SIAEA hold annual gala at New York

By siliconindia   |   Wednesday, 01 December 2010, 10:58 IST
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New York: The Society of Indian American Engineers and Architects (SIAEA) held their annual gala at the Grand Hyatt in New York City which was attended by more than 800 professionals and their families, reports Desi Talk. The theme for this year's gala was "Helping Rebuild America" keeping in view the slowdown of the economy and the drubbing the housing sector has experienced. The SIAEA said that the theme is in tune with the vision of its industry leaders both in the private and public sector to forge ahead with rebuilding America's infrastructure. Among the invited dignitaries was John C. Liu, New York City Comptroller, India's Consul General in New York Prabhu Dayal. It also featured many top business persons and public officials among who were David Burney, Commissioner, New York Department of Design and Construction. Ravi Shenoy, president of the organization, in his speech, highlighted the organization's latest achievement that SIAEA is partnering with the Center for Architecture (New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects), to organize the "Jugaad Urbanism" exhibition scheduled for February to May 2011, to bring together resourceful strategies for metropolitan cities in India. Devgan, who is the SIAEA representative for 'Jugaad' told that he is involving a number of young Indian architects and engineers in his advisory committee. During the gala, the SIAEA honored seven professionals for 'excelling' in their fields, including two 'Under-40' professionals. Ten students from around the country were each awarded $2,000 scholarships. Founded in 1981, the SIAEA is a non-profit with more than 700 members, all professional engineers and architects in the tristate area. While the society's members have traditionally been construction industry oriented, it has taken the initiative to reach out and recruit engineers in other industries in an effort to diversify its membership and to reach and serve an ever-growing population of Indian origin professionals, it says in its publicity materials. The organization also hopes to expand its activities to include business with India.