Dev Joneja, an alumnus of IIT Kanpur, has donated $175,000 towards the setting up of Pavitar Joneja Chair at IIT Kanpur’s (IITK) humanities and social science department.
The chair — which is set up in honour of his mother Pavitar Joneja — has been conceptualised to develop new learning paradigms and training methods for dissemination of knowledge by formulating training programmes and promote excellence in research and leadership.
The broad disciplines identified include English, fine arts, philosophy, psychology and sociology, and will involve published research work in reputed national and international conferences, journals, articles, etc.
as well.
A graduate in mechanical engineering from IITK, Joneja has become one of the top benefactors of the institute over the years.
He has already instituted the Arjun Dev Joneja faculty chair in honour of his father at the department of civil engineering.
“The courses in humanities and social sciences I took at IIT played a much bigger role in my career than I appreciated at the time, and I would like to support this part of every IIT student’s education,” Joneja said about his donation.
“The Smt Pavitar Joneja chair is the apt platform for students aspiring to undertake intensive research and broaden their knowledge on subjects related to humanities and social sciences.
Over the years, Joneja has made significant contributions towards his alma mater in many ways,” IITK director Abhay Karandikar said.
“I would like to thank him for selflessly working towards promoting the institute and putting it on the top of academic excellence since several years.” Joneja — who has also donated towards the Class of 1984 Chair, IITK campus workers and online education during the pandemic thereby benefitting under privileged students — currently serves as the chief risk officer at Exodus Point Capital Management in New York.
He has previously served as the global head risk and analytics at Millennium Management LLC.
Prior to joining the firm in 2009, Joneja was at Lehman Brothers for 13 years and served as the head of European fixed income research as well as the global head of Lehman Indices and Point.
He has also served as faculty at the graduate school of business at Columbia University in New York.