The Murthy Govindaraju “Women in Computer Science” Research Endowment Award

The Murthy Govindaraju “Women in Computer Science” Research Endowment Award is open to all Women Computer Science Students who are currently enrolled in the Undergraduate, Integrated PhD and PhD programs, as well as, Research Project Assistants and Postdoctoral Fellows of the Department of Computer Science and Automation (CSA), at IISc, for their excellence in academic research, to develop fundamental new technologies, conducting advanced research that furthers the field of Data Management, Advanced Computing, Analytics and Artificial Intelligence (AI), and inspiring future generations of scientists and technologists. Pushing the boundaries of knowledge and possibility is a wonderful and joyful obsession, celebrating both fundamental discoveries and practical applications alike. Already a major part of everyday life, Advanced AI will become more and more integrated into human experience over the next 50 years. The Department of Computer Science and Automation at IISc, will be a driver of this change, attracting brilliant, original thinkers who will dream up software/hardware/technological advances that truly improve our collective existence. This Research Endowment Award is intended to create a rich portfolio of Research activities, with an emphasis on data-driven, deep learning approaches to understanding language and the visual world and techniques for making large-scale AI systems more efficient and robust, with a strong commitment to building trustworthy, secure and socially responsible AI systems. This Research Endowment Award is also intended to develop the next generation of AI systems for Healthcare and a variety of decision-making applications leveraging new advances in Cloud Computing, Quantum Computing, Natural Language Processing, Computer Vision, Web-scale Audio/Video Processing, DNA Sequencing/Genetic Engineering/Drug Discovery/Genome Computing, Neuro-Symbolic AI, Multimodal Learning, Deep Learning, Generative Models, Explainability, Causal Inference, Time Series and Transfer Learning; just a few examples of Advanced Computing themes that is transforming human life across the world.

This annual award (starting from academic year 2021-2022) consists of cash prize of Rs. 100,000/- and citation to the awardee. The award ceremony will be held on June 23. 

The Murthy Govindaraju “Women in CS” Research Endowment Award has been jointly instituted by Madhukar C. Govindaraju (1990 Graduate of the Master of Engineering Program from the Department of Computer Science and Automation, IISc), and his wife, Chaya Murthy Govindaraju.

This award has been instituted by Mr. & Mrs. Govindaraju to promote excellence of women in computer science and to advance the computer science area among young professionals, especially women students. For Mr. & Mrs. Govindaraju, this endowment is a way of giving back to their alma matter and to the society at large.

Nabanita Paul is a Doctoral student in the Department of Computer Science and Automation. She has researched the use of toy robots towards reducing the cognitive workload of Special Educators while interacting with autism affected children. Nabanita has displayed exemplary engineering acumen in designing interventions for autism affected children using Social Robotics. Her work has been published in ICRA 2021, the flagship conference in robotics.

Chaya Murthy is a Graduate of the M.B.B.S Program from the Mysore Medical College, in Mysuru. She is also an avid supporter of Green Technology, Medical Electronics and real-world applications of Advanced Robotics, in areas that impact people’s lives, all around the world, and also technologies that help reverse climate change, for the future generations. Chaya has spent the last 2 decades devoting her time and energy to making science and technology accessible to Elementary, Middle and High School Students.

Madhukar Govindaraju is an experienced Technology Executive with more than two decades of experience in the software industry as a CEO, GM / Product Executive, CTO, SVP Engineering, and business leader, at some of the world’s leading software companies, including Numly, VMware, Microsoft, TriNet HR Group, Saba Software, SAP AG / Business Objects, Hyperion Solutions, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, and several successful start-ups. After graduating from IISc., Madhukar attended the Doctoral program in Computer Engineering at the University of California, Irvine, and has also attended the Executive Leadership Program at the University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business. Earlier, Madhukar has also been a Senior Fellow at Peking University’s Guanghua School of Management in Beijing. His extensive background as an experienced technology executive includes: (i) Developing and delivering SaaS / cloud-based, market-leading HCM, CRM and Financial applications, social enterprise and collaboration software, and (ii) Market leading business intelligence (BI) platforms, distributed computing and big data management stacks, data visualization and information consumption platforms, predictive analytics, and AI / machine learning data platforms. Madhukar has been a member of the IEEE Computer Society, the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and a Lifetime Member of the IISc. Alumni Association.

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