Tiger Tuesday: A Q&A with Rumesh Vaikuntan

By Megan Bradshaw on February 21, 2017

Rumesh Vaikuntan, ’17, applied information technology M.S.

 

Tell me about where you’re from.

I’m from Bangalore, India. I did my undergrad there in mechanical engineering. I lived there for 28 years and before moving here [to the US], I was in the IT industry for six years. It is an amazing city, similar to New York. The weather is the best part of our city; everyone wants to migrate there for it and for better opportunities in IT and engineering fields.

Tell me about your family.

I have one sister. She’s been living here [in the US] since 2010, and my mom and dad are in India and they visit us often, usually once every two years. My dad is a retired civil engineer and my mom stayed at home. My sister is working in IT; she graduated from Towson University too.

What made you choose Towson University?

My main intention was to get an MBA but when I was researching, I found that MBAs don’t come under a STEM degree. For me, STEM was important to me as an international degree, and a STEM degree gives me the opportunity to work here for three years rather than one year. And Towson University is one of the top schools for an AIT degree. My sister did her master’s degree in AIT here too.

What do you do in your free time?

My hobby is going outdoors. I’ve spent a lot of my summers going kayaking, canoeing, I went for a couple of treks, hiking, and I visited some places I wanted to see. I love basketball; I used to play high school basketball. I went to a North Carolina–Duke game last year and a lot of other NBA games like the Charlotte Hornets, Houston Rockets and a lot of Washington Wizards games.

What is your favorite class or professor?

My favorite class is project management with Dr. Dominic Mezzanotte. He was wonderful in giving us real-life scenarios because he’s been working in the IT industry for a very long time. He gave us a lot of insights in what happens in the American IT industry. It was not learning from the book, rather he gave us assignments where we couldn't [cite] books or the Internet. Thinking about what’s happening in the IT world and using our thoughts to write the paper really helped us understand what we were learning.

What is your favorite thing about TU?

Everything is so close; I’ve visited other universities and if you want to go from class to campus recreation [for example], it takes so long to get there. Here everything is nearby. Everything is well [organized] compared to other universities I’ve visited. The professors are really good. They are so friendly, and you can reach out to them at any time. The International Office is really amazing too. They are very friendly.

What do you do at Campus Rec?

I’m a graduate assistant for sport clubs, so I monitor and advise 35 different sport clubs, and I have to do spot checks on their practices and work on scheduling and budgeting and finance. I advise them on career objectives — how they can use playing club sports on their resumes and cover letters to get jobs in a campus recreation or sports field.

What are your plans for the future?

I plan to pursue my work visa and I hope to get a job in IT as a project manager. My main goal is to work in the sports industry. For me to do that, I need to build a very good network here. Right now I’m focused on that. In the future, I might pursue a master’s in sports management.