Short Bio

 

About Me

M. Balakrishnan is a Professor on leave from the Department of Computer Science & Engineering, IIT Delhi. He obtained his B.E.(Hons.) in Electronics & Electrical Engg. from BITS Pilani in 1977 and Ph.D. from EE Dept. IIT Delhi in 1985. He worked as a Scientist in CARE, IIT Delhi from 1977 to 1985 where he was involved in designing and implementing real-time DSP systems. For the last 32 years, he is involved in teaching and research in the areas of digital systems design, electronic design automation and embedded systems. He has supervised 17 Ph.D. students, 4 MSR students, 216 M.Tech/B.Tech projects and published nearly 137 conference and journal papers. Further, he has held visiting positions in universities in Canada, USA and Germany. At IIT Delhi, he has been the Philips Chair Professor, Head of the Department of Computer Science & Engineering, Dean of Post Graduate Studies & Research, Deputy Director (Faculty) and Deputy Director (Strategy & Planning). Further, at IIT Delhi, he has initiated a number of programmes/activities to promote research, start-ups as well as outreach to the community. ASSISTECH, a laboratory and research group founded by him along with Prof. P.V.M. Rao (Mech Engg), is involved in developing a number of assistive devices targeted towards mobility and education of the visually impaired. SmartCaneTM is a mobility aid for visually impaired developed by his group which is currently used by thousands of users in India and other low-income countries. He has been a recipient of three National awards, ACM Eugene L Lawler award and very recently IIT Delhi's Life Time award for his work in the disability space. He also served briefly as the Vice Chancellor of a Greenfield Institution of Eminence named Satya Bharti Institute of Technology before the project was discontinued by the founders.

Research Areas

Embedded Systems, Assitive Technology, EDA and System Level Design, Computer Architecture