Kris Gopalakrishnan sets up Professor Mahabala distinguished chair

CHENNAI: As part of thanking the institution from where he graduated and honouring his teacher, Co-founder of IT major Infosys, Kris Gopalakrishnan has established the Professor Mahabala Distinguished Chair that would undertake study on Computational Brain Research by eminent professors at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.

The Distinguished Chair is the first to be established with a funding of Rs 10 crore at IIT Madras by any individual, IIT Madras officials said.

Gopalakrishnan after completing his graduation in Physics at Thiruvanathapuram in Kerala pursued post-graduation in Physics and Computer Science at IIT Madras, between 1975 and 1979.

"This is my way of thanking the institution where I graduated from and to my teacher professor Mahabala who was the one who inspired me to take up FORTRAN course at IIT Madras, when I was doing my Computer Science...", Gopalakrishnan, also on the board of IIT, Madras, said here.

Professor H N Mahabala is a retired faculty at the Computer science department, IIT Madras.

The three-member chair would be headed by New York based old Spring Harbour, Principal Investigator, Dr Partha Mitra, and undertake study on Computational Brain Research.

One of the reasons for taking up a study on "Computational Brain Research" was that some of the challenges faced in undertaking brain research require new models of computing, Gopalakrishnan said.

IIT Madras, Director, Bhaskar Ramamurthy said it was not only a hefty endowment to establish such a distinguished chair but would also give opportunities in taking up research activities in newer areas like the Computational Brain Research.

With the help of the Chair, a Brain Research Centre would come up in Bangalore as well as Chairs created at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.