‘Be interested in what you do, not in what you get’
An engineer who says his main goal is to develop technologies which can help society, Dr Rao is best known for creating a hand-held device that can detect explosives. By Sonali Acharjee
Agraduate in microelectronics from IIT Bombay and a postdoctoral fellow from the University of California, Rao’s research has made a profound impact towards understanding of the impact of materials and device design on nanoscale electron transport. His work has also contributed significantly towards device-circuit interactions which laid the foundation for power reduction and efficiency in integrated circuits used in mobile phones.
“Rao has insightfully combined chemistry and mechanics with nanoelectronics, which we use in our devices and his work, is the way of the future and will make a tremendous impact,” says Pradeep Khosla, Infosys Jury Chair member, who conferred Rao the Infosys Science Prize in engineering and computer science this year.
Today Rao is the Chief Investigator at the Center of Excellence in Nanoelectronics at IIT Bombay. The centre has emerged as the hub of multi-disciplinary activity, and is the home of the Indian Nanoelectronics Users Program which involves 92 institutions, and has driven industry-academia partnerships in nanoelectronics and simultaneously enabled the growth of the semiconductor industry in India.
RESEARCH FOR SOCIETY I grew up in a small town in the Telengana region and studied in a Telegu medium school till Class 12. Back then, engineering or medicine were the only two options available for students from my background. I joined IIT Bombay to pursue my masters and it was there that I first became interested in the field of research. To be honest I wasn’t keen to join the workforce but was instead very interested in research and creating products which could be of use to society. For the last six years I have been working on a hand-held low cost explosive detector. The goal is to give one to every policeman and security guard in the country and thus replace the need for sniffer dogs. There is a lot of satisfaction to be gained in pioneering work which will impact our community positively. That is one of
the highlights of the kind of research I do.
OPPORTUNITIES Funding for research in India is quite decent. We raised nearly $50 million in the last seven years at IIT Bombay to set up a nanofabrication facility. This facility now enables us to work on problems by building complete systems and circuits. The opportunities for research are certainly there today. What is missing however, is increased industryacademia- governmental partnerships. It’s a challenge to involve the industry in research today. DON’T MISS THE FOREST FOR THE TREES We get the best and the brightest students at IIT Bombay. But often I find that students arrive here with closed minds. Most of them have already decided what they want to do with their lives and are more focused on finding the right job than learning. Our main resource at the institute is our MTech or postgraduate students, who usually come from smaller colleges. They are highly motivated individuals who are keen to make the most of various opportunities. My advice has always been to have an open mind; one should be interested in what they do and not what they will get. This is the key to success in every field.