Two IIT-M professors awarded with ‘Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar’ by President Murmu
Prof. Prabhu Rajagopal from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Madras, and Prof. Radhakrishna Ganti from the department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Madras, was selected for this award.
Hon’ble President of India Smt. Droupadi Murmu presenting the award to Prof. Prabhu Rajagopal, IIT Madras, at Delhi
CHENNAI: Two Professors from IIT-Madras were conferred ‘Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar: Vigyan Yuva Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar’ by President Droupadi Murmu at New Delhi on Thursday.
Professors Prabhu Rajagopal, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Radhakrishna Ganti, Department of Electrical Engineering from IIT-Madras were selected for this award, which was formerly known as the ‘Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar’ Prize, in recognition of their outstanding work in science and technology.
According to an IIT-M statement, Prabhu Rajagopal pioneered the automated ultrasonic inspection of marine and fluid-handling assets such as pipes, terminals and tanks using tethered and automated submersible vehicles.
“He has made seminal contributions to remote non-destructive Evaluation of structures and processes through advances in ultrasonics and robotics, as well as guiding multiple start-ups in taking these innovations to the field,” it noted.
On the other hand, Radhakrishna Ganti focuses on indigenous hardware and wireless communications stack development. “Ganti made several contributions to global standards bodies and spearheaded the development of Rural use cases in ITU (International Telecom Union) to provide modern telecom access and connectivity to remote and rural areas. His work on stochastic geometry for the analysis of wireless and cellular networks is globally recognized,” the release noted.
The Director of IIT-M, V Kamakoti, congratulating the professors on this recognition, said, “The outputs of these efforts have led to products of great national importance. I am very proud that two of my colleagues have been awarded the Bhatnagar prize this year for their stellar contributions in their respective fields, leading to technology of great national and societal relevance.”
Speaking about this recognition, Prabhu Rajagopal said, “I am grateful and honoured to receive the country’s highest recognition for young scientists. Being passionate about fundamental ‘blue sky’ research as well as technology translation to solve practical, real-world problems in industry and society, I am happy to note that this award underlines my work in technology and innovation.”
Radhakrishna Ganti said, “I am honoured to receive the Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar Award for my work in wireless and cellular systems. I am grateful that my work in developing and building wireless systems is recognized, and I hope that it will encourage more researchers and faculty to do systems work.”
