Srinivasan Venkataraman Sarma was a successful chemical engineer and a brilliant man who could fix anything. He was a devoted husband, father, grandfather, son, brother and uncle. His laugh and smile brought much joy to everyone he met.
Born in Madurai, India, he earned his bachelor’s degree and worked as an engineer in India until he came to the U.S. and enrolled in the chemical engineering graduate program at the University of Maryland at College Park. While a graduate student, Srinivasan worked various jobs and married his wife, Vimala, a National Science Foundation scholar who also later attended graduate school at UMD. Srinivasan never forgot how supportive his graduate school advisors were when he was starting his married life and professional career.
After earning his master’s in chemical engineering from UMD, Srinivasan worked at Bell Labs and Texas Instruments, before moving to Harrisburg, PA, in the 1970s to join the global headquarters of AMP Inc. At AMP, Srinivasan led global research and development efforts and traveled the world, even flying on the Concorde jet to London.
Srinivasan was humble, though he held numerous patents for clean metal manufacturing and superconductors. He was a highly respected subject matter expert and manager with a passion for hands-on work. Above all he was a great mentor to many technical elites. He was a visionary and developed many green technologies for electroplating, which were far ahead of their time. This resulted in him receiving a Principal title from AMP in the 1990s. Srinivasan retired from AMP in 1999 after almost 25 years and, being an active individual, he then embarked on a 20-year career at Foxconn Interconnect, from which he retired in March 2018 as their longest tenured U.S. employee. At Foxconn he enjoyed developing advanced manufacturing processes for new technologies, including those relating to smartphones, and was a senior technical advisor to Foxconn’s top executives. Upon retirement, he planned on continuing to pursue his career through consulting and travel, but his plans were cut short by his unexpected passing.
Srinivasan’s heart was magnanimous, and he lived life with great positivity, kindness and generosity. He was always happy to help anyone in need, expecting nothing in return. He touched the lives of many around him with his dedication to excellence, generosity in his personal friendships and commitment to his family and his faith. He loved his wife of 47 years, Vimala, daughter, Lakshmi, and granddaughters Meenakshi and Kamala, and did everything to ensure their happiness and comfort.
The Srinivasan V. and Vimala C. Sarma Family Endowed Scholarship will continue his legacy and generosity by providing financial assistance to chemical engineering students in need so they can further their education.