The Department of Data Science, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Pune Lavasa campus, in association with Women in Big Data (WiBD) organized the inaugural of the WiBD Student Chapter on 08 March 2021. The event was open to the faculty, students and interested members of WiBD. The Chief Guest of the event was Dr Ch Janaki (Scientist, CDAC Bangalore). The guests of honour were Ms Sowmya Moni and Dr Ekta Mehul, Co-Directors of WiBD.
The event officially commenced with the introduction given by Ms Arundathi Kolahal (Treasurer, CUWiBD). Dr Samiksha Shukla (HOD, Dept of Data Science), Christ (Deemed to be University), Pune Lavasa campus gave a welcome note to all attending the event.  Dr Fr. Jossy P George, Director, and Dean, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Lavasa Pune addressed the inaugural.  In his speech, he congratulated and appreciated the department for coming up with such a great initiative.
An excellent presentation followed the inaugural address on the WiBD organization by Ms Sowmya Moni, Co-Director, WiBD, INDIA. She gave a brief introduction to the organization. She also explained how Women in Big Data (WiBD) operate as a chapter with co-directors and how it functions as a non-profit organization.
This was followed by the Expert Talk, which was given by Dr.Ch Janaki. She started by explaining about Big Data and Big Data Applications, C-DAC'S solutions. She emphasized the role of women in Big Data, the challenges women face in the field and the career opportunities of women in Big Data. She focused on Big Data in Healthcare and personalized medicine and the solution for Covid using Big Data. She talked about the digital transformation that is happening using Big Data. She also spoke about C-DAC, a Big Data analytics application development platform and NAADI (National Analytical Platform for Dealing with Intelligent Tracking) as a solution during the Pandemic. 
She gave a brief explanation about C-DAC'S PG diploma courses which was helpful for students. She talked about Women Scientists and Leaders and the importance of women in different fields. She gave examples of some great inspiring women like Dr Geetha Manjunath (Founder and CTO of NIRAMAI Health Analytics), who contributed to AI by detecting early-stage breast cancer. The talk was informative and helpful for all the students. 
Dr Lija Jacob (Faculty Co-ordinator – CUWiBD) announced office-bearers of the WiBD Christ University Student Chapter. Ms Anushree Chakraborthy (2nd Year MScDS) as the President, Ms Teres Augustine (1st Year MScDS) as Vice-Chairperson, Ms Prathna Khanna (1st Year BScE&A) as Secretary, Ms Arundathi Kolahal (1st Year BScDS) as Treasurer. Ms Jhansi (1st Year BScDS), Ms Harsha KG (1st Year BScDS), Ms Ankana Mukhopadhyay (2nd Year MScDS) and Ms Preethi Sharma (2nd Year MScDS) as Media Masters. 
Ms Teres Augustine unveiled activities lined up in the student chapter. Ms Prathna Khanna announced the winners of Feminae'21, which was conducted on behalf of women's day. Ms Anusree Chakraborty proposed the word of gratitude to all the guest speakers, resource persons, faculty members, staff, and attendees of the event. She also extended thanks to the technical team, who worked hard for the success of the WiBD Student Chapter Inauguration.
The WiBD Student Chapter inauguration held by the department in association with WIBD was an enriching experience that brought academic fraternity and inspirational women in data science to share their thoughts and ideas.