SMVDU student wins Emerging Talent in Open Source award

Jammu, Aug 11: Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University (SMVDU) has announced that Harsh Raj, a final-year student of the School of Electronics and Communication Engineering, has been conferred with the prestigious “Emerging Talent in Open Source” award at the National FOSSEE Awards 2025 (Edition 02), organized by FOSSEE, IIT Bombay.According to a statement issued here, it was revealed that this national-level honour recognises Harsh’s exceptional contributions to open-source development under the FOSSEE (Free/Libre and Open-Source Software for Education) project, an initiative of the Ministry of Education, Government of India, under the National Mission on Education through ICT (NMEICT).The award ceremony was held at Prof. B. Nag Auditorium, Victor Menezes Convention Centre, IIT Bombay.In addition to this achievement, Harsh Raj, along with his teammates from SMVDU, recently won the IEEE YESIST12 2025 Prelims and will represent India at the IEEE YESIST12 2025 Grand Finale in Malaysia later this year. SMVDU extends heartfelt gratitude to the FOSSEE team, especially Prof. Kannan M. Moudgalya, Rajesh Kushalkar, and the organising committee at IIT Bombay, for honouring and encouraging young innovators nationwide. Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Pragati Kumar congratulated Harsh Raj on this remarkable achievement, stating, “This recognition is a proud moment for SMVDU and reaffirms our commitment to fostering academic excellence, research, and innovation.” The university wishes Harsh Raj continued success in his future endeavours and looks forward to more such exemplary accomplishments by its students.