About Southern California Chapter

ASEI Southern California Chapter welcomes you! We are a fast-growing organization cultivating networking, mentoring and career growth opportunities for students and professionals in STEM. Join us to share, learn and give back to our communities.

Our chapter was formed in 2004 by five visionaries from the Boeing Company: Paul Sikand, Darsh Aggarwal, Jay Patel, Ravi Kahandal, and Sham Hariram. Subsequently, several engineering leaders from various reputable aerospace companies in the LA and Orange County areas came together with the vision to build a strong ASEI chapter in Southern California.

Our chapter strives to be a vibrant organization providing its members with professional networking events, community service opportunities, and mentoring.

"ASEI Southern California has a rich history of inspiring our next generation of STEM students and professionals with key opportunities and active community service over the past fifteen plus years. My team and I are looking forward to jumpstarting networking, mentoring and community activities that make a difference for our STEM audience in 2024 and beyond." - Vrunda Patel, ASEI SoCal President


ASEI is an organization of professionals of Asian Indian Diaspora living in the United States of America that shares knowledge among its members, shapes the next generation of engineers, entrepreneurs, scientists and technologists and perform community service helping the disadvantaged and underprivileged in communities across the world. ASEI was established in 1983 in Michigan. It is a non-profit organization with Tax ID # 38 - 2468829.


Board Members


Vision, Mission & Purpose

1
Vision

“An organization of technical professionals of Indian origin providing a platform for networking, community service, and technology exchange”

2
Mission

Utilize the expertise and resources of the Indo-American community for promoting the following major activities:

Networking
Community Service
Technology Exchange
Provide student scholarships
Indo-American business relationship

3
Purpose

Primary objective of ASEI SoCal is to provide networking opportunities for professionals, students, and businesses.


Objectives


Provide networking opportunities for professionals, students, and businesses
Provide career guidance and mentoring to members and local students
Recognize outstanding engineers, students and entrepreneurs
Provide student scholarships
Host annual national and local conventions
Participate in humanitarian projects
Promote Indo-American relationship
Promote technology transfer between India and USA


Achievements


ASEI is very proud of its legacy and achievements. Over the last several years, ASEI has transformed from a local grassroots organization into a national multi-tier organization across the United States. This phenomenal growth can only be attributed to its untiring efforts of its founders, its leadership, and the long-standing members. Since its founding, it has started chapters in Michigan, Washington DC, Southern California, San Diego, Seattle, and Silicon Valley and has attracted hundreds of members into its fold. These chapters in turn have successfully started student chapters affiliated with local colleges and universities. The following noteworthy achievements are listed below:

Held thirty plus National Conventions in its existence: promoting technology & exchange of knowledge.

Instituted scholarships for high school and college students and has awarded accolades and financial rewards to hundreds of students.

Partnered with corporations to recognize and award their employees through the Corporate Excellence Recognition Program (CERP).

Conducted technical webinars throughout the year to foster continuous learning and provide networking opportunities to its members at the chapter levels.

Recognized good standing members for their lifetime achievements, service excellence to ASEI, and excellence in science, engineering, and technology fields.


A Brief History of ASEI


The American Society of Engineers of Indian Origin (ASEI) was founded in Detroit, Michigan by Mr. Hari Bindal with the objective of exchanging and collaborating technologies between India and USA.


In 1983, Mr. Bindal contacted more than 50 engineers across US to obtain their consent by conducting a signature campaign and received some 150 signatures of approval. He then organized a meeting and after much deliberation, a resolution was passed to form an organization of engineers from India. On 5th May 1983, the name ‘American Society of Engineers from India – ASEI’ (the name was changed to American Society of Engineers of Indian Origin, retaining the acronym as ASEI, in 1992) was selected from the various names proposed by floor members. Some seed money was collected and an ad-hoc committee was formed to plan an inaugural meeting. ASEI was formally inaugurated on 9th September 1983 by Mr. Bagla, Minister for Economics, India in Washington DC.


The constitution and bylaws of ASEI was written by Mr. Navin Pandya, a renowned member from Detroit and was accepted and signed by twenty six (26) members who attended the preliminary meeting on May 5, 1983. These 26 members are called "Founding Members of ASEI". Soon after, Mr. Bindal and Dr. Hans Bajaria registered ASEI as a non-profit organization with the IRS under section 501(C) (6) as well with the state of Michigan. ASEI formally started operating as a business entity under the stewardship of Mr. Hari Bindal and the first ASEI Newsletter was published in 1983.


A contest was held to select a logo design that was representative of ASEI. The design ensemble of a dual Indo-American flags, a compass, a handshake with the slogan “Gyano Sarvopari" encircling the artwork was selected. This logo was replaced by the current logo in 1992 to strike a chord with the modern generation. Within in a short span of two years, ASEI membership swelled to over 400 members and several letters of commendation from all over USA and India were received lauding the effort.


ASEI held its first convention in August 1984 and the inception of awards and recognition of career achievements by members started at this convention. In 1985, ASEI conferred an Honorary Membership and ASEI Memoranda to Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi during his visit to the US. The following year, Mr. Bindal had to relocate from Detroit to Florida and the void that he left behind was ably filled by the collective leadership of Nirdosh and Asha Reddy, Noor Kapadia and Yogi Anand who successfully held annual conventions for the next eight years.


Mr. Bindal was a trail blazer and he left his mark wherever he went. When he relocated again from Florida to Washington DC, he established the National Capital Chapter in 1990 and hosted a convention that year. ASEI has held 32 hosted by the various chapters. During the process of establishment of the various chapters, Mr. Bindal instilled the ASEI Students Scholarship and Science Fair Award into the business plan.


With what started out as a simple thought of exchanging of technology between the US and India, ASEI’s organization vision has now expanded to facilitate for its members a platform for networking, performing community service, recognize outstanding achievements of its members, partner with other professional and social organizations to make a difference in this world.


Constitution and Bylaws



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