R10 YP PERSONALITY OF THE MONTH –ARAVINDHAN ANBAZHAGAN

Madras Section

Aravindhan Anbazhagan is an engineer, educator, soft skill trainer and an aspiring entrepreneur.  Professionally, he graduated with his undergraduate degree in Computer Science Engineering from Sri Muthukumaran Institute of Technology, Chennai in 2016.  Because of his interest and passion in education and social sector, he served as a full-time teacher at Chennai Middle School, MGR Nagar as part of the Teach For India Fellowship Program from 2016 to 2018. He also served as a member of the staff team of Teach for India – Chennai from 2018 to 2020.  He recently founded a virtual education startup, EduRiseGlobal (www.eduriseglobal.com) with a vision to provide quality online education for everyone.

IEEE Membership at MES College of Engineering, Kerala

His journey with IEEE started seven years ago in 2013, when he was inspired by his seniors to join the world’s largest technical and professional organization.  He actively took up the leadership responsibilities and involved in organizing more than 30 activities with the support of his Student Branch & CS Chapter team, including the White Talks initiative, SPAC 2015.  He was also actively involved with the activities of IEEE Madras Section as a student ambassador of IEEEXtreme, IEEE Day and IEEEmadC.  This was also the time he developed his leadership, content writing, and public speaking skills, which according to him were very helpful as he approached his professional life.

IEEE MGA Young Professionals Achievement Award 2019

After his graduation, Aravindhan continued contributing to IEEE and served on diverse committees, including IEEE CS India Student Activities Committee (Chair 2017-2018), IEEE Madras Young Professionals Committee (Member 2017-2019; Chair 2020), and IEEE Region 10 Educational Activities Committee (Member 2018-2020).  He initiated the IEEE Young Professionals Committee of IEEE Professional Communications Society and served as the YP Representative during 2019-2020. He also actively contributed to the growth of educational activities in India and is currently leading the IEEE Inspire India team, a project funded by NIC. 

Over the past 7 years, he has involved himself with more than 150 student and young professional activities and delivered guest lectures and membership development talks at over 75 institutions.  He enjoys interacting with the students and shares his experiences. Aravindhan represented IEEE Madras Section at the flagship events including, IEEE R10 SYWL (2015, 2016 & 2020) and IEEE Sections Congress (2017).   He led the Program Committee of All India IEEE Computer Society Students & Young Professionals Congress 2018 held at Goa, which had a participation of over 150 delegates. During the lockdown, he has spoken at more than 40 webinars organized by various IEEE OU’s around the globe and initiated the ProSpeakers Mentoring Program with the IEEE ProComm Young Professionals team, through which 8 first-time speakers received the opportunity to get mentored, and to speak at a forum for the first time.

Speaking at TEDx event held at GCEK, Pune during 2019

Aravindhan has won many laurels as an IEEE volunteer including, IEEE CS Richard E Merwin Scholarship (2014), IEEE MGA Larry K Wilson Achievement Award (2016), IEEE EAB Meritorious Achievement Award in Pre-University Education (2018), IEEE CS Continuous Service Award (2019) and IEEE MGA Young Professionals Achievement Award (2019). According to Aravindhan, one of the key motivation factors with IEEE, is the opportunity to network and work with other incredible volunteers around the globe, through which he has learnt a lot of new things and acquired new skills.  He believes in the quote, ‘You don’t need to be someone to do something for others; you have to do something for others to become that someone.’