Ross Bassett (Department of History, North Carolina State University)

One of the fundamental social transformations in American engineering in the second half of twentieth century has been the Asianization of the engineering workforce. One only has to walk through the halls of high technology firms, or look at the faculty rosters of American engineering schools to see the important role that Indians, Chinese, Koreans, and other people of Asian ancestry play in the American engineering profession. This paper will begin to provide a partial historical analysis of this phenomena by looking at Indian engineering students at MIT in the twentieth century. The basis for this paper will be a database of all graduates of MIT’s engineering programs in the twentieth century who claimed a hometown in India at the time of graduation. (Derived from MIT commencement programs.) This paper will modify a concept developed by William Cronon in Nature’s Metropolis, and analyze MIT’s hinterland in India. Where in India did students come to MIT and why? Then using alumni directories and other sources it will analyze where these students ended up. When did large numbers of Indian MIT graduates begin to stay in the United States? What did Indian MIT alumni do in both India and the United States? This paper will seek to provide a deeper historical context for Annalee Saxenian’s claim that Indian engineers have become important entrepreneurs in the United States. The data analysis will be supplemented by a narrative history of Indian engineering students at MIT based on the university archives and interviews with Indian students.