Prof. Debdeep Mukhopadhyay of the Computer Science and Engineering Department was awarded the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize For Science And Technology 2021 in Engineering Sciences for notable and outstanding research in Cryptography, Information Security, System Security, CAD for VLSI & Embedded Systems, and Cyber-Physical Systems Security.
Prof. Mukhopadhyay completed his B.Tech in Electrical Engineering from IIT Kharagpur and continued with his Ph.D. at the Computer Science department. After a brief teaching stint at IIT Madras, he returned to Kharagpur and embarked on a stellar teaching career. His research involves implementing cryptographic engineering to identify and thwart attack surfaces and side-channel attacks and ensure end-to-end encryption in smartphones and laptops.
In his chat with The KGP Chronicle, he mentioned that he was fortunate to have the opportunity to learn and grow amongst brilliant minds and hardworking researchers during his formative years at the institute. Prof. Partha Pratim Chakrabarti found a special mention as an inspiring mentor who motivated his research endeavors.
Dedicating this award to his late father Mr. Niharendu Mukhopadhyay, Prof. Mukhopadhyay said that he was working in his lab when he got the news of the award. He thanked his family for their constant support. He also mentioned that the award resulted from a ‘baby-step-giant- step’ philosophy in conducting research; he accumulated simple, achievable research goals into a significant result.
He finds joy in breaking through research dead ends and is never shy of taking up new challenges. He is working on a problem considered the “holy grail of computing” in his latest research. In his Secure Embedded Architecture Lab, he develops techniques to ensure data encryption and simultaneously perform search and analytics functions.
As a message to students and young researchers, he asked them to keep faith in themselves and not always be swayed by market-based topics. He asked them to “never forget the fundamentals, concentrate on small, simple, doable goals, and accumulate them into great results.”
Contact: Paramita Dey, Junior Assistant
