Management
Lavkamad Chandra
Director
‘Educating youth in skills and applying technology at all levels is the focus of education at AIAT.’
‘I returned to India to give back to the society and my parents. I’m doing Karma Yoga at Auroville.’
Mr. Lavkamad Chandra has a master’s in engineering from RWTH Aachen University in Germany. He is with Karin Latzke the founder of Auroville Institute of Applied Technology/AIAT and Director of the AIAT College. The AIAT focuses on skill-centric education from ITI-Certificate to bachelor’s degree in applied sciences and technology. The vocational education program has been running for 20 years. He has been instrumental in introducing the Dual System of Vocational Training in collaboration with ten industrial partners in Pondicherry. He has over 40 years of experience in operations research management, Business Application System Development, strategy, and logistics with companies including ThyssenKrupp, Lufthansa, and Airbus.
Sanjeev Ranganathan
Principal
Education in the B.Voc program will build skills, competencies and inner capacities in the youth. This will enable them to be not only apply what they know, but also have the leadership skills and personal skills to live a good life with inner peace and contentment.e.
He has studied at IIT-Madras and received his PhD from Columbia University in New York City.
He is the only Indian to have received the Lewis Winner Award for his research. He has over 18 years of experience in the industry and has created products used by over a billion people. He moved to Auroville in 2013 and is the founder of C3STREAM land Designs an innovative business that engages with rural youth that allows them to learn, grow, work and teach. He has trained rural youth to consult in Programming, VLSI Design with international companies; while simultaneously volunteering to teach over 300 children in STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Arts Mathematics) education in schools making their learning visual, hands-on, relevant, and grounded. Their research in learning had been accepted at international journals including one that was recently published by the Shifu graduates about the possible missing ingredients of higher engineering in India.
Lakshay
Executive
I believe in the idea of Human Unity, and, as an Aurovilian it is my full-time pursuit.
As a professional, I work as an Executive Director of Integral World - a nonprofit enterprise - committed to the cause of social impact through organizational strategies, transformational communication, and effective actions. Within Auroville, I'm currently a member of the Auroville Town Development Council. ATDC’s mandate is to plan, develop and build the Township, implementing and monitoring development programmes and projects. I also teach at Last School, an Auroville institution based on the ideals of integral education, propounded by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.
I am honoured to be associated with and serve the vision and mission of the Auroville Institute of Applied Technology. As executive of AIAT I'll work towards assisting AIAT scale new heights and benefit humanity at large.
Jürgen Pütz
Co-Executive
The new direction in AIAT which the Institute is being able to explore in conjunction with PU - Pondicherry University offers exiting range of educational opportunities which are a new experience for youth in this area.
I have been involved in organic farming, horticulture, silvi-culture, afforestation and soil and water conservation, Watershed Management, Tank Rehabilitation and Rural Development projects since I joined the Auroville Project in its initial stages. I have successfully completed and continue to coordinate a number of projects supported by both Indian and foreigns funding agencies. Palmyra Centre has received National Groundwater Augmentation Award for year 2008 from The Ministry of Water Resources, New Delhi.
Angelika Kolb
Head of Pedagogy and Counsellor
“Since 2005, I've wholeheartedly supported AIAT in various ways: as a consultant to the management; with project-based and student-centered teacher training, with the I can programme to improve the trainees self-confidence; as a teacher taking
classes in German; maintaining social media and redesigning the AIAT webpage; with donations of scholarships. I’m mentor of German-speaking volunteers, and work with German senior experts. I’m also supporting AIAT in raising funds in Germany
and as a photographer.”
She is an Assistant professor of the German language, has a Masters in German and Psychology, and has 35 years of experience as a psychologist, body- and psychotherapist. She has also been teaching and practising a relaxation method called Kum Nye for 40 years; here you work with inner and outer energies, feelings, breathing, mind and space. It is a path that brings joy. She mentors Volunteers from German-speaking countries and has been instrumental in raising funds for AIAT in Germany since 2005.