Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME) publishes a detailed case study on a rural social enterprise ‘Wild Ideas’, authored by IFMR Graduate School of Business (GSB), Krea University professors – Dr V Anantha Nageswaran (Distinguished Visiting Professor) and Dr S Raghu Raman (Professor of Organisational Behaviour). The case study captures this for-profit rural enterprise’s journey thus far, including its future directions.
Read the case study here.
| Dr Madhuri Saripalle – Associate Professor of Economics at IFMR GSB, Krea University – co-authored a chapter on Mango Value Chains in India as part of an edited volume titled ‘Transforming Agriculture in South Asia: Role of Value Chains and Contract Farming’. Published by Routledge, the study analyses numerous markets and value chains for mango namely HOPCOMS, SAFAL, APMC and pre and post-flowering contracts with wholesale agents that have different implications for farmer profitability. |
Prof Kalyan Chakrabarti – Assistant Professor of Biological Science & Chemistry, Krea University – co-authors with scientists at IISc for a paper on “Aromatic Interactions Drive the Coupled Folding and Binding of the Intrinsically Disordered Sesbania mosaic Virus VPg Protein” published in the American Chemical Society journal ‘Biochemistry’.
About the paper:
The cells are the tiny units of life. Protein molecules are the engines that carry out all the necessary work within the cell. But, how are the engines assembled within the cell? A team of scientists, including Prof Kalyan Chakrabarti, have answered this question in an article published in the American Chemical Society journal ‘Biochemistry’. The work, partially funded by the Krea Intramural Fellowship awarded in 2019, discusses a specific problem of viral infection in plants which has the potential to provide a blueprint for preventing viral infections in animals too.
Abstract:
The plant Sesbania mosaic virus [a (+)-ssRNA sobemovirus] VPg protein is intrinsically disordered in solution. For the virus life cycle, the VPg protein is essential for replication and for polyprotein processing that is carried out by a virus-encoded protease. The nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)-derived tertiary structure of the protease-bound VPg shows it to have a novel tertiary structure with an α-β-β-β topology. The quaternary structure of the high-affinity protease–VPg complex (≈27 kDa) has been determined using HADDOCK protocols with NMR (residual dipolar coupling, dihedral angle, and nuclear Overhauser enhancement) restraints and mutagenesis data as inputs. The geometry of the complex is in excellent agreement with long-range orientational restraints such as residual dipolar couplings and ring-current shifts. A “vein” of aromatic residues on the protease surface is pivotal for the folding of VPg via intermolecular edge-to-face π···π stacking between Trp271 and Trp368 of the protease and VPg, respectively, and for the CH···π interactions between Leu361 of VPg and Trp271 of the protease. The structure of the protease–VPg complex provides a molecular framework for predicting sites of important posttranslational modifications such as RNA linkage and phosphorylation and a better understanding of the coupled folding upon binding of intrinsically disordered proteins. The structural data presented here augment the limited structural data available on viral proteins, given their propensity for structural disorder.
Reference: Karuna Dixit, N. Megha Karanth, Smita Nair, Khushboo Kumari, Kalyan S. Chakrabarti, Handanahal S. Savithri, and Siddhartha P. Sarma | Biochemistry 2020 59 (49), 4663-4680 | DOI: 10.1021/acs.biochem.0c00721
Read the complete paper, here.
Ramkumar Ramamoorthy, former Chairman and Managing Director of Cognizant (India), will join the leadership team of Krea University in January 2021 as its first Pro Vice-Chancellor, responsible for Professional Learning.
As part of its 2025 vision, the University has created a blueprint to take its interwoven learning experience to the industry and larger society to address the agile and continuous learning needs of professionals. In this role as Pro Vice-Chancellor of Professional Learning, Ramkumar will help drive the mission and long-term strategy of all professional programs—spanning Masters in Business Administration, executive education, as well as modularized and laddered advanced programs and micro-credentials that will add significant value to individuals, businesses, nations and society.
In addition to this role, as a part of the core leadership team, Ramkumar will help strengthen Krea’s vision to be a teaching and research university that defines global benchmarks through interwoven-ness and experiential learning, while staying true to its core values of excellence, ethics, inclusivity and accountability.
“Ramkumar brings to Krea a rare combination of three decades of industry, professional and academic experience,” said Dr Sunder Ramaswamy, Vice Chancellor of Krea University. “His deep appreciation of structural shifts across industries and newer models of learning and skilling will be a great asset to Krea and particularly to the Graduate School of Business, in our journey to enable high potential individuals to learn and create a positive, catalytic impact, ethically.”
“I am truly excited to be part of the Krea team that strongly believes in the larger purpose of helping humanity prepare for an unpredictable world,” said Ramkumar. “In a fast-paced world that is increasingly shaped by the interplay of humans, machines and the environment, learning throughout one’s professional or entrepreneurial career is key to staying relevant while driving excellence and innovation. I am confident that the rich heritage of the Graduate School of Business, Krea’s pioneering interwoven learning model and strong legacy of core values will enable the alumni of the university to confidently embrace the future.”
Profile of Ramkumar Ramamoorthy
Ramkumar has about 30 years of experience in the information technology industry as well as academia. He was most recently the Chairman and Managing Director of Cognizant in India—a Fortune 200 company—and was responsible for the company’s India operations with over 200,000 employees.
During his 22 years with Cognizant, he nurtured and grew more than half a dozen portfolios and held various leadership positions including Executive Director, India and Chief Knowledge Officer. Prior to Cognizant, Ramkumar was with Tata Consultancy Services.
Ramkumar spent the first five years of his professional career as an academician and continued to stay in touch with academia throughout his long career in the industry. In the past three decades, he has been on the Academic Council and/or Senate of liberal arts, engineering, management and medical universities in India. He is currently on the Governing Council of the IT/BPM Skill Sector Council of National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) and the Board for undergraduate studies in engineering and technology at All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). He is also associated with the Chennai Mathematical Institute, one of the premier institutions of excellence for teaching and research in math, computer science and data science.
Ramkumar has played leadership roles in several professional and trade bodies in India. Notably, he is the immediate Past President of the 185-year-old Madras Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) and a past Vice Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) in India.
Jaykumar Patel and Utkarsh Srivastava (IFMR Graduate School of Business, MBA class of 2021) are proud recipients of Krea’s 100% scholarship to NYU Stern School of Business’ Fintech program.
Krea University offered a 100% scholarship to final-year MBA students to pursue ‘Foundations in Fintech’ – a short-term online program at NYU Stern School of Business. Several students vying for this scholarship underwent a rigorous application and interview process, with Jaykumar and Utkarsh emerging as the top two candidates.
The online course, with a duration of 6-weeks (25 January – 08 March 2021), will deep-dive into the functioning of the financial services industry taught by Professor Kathleen DeRose (Clinical Associate Professor of Finance and Director of NYU Stern Fubon Center FinTech Initiative). Through various video lectures, readings and assessments, this program aims to provide valuable insights about key Fintech areas and prepare students for a career in finance. Participants of this course, upon completion, will receive the NYU Stern Certificate in Fintech.
For more information, visit this link: https://execed.stern.nyu.edu/products/fintech
As part of the Prajanya Trust’s ‘16 Days Campaign against Gender Violence’, poems by Dr Anannya Dasgupta – Associate Professor of Literature, Literature & the Arts and Director of Centre for Writing & Pedagogy at SIAS, Krea University – were featured on the occasion of Human Rights Day. The campaign aims to showcase women poets read poems from their work that draw on or speak broadly to the “four good words” in the preamble to the constitution: Justice, Equality, Liberty and Fraternity. From shedding light on late Rohit Vemula to highlighting the politics behind the Kathua Rape Case, watch the reading of Dr Dasgupta’s moving poems here.
Over 500 entrepreneurs from across India have shown interest in the program set up by Catalyst AIC – the newly launched incubation and innovation centre. For the first shortlisting phase, a total of 90 applications were received, while 20 applications will be shortlisted in the second round.
Siddharth Poddar (cohort of 2022) represented IFMR Graduate School of Business, Krea University and secured the first runner-up position in ‘Money Bhai’ as part of Zeal 2020 – a trading competition conducted by the Global Centre for Entrepreneurship and Finance (GCEC).
| IFMR GSB students Himani Jain and Shruti Goyal were among the National Finalists at the recently held Economics case study event ‘Chanakya’, conducted at Avenues 2020 – the annual business festival of IIT Bombay. The faculty and the team at IFMR GSB are proud of their achievement! |
Prof Anil Srinivasan – Associate Professor of Practice, Literature & the Arts – was part of a grand panel of celebrated entrepreneurs and corporate leaders at the recently held, virtual TiE Global Summit 2020. Prof Anil – a critically-acclaimed pianist, experimental musician, the first to be awarded the coveted Sangeet Natak Akademi youth award, a TED speaker, and founder of a hugely successful musical initiative ‘Rhapsody’ – shared his insights on the topic ‘Making a Difference Every Day’, bringing in his novel perspective backed by vast experience and experiments with music to the discussion.
