Infosys Foundation commits Rs30 crore to Chennai Mathematical Institute

Infosys Foundation commits Rs30 crore to Chennai Mathematical Institute

Mumbai: The Infosys Foundation, the corporate social responsibility (CSR) arm of Infosys Ltd, India’s second largest software services exporter, has constituted a corpus fund of Rs30 crore for the Chennai Mathematical Institute (CMI).

This corpus will be used to enhance faculty compensation and support fellowship requirements for research students. In addition, the grant will enable CMI to invite distinguished mathematicians from across the world to mentor students and boost the institute’s quality of research, the company said in a statement.

In recent years, CMI has attracted a number of young faculty members. It has also seen a welcome trend of students returning for postgraduate studies after gaining work experience. The corpus from the Infosys Foundation will allow CMI to provide its faculty members with facilities such as housing and standard benefits like health coverage. It will also help the institute to increase scholarships at the masters and doctoral levels to attract a greater number of talented students.

“Infosys and the Foundation are committed to enriching higher education and research across disciplines including mathematics and science. We also believe that motivated professors are key to encouraging students to push the realms in research. We are honoured that our contribution can help CMI to attract the best and the brightest teachers and students,” said Sudha Murty, chairperson, Infosys Foundation.

“The corpus created by Infosys Foundation will allow us to expand our teaching programs to other areas related to the mathematical sciences. It will also help us improve the quality and quantity of postgraduate teaching and research faculty,” said Rajeeva Karandikar, director, Chennai Mathematical Institute.

The Rs30 crore corpus is yet another initiative by the Infosys Foundation to support research and increase public awareness of mathematics as an intellectual discipline aimed at building a strong talent pool of mathematicians and prepare them for a career in research and data analytics.

In August, the Infosys Science Foundation (ISF) organized a workshop called Gagandeepa, which trained over 680 middle school mathematics and science teachers from rural Karnataka in a four-point framework that can be used as a tool to effectively teach concepts in mathematics and science. The company has also instituted a prize to encourage research in mathematics under the aegis of the Infosys Prize.

Infosys also sponsored the International Mathematical Union’s Leelavati Prize to recognize outstanding public outreach work for mathematics in 2014. The company has also provided a grant of approximately Rs2.1 crore ($350,000) to the New York Academy of Sciences to support their After School Mentoring Program in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Founded in 1989, CMI has an impressive track record in the field of mathematics and computer science. Its programmes are rated among the top in India.

The announcement was made after market hours.

On Friday, shares of Infosys Ltd closed up 0.60% to Rs3,730.30, while the benchmark Sensex closed down 0.22% to 27,026.70 points.