Six outstanding scientists and engineers have been selected to receive the Distinguished Alumnus/Alumna Awards of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) for the year 2024. This year, the Institute has also initiated Young Alumnus/Alumna Medals for recipients under the age of 40 years.

These awards recognise exceptional contributions made by IISc alumni/ae to their profession, society and the Institute. The nominations received were evaluated by a committee chaired by the Director, IISc.

This year’s Distinguished Alumnus/Alumna awardees are George Brody, Sridevi Jade, Shekhar Chintamani Mande, S Unnikrishnan Nair, Jagjit Nanda, and Yadati Narahari. This year’s Young Alumnus/Alumna Medallists are Himabindu (Hima) Lakkaraju and Nihar Bhadresh Shah. The awardees will be honoured at a ceremony to be held in December 2024.

Distinguished Alumnus/Alumna Awardees

George Brody is Chair of the Board at TurboStart, Founder and CEO of InfoNet of Things LLC, and President and Director of the IISc Foundation in the USA. He has made extensive contributions to technology leadership in corporate and startup ecosystems. He also spearheaded the formation of the IISc Foundation in the USA and is currently coordinating its activities. He completed his BE from the Department of Electrical Engineering in 1968.

Sridevi Jade is Outstanding Scientist and Head of the CSIR-Fourth Paradigm Institute, and Professor at AcSIR, Bengaluru. She has pioneered the use of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) data to study seismic properties of challenging terrains in the Indian plate. She has also led several multi-institutional collaborations on hazard mitigation in the country. She completed her ME and PhD from the Department of Civil Engineering in 1988 and 2000 respectively.

Shekhar Chintamani Mande is a JC Bose Fellow at the National Centre for Cell Science, and Distinguished Professor at Savitribai Phule Pune University, Maharashtra. He was the former Director General of CSIR. He has been recognised for significant contributions to structural biology and X-ray crystallography, as well as science and technology leadership in tackling broad challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic. He completed his PhD from the Molecular Biophysics Unit in 1991.

S Unnikrishnan Nair is Director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Kerala. He has made exceptional contributions to complex mechanisms of aerospace systems, and spearheaded space transportation systems for unique flagship programmes of ISRO, including Gaganyaan. He completed his ME from the Department of Aerospace Engineering in 1993.

Jagjit Nanda is Distinguished Scientist at SLAC National Laboratory, Executive Director of the SLAC-Stanford Battery Center, Adjunct Professor and Precourt Scholar at Stanford University, and Co-founder of RINCELL, California, USA. He has pioneered significant discoveries and innovations in advanced lithium, sodium, and solid-state batteries, and has led a premier centre on battery and energy storage. He completed his PhD from the Solid State and Structural Chemistry Unit in 2001.

Yadati Narahari is Honorary Professor at the Department of Computer Science and Automation, IISc. He has been recognised for his pioneering research contributions to game theory, mechanism design, and artificial intelligence, and spearheading their applications in areas ranging from electronic auctions and markets to agriculture. He has also been recognised for his impeccable leadership at the Institute. He completed his BE from the Department of Electrical Communication Engineering in 1982, and ME and PhD from the Department of Computer Science and Automation in 1984 and 1988 respectively.

Young Alumnus/Alumna Medallists

Himabindu (Hima) Lakkaraju is Assistant Professor at Harvard University, Massachusetts, USA. She is renowned for exceptional research on responsible Artificial Intelligence (AI). She has also made pioneering contributions to enhancing transparency, fairness, robustness, and reasoning in AI models. She completed her MTech from the Department of Computer Science and Automation in 2010.

Nihar Bhadresh Shah is Associate Professor at Carnegie Mellon University, Pennsylvania, USA. He has made pioneering contributions to addressing foundational issues underpinning the area of distributed human evaluation, a critical field in AI, with applications in peer review, hiring, healthcare, and judicial processes. He completed his ME from the Department of Electrical Communication Engineering in 2010.

“We are very proud of the accomplishments of our distinguished and young alumni awardees,” says G Rangarajan, Director, IISc. “We hope that this recognition reinforces their commitment to the pursuit of excellence in their respective fields, and serves as an inspiration for students and young researchers.

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IISC Press Release