Notice of 2022 NYU Tandon Polytechnic Alumni Association Annual Meeting & Elections

Ravi S. Bhatia has over 35 years of proven operations and project leadership experience spanning complex high-visibility construction, technology, systems and infrastructure projects for real estate developers, multinational corporations, technology providers, private investors, contractors, and public institutions. 

His portfolio comprises $5 Billion in completed projects, including the development of the U.S.' first high-speed mobile wireless data network.  

Early in his career, Ravi gained significant supply chain experience in General Electric's prestigious Technical Marketing Program. His recent work has been in business development, strategy, and corporate development. He has taught graduate courses in project management, risk management, real estate development and negotiations for 15 years, as a visiting lecturer at New York University, Georgetown University and Fordham University. Ravi is a registered professional engineer and holds graduate degrees in business management (Hofstra) and information management (NYU/Tandon). He earned a degree in mechanical engineering at Polytechnic University (now NYU Tandon School of Engineering). Ravi also completed Stanford University's (Graduate School of Business) Professional Certificate program in Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Ravi is on the Advisory Board of Consumer 51, a leading digital marketing agency.

Richard Day started his journey in entrepreneurship when he joined NYU Tandon’s School of Engineering. He completed his Bachelor’s in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering while taking classes like programming, 3D modeling, sustainability, and creative writing. Richard chose to attend NYU Tandon (then NYU-Poly) when he learned of the school’s growing efforts to foster student entrepreneurship. During his undergraduate years, he not only watched but immersed himself in the evolution of NYU‘s entrepreneurial community.

Richard has always been working on different projects, and in 2016 he eventually co-founded Aquaneers, a cleantech company that was funded by the Department of Energy to use nanotechnology for desalination and the conversion of carbon emissions into clean fossil fuel alternatives. Richard also co-founded a creative studio, Anoba Studios, which is not only an outlet for producing creative works but ultimately a vehicle to create and fund initiatives that support the creative endeavors of underrepresented content creators.

Finishing his time with Aquaneers, Richard recently began devoting his workdays to being a Senior Product Developer at National Grid, where he utilizes his entrepreneur mentality to help create and drive new energy efficiency programs, with a particular focus around low-income and financially starved communities. Improving the lives of his community is Richard’s ultimate goal and the main reason for most of his entrepreneurial endeavors.

Aside from his creative studio and role at National Grid, he is part of many community groups. He is a member of the PAA Board of Directors at Tandon, working on initiatives that support incoming student diversity. Similarly, he serves as an executive member of NextGen, the young professionals’ committee of the Student Leadership Network, an organization that supports the college dreams of thousands of NYC students in low-income communities. He is also very active as an alumni committee member of the Pierre Toussaint Scholarship Program, which gives guidance and support to underserved college students in America and high school students in Haiti, his family’s country of origin.

Roopram Ramharack received his Ph.D. in Polymer Chemistry from Polytechnic (now NYU Tandon School of Engineering). He has held research and executive positions at such companies as 3M, Unilever, Tesa (Beiesdorf), Adchem/Berry and Adhesive Applications (where he served as president). Since then, he has actively consulted for companies in the U.S., Italy and Peru.

His role has always been to empower and lead others to become leaders themselves. He finds it a pleasure to see many of his former colleagues now in leadership positions and says that his philosophy is that it is better to light a fire in people’s hearts rather than under their feet. His collaborative style has resulted in many papers - some of which were presented at major conferences - and in patents. One such endeavor involved developing wearable patches such as nicotine for smoking cessation, estradiol for feminine hormone replacement, and fentanyl for pain management. 

Leading people and businesses gave him the opportunity to develop skills in strategy, innovation, finance and product development, and he asserts that whether one is leading a small group of researchers or an entire company, it is all about the people.

He has volunteer experience as a scoutmaster, and in that capacity he taught problem solving, innovation and leadership, and he has also served as a volunteer SCORE counselor, providing aspiring entrepreneurs with the skills and business principles they need to succeed. Additionally, his travels in Peru have shown him how gratifying it is to contribute and how much of a difference it is possible to make.

Roopram grew up and earned his undergraduate degree in Guyana and feels that as a scientist and immigrant, he deeply appreciates the power of diversity to enable individuals and companies to excel. He is committed to bringing this same passion and background to PAA to guide and support emerging NYU graduates in finding opportunities to change the world and forging their career paths. 

Don Trotta has enjoyed a 30-year career working at the intersection of the financial services and technology industries and has held senior executive roles, such as Chief Information Officer and Chief Technology Officer, for several top-tier global financial institutions, including Barclays, Citigroup, and Chase Manhattan. 

In 2009 Don joined SAP AG, one of the world’s leading enterprise software companies, as their Global Head of Financial Services Industry, responsible for SAP’s $2B+ business serving the Banking, Capital Markets, and Insurance industries globally.

Over the years, has Don served on numerous Financial Services and CIO advisory boards for major industry organizations, such as HP, Accenture, Unisys, NCR, Teradata, The Research Board, MasterCard, and Visa. In 2007 Don was nominated for CIO of the Year in the FT Bankers Award. He also served from 2009-2019 as Vice-Chair of the Board for Banking Industry Architecture Network, BIAN, the organization that sets technology architecture standards for the banking industry globally.

Don received an MS degree from NYU Polytechnic University of New York (now NYU Tandon School of Engineering), and a BA degree from The City University of New York. He also attended executive management programs conducted by the Harvard Business School and the INSEAD International Business School in Fontainebleau, France. 

As an International Board Member, Don would be especially interested in working to leverage his network to foster and help create alliances and programs to benefit Tandon and its students with a number of Financial Services Technology companies. 

Iryna Zenyuk is an Associate Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). She is also an Associate Director of the National Fuel Cell Research Center at UCI, where her mission is to accelerate the development and deployment of renewable hydrogen energy technologies. Iryna graduated from Polytechnic University (now NYU Tandon School of Engineering) with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering (2008) summa cum laude. She continued her studies at Carnegie Mellon University, where she earned M.S. and Ph.D. degrees. Iryna was a postdoctoral fellow at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) investigating energy conversion and storage. She joined Tufts University as an Assistant Professor from 2015-2018 and moved to UCI in 2018. Iryna has published more than 70 journal articles in the area of electrochemical technologies and has given more than 90 invited presentations. She directs a research group to develop technologies that will decarbonize historically difficult sectors, such as chemical manufacturing, aviation, shipping, and long-haul transportation to reach a net-zero emissions economy by 2050.

She is a recipient of the NSF CAREER Award (2017), Interpore Society Fraunhofer Award for Young Researchers (2017), Research Corporation for Science Advancement, Scialog Fellow in Advanced Energy Storage (2017-2019), Electrochemical Society (ECS) Toyota Young Investigator Award (2018), UCI Samueli School of Engineering Early Career Faculty Excellence in Research Award (2019) and ECS Energy Technology Division Srinivasan Young Investigator Award (2021), and UCI Beal Applied Innovations Early Career Innovator of the Year (2021). 

As a dedicated teacher and researcher, Iryna is excited to see the NYU Tandon School of Engineering’s recent growth and strategic plan targeting key global challenges, including sustainability and renewable energy. As a member of the International Board of Directors, Iryna hopes to guide students and provide insight into academic career pathways including graduate schools. Iryna is committed to sustainability and would like to work with NYU Tandon School of Engineering students and alumni to enable sustainable solutions to energy, manufacturing, and other sectors through innovative engineering.