Dr. Venkat Padmanabhan on a Culture of Making Things ‘Real’ as a Key to Progress

Dr. Venkat Padmanabhan is the Deputy Managing Director at Microsoft Research India, where he founded and led the Mobility, Networks, and Systems group. He previously worked at Microsoft Research Redmond for over eight years.

Dr. Padmanabhan obtained his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley. His research interests are primarily in mobile and networked systems. He is an INAE Fellow, IEEE Fellow, and ACM Fellow, and has received numerous awards, including the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology.

Timestamps:

00:00 - 00:15 - Theme Music

00:16 - 04:07 - Venkat’s Experience at IIT Delhi and UC Berkeley

04:08 - 05:55 - Venkat’s Reading Diet as a Youngster

05:56 - 09:08 - The Approach to Research at UC Berkeley

09:09 - 12:10 - Post-PhD Career Choices

12:11 - 16:02 - What is a ‘Good Problem?’ and the Origins of ‘HyWay.’

16:03 - 21:34 - Focusing on ‘Principles of Design’ for Problem-Solving

21:35 - 27:47 - The Three Design Principles Guiding HyWay

27:48 - 31:49 - Modelling ‘Murmurations’ on HyWay

31:50 - 34:30 - How Venkat’s Day is Structured?

34:31 - 38:24 - Venkat’s Process to ‘Translate & Communicate’ Ideas

38:25 - 45:30 - The Networked Brain Project

45:31 - 51:48 - HAMS Project

51:49 - 54:14 - Venkat’s Definition of ‘Impact’

54:15 - 01:00:23 - The Missing Translation Potential of Research in India

01:00:24 - 01:05:58 - Rapid Fire Round