Stories
IIT Kharagpur Alumnus Mukund Padmanabhan Honored as UCLA Alumnus of the Year
- •Dr. Mukund Padmanabhan has been honored as the Alumnus of the Year for 2026 by the prestigious UCLA Samueli School of Engineering in the United States.
- •He completed his B.Tech from IIT Kharagpur in 1987 and later earned his MS and PhD degrees from UCLA.
- •He has made significant contributions to speech-recognition research at IBM and currently serves as a partner and researcher at Renaissance Technologies.
- •Through his Guru Kripa Foundation, he provides students in Kharagpur with opportunities for world-class research and international internships.
- •IIT Kharagpur previously honored him with a Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2021 for his continuous contributions to education and social service.
Key Questions Answered
Dr. Mukund Padmanabhan, a distinguished alumnus of IIT Kharagpur, was honored as UCLA's 'Alumnus of the Year' for 2026 by the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering in the United States.
He completed his B.Tech in Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering from IIT Kharagpur in 1987, later earning his MS and PhD degrees from UCLA. Professionally, he has researched speech-recognition technology at IBM and currently serves as a partner and researcher at Renaissance Technologies, with over 80 published research papers and 20 US patents.
Through his 'Guru Kripa Foundation', he provides Kharagpur's young students with world-class research and international internship opportunities. He also provides financial support to the campus Academy of Classical and Folk Arts and helped modernize Nehru Hall, following which IIT Kharagpur awarded him a Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2021.
