Vikas Arun

Vikas Arun is a member of the Columbia Engineering undergraduate Class of 2017 who majored in Operations Research and minored in Computer Science. He is known for his vast array of dance accomplishments, his leadership of the URC (Undergradaute Recruitment Committee), and the numerous academic awards he won, including a fellowship to complete his MS at Columbia for free.

He gained much notoriety during the summer of 2015 when he made it to the final 25 dancers for the famed show, So You Think You Can Dance. He beat out all of the other male tap dancers auditioning and a majority of the rest of the dancers in order to make it to the very end of Vegas week on the show's twelfth season. His facebook page has gained a large following with displays of encouragement and support from fans, including many Columbians.[1]

Apart from So You Think You Can Dance, he is a member of CATastrophe Dance Company (winner of the prestigious ACE Capezio Choreography Award, and a guest artist with MUSE dance company based out of LA. He has been offered a contract to perform with STOMP, toured the country with Celebrity Dance Conventions in 2014 and 2015 teaching tap dance, and been featured in the upcoming film "Breaking Brooklyn". He is also a member of Chloe Arnold's Apartment 33, a famous tap dance company started by Columbia alumna Chloe Arnold, whose works has been featured by Beyoncé among others.

Vikas has won three Kings Crown Leadership awards during his time at Columbia. In 2016 he won the Bernard Jaffe Prize for the Encouragement of Inventiveness in Engineering and the Kings Crown Award for Innovation & Enhancement in recognition of his instrumental work in expanding and re designing the engineering tour for prospective students. In 2017 he won the Columbia Spirit award along with co chairs Drew Feldman and Julia Davis Porada for their work leading the Undergraduate Recruitment Committee. He was also named the most persuasive tour guide on campus.

In the spring of 2017, he was featured on the Columbia Engineering home page [2] as well as in the Commencement Edition of the Columbia Record [3]. He was also awarded the Robert Gartland Fellowship, given to at most one undergraduate a year. The fellowship provides a tuition waiver for a student to pursue their MS in Operations Research at Columbia [4].

Tags: Vikas Arun | URC | Class of 2017 | SEAS 2017 | SEAS Students