Recipients of Professor SN Mitra Memorial Award
2020
Prof LM Patnaik
Prof LM Patnaik, INSA Honorary Scientist and Adjunct Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore and formerly Formerly Vice-Chancellor, Defence Institute of Advanced Technology (DIAT), Pune has made significant research contributions in the area of Computer Science. He proposed a novel concept of adaptive genetic algorithms to solve complex optimization problems encountered in science, engineering and management applications. His novel parallel architecture called Extended Hypercube yields performance better than most commercial computers for problems involving extensive communication such as simulation of human brain. He has made significant contributions to the design of onboard computers for Indian satellites and developed high performance online nuclear fuel rod positioning algorithms for Indian nuclear reactors.
2019
Prof. RK Shevgaonkar
Prof Raghunath K Shevgaonkar is a Scientist and Academician who provided dynamic leadership in Engineering Education in India for the last four decades. An alumnus of IIT Kanpur, Indian Institute of Astrophysics/Raman Research Institute, Bangalore and IIT Bombay, his research spans over a wide range of areas like, Radio Astronomy, Fibre Optic Communication, Electromagnetics and Antennas. He played a key role in commissioning one of the world’s largest Low Frequency Radio Telescopes in India.
2018
Mr. B Prasada Rao
Mr B. Prasada Rao, formerly CMD, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), handled a variety of assignments and has made diversified and versatile contributions in strategic as well as operational areas in all business segments. Under his visionary leadership, BHEL pursued a growth strategy of building both capacity and capability, had achieved consistent quality growth both in technical and financial terms and was granted the coveted Maharatna status by the Govt. of India. He was responsible for introducing new technologies in the field of coal & gas-based power plants such as Supercritical Thermal Sets, Advance Class Gas Turbines and Circulating Fluidized Bed Boiler (CFBC). His contributed immensely to the growth of the Power Sector, introduction of new technologies for coal & gas-based power plants and for promoting energy efficiency in the country
2017
Prof. SC Dutta Roy
Prof S.C. Dutta Roy, formerly Professor of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi was educated at the Calcutta University, culminating in a D.Phil. Degree in Radio Physics and Electronics. His teaching and research experience includes teaching at an Indian University, two U.S. Universities, one U.K. University, and a long spell of four decades at IIT Delhi. His research has been recognised by several national awards, including the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, and through Fellowship of the IEEE, and of all the national academies of science and engineering, and Distinguished Fellowship of the IETE. What he values most, however, is the love, affection and appreciation of a very large number of students whom he interacted with personally, and an equally large number of his virtual students, spread throughout the world, through the five video courses he authored, which are available on the YouTube. He enjoys listening to classical music and researching on its history and the history makers, no less than the enjoyment he derives out of his professional work.
2016
Prof. VS Borkar
Prof. Borkar, Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay has made significant contributions to the theory, algorithms and applications of stochastic optimization and control. These include:
1. Fundamental contributions to control of Markov processes in both discrete
and continuous time and space, much of it using a convex analytic framework that he developed. This includes characterization of optimal solutions for ergodic and risk-sensitive control, convergence of self-tuning schemes, constrained control, control under partial observations, multiagent and hybrid control, and index policies for multiarmed bandit problems arising in scheduling.
2. Stability, sample complexity and convergence analysis of stochastic iterative algorithms including their multi-timescale and distributed asynchronous variants, and applications thereof to estimation, resource allocation problems in communications, machine learning (notably reinforcement learning for approximate dynamic programming), and network science.
2015
Prof Sankar K Pal
Prof. Sankar K. Pal has made fundamental contribution in developing fuzzy set theory, and neuro-fuzzy and rough-fuzzy computing, in general, and their applications in pattern recognition, image processing, machine intelligence, knowledge-based systems, and data mining, in particular. The theories and methodologies developed allow human like (soft) decision by reducing the uncertainty and enhancing the performance, computational intelligence, speed and flexible processing capability of the system. It is shown theoretically and experimentally, how the merits of fuzzy logic, artificial neural networks, genetic algorithms and rough sets can be integrated synergistically to achieve these characteristics. The work is primarily significant when the pattern indeterminacy is due to vagueness rather than randomness, the data is heterogeneous and large, and for modelling the notion of “thinking” in a machine mind to facilitate man- machine symbiosis.
2014
Prof. RK Shyamasundar
Prof. RK Shyamasundar is a Senior Professor and a J.C. Bose National Fellow at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai. He had also been a Distinguished Visiting fellow under Royal Academy of Engineering at the University of Cambridge.
2013
Prof. N. Balakrishnan
Prof. N. Balakrishnan, born on June 1, 1950 obtained his B.E. (Hons.) Degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Madras University in 1972 and PhD Degree in Aerospace Electronics from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in 1979. He is Associate Director and Professor, Supercomputer Education & Research Centre and Department of Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.
2012
Prof. N. Viswanadham
Prof. N. Viswanadham, born on November 9, 1943, obtained his B.Sc. degree from Andhra University in 1961. He then obtained his B.E. in Electrical Engineering; M.E. in Power Systems and Ph.D degree in Multivariable Control Systems from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in 1964, 1966 and 1969 respectively. He joined Indian Institute of Science as a faculty member in 1967 and served in the Electrical and Computer Science & Automation Departments until April 1998. He was Deputy Executive Director of the Logistics Institute – Asia Pacific and also Professor in Department of Mechanical and Production Engineering at the National University of Singapore during 1998-2005. During 2006 – 2011, he served as Professor and Executive Director for the Center of Excellence Global Logistics and Manufacturing Strategies in the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad. He is presently INAE Distinguished Professor in the Computer Science and Automation Department at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.
2011
Dr. Ratan Kumar Sinha
Dr. Ratan Kumar Sinha born on October 23, 1951 graduated in Mechanical Engineering from Patna University in 1972. After completing one year Course of BARC Training School, he joined Reactor Engineering Division of BARC. Before his appointment as Director, BARC, he served as Director, Reactor Design & Development Group and, Director Design, Manufacturing & Automation Group, BARC. He is a nationally and internationally recognized expert in the area of nuclear reactor technology.
2010
Prof. Suhas P. Sukhatme
Prof. Suhas P Sukhatme born on November 5, 1938, obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Banaras Hindu University in 1958. Subsequently he obtained the Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering degree and Doctor of Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, U.S.A. He joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay in 1965 as an Assistant Professor. He was promoted to the post of Professor in 1970 and served as the Head of the Department from 1973 to 1975. In 1982-83, he was a Visiting Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Iowa State University, U.S.A. He worked as Deputy Director from December 1983 to December 1985 and as the Director of IIT Bombay from January 1995 to January 2000. He then served as the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board for five years upto January 2005.
2009
Mr. Ashok Soota
Mr. Ashok Soota, born on 12th November 1942 completed his Senior Cambridge and Inter Science at La Martinere, Lucknow in 1958 and 1960 respectively. He obtained B.E (Electronics) degree in 1964 from University of Roorkee (now IIT Roorkee). Later he pursued MBA at Asian Institute of Management, Manila (1973). He is currently Chairman & Managing Director, MindTree Ltd, Bangalore.
2008
Prof. Janardan Nanda *
Late Prof. Janardan Nanda, born on August 15, 1937 in Cuttack, Orissa obtained his B.E.E. (Hons) Degree from Jadavpur University in 1958 and Ph.D. Degree in Electrical Engineering from Moscow Power Institute, USSR in 1964.
2007
Dr. Surendra Pal
Dr. Surendra Pal born on 11th March 1948 received his Bachelors Degree in Science from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani in 1966 and his M.Sc. (Physics) and M.Sc. (Electronics) Degrees from the same institute in 1968 and 1970 respectively. He received his Ph.D. (Communication) Degree, from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in 1984. He is a Distinguished Scientist & presently Deputy Director (Digital & Communication Area) and also Program Director, Satellite Navigation Program, ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore
2006
Prof Bayya Yegnanarayana
Prof Bayya Yegnanarayana was born on January 9, 1944 in Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh. He obtained BSc degree from Andhra University in 1961 and BE, ME and PhD degrees in Electrical Communication Engineering from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He was a member of the faculty at IISc during the period 1966-78. In 1980, he joined the Department of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) at Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, as Professor and continued to work there till his superannuation in 2006. He was also Head of the CSE Department during the period 1985-89. Currently he is Professor and Microsoft Chair at the International Institute of Information Technology in Hyderabad.
2005
Prof. Amalendu Bhushan Bhattacharyya
Prof. Amalendu Bhushan Bhattacharyya, born on December 19, 1937 in West Bengal completed his B. Sc., M.Sc. in Electronics and Ph.D in Radio Communication from Banaras Hindu University with a brilliant academic record. Subsequently, he joined the Electrical Engineering Department of B.H.U. and then Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.