IIT Madras' Zanzibar Campus To Be First Ever Woman-Led IIT

Preeti Aghalayam, an IIT Madras alumni, has been appointed as the director-in-charge of the Zanzibar campus.

IIT Madras has become the first IIT in the country to launch an international campus. ( Image Source :Alumni & Corporate Relations, IIT-M )

IIT Madras' Zanzibar campus, which is the first offshore campus of the Indian Institute of Technology, has also become the first-ever IIT to have a woman director. Preeti Aghalayam, an IIT Madras alumni, has been appointed as the director-in-charge of the Zanzibar campus, where the first academic session is set to begin in October.

IIT Madras has achieved a remarkable feat as the first Indian Institute of Technology to establish an international campus, located in Zanzibar, Tanzania. The completion of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Tanzania marks the final step in the necessary procedures to bring this campus to life.

The institute has already begun accepting applications for its inaugural academic session, which will offer two comprehensive full-time academic programs. This development opens up exciting opportunities for aspiring students seeking a world-class education through IIT Madras' international campus in Zanzibar.

"Aghalayam is the first woman to be an IIT director. We will see many more encouraging things. We are following sustainable development goals and one of the important goals suggests that we need to bring in gender balance," V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras said at a press conference.

"I am an alumnus of IIT Madras and doing something of this magnitude for the institute and for the country is such a big honour. Every time we visited Zanzibar as part of the IIT Madras contingent, we noticed that the representation of women on their side is quite significant. So, it was important that we do this mindfully," Prof Preeti Aghalayam, Dean of School of Social Science & Engineering, and Director-in-charge, Zanzibar Campus, IIT Madras said. 

"IIT Madras is proud to bring its deep and long-term education and research strengths to East Africa. The campus is planned in similar terms as Madras, with verdant natural surroundings, state-of-the-art classrooms, laboratories, research facilities, and innovation centres," Aghalayam added.

Preeti Aghalayam's academic journey began with her B.Tech in Chemical Engineering, which she completed at IIT Madras in 1995. Subsequently, she pursued her Ph.D. at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, successfully obtaining her doctoral degree in 2000. Her research experiences extended further as she served as a postdoctoral researcher at MIT, Cambridge, contributing to the scientific community.

Aghalayam's passion for teaching and research led her to join the esteemed faculty of IIT Bombay, where she shared her expertise as a faculty member. In 2010, she became a part of IIT Madras, currently holding the distinguished position of a Professor in the Chemical Engineering department. She was recently acknowledged as one of the 75 Women in STEM by the Principal Scientific Advisor's office.