Rediff.com« Back to articlePrint this article

MIT award for 6 Indian-American scientists

September 12, 2006 19:37 IST

For the 'most promising and exciting' innovations and research in the United States, six Indian-American scientists under the age of 35 will be awarded by Technology Review 35, the prominent tech journal of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The 2006 annual TR35, lists 35 technologists and scientists under the age of 35, who have brought about radical innovations in the world of technology.

Sumeet Singh, Prithwish Basu, Ram Krishnamurthy, Ashok Maliakal, Anand Raghunathan and Jay Shendure are the six Indian-American awardees. The TR35 said that while the Indian-American population is less than one per cent in the US, the contribution of the community is to the extent of almost 17 per cent.

Here's a brief account of what the six outstanding scientists will be honoured for, according to Technology Review 35:

Sumeet Singh: This 31-year-old Cisco employee, has developed 'faster defenses against computer viruses.' His software can identify a virus when it first enters a network and can generate 'vaccines' to fight it.

Jay Shendure: This 31-eyar-old biotechnologist and medical student at the Harvard Medical School, has revolutionized genetics with a new way to sequence DNA. His process is so efficient that it may be possible to sequence a person's genome for only $1,000.

Prithwish Basu, 31, BBN Technologies, has developed algorithms that dramatically reduce the chance that a wireless network will drop connections or fail, all while decreasing the energy consumed by battery-powered radios.

Ashok Maliakal, 31, Lucent Technologies Bell Laboratories, is developing the floppy screen. Maliakal has developed a material which if it can be incorporated into a mass-printing process, a new generation of flexible displays will emerge.

Ram K Krishnamurthy, 33, Intel, has by carefully plotting chip circuit paths minimized energy leakage and improved performance: his prototype circuits run five times faster than today's PCs but consumes only 20 to 25 per cent as much power. If PCs soon run at a cool 10 gigahertz, it may be thanks largely to Krishnamurthy's work.

Anand Raghunathan, 34 NEC Laboratories America, is working on a strategy to make mobile devices more secure.

AGENCIES