IIT Hyderabad is part of history in the making. We, the faculty, students and staff are creating a new institute, an institute, which in due course of time will make an indelible mark in education and research. Though we are young, we have a great vision, agility, commitment and energy to create an innovative education and research environment that will be the envy of all. Through our deeds we shall be the catalysts for change in our local environs as well as the rest of India and the world. In a very short time, just about a year, IIT Hyderabad has made significant strides. IIT Hyderabad admitted the first batch of 111 B.Tech. students, and started functioning on August 20, 2008. Three departments, CSE, EE & ME were initiated. The first year had its highs and lows but was an exciting period that will be etched in the minds of the pioneer batch. In January 2009, IIT Hyderabad admitted 11 PhD students. On February, 27, 2009, the foundation stone of IIT Hyderabad was laid by Smt. Sonia Gandhi, Hon'ble Chairperson of UPA. For the 2009-10 academic year, IITH will be admitting 120 B.Tech. students, 35 M.Tech. students and 10-15 Ph.D. students.

Though young, IITH celebrated all the student activities, and held a cultural program, ELAN. A few students received international scholarships and some are interning in Japan. IITH received nearly 1700 faculty applications in 10 departments. We are aggressively recruiting faculty and building up a highly qualified manpower. From the very first year IITH has embarked on research and development; it received 2 funded projects: One on "Development of High Energy Density Li-on Batteries for Mobile Applications" jointly with International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI). The second is a joint project with Kieo University and University of Tokyo on "Information Network for Natural Disaster Mitigation and Recovery". IITH, through its Master Plan, has embarked on creating a signature campus which will provide the ambience for fostering inventions and innovations. A campus, that will possess the scale beyond existing IITs. We would like to express our gratitude to the mentor IIT, namely, IIT Madras, for outstanding support at all levels. The above achievements have been possible through the energies invested by IITM at IITH. For this we express our special thanks to Prof. Ananth, Director, IIT Madras.

IIT Hyderabad will do its best to offer an innovative environment wherein your dreams will be realized: dreams for higher knowledge, dreams for scientific inquiry, dreams for technology creation, dreams for co-curricular activities, and dreams to change the world.

U. B. Desai
Director