Department of Computer Science and Automation
INDIAN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE
All Are Welcome
PROF. V. V. S. SARMA MEMORIAL LECTURE
Professor Vijay Chandru
Former Professor, CSA, IISc
Co-Founder and Director, Strand Life Sciences
Visiting Professor, NCBS
Professor Rajesh Sundaresan, Dean, Division of EECS will preside
Date: Friday, February 7, 2025
Time: 4 to 5 PM
Venue: CSA Auditorium, Department of CSA, IISc
High Tea: 5 PM
Title: Eating Sauerkraut with Chopsticks
Abstract
The idea of using variational calculus to solve problems of logical inference seemed like a polymath exercise of applying tools of one discipline (culture) in another. A bit like suggesting that we could use chopsticks to eat sauerkraut. However this interdisciplinarity was anticipated by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (the last universal genius) who posited in the late17th century that Characteristica Universalis and Calculus Ratiocinator represent two intertwined concepts that reflect his vision for a universal framework for reasoning and computation. His vision anticipated modern symbolic logic, Boolean algebra, and computational logic, laying the groundwork for digital computing and machine learning systems. The speaker will describe his journey at this interface of computational mathematics and logic shaped by conversations with senior academic colleagues including late Professor WS Sarma on topics of symbolic logic and machine intelligence.
Bio of Dr. Vijay Chandru
Vijay Chandru (PhD, MIT) is an academic, an entrepreneur, and an advisor in translational research in Bangalore, India. He has taught computational mathematics as a tenured professor of engineering at Purdue and at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). Professor Chandru is currently a visiting professor at NCBS, a visiting faculty at the Centre for Brain Research and an executive advisor in healthcare to the technology Innovation Hub ARTPark at IISc. Chandru was elected a Fellow of AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) in 2023 for significant contributions to theoretical computer science, computational biology, and for development of technology for social good. He is a fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences (IASc 1996) and the Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE 2010) in recognition of his academic research in computational mathematics of optimization, geometry, and deductive logic (theorem proving). Prof Chandru was also inducted as a fellow of the Asia-Pacific Al Association (AAIA 2024). As a 4X entrepreneur he has co-founded Strand Life Sciences, PicoPeta Simputers, Yantri Labs, and CRISPRBITS.
Professor V.V.S. Sarma
(May 1944 – January 2018)
Prof. Vallury Subrahmanya Sarma, an extraordinary teacher and researcher, passed away on 13th January 2018 at his home in Bangalore. He is survived by his three daughters Vijaya, Janaki, and Aruna. Professor V.V.S. Sarma was born on May 7,1944 in Vijayawada. After graduation with a University gold medal in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry (called MPC) from Andhra University in 1961, he obtained his BE, ME, and PhD degrees from IISc, Bangalore.
Prof. VVS Sarma served the IISc as a faculty member in Department of CSA from 1967. He became a full professor in1983, and continued his service until his retirement in 2006. He was a visiting Professor at the University of Southwestern Louisiana, USA between l984-86 and at the Tata Research Development and Design Centre, Pune between1995-97. He was elected to the fellowships of Indian Academy of Science, Indian National Science Academy and Indian National Academy of Engineering. Post retirement, he was an Honorary Professor in CSA and an INAE Distinguished Professor.
Professor V.V.S. Sarma fondly called WS by his students and friends, spent most of his academic career at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore. Over nearly four decades, he initiated research at IISc in the then emerging areas of reliability engineering, pattern recognition, artificial Intelligence and machine learning, which are areas of utmost importance today. He has advised a whole generation of researchers in these areas. His students were drawn from CSA, ECE, Aerospace, Mathematics and Metallurgy departments and engineers from organizations such as IAF, NAL, ISRO, DRDO, BHEL under the external registration program. Many of his students are currently senior professors in universities or senior engineering researchers in DRDO and ISRO across India, USA, and Canada. With his professional friends N. Viswanadham and M.G. Singh, he co-authored a book Reliability of Computer and Control Systems published by North-Holland Systems and Control series in1987. He co-edited the book “Artificial Intelligence and Expert Systems in Indian Context,” published byTataMcGraw-Hill, 1990 jointly with N.Viswanadham, B.L.Deekshatulu, and B. Yegnanarayana.
Prof. WS Sarma was a very inspiring teacher. He enthused and motivated his students to learn many topics of current research. As early as 1976, when the field was still in its infancy, he taught a course on Artificial Intelligence at IISc. He was gentleness personified and used to be affectionate towards all his students. In his passing away, the research community has lost a magnificent mentor, brilliant researcher, and an outstanding teacher. All his students have lost a father figure whom they continue to look up to.
