Himanshu Asnani received the 2014 Marconi Society Paul Baran
Young Scholar Award, which recognizes individuals who have, at an early age,
demonstrated exceptional scientific and entrepreneurial capabilities with the
potential to create significant advances in telecommunications and the
Internet. He completed his B.Tech in Electrical Engineering at IIT Bombay in
2009 and M.S. in 2011 at Stanford’s Electrical Engineering School. He is
currently a doctoral candidate at Stanford and works as a Systems Engineer at
Ericsson Silicon Valley.
Himanshu Asnani – IIT-B Alumnus, and Marconi Society Young Scholar
Many students have a
very vague understanding of what ‘research’ is. Could you walk us through your
experiences as a researcher?
Research, basically, is innovation. It can be an invention
or a discovery. An archaeologist, for instance, would discover something of
historical importance, say, a relic. A mathematician would invent a new theorem
or think of a new proof for an existing result. Somebody else could be involved
in the invention of a new device, something that makes human life easier. The
possibilities are endless! My research has been in the area of Information
Theory. More specifically, I’ve been involved in two broad aspects of the field
– reliable communication and reliable storage. I have also worked in
bio-informatics, focusing on Human Genome Compression.*
In essence, I first focused on developing theoretical
concepts, or theoretical limits, and then, on testing them. This was possible
through the application of these theoretical results to various related
real-life problems.
This transition from
‘theoretical’ to ‘applied’ that you talked of, how did this come about? How did
you decide which of these you wanted to pursue?
I believe this choice depends on a lot of personal factors,
like your upbringing. It depends on what you want to achieve in life, what provides
you with intellectual happiness and satisfaction. For instance, what do you
enjoy more, the theoretical proof of a result or its varied applications that
is, a more ‘hands on’ approach.
In my case, I believe a solid theoretical understanding of concepts
is needed before one can delve into their applications. During the course of my
PhD, I have focused on picking up skills, regardless of the aspect,
theoretical or applied, that I’m involved in.
Did you always
envision yourself as working in the field of research, with your stay at IIT
Bombay only providing a concrete direction for your endeavors? Or did it play
a much larger role?
As a child, I wanted to be a neurosurgeon but my love for
Mathematics and Physics eventually led me in a different direction. As a child,
I wanted to be a neurosurgeon but my love for Mathematics and Physics
eventually led me in a different direction. From the very beginning, I had
wanted to do something related to research, although I had a more concrete
understanding of what this would entail only during my undergraduate years at
IIT-B.
The closest thing to ‘research’ that one can achieve in the
school environment is a deep appreciation for the pure sciences. In contrast,
during my time at IIT Bombay, I was exposed to a much more research oriented
atmosphere which helped shape my future choices.
It is largely the responsibility of the student to extract
enriching experiences from the environment that the institute provides. If one
has a desire to pursue a career in research, his desire would get strengthened
during his stay at the institute.
During your time
here, were there any people, professors or peers that left a strong, lasting
impression on you?
The list is extremely lengthy.
In particular, I remember Prof. Abhay Karandikar with whom I
had worked a lot. I did my UROP (UG Research Opportunity) and my BTech seminar
under him. There was also Prof. Prasanna Chaporkar who had newly joined and
brought a lot of fresh enthusiasm with him. I deeply admire Prof. V.M. Gadre
who was an excellent mentor to all his students.
I was also fortunate to have come in contact with several
brilliant post-doctoral students and wonderful friends with similar interests.
What do you think of
IIT Bombay’s academic system? How does it compare with other institutes that
you have been affiliated with? Also, what changes would you personally like to
see, if any?
I have not been keeping up with current changes in the
Institute’s academic system.
It is very difficult to compare IIT Bombay and Stanford,
where I am currently a PhD candidate, since the two institutions are set in
very different environments. IIT Bombay has done a great job, with brilliant
students graduating every year.
However, such educational institutes only cater towards
developing a problem-solving approach in students. I strongly believe that all
educational institutes should focus on a holistic development of individuals by
encouraging creativity, competence and most importantly, building character.
Producing a bunch of software engineers or academicians should not be the main
aim.
IIT Bombay has been successful at producing brilliant
engineers and scientists in the past, and should shift its focus to producing
responsible citizens.
Not being an expert, I don’t know what policy changes would
be needed. There are people working in this direction and I believe that the
required changes would happen soon.
How have you been
associated with IIT-B after graduating?
I had some amount of communication with IIT Bombay
professors but most of my association was due to the large IIT-B alumni network
in Stanford. This kept up the ‘feel’ of IIT-B.
The Bay Area is home to a lot of IIT-B graduates and in the
future, I hope to attend some of the events that they organize.
Are there any
memorable moments of yours at IIT-B that you’d like to share?
I am grateful for the set of friends that I had during my
time here. One needs friendship during the course of any pursuit, be it
spiritual or material. Other things that come to mind are electronics club
activities like the electrified sessions, technical arena etc. I also remember
PAF, the Performing Arts Festival. Dramatic arts are a revolutionary science
with their power to inject ideas into the minds of the audience. Hence, there
must be a sense of responsibility associated.
Lastly, would you
like to give any advice to the current batch of students?
The current batch of graduates must understand that the
burden of the future legacy is on their shoulders. Rather than only trying to
be professional problem solvers, you must also try to incorporate a sense of
responsibility to the society in your personalities. You are the cream of the
country and are receiving the highest level of education. The skills that you
develop should help combat the problems of the society. Otherwise, the purpose
of such an education is lost.
It is my humble message and advice to the students to start
thinking in this direction and start giving back to the society.
*A note on Human Genome Compression: The vast amounts of genomic sequencing data being generated
by Next Generation Sequencing technology may occupy tens or even hundreds of
gigabytes of disk space, including both the nucleotide sequences and per-base
quality scores that account for about half of the required disk space. Asnani
and his collaborators found a new way to compress quality scores, resulting in
significantly reduced storage requirements and fast analysis and transmission
of sequencing data.
This article was originally posted in the IIT B magazine InsIghT.
Tête-à-tête with Himanshu Asnani – IITB Alumnus, and Marconi Society Young Scholar