Kumar Ramachandran graduated with a master's degree from Industrial and Management Systems Engineering (IMSE) in 1987. In 2022, Kumar was back in his College of Engineering classroom – not the one he studied in but one that bore his name. Kumar and his wife Meena Ramachandran made a significant gift to the Industrial and Management Systems Engineering department to promote leadership and entrepreneurship among students. “I wanted to contribute because USF was my gateway to success in the US,” says Kumar.
To commemorate their gift, the department named a teaching classroom at ENC Engineering Building as the 'Kumar and Meena Ramachandran Engineering Classroom.' The naming was unveiled during his visit to USF in Fall 2022, when he also attended a meeting of the Industrial and Management Systems Engineering (IMSE) Advisory Board and presented a talk on Entrepreneurship to IMSE graduate students.
Kumar, who was named USF’s Industrial and Management Systems Engineering Distinguished Alumnus in 2015, has 35 years’ leadership experience in the Computing and Semiconductor industries. He is a serial entrepreneur involved with founding three startups based in the United States and India. He divides his time between Bangalore and California. Kumar and Meena’s daughter, Janani Ramachandran was elected as the youngest and first South Asian city council member in the City of Oakland, CA in November 2022. In a recent post, Janani described her father as “my first, foremost and forever mentor, and never-ending source of support and inspiration.” She continues: “He’s not just an entrepreneur – but like me, a rule-breaker and convention-defier, refusing to take no for an answer as much as possible. Ever since my youth, you encouraged me to dream big and bold, and to never forget the power we hold. And here we are, bigger and bolder than my ancestors’ wildest dreams.”