Ashwin Anand will be representing the College of Engineering when he is recognized March 17 by President Eric Barron for his volunteerism during 2016 Global Entrepreneurship Week.
IE graduate student recognized for volunteerism
2/13/2017
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Ashwin Anand, a second-year year master’s student in industrial engineering, is one of four students who will be recognized by President Eric Barron for his leadership and volunteerism during the 2016 Penn State Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW).
Anand and three fellow Penn Staters will join President Barron for lunch on March 17 in recognition of their efforts during the weeklong celebration of the entrepreneurial spirit at the university, which was held Nov. 13-17.
A native of Palakkad, Kerala, India, Anand was looking for volunteer opportunities during the fall semester when his roommate brought up his own interest in attending GEW.
“At first, I didn’t really have any interest in attending because I worked in industry for a few years before coming to Penn State and I don’t have as much of an entrepreneurial spirit as my roommate,” he said. “But when I looked into the event, I saw that there was such a diverse group of speakers coming – from founders of startups to the CEO of Chick-Fil-A – I just thought it would be a great opportunity to network and meet people from a variety of industries.”
As for his duties during GEW, Anand helped to set up the rooms for keynote speakers and master classes that were offered. He also took to the “all hands on deck” mantra of the approximately 30 other volunteers, lending a hand wherever it was necessary.
One such duty included meeting at the HUB at 7 a.m. to inflate balloons and tie them along the path from Pattee Library to the corner of College and Allen Streets in downtown State College, which is the area in which many of GEW events were held.
An advisee of Professor Robert Voigt in the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Anand earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Amrita University (India) in 2010. He said decided to come to Penn State because of his interest in manufacturing.
Anand is part of Voigt’s research collaboration with National Oilwell Varco, Inc.
“I knew I wanted to study manufacturing and there are a lot of manufacturing companies and operations in the Pennsylvania region,” he said. “My decision came down to Penn State or Ohio State. I think I made the right choice.”
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