Alumnus Swraj Paul donates $5 million to MIT, says studying there ‘changed his life’

Industrialist Swraj Paul has donated $5 million to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the place he studied mechanical engineering and later went on to discovered the Caparo Group that straddles numerous sectors, together with value-added metal merchandise.

MIT’s Kresge Auditorium is to be named after the 89-year-old Paul, whose two sons, Akash and Angad, additionally went to MIT. The donation has been made by the Paul household’s charitable belief, the Ambika Paul Foundation, a press release from Paul’s workplace stated on Sunday.

Designed by Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen, the Kresge Auditorium is architecturally vital as a number one instance of a minimalist thin-shell concrete construction. Located within the central space of the MIT campus, Kresge opened its doorways in 1955 and has performed an necessary position within the lifetime of the MIT group. It was renovated in 2016.

In recognition of the reward, the massive corridor within the Kresge Auditorium will likely be named because the Lord Swraj Paul PC ’52 and Angad Paul ’92 Theatre; extra commonly known as the Swraj Paul Theatre at Kresge Auditorium.

Paul, a member of the House of Lords, stated, “I first came to MIT from India in 1949 at a time when there were very few Indian students in the United States, and the experience changed my life”.

“Because of my time at MIT, I decided to expand my Caparo companies into the US, and for more than 30 years, we have made significant investments across the country in our Bull Moose Tube and XL Trailers businesses”.

“I have always had a great respect for MIT as a world centre of technical excellence, and was delighted when my sons followed me there in the 1970s and 80s. MIT means a lot to our family, and I am honoured that we are able to support the continuation of its values and way of life through this iconic building.”

The Kresge auditorium additionally serves as a venue for quite a lot of group actions together with MIT occasions and symposiums and scholar performances, and Cambridge Symphony Orchestra and New England Philharmonic performances.

The Ambika Paul Foundation was established in 1978 in reminiscence of Paul’s daughter, Ambika, who died of leukaemia in 1968 aged 4. It was for her medical remedy that Paul first got here to Britain in 1966, the place he remained and went on to create Caparo, a diversified world affiliation of companies with pursuits predominantly within the design, manufacture, advertising, and distribution of value-added metal and area of interest engineering merchandise.