Alka Singh

Alka Singh was a Massachusetts software engineering project manager and a widely respected leader of the Indian engineering alumni community in North America. She died peacefully early on Monday, October 12, 2026, at her home in Massachusetts. She was 57.

Born in India on March 20, 1969, Singh earned a degree in electronics and communications engineering from the Birsa Institute of Technology (BIT) Sindri in Jharkhand, one of India's oldest engineering colleges, established in 1949 and predating even IIT Kharagpur. She began her career at Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) as a management trainee in the telecommunications department, a role she held for six years before relocating to the United States.

In the United States she shifted into software engineering and project management, settling in Massachusetts while remaining closely tied to her alma mater. Within the BIT Sindri Alumni Association of North America (BITSAANA), a nonprofit for graduates living in the United States and Canada, she served first as secretary, then as vice president, before being elected president in October 2025. Outgoing president Divyanshu Raj was credited with strengthening the association's presence; Singh aimed to build on that momentum with an executive committee that included Prabhat Sinha as chairman, Sanjay Verma as vice president, Vinay Singh as secretary, and Neha Pandey as treasurer.

As president she set out to deepen ties between North American alumni and BIT Sindri, with priorities that included increasing alumni engagement, supporting current students, and helping the institute advance toward becoming a world-class institution. BITSAANA and INDIA New England News, which covers the Indian American community in the northeastern United States, described her as bringing dedication, ethical values, and a commitment to collaboration and inclusivity to the role. BIT Sindri's wider alumni network has included industry figures such as Holtec International president and CEO Dr. Krishna P. Singh, SAIL chairman Amarendu Prakash, and Medtronic SVP and CIO Rashmi Kumar, the kind of global footprint Singh sought to keep connected to Jharkhand.

Singh is survived by her husband, Shitanshu Shekhar Singh, and their three children, Akshat Singh, Ayaan Singh and Anika Singh. Funeral and memorial arrangements had not been announced publicly when her death was first reported. Her tenure as BITSAANA president had lasted less than a year, cutting short work she had only recently begun to strengthen a diaspora network that links engineers across North America to their roots in Jharkhand. Community reporting framed the loss as significant for alumni who had come to rely on her volunteer leadership.