Parents live their dreams through their children, especially in our country India. Mansukh’s father too had big dreams for him to become an Engineer. His father felt that Engineering is a good and respectable profession and rightfully so.
Mansukh came from very humble background. Hardworking farming family based in Jetalsar, a village in Rajkot district, Gujarat, India. A small Indian village, with no frills of a metro city, was his home as a child. He completed his education till 10th grade in his village and scored distinction which was a rare occasion for a small village in early nineties. Despite all the financial odds of family, due to his motivation and academic performance, family decided to move him to Rajkot for his secondary education to get better opportunities. Being hardworking, intelligent and focused, not surprising in his 12th grade he excelled with very good results in the board exams, within top 200 students in the state. His teachers guided him and mentored him to pursue engineering, as they knew he was meant to be a success in choosing engineering as a career option.
One step at a time and it was time to move on to a professional college. Computer Engineering was his calling. His elder brother had completed his graduation in Commerce and was a great support to him all thru. He helped him thru secondary education while in Rajkot and supported him by way of selection of course, selection of college etc. He eventually joined the engineering college at Nadiad, DDIT (Gujarat University) in the year of 1985.
Having completed his Engineering, his next move was to impart the knowledge; the best option was to join the academics and he got opportunity to work in state’s most popular engineering college, L. D. College of Engineering (LDCE), Ahmedabad as a faculty. He served at LDCE as a faculty for almost sixteen years (1991-2007) and established himself as an emerging and successful academician. He was then transferred to Government Engineering College, Patan where he served for five years (2007-2012) and thereafter Vishwakarma Engineering College, Chandkheda since 2012 serving currently as Head Of the Computer Department. He was appointed as Associate Dean, Engineering in Gujarat Technological University – indeed a prestigious position in the University in May 2018. An inspiration for every youngster on working one’s way up with sheer hard work can get you anywhere you aspire is the mantra he followed.
Many more feathers, of honour to his credit came with positions, prestige, and responsibility. He did remarkable work in the field of Computer Science through Computer Society of India (CSI) as an executive committee member and Secretary of Ahmedabad Chapter. He was instrumental in organizing many state/national and international events at CSI, Ahmedabad including very prestigious International Conference ADCOM-2004. Due to his significant contribution, he was selected for Significant Contribution Award by CSI Ahmedabad in 2006. Thereafter also he continued to support the activities of the CSI in different capacities and as a result he was awarded Chapter Patron Award by CSI in the year 2013-14.
His academic contribution at various levels is notable, specifically syllabus design, niche area that requires an experienced mind with executable capabilities. He has contributed generously with his wide scope of knowledge and long experience in the Computer Science and Engineering/Information Technology in designing the syllabus of UG and PG engineering courses at the various leading universities including Nirma University (Member of Faculty Board, 2004-2010), CHARUSAT University (Member of Board Of Studies), Parul University (Member of Board Of Studies) and Gujarat Technological University (Member of Board Of Studies since establishment of GTU in 2008). He is also a member of Program Advisory Board, Baba Saheb Ambedakar Open University, Gujarat.
He has conducted many workshops, expert sessions, and seminars on various topics related to technology and career guidelines as well as pedagogical innovations at various institutes and universities of repute. His lectures and sessions are not limited to Gujarat but have made its mark in well-known institutes like Mohanlal Sukhadiya University, Udaipur, Symbiosis Institute of Technology, Pune and M. Tech Program run by ISRO for scientists of Space Agencies of Asia-Pacific countries supported by United Nations. He continuously experiments pedagogical interventions to make teaching-learning process more learner oriented and outcome based through various academic activities. Recognizing his decades of efforts, GTU Innovation Council conferred him with Pedagogical Innovation Award in Febuary-2019.
He is a Member of Technical Program Committee and Reviewer in International Conference on Contemporary Computing (IC3) jointly organized yearly by JIIT, Noida and University of Florida, USA since 2014. He served also at the position of Publicity Chair, 7th International Conference on Big Data Analytics (BDA2019) held at Ahmedabad University in Dec-2020. Being associate with International events, his knowledge and experiences that are shared on these forums around the world inspired, motivated and instilled confident to many students who aspire to follow their dreams.
His passion for reading and writing never took a back seat. This passion has put him in line with the league of the best authors in his line of expertise. He is has authored and co-authored many books on topics relating to technology. These books are well known and have been reference points for many students of engineering. To name a few – Developing Web Applications, Ralph Moseley “Web Technology”, “8086 Programming & Advance Processor Architecture” published by Wiley India, “Advanced Java technology “ published by dreamTech and “Python Programming” published by STAREDU SOLUTIONS subsidiary of STAR CERTIFICATIONS, California, USA. He has contributed as Author, Translator and Reviewer of the school text books for Computer from 8 to 12th Standard published by Gujarat School Text Book Board.
He is one who has literature running in his veins. Because of his fascination with books, he has read a more than hundred books in the recent past in various subjects including novels, motivational, philosophy, psychology and history. His journey in the company of books never ends. As aptly put in Gujarati – “ Mari Vanchan Yatra”. He also writes short essays and articles in Gujarati on various topics specifically travelogue on his frequent visits to natural place like forests, mountains and rivers namely Girnar and Narmada. He has true love of nature which is visible from his visits to natural places and climbing the various mountains frequently.
Giving back to society is what he believes in. He is a faculty mentor for an NGO Bachhpan at VGEC, Chandkheda wherein every child is indeed fortunate at Bachhpan who has benefitted from this outreach program carried out with the help of volunteers.
Inspiration to follow one’s dreams and achieve the best with hard work and dedication. A must for every progressive mind.
