Rajendra “Raj” Singh and Neera Singh, entrepreneurs in software development, who are alumni of Maine University, pledged $3.5 million to their alma mater, according to an announcement from the University of Maine Foundation’s President/CEO Jeff Mills on May 13, 2025. Mills made the pledge public at UMaine Foundation’s annual luncheon recognizing members of its Charles F. Allen Society, which honors individuals and families who have pledged to bequeath donations to the Foundation through their estates.
From the total of $3.5 million, an amount of $2.2 million will be used by the eponymous Rajendra Singh and Neera Singh Family Scholarship to support UMaine students enrolled in the Maine College of Engineering and Computing. Those getting the scholarship will be known as Singh Scholars, and Maine high schools graduates will be given preference, the UMaine website said. The remaining $1.3 million will fund the Rajendra Singh and Neera Singh Family Chair in Applied Innovation, which is expected to grow the curriculum in traditional or emerging areas across disciplines, and prepare students to translate their innovations into business propositions.
“The University of Maine granted us scholarships to pursue graduate school, which helped us to come to the United States,” Neera Singh is quoted saying in the UMaine news report. “UMaine people introduced us to this great country of ours. Maine has a very special place in our hearts.”
The Indian American couple created the Singh Chair in honor of John “Vet” Vetelino, emeritus professor of electrical and computer engineering. Vetelino was instrumental in recruiting a significant cohort of graduate students from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur to UMaine.
“Raj and Neera have an extraordinary ability to conceptualize and commercialize new technologies,” said Vetelino. “At the time we recruited them and their peers in the 1970s as graduate students, UMaine was launching our nascent research programs, which led to UMaine’s current status as an R1 research-intensive institution today.”
Raj Singh graduated in electrical engineering in 1975 from IIT Kanpur, a master’s degree in electrical engineering in 1977 from UMaine, and earned his Ph.D. in wireless communications in 1979 from Southern Methodist University. Neera Singh graduated in chemical engineering from IIT Kanpur. She received a scholarship to begin her master’s program at UMaine and finished her master’s degree at Kansas State University, where Raj Singh began his career as an associate professor, the news report said.
The couple, considered leaders in the development of wireless communications technology, founded Lunayach Communications Consultants LLC, which spun out of their university research. They later co-founded Tecom Ventures, a private investment firm based in Miami. The Singhs were awarded honorary doctorates of humane letters from UMaine in May 2024. Neera Singh was inducted into the Wireless History Foundation’s Hall of Fame in 2022.
“I grew up in a small village in [the State of] Rajasthan [in] India,” said Raj Singh. “We had no running water, electricity, television, radio or newspapers. [But] we did have an elementary school that my father started.” He praised the opportunity to study at UMaine and be guided by Vetelino, and Steve Mittleman.
