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Home > About NC State > Chancellor > Speeches and Writings > Visit from Ambassador Ronen Sen from IndiaVisit from Ambassador Ronen Sen from India
August 24, 2006
Today NC State is pleased and honored to welcome India's Ambassador to the United States, Mr. Ronen Sen. Thank you, Mr. Ambassador, for joining us and for your willingness to share your thoughts on the role of India-U. S. relations in this global economy.
We also appreciate the opportunity to discuss NC State and the important role we play in attracting international talent and resources. NC State continues to be a national leader in scholarship and innovation across many disciplines. We are very proud of that role. We are a global community, providing relevant solutions and practical applications through our teaching, research and extension programs.
Our university prides itself in attracting some of the world's best and brightest international students, faculty and staff. Our Indian student population constitutes the largest percentage of international student enrollment at NC State. For the last four years, Indian student enrollment has been on the rise, with 351 students in 2003 to an increase to 681 students in 2006. Indian student organizations, such as Maitri, the Indian Graduate Student Association and Ekata, the undergraduate student association, are actively involved in our university community.
NC State is also engaged in joint research collaborations with the Indian Institute of Technology and other Indian research centers in areas such as nanotechnology, advanced materials, the environment and energy. This fall, our Office of International Affairs and representatives from several of our colleges will travel to India, in order to establish student internships, research projects and study abroad opportunities with Indian universities - with the long term goal of perhaps one day creating an NC State-India Center with an affiliated Indian institution.
Now, I would like to introduce an NC State alum and friend of the university.
Swadesh Chatterjee has been a long time North Carolina resident and a strong advocate of building U.S.-India trade relations. He is the CEO of Swadesh Chatterjee and Associates, and the president of TiE Carolinas, a group of businesspeople whose primary goal is to develop and assist fledgling entrepreneurs. He has been instrumental in bringing Indian trade delegations to North Carolina and Washington, and was appointed to the North Carolina Entrepreneurial Development Board by former Governor James B. Hunt.
In 1998, he was elected the National President of the Indian American Forum for Political Education and was one of the few Indian Americans who briefed and accompanied former President Bill Clinton on his historic trip to India in 2000. He was conferred the Padma Bhushan, one of India's highest civilian awards by the president of India in 2001.
Swadesh has undergraduate degrees in Physics, as well as Instrumentation and Electronic Engineering. His MBA degree is from NC State. We are proud to have him as part of the Wolfpack family. Please welcome, Swadesh Chatterjee.