Mr.Paras Kumar, Mr. Harikrishna Menon, Mr. Pranay Mahulikar and Mr. Jenendra Jain (all students of III B.Tech Information Technology, Amrita School of Engineering, Coimbatore) have emerged as the Runners-up in the "IBM Great Mind Challenge", a national level software development program. The award carries a citation, i-pods for all the team members and also a high-end IBM workstation for Amrita School of Engineering, Coimbatore. Mr. J.Shrikrishnan, Senior Academy Instructor, CISCO Networking Academy at Amrita, guided the students for the project. This is a highly creditable achievement considering the fact that - Over 22000 students (7000 teams) participated all over the country and the Amrita team emerged as second best - The contest involved Web Application Development on J2EE platform using cutting-edge IBM technology The award was presented to the students by Ms. Martha Roberson, Head of University Relations, IBM Asia Pacific.

ASTHA was the first to honour them in a public function on 7th September 2007

The first episode of NAKSHATRA-The Amrita Stars was conducted by ASTHA on September 7th. The runner up teamof last year’s IBM Great Mind Challenge, consisting of Harikrishna Menon, Paras and Pranay of final year IT was invited.
The chief guest-Prof. Gangadharan- Chairman,IT department spoke about the importance of such competition and told about more such forthcoming events like ICPC. He appreciated Team ASTHA for conducting events like NAKSHATRA, and assured the full support of his department in ASTHA’s activities. Vice-chairman Mr. Prashant Nair also spoke about the importance of hard-work, and his views on the stars of the show.

The stars then explained about the stages of their project and what did they learn from the entire competition. They also talked about the indispensable role of their guide Mr. Sreekrishna. They also gave valuable inputs on how to choose a team, when to start a project and what to do when you face a difficult situation. A small game of spontaneity was played with the stars, and some of their close friends shared their experiences of last four years of college life.
In the end of the show, stars were presented by momentos from ASTHA in appreciation to their extra-ordinary achievement.

Mr. J. Shri Krishnan, B.Sc., DCPA (National Computing Center, UK), PGDCS Executive-Training, ICTS, Amrita School of Engineering.

Over 5 years of teaching experience in School of Engineering and School of Business. Cisco-Sun certified Instructor for teaching Java Technologies in Cisco Networking Academies. Involved in the management of computer labs, recruitment, and training of teaching staff for Amrita Vidyalayams, a chain of 50+ schools across the country. Courses taught include Object Oriented Programming using Java, Database Management Systems.

Interest Areas are Object Oriented Software Engineering, Object Oriented Modeling using Design Patterns, Software Project Management, Database Management Systems, Enterprise Computing.

Hobbies are Street Photography, Blogging, Infusing Technology in Education.

Harikrishna Menon A, Currently I am doing my B.tech-(3rd year) from Amrita School Of Engineering. email : harikrishna.menon@gmail.com

Professional Interests are Cluster Computing, Enterprise Application Development with J2EE using IBM Technologies. I am a student member of ACM and an active participant in some Linux Forums. I swear by Technology and its proponents MIT Technological Review and Digit.

Professional Interests Apart I would be your stereotype definition of a Football aficionado and go nuts whenever a league game is around .I am quite a crazy about PC games and is an ardent fan of the Matrix Trilogy and a diehard believer of its Philosophy. If not jacked to the computer you will find me reading books by Tolkien or Terry Goodkind .

Pranay mahulikar, currently I am doing my 3rd B-tech from Amrita School of Engineering. email : pranaymohaulikar@yahoo.com
Professional Interests are Cluster Computing, Enterprise Application Development with J2EE using IBM Technologies. I am a student member of ACM .I like to read journals like MIT - Technological Review, PC - Quest and Linux For You.

Jenendra Jain , Currently I am doing my B. Tech(3rd yr) in Information Technology from Amrita Viswa Vidyapeetham. Right now I am looking forward to Cluster Computing… Well !!!! close the window of professional world and I am a sports freak. Any sports as long as it’s a team game... Count me in… Same applies for video games where I do rule my domains… And I forgot to mention Music from my new iPod… “I m lovin it” Apart from being a freak I like to spend time with nature, writing journals or poems… I try to see logically why nature chooses one path and not the other… doesn’t work out always but I keep up… email : jinu_jain2003@yahoo.com

My Driving Force: There is always a work around, and there is always a better work around. And the “better” always tends to the “Optimal Solution”.

Paras Kumar, Currently I am doing 3rd year B.Tech from Amrita School of Engineering.I am a java fanatic and the current rage in my team is cluster computing on which we are planning to do our fourth year project. Apart from this I am student member of ACM. Technology is my fantasy... Something interesting and new… I am on it… email : insigniya@gmail.com

In free time you can find me in Gym… not to become Schwarzenegar, but to play T.T. … some times I too take a plunge in the decisively real world of Computer games… I am obsessively compulsive perfectionist. I don’t stop until I achieve it… And I love to teach others…My leisure is reserved for Art & Literature… my choice of authors is Paulo Cohelo and Ayn Rand. I love sketching cartoons.