The University of California, Irvine announced on November 3, 2025, that Jai Krishan Hakhu, Ph.D. ’79, has been selected as the UC Irvine Alumni Association’s 2025 Lauds & Laurels Distinguished Alumni honoree from the Samueli School of Engineering. The recognition is one of UCI’s highest alumni honors, celebrating graduates who have made significant professional contributions and given back to the campus and community. The on-page dateline at the engineering school’s news site confirms the announcement date for this award.

Hakhu’s selection reflects a decades-long career at the intersection of engineering, industrial leadership, and cross-border innovation. He served as president and CEO of HORIBA International Corporation, guiding operations across North and South America as well as India and France, and later helped build HORIBA India into a major success within the company’s global portfolio. That leadership arc, spanning measurement systems, medical diagnostics, and semiconductor-adjacent technologies, underscores why UCI is elevating him as an exemplar of alumni impact.

Beyond his executive roles in the United States, Hakhu’s story resonates with the South Asian American community and with ASAN’s audience because of his educational and professional roots. Before completing his doctorate at UC Irvine, he earned degrees from leading Indian institutions – a background UCI’s alumni materials highlight when profiling this year’s honoree. That record makes his South Asian identity and transnational trajectory clear from authoritative sources and frames his career as one that bridges engineering talent pipelines between India and the United States.

Hakhu’s leadership at HORIBA offers practical lessons on scaling complex engineering organizations and advancing manufacturing ecosystems – both timely topics as U.S. industry invests in supply chain resilience and domestic production capacity. HORIBA’s footprint touches medical equipment, environmental and energy measurement, and components that matter to chipmaking. In that context, executives who can align R&D, production, and market strategy across continents are increasingly vital to American competitiveness. The university’s decision to honor Hakhu highlights an alumnus who has done exactly that, growing business units, mentoring leaders, and connecting global teams to deliver results.

For UC Irvine’s engineering community, the award also signals to students and young alumni that career pathways can combine technical expertise with broad managerial scope. Alumni honorees like Hakhu often return to campus to share insights with student groups, capstone teams, and research labs – strengthening the feedback loop between industry needs and academic preparation. The engineering school’s announcement points to his long-standing ties with UCI and to his advocacy for cultivating people, spotting potential, and elevating emerging leaders – a theme South Asian American professionals will recognize in their own mentorship and community work.

The recognition further lands at a moment when Orange County and Southern California are deepening their advanced manufacturing and medtech profiles. UCI’s Samueli School of Engineering has leaned into collaborations with industry around systems engineering, biomedical innovation, and sustainability. Honoring an alumnus whose portfolio crosses healthcare, mobility, and environmental measurement sends a signal about the school’s priorities – translating engineering science into products and platforms that improve daily life. In turn, Hakhu’s visibility through Lauds & Laurels amplifies the story of South Asian American leadership in American innovation hubs, from Costa Mesa to Irvine to the broader Los Angeles tech corridor.

It also matters that the honoree’s career includes building up teams in India while steering U.S.-based operations. For many South Asian American professionals, this duality is common: serving American markets while engaging partners, suppliers, and talent across the subcontinent. That posture has become a strength for U.S. organizations, allowing them to recruit from global talent pools, accelerate R&D, and open new channels for manufacturing and distribution. As policymakers push for secure supply chains and as universities champion industry-ready graduates, examples like Hakhu’s help illustrate how diaspora leaders knit together networks that benefit the U.S. economy and local communities alike

Ultimately, Lauds & Laurels is about more than a single evening of recognition. It is UCI’s way of curating role models and showcasing how alumni translate a public research university education into global impact. For ASAN readers, it is a reminder that South Asian Americans are excelling not only as founders and public officials but also as operator-executives who steward complex enterprises and mentor the next generation. Hakhu’s journey – from Indian universities to a U.S. Ph.D., through C-suite roles and board service, and back to campus as a distinguished honoree – offers a full-circle story of achievement, service, and cross-cultural leadership.

Key Takeaways About Jai Krishan Hakhu

• UC Irvine named Hakhu the 2025 Lauds & Laurels Distinguished Alumni honoree for the Samueli School of Engineering on November 3, 2025.
• He led HORIBA’s operations across the Americas and helped build HORIBA India into a major company success, bridging U.S.–India industrial ties.
• His education spans top Indian institutions and a Ph.D. from UCI, clearly establishing his South Asian background and U.S. connection.
• His portfolio covers medical diagnostics, environmental and energy measurement, and semiconductor-adjacent components – areas central to U.S. competitiveness.
• As an alumni role model, Hakhu’s mentorship focus aligns with UCI’s push to link engineering education to industry leadership and community impact.