V Kamakoti on Monday took charge as the new Director of Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) . He took over from his predecessor, Bhaskar Ramamurthi, who had completed two terms as the director of the institute.

Kamakoti took charge in the presence of Deans, Jane Prasad, Registrar, and other officials. Pawan Goenka, Chairman, Board of Governors, IIT Madras, participated virtually along with other board members, says a release from the institute.

Kamakoti is a faculty in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at IIT Madras and also held the position of Associate Dean for Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research, IIT Madras. He holds numerous positions in various government agencies and bodies including being a member of the National Security Advisory Board, Government of India.

Outlining his vision to retain the institute’s leadership position in the National Institutional Ranking Framework by the Ministry of Education, Kamakoti said, “My focus would be to retain IIT Madras at the top of the rankings, while constantly striving to enhance the academic and research excellence of the institute.”

Kamakoti said some his focus areas are to enhance the reach and impact of online education and distance learning, collaboratively working with the school education boards in further strengthening a holistic curriculum, skill development programs targeting high quality vocational training, increased interactions with young school students to encourage interest in science and research andindustry oriented M.Tech program for international students.

Kamakoti led the research team that designed and booted up India’s first indigenously-developed microprocessor ‘SHAKTI’ that can be used in mobile computing devices and networking systems. It can reduce reliance on imported microprocessors in the communications and defence Sectors.

‘SHAKTI’ microprocessor can be used by other sectors as well as it is on par with its international peers.

In 2017, he was appointed by the Union Commerce Ministry as the chairman of a Taskforce on leveraging artificial intelligence for development across various fields, the release said.

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