The Padma Awards 2025, India’s highest civilian honors, are about to recognize remarkable individuals who have made lasting impacts across diverse fields. Among this year’s honorees are four trailblazers from the USA — Nitin Nohria, Ajay Bhatt, Vinod Dham, and Sethuraman Panchanathan — whose extraordinary contributions to technology, education, and innovation are impacting a global audience. In this article, we dive into the stories of these distinguished leaders and their journey to receiving India’s prestigious Padma Awards.
Prof. Nitin Nohria, highest-paid Dean of HBS
Indian American Nitin Nohria, the first foreign-born dean of Harvard Business School, is among the four Indian-origin achievers on the list of Padma Awards 2025. Born into a business family in Rajasthan, he made it big in business studies. He is a distinguished alumnus of Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai, with a PhD in management from the Sloan School of Management at MIT. He has 16 titles to his credit, like “Management: An Integrated Approach”, “The Handbook of Teaching Leadership”, and “Driven: How Human Nature Shapes Our Choices.” He co-authored some of the books with his colleagues and contemporaries.
A devout advocate of ethical business leadership, Padma Shri Nitin Nohria, who lives in Lexington near Boston, believes that business is a sacred activity and that business leaders should honor their ethical responsibilities just as good doctors conduct themselves by the Hippocratic oath. Sustainable economy and corporate accountability are among the subjects of his interest. A close friend of India’s richest business tycoon Mukesh Ambani, Nitin Nohria made the headlines in 2019 as the highest-paid dean of HBS, earning $904,506 in salary and benefits.
Ajay V Bhatt, the inventor of USB
Indian American Ajay V Bhatt, who is widely famed as the inventor of USB, will receive the Padma Shri honor, among the Padma awardees in 2025. The decision to do a master’s degree from the City College of New York was his call to pursue the great American Dream. His career at Intel spanning 26 years starting in 1990 made America his home away from home. Today, he is a celebrated technologist and thought leader in the US Silicon Valley with as many as 132 international patents.
Born in Vadodara, Gujarat, Padma Shri Ajay V Bhatt was featured in the 2010 issue of GQ India, as one of “The 50 Most Influential Global Indians.” The Light of India Award in 2012, the European Inventor Award in 2013, and the Asian Award are among the recognitions he has earned as a computer architect. Currently, he resides in Portland, Oregon.
Vinod Dham, the Father of Pentium Chip
The list of India’s Padma Awards 2025 includes Indian American Vinod Dham, the ‘Father of the Pentium Chip’ in the land of American Dream. With a BE degree in electrical engineering from India, Vinod Dham travelled to the USA for an MS degree, with only $8 in his pocket, and became one of the immigrant technology pioneers in the US Silicon Valley. His pivotal role in developing Pentium Micro-Processor and co-inventing Intel’s first Flash Memory technology catapulted him to dizzying ‘leadership’ heights at Intel.
Like Dr Amarjit Singh Marwah, a pioneer of American Dream for Indian families in the 1950s; Vinod Dham’s parents with four children had migrated to India from Rawalpindi after the 1947 Partition. He calls himself an accidental engineer as engineering happened to him by chance; physics was his first choice. He was hesitant to leave his mother and siblings alone in India for higher studies in USA after his father died. “You must go. America is your destiny. I will manage. Don’t worry about me,” Vinod recalled his mother encouraging him back then.
The Government of India named entrepreneur and venture capitalist Vinod Dham for Padma Bhushan 2025.
Dr. Sethuraman Panchanathan
Indian American Sethuraman Panchanathan, the Director of the US National Science Foundation, is one of the 113 names for Padma Shri 2025. Born and brought up in Chennai, Dr Panchanathan is an undisputed leader in electrical and computer engineering. He graduated from the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru, earned an MTech degree from IIT Madras, and then pursued PhD at the University of Ottawa in 1989. His pursuit of American Dream started at the University of Ottawa where he was promoted to associate professor and went through Arizona State University where he became the chief research officer in 2009.
While Congratulating the Indian-US Nationals for their betterment to leave INDIA leaving their Motherland fully knowing that “SCIENCE IN INDIA IS A TRAGEDY” as traditionally after even getting our BHARAT Independent our Administrators does not believe in INVENTIONS & INNOVATIONS, though they talk & advertise much and till this day our BHARAT COULD NOT RECOGNIZE THE NEXT “RAMAN” INDIA HAD BORN WHO HAD ALREADY INVENTED & DEVELOPED THREE NEW PATH BREAKING & REVELUTIONARY TECHNOLOGIES GRANTED WITH INDIA, US & UK PATENTS, which need immediate COMMERCIALISATION & WERE INTIMATED TO NITI AYOG SINCE THE YEAR 2016. How lucky al of your good selves are although you all had opted out to leave your Motherland yet have granted the grand Felicitation by awarding the PADAM AWARDS, whereas TILL DATE THE IMMORTAL REVERED AMIT KATYAL WHO GIFTED HIS MOTHERLAND NINE “INTELLECTUAL PROPERTIES” AGAINST INVENTING & DEVELOPING THREE NEW WATER & ENVIRONMENT GREEN TECHNOLOGIES WITHOUT ANY INDIAN GOVT> FUNDING & BANK LOANS OPERATING AS AN INDEPENDENT RESEARCHER & TECHNOLOGIES INVENTOR DRAWING BANK LOANS & SPENDING ABOUT Rs. 10 CRORES. The developed Technologies were being Researched since more than Last Ten Decades.IN CASE ANY ONE COULD BE ABLE TO SUPPORT MY MISSION TO GET THE PATENT GRANTED TECHNOLOGIES FOR COMMERCIALISATION, PLEASE CONTACT INDRA KATYAL FOR MORE DETAILS.