Life Time Achievement Award

Society for Data Science bestows Lifetime Achievement Awards to the eminent personalities for their contribution to the field of Data and Analytics and their philanthropic initiatives to transform lives through access to varied educational, research or social opportunities.

LIFE TIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS 2021

Alfred M. Bruckstein

Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Israel

Professor Alfred M. Bruckstein, BSc, MSc in EE from the Technion IIT, Haifa, Israel, and PhD in EE, from Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA, is a Technion Ollendorff Professor of Science, in the Computer Science Department there, and is a Visiting Professor at NTU, Singapore. He has done research on Neural Coding Processes, and Stochastic Point Processes, Estimation Theory, and Scattering Theory, Signal and Image Processing, Computer Vision and Graphics, and Robotics. Over the years he held visiting positions at Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ, USA, (1987-2001) and Tsing-Hua University, Beijing, China, (2002-223), and made short time visits to many universities and research centers worldwide. At the Technion, he was the Dean of the Graduate School, and the Head of the Technion Excellence Program. He is an elected  SIAM Fellow for contributions to Signal Processing, Image Analysis and Multi Agent Robotics, and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Agora University, Oradea, Romania.

Prof. Anupam Basu

Ex-Director, National Institute of Technology, Mahatma Gandhi Avenue, Durgapur, West Bengal, India

Prof. Anupam Basu, a Professor in Dept. of Computer Science & Engineering, IIT Kharagpur, and presently the Director of National Institute of Technology, is a well acclaimed researcher in the areas of Cognitive and Intelligent Systems, Embedded Systems and Language Processing. He has also taught at University of California, Irvine and University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada. He has also been the Executive Director of the Indian Institute of Information Technology, at Kalyani during its formative period.

He has pioneered Assistive Technology Research in India and has led the development of several Assistive tools for the sightless, the speech impaired and those with cerebral palsy. He has also led a number of projects for Technology-Enabled-Education for School Education

He is an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow and Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering, and Fellow of WB Academy of Science & Technology. The awards won by him include the 

State Award for the Best Contribution to the Cause of Empowerment of the Disabled (2014), 

Universal Design Award 2011, for contributions in design for the disabled, by National Council for Promotion of Employment of Disabled Persons, India, 

The National Award for the Best Technology Innovation for the Physically Disabled (2007) and 

The Da-Vinci Award 2004 from the Engineering Society of Detroit.

LIFE TIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS 2022

Admiral R Hari Kumar PVSM, AVSM, VSM, ADC

Chief of the Naval Staff, Indian Navy

Admiral R Hari Kumar, is an alumnus of J-Squadron, 61 Course National  Defence Academy. He was commissioned into the Indian Navy on 01 Jan 1983 and has specialised in Gunnery.

Admiral R Hari Kumar has commanded Coast Guard Ship C-01, INS Nishank, INS Kora, INS Ranvir and INs Viraat. His other sea-going appointments include Fleet Operations Officer and Fleet Gunnery Officer of Western Fleet, EXO of INS Vipul, GO of INS Ranjit, Commissioning GO of INS Kuthar and Commissioning GO VIll of INS Ranvir. His ashore appointments indlude Command Gunnery Officer at HQ Western Naval Command, Naval Advisor to Government of Seychelles, Training Commander INS Dronacharya. His Flag appointments include Commandant of Naval War College at Goa, Flag Officer Sea Training, Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet, Chief of Staff Western Naval Command, Controller Personnel Services and Chief of Personnel at IHQ MoD (N), and CISC/ VCDS at HQIDS. Prior to taking over as Chief of the Naval Staff, the Admiral was Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command.

The Flag Officer had served in the Civil Military Operations Centre of UN Mission in Somalia (UNOSOM I) at Mogadishu from Dec 1992 to Jun 1993. He attended the US Naval Staff Course at Naval War College, Rhode Island in 1996, Army Higher Command Course at AWC, Mhow in 2004, and the Royal College of Defence Studies, London in 2009. He holds a B.Sc. from JNU, MA (International Studies) from Kings College, London, MPhil (Defence & Strategic Studies) from Mumbai University and PG Diploma in Shipping Management from Narottam Morarjee Institute of Shipping, Mumbai.

He was awarded the Vishisht Seva Medal in 2010, Ati Vishisht Seva Medal in 2016 and Param Vishisht Seva Medal in 2021. Admiral R Hari Kumar is a good swimmer, plays badminton and enjoys walking.He is married to Mrs Kala Nair who is presently a home maker. They have one daughter Ms Anjana Nair who is married to Mr Jayvijay and are currently working at Auckland, New Zealand.

Dr. Pradeep Kumar Sinha

Vice Chancellor & Director of International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Naya Raipur

Dr. Pradeep Kumar Sinha is the founding Vice Chancellor & Director of International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Naya Raipur. Earlier he was with the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), where he had led National Programs in areas of Supercomputing, Grid Computing, and Health Informatics. Prior to joining C-DAC, Dr. Sinha was in Japan for ten years, working on cutting edge computing technologies.

Dr. Sinha is well known for his contributions to the advancement of Science & Technology and Technical Education. His contributions include Technical institutes, Supercomputing systems and facilities, Healthcare products and solutions, International patents, a number of technical papers, and six books in the area of Computer Science & Engineering.  Books authored by him are cited as textbooks globally. On public demand, his books have been translated in local languages like Japanese and Hindi.

Dr. Sinha is a Fellow of IEEE, Fellow of Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association (AAIA), Fellow of Computer Society of India (CSI), and ACM Distinguished Engineer. He is also the recipient of several other awards and recognitions, including the “2011 VASVIK Research Award” and the “2013 Intel Pathfinder Award”. The Society of Data Science has also conferred upon him the Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to the area of Information Technology and Data Science.

Professor Valentina E. Balas

University Aurel Vlaicu of Arad, Romania

Dr. Valentina E. Balas is currently Professor at the University Aurel Vlaicu of Arad, Romania. She is author of more than 270 research papers in refereed journals and International Conferences. Her research interests are in Intelligent Systems, Fuzzy Control, Soft Computing, Smart Sensors, Information Fusion, Modeling and Simulation.

She is Editor-in Chief to International Journal of Advanced Intelligence Paradigms (IJAIP) and International Journal of Computational Systems Engineering (IJCSysE), member in Editorial Boards for national and international journals, serves as reviewer for many International Journals. She is General Co-Chair to seven editions of International Workshop Soft Computing Applications (SOFA) starting from 2005. Dr. Balas was editor for more than 25 books in Springer and Elsevier. She is series editor for the work entitled Elsevier Biomedical Engineering from October 2017. Dr. Balas was participating in many international conferences as General Chair, Organizer, Session Chair and member in International Program Committee. She was Vice-president (Awards) of IFSA International Fuzzy Systems Association Council (2013-2015), responsible with recruiting to European Society for Fuzzy logic and Technology – EUSFLAT (2011-2013), Senior member IEEE, member in Technical Committees to Fuzzy Sets and Systems and Emergent Technologies to IEEE CIS and member in Technical Committee to Soft Computing to IEEE SMC.

Dr. C. P. Ramanarayanan

Vice Chancellor Defence Institute of Advanced Technology (DIAT), Pune

Dr. C.P. Ramanarayanan graduated in Mechanical Engineering from Regional Engineering College, Calicut and did his Masters from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He completed his doctoral programme from Department of Energy Systems of Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU), Hyderabad. He has illustrious career profile of more than 36 years in Defence Research & Development and Technology Management. He has actively contributed to Underwater propulsion systems, Land propulsion systems and fighter aircraft propulsion during span of service. He retired from DRDO as Distinguished Scientist and Director General (Aeronautical Systems). Prior to that he had enviable assignments like Chief Controller (Research & Development) in HR, Director General (Armament & Combat Engineering), Director, Gas Turbine Research Establishment, Director, Vehicle Research & Development Establishment and Project Director for heavy & light weight torpedo propulsion projects in various locations across the country. He received “Scientist of the year” award 2005 from then Hon’ble Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh and “Technology Leadership” award 2015 from Hon’ble Defence Minister of India. In addition he had received a lot of awards and citations from various Professional Societies and academic Institutions. He had served as Board of Director and India’s nominee in “International Society for Air Breathing Engines” (ISABE) and nominee Director in board of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.,. He was also President / Chairman of Society of Aerospace Quality & Reliability and Aeronautical Society of India, Bangalore. He is a Fellow of Indian National Academy of Engineers, Fellow of Aeronautical Society of India and Fellow of Institution of Engineers. In addition he is a senior life member of many more organizations. He has many Journal papers to his credit and has guided doctoral students and many Post Graduate students in their research work. He likes reading books on understanding human behavior and on lateral thinking.

Life Time Achievement Award-2023

Professor Suresh Chandra Mehrotra chaired DST Ramanujan Professor Chair and Founder Head of the Department of Computer Science and IT, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Aurangabad (MS) India. Professor Suresh Chandra Mehrotra born on January 15, 1951, completed his school education in Allahabad Uttar Pradesh, Masters from Allahabad University in 1970 and went to USA for research studies. He received his PhD degree from University of Texas at Austin USA in 1975. He had been honored with many prestigious career awards like Career Award by UGC in 1981, FOM Award by Netherland in 1981, Alexander Von Humboldt Fellowship Award (Germany) in 1983, Fellow of National Academy of Sciences in 1995. He had successfully guided 18 Ph.D. students from Physics, 23 Ph.D. students from Computer Science, 3 medical students

Professor Suresh Chandra Mehrotra is an educationist, researcher, scientist, inventor, and internationally acclaimed personality in the area of Molecular Spectroscopy and Human Computer Interface (HCI) through brain signals. He has significantly contributed towards establishment of novel time domain non-resonance spectrometer to cover wide frequency range of 10 MHz to 20 GHz, which was appreciated across the globe. His group was recognized as a first group in India to undertake this kind of investigation. The TDR experimental setup developed by him was unique and highly appreciated by (DST), New Delhi and had been very popular across the country and utilized by prestigious. You have inspired many faculty members of various Universities and college.

In grateful recognition of Professor Suresh Chandra Mehrotra contributions to the field of Physics, Computer Science & Engineering, the Society for Data Science (S4DS) is proud to confer upon him The Lifetime Achievement Award. With this, he joins a select list of peerless scientists who have dedicated their lives for advancing science and technology for the betterment of society.

Given on this day of January 21, 2023 at Pune.

Born in 1941, Prof GS Mani had his academic career at University of Mysore, Madras Institute of technology, Chennai, and at Indian Institute of technology, Delhi.  He joined Indian Defence research and Development Organisation (DRDO) as a Junior Scientific Officer in 1963, and retired as Director and Dean of Institute of Armament Technology in 2002. Under his leadership, the Institute was awarded Deemed University status in 2021. He was later Adviser to a leading academic institution, Principal of an engineering college and an Emeritus Professor.

During his years at DRDO, Prof Mani worked on many projects related to Radar, Electronic Warfare, and other electronic systems, which provided opportunities for getting many firsts to his credit. He was one of the first persons to be awarded by Government of India for indigenous design and development of Microwave components in 1971. He was one of the first persons to be awarded an Indian Patent in DRDO in 1972. He was associated with building largest Anechoic chamber of the country for antenna testing, and for developing broadband Indigenous radomes. He was instrumental in formulating and conducting Induction training programs for Defence scientists at All India level. He was also associated with teaching and conducting Master’s Degree Courses on many special subjects related to Defence technology. He has guided 2 students for PhD and many students for Master’s degree.

Prof Mani is a Recipient of Import Substitution Award from President of India (1971), “Excellence in Education/R&D” Trophy presented by Governor of Maharashtra (1999), Prof. K. Sreenivasan Award from IETE (2000), Appreciation Award from DEMA (2000), and Appreciation Certificate from IEEE (2017). He is also an active social worker, and has received appreciation certificate for the Mayor of Pune. He has taken active part in many social activities for the benefit of disadvantaged groups of society. He is a Senior Life Member of IEEE, Life member of IETE, and a Life member of Society of EMC Engineers ( India). 

In grateful recognition of Prof. G. S. Mani’s contributions to the field of Computer Science & Engineering, the Society for Data Science (S4DS) is proud to confer upon him The Lifetime Achievement Award. With this, he joins a select list of peerless scientists who have dedicated their lives for advancing science and technology for the betterment of society.

Given on this day of January 22, 2023 at Pune.

Life Time Achievement Award-2024

Dr. Govindasamy Viswanathan (GV) is the Founder and Chancellor of Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT). He has 40 years of experience in the field of Educational Administration.

He was born on 14 June 1940 in a remote village in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu. GV served as a Member of Parliament (1967-77) and as a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadu (1980-84 & 1991-96). He was the Minister for Food, Co-operation and Dairy Development, Govt. of Tamil Nadu (1991-93).

Dr. Viswanathan excelled in academics since his school days and obtained master’s degree in Economics from Loyola College, Chennai (1961), and completed Law from Madras University (1963). He completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School in 2003. He was conferred an honorary doctorate by the West Virginia University, USA (2009) in recognition of his exemplary contributions to the fields of politics, education and societal development. He is the recipient of several national and international awards.

Sensing the need for providing quality education in the backward district of Vellore, which did not have an engineering college, he established the first engineering college in the district, the Vellore Engineering College, in 1984.  Owing to its excellent standards, the engineering college evolved into a University in 2001. Today, it is one of the finest institutions, catering to the academic needs of about 87,000 students in four campuses-Vellore, Chennai, Bhopal (MP) and Amaravati (AP). VIT is a thriving, multi-cultural institution with students from all the states of India and from 67 countries. The institution offers graduate, post-graduate and research degrees in engineering, management studies, law, sciences and humanities. VIT has been ranked the 8th best university, the 11th best in research and the 11th best engineering institution of India in the 2023 NIRF Ranking, published by the Ministry of Education, Govt. of India. Engineering & Technology subject areas of VIT are ranked 240th in the world as per the QS World University Ranking by Subject 2023. The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) accredited VIT with the highest grade, A++, in 2021. 58 Professors of VIT have been identified among the Top 2% Scientists in the world, according to the study conducted by Stanford University, USA, in 2023. VIT is the leader among private universities in Scopus indexed publications, which reinforces the quality of research conducted in the University.

VIT has been identified as an Institution of Eminence by the Government of India.  This is a remarkable achievement for a three-decade young institution, considering that only 10 public and 10 private institutions from the thousands of higher education institutions in the country have been bestowed this recognition.

VIT’s academic agreements with 454 universities worldwide for faculty and student exchange have helped VIT emerge as a truly international institution. VIT’s impressive track record of placements ensures that almost every student that graduates is recruited by leading national and multi-national companies.

Dr. Viswanathan is the past President of Education Promotion Society for India (EPSI), an organization that aims to support aspirants of education in almost every field. It is an umbrella organization of over 500 private institutions.

Dr. Viswanathan’s passion for serving the society has paved the way for activities that foster a lifelong commitment to community service through various useful projects and programmes. The Centre for Sustainable Rural Development and Research Studies, Skill Development Programmes, Support the Advancement of Rural Students (STARS), G.V.School Development Programme GVSDP are some of the prominent societal initiatives established by him. Each of these initiatives continues to positively impact the socioeconomic conditions of the beneficiaries. Under STARS, rank holders from rural Government schools in Tamil Nadu are provided with free education, free boarding and lodging. So far, 965 plus students have benefitted from this initiative. In 2011, Dr.G. Viswanathan established the Universal Higher Education Trust (UHET) to help the underprivileged students of Vellore District to pursue higher education  by supporting them financially. As many as 8416 underprivileged students have benefitted under UHET so far.

In grateful recognition of Dr. G. Viswanathan’s remarkable contributions to the field of politics, education and societal development, the Society for Data Science (S4DS) is proud to confer upon him ‘The Lifetime Achievement Award.’ With this, he joins a select list of peerless academic leaders who have dedicated their lives for advancing higher education for the betterment of society.

Given on this day of January 20, 2024 at Vellore.

Lifetime Achievement Award Summary