to nation-building. An avid researcher and academician, I believe in sharing and spreading knowledge and supporting students towards their growth and accomplishments.”

Her commitment and conviction inspires us all and we wish her all the ‘Shakti’ for her future endeavors.

Prof. Deepshikha Bhargava is professor & HoD (Virtualization) at School of Computer Science, University of Petroleum & Energy Studies, Dehradun. She has rich experience of more than two decades as an academician with reputed universities of India including UPES, Amity University Jaipur, ICFAI; to name a few. Her research area includes soft computing, Bio-inspired computation and software agents.

A published author, she shares her journey of writing a book and realising her dream.

“It was a tremendous feeling, when my first book “E-Banking and Security Transactions” got published in 2005. At present with its third edition is circulation, this book is included as text book in syllabus of BCA in Ajmer University, University of Jodhpur, University of Kota, and University of Udaipur. I authored another book titled “Computer Fundamentals”, and another titled “E-Commerce”, which were widely appreciated and included in UG courses.

Every academician dream to work with an international acclaimed publisher like Springer & so I was. It came true when I recently edited a book titled “Pervasive Computing: A Networking Perspective and Future Directions”, in 2019, which was published by Springer Nature, Singapore Pvt. Ltd. Springer Nature, Singapore again invited me to author another upcoming book titled “Smart Health Systems”. Along with this, another book titled “System Analysis & Design”, with BPB Publishers, New Delhi is under publication.

After authoring different technical books, now I am very excited to work on my dream book projects related to different societal issues like Spirituality at workplace and Work-Life Balance for Working Women in India, to name a few.

This is just a start of my journey as an author……. Miles to go.”

I am delighted to share my journey of the past three semesters as a student of MBA Aviation at the UPES campus, ensconced in verdant green surroundings. During this 1st semester, I was chosen as class representative and was also given an opportunity to work with Ernst and Young, as a researcher. In the 2nd semester, we were informed about our industry visit to Mumbai International Airport, i.e., MIAL. We prepared ourselves with prospective expansion plans and IT-driven solutions for the MIAL airport. I was selected, on merit, to work with Airports Authority of India, New Delhi, as an intern. My next internship was with Corporate Planning and Management Services Department at AAI. The internship ended with a project which was so much praised by the faculty that it has now become a pipeline project for publication in renowned journals. Before we knew it, it was time for placements, probably the most crucial time in the life of a student. I was offered a job with Infosys Consultancy. Some of my classmates got selected by Adani Airports in Jaipur and Lucknow, and some were snapped up by Bengaluru Airport, i.e., BIAL. My journey so far has been beautiful. I have been focussed on enhancing existing skills and developing new ones.

In June 2018, the journey of my MBA at UPES started. The experience at the campus over the last few months has been such that it has given me a well-rounded perspective of my life goals. Starting with my first internship, I was honoured to be a part of the Organising Committee of EY which was the knowledge partner for the first Uttarakhand Investors Summit in 2018. My second Internship was purely related to my domain, i.e., Logistics and Supply Chain Management which was at Parle Products Pvt Ltd for a duration of 15 days wherein I learned about working of distribution centres and warehouses. The opportunity to provide my inputs on modern forecasting techniques, which were later on adopted in the working of Bizongo operations, gave my confidence a real boost and made me realise my capabilities. I am currently in my last semester of MBA and I shall be joining Nestle from June 2020. Though the journey has just started and there is a lot to achieve, the spirit of learning, discipline, passion to achieve, aiming high, leading a team, organising events and conferences, cracking interviews, getting placed with a decent package, and of course, writing my first blog, are my key takeaways from my alma mater.

In August 2017, my journey at UPES MUN Club commenced from being an Organizing Committee Member. From appearing in the interview to meeting the selection criteria, I went through the entire rigmarole. Striving very hard and actively participating in my first year, further gave me an opportunity to serve as the School Ambassador for the School of Law in my second year itself. Faculty coordinators and presiding President of the Club gave me this wonderful opportunity in the second year of my college. as it is said, the higher you rise, higher are the challenges you face, both personally and professionally. However, dealing with the most difficult situations with a sense of calm and tranquility is what makes a person a better leader. Being in law school, opportunities never cease to exist. Participating in the Intra Moot Court Competitions has given me an opportunity to visit some prestigious external colleges, further enhancing my mooting and research skills. My teammates and I also managed to grab the first position in the Intra Mediation Competition, 2019 held in School of Law, UPES, and because of this we even got a chance to represent our college in NLIU Bhopal. My experience at UPES has so far been great, and I am looking forward to experiencing even bigger highs in the days ahead at the university.

I represented India and the global youth fraternity at the very prestigious ‘UNITED NATIONS YOUTH ASSEMBLY’ held at UN Headquarters, New York City from Aug 10-13’ 2018, which witnessed changemakers and youth delegations from over 130 countries. I spoke about three sustainable development goals (SDG’s)- Quality Education, Health & Well-Being, Clean & Affordable Energy. I gave a voice to the opinion of the youth in important dialogues and decision-making processes as well as contributed solutions to challenges that affect us all. Monika also joined the UN Officials in the permanent mission of their member nation of Switzerland to the UN.

Dr. Githa S Heggde, Dean, School of Business, Has over 29 years of teaching, consultancy and industrial experience. She is a part of the team at “Global colloquium on participant centered learning” at Harvard Business School, Boston and worked on teaching with case studies and developing curriculum for management courses. Participated at the follow on sessions at Shanghai.

Presented papers at Academy on International Business at Boston, University of Wollongong, Dubai, EMBRI, Italy and several conferences in the areas of Marketing, Sales and Distribution. Awarded best research papers at the Association of Indian Management Schools (AIMS), conventions. Published several articles on Marketing, supply chain, sales and Distribution in international and national journals.

Dr. Heggde is regularly invited by prestigious international Universities for lectures and discussions on pursuing collaborative research. Conducted several training programs for senior marketing and sales executives at Airtel, ITC, Infosys, Murugappa group, Pricol, HDFC, Infosys, EY, Biocon. Engaged in consultancy and research with companies such as Logitech, USA, iWatt, USA, Reliance, India, adaptive marketing. She has been nominated and attended a program on Wealth Management at Bangkok, Authored books on Applied Marketing and several case studies. Githa is also a member of Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry, was a member at Association of Women Entrepreneurs of Karnataka, chairperson, Coimbatore chapter FICCI ladies organization during 2004-2006.

Manisha Mohan, Dean, School of Design, was Chief – Design and Innovation at Tata Interactive Systems (TIS), Mumbai – and in this capacity, she and her team tracked design trends, did research and projects in emerging technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality. She and her team were also responsible for doing solutions, design benchmarking and driving Design Thinking in the organization. She has been an assessor and team leader under the Tata Business Excellence Model which is modeled around the Malcom Baldrige excellence framework.

Manisha also headed the education division of TIS in the past in which capacity she looked at both business development and design of learning content for children worldwide, including children with learning disability. Over the years, Manisha has worked on learning games, simulations, and animations for people across verticals and countries that have won several awards for design. She is on the board of studies of MITD and Jagran Lakecity University. She is also the Chairperson for Applied/Serious Games SIG, NASSCOM.