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Balaji Krithikaivasan Memorial Graduate Fellowship Fund: Appeal for Donation



  March 2007

Dear alumni and friends,

We lost Balaji Krithikaivasan on September 16th, 2006 to cancer. As his academic advisor, it was a great pleasure for me to have him as my doctoral student.

Balaji initially started in the MS in Computer Science program at UMKC in 1999, and continued on with the PhD program. He earned his PhD in May 2006, a few months before his death. He was pleased to learn that his doctoral work resulted in a paper being accepted for publication in IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking (which will appear in the April 2007 issue). Another paper submitted to IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics has been recommended for acceptance with minor revision (and is currently with editors for final decision); unfortunately, news regarding the second paper arrived about a month after his death.

Coming to terms with the loss of Balaji has been very difficult. To honor his memory, the School of Computing & Engineering at the University of Missouri-Kansas City has established a fund in Balaji’s name tentatively titled, "Balaji Krithikaivasan Memorial Graduate Fellowship Fund (SCE).” Due to Balaji's passion for graduate education and knowing how much he enjoyed attending scientific conferences, this fund was established to achieve two primary goals:

  1. Provide graduate student travel grants for UMKC students in the Computer Science & Electrical Engineering Department (CSEE) to present accepted papers at professional conferences;
  2. Provide graduate education fellowships to deserving students in the CSEE Department (for example, in the form of tuition fellowships).
The CSEE Department will announce this memorial fellowship soon and is actively seeking donations from alumni and friends at this time. With the help of Dean Khosrow Sohraby and Dr. Appie van de Liefvoort, CSEE Department Chairman, we are establishing the application process, qualification criteria, and the selection committee now. We would like to name our first fellowship recipients this fall semester, and hope that you will support this initiative. It may be noted that this is the first of its kind graduate fellowship in the department.

Our goal is to raise a minimum of $100,000 in donations for this fellowship. An endowment of $100,000 would generate a minumum of $5,000 annually to be awarded in perpetuity for the above goals. As soon as $10,000 in donations is received, the fund can be officially endowed, ensuring the fund will continue to help deserving students forever.

HOW TO DONATE:
Your donation is tax-deductible under U.S. tax law. Matching Programs - Does your employer match your charitable donations dollar-for-dollar? Double your donation by asking your Human Resources office for the forms to complete. Be sure to designate this fund as recipient.

Balaji’s death has been a huge loss for all of us, but we hope to keep his memory alive forever through this Memorial Fund. Your generous donation will help us achieve our goals and we ask you to consider making a donation to the Balaji Krithikaivasan Memorial Graduate Fellowship Fund now. With your generous contribution, I'm certain that we can reach our minimum goal.

Please share this site with others you feel may be interested in donating as well. Please feel free to contact me or Stephanie Griffin in our business office (griffins-at-umkc.edu, 816-235-2348) if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Deep Medhi, Professor
Computer Science Electrical Engineering Department
School of Computing and Engineering
University of Missouri-Kansas City


(please print this page, tear off at the above line, and mail the following to the UMKC Office of Development, 5100 Rockhill Road, AC 202, Kansas City, MO 64110)

Pledge Commitment Form for the Balaji Krithikaivasan Memorial Graduate Fellowship Fund (SCE) at UMKC

I wish to make a financial pledge to support the Balaji Krithikaivasan Memorial Graduate Fellowship Fund (SCE) at the University of Missouri - Kansas City (UMKC).

I agree to contribute $________ and am paying $_______, upon execution of this agreement, with the remainder of the pledge to be payable over _____ years, in ____ (number of) equal payments each year.

Investment of the gift shall be in accordance with the policy of the Curators of the University of Missouri to benefit the UMKC School of Computing and Engineering.

In the hope that this gift will inspire others to support UMKC, I give UMKC my permission to publicize this gift and to use my name and/or picture in the annual donor lists and other University related publications. In all such publications and lists, please list my name as __________________________________________.

Name ______________________________________________________________
(please print)

_________________________________
Signature

__________________________________
Date

                                                                                           

 

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