IIIT, Hyderabadresearchweb.iiit.ac.in/~dnrnd/ResRendez07.pdf · IIIT, Hyderabad Outcome of Experiments •Critical mass of researchers in several areas –Overcoming handicaps of

IIIT, Hyderabad:A Research University

Rajeev Sangal, DirectorP. J. Narayanan, Dean (R&D)

International Institute of InformationTechnology, Hyderabad

Research RendezvousMarch 24, 2007

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adAbout IIIT-H

• Setup in 1998, catalyzed by AP Government– Initial infrastructure from Government– Self-sufficient for everything else– A public institution; not private or government

• Vision: To produce the highest qualitytechnology and manpower.

• Research as the primary focus– At both UG and PG levels!

• Among top-10 tech-schools (Dataquest 2006)

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adAcademic Programmes

• B.Tech Programmes: CSE & ECE– Research-led curriculum– Honours programme for research at UG level

• Research Programmes:– MS by Research: Minimal courses, high-class thesis– PhD: Some coursework, solid dissertation– In core IT areas and IT application areas

• Bioinformatics, Computational Linguistics, Structural Engg• Other PG programmes

– M.Tech: mostly industry oriented. Research is optional.

Exceptional Place for Exceptional Students!

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adResearch Centres not Departments

• Research is the primary focus. Research centres canhave all resources needed for the work.– Faculty, MS/PhD students, UG students, Staff, etc.

• Centres designed to be mostly autonomous– Empowerment is the key

• Work on theory, algorithms, systems, applications• Performance:

– Publications, patents, systems, packages.– Convince the world!

Research that Makes a Difference!

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adUGs in Research

• Excite UG students to take up research– Project orientation, early introduction to subject– Flexible curriculum– Honours programme to give taste of research– Dual-Degree B.Tech/MS for momentum

• Outcome: Appetite develops on tasting!– A third of the students take the research option– About 40 UG students joined MS/PhD

programmes of the institute in less than 5 years!

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adUG Honours Programme

• 2 years of solid exposure to the stream area– Many electives in the area for background– Long projects for practical knowledge

• Mechanism– For good a`nd interested students– Join a stream at the end of fourth semester– Take a number of electives from the stream– Work 2 summers and 4 semesters doing research

• 2 semesters of the B.Tech project• 2 additional 4-credit projects as extra load

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adOutcome of Experiments

• Critical mass of researchers in several areas– Overcoming handicaps of small groups

• Continuity of projects due to longer involvement– Honours programme keeps students for 2 years– Typical B.Tech/M.Tech projects do not overlap

• Break the chicken-and-egg problem– Need students for activity, need activity to bring funding

and students.– UG students bring activity and energy– Activity brings funding and research students

• High manpower impact on industry

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adResearch Degree Programmes

• MS/PhD programmes started in 2002.Growing enrollment.

• Today’s numbers:– 33 PhD students (12 joined in 2006)– 100 MS by Research students (40 in 2006)– Over 30 MS graduates so far

• Vision for 2012:– Admit 100 PhD students per year– National production of PhDs: About 70

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adEntry and Exit

• Make it easy to admit good students– Based on research record and recommendations– Work with a faculty and prove potential– 24x7 admissions, join anytime

• Set high exit requirements– Peer evaluation of research is a MUST– Let reviewers of top journals/confs do the work!– Easy committee evaluation with peer-acceptance

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adCurrent Focus Areas

• Language Technologies: MT, IE, Speech• Visual Information Processing: IP, CV, Graphics• Data Engineering: Databases, Data Mining, Multiagents• VLSI & Embedded Systems, Compilers, Architecture• Security, Theory & Algorithms• Robotics• Communications• Software Engineering• Bioinformatics/Computational Natural Sciences• Structural Engineering & Building Sciences• IT for Education, Agriculture, Power

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adArea-Wise Faculty & Students

100+331+10+32+16+42+06+0

18+111+45+6

32+317+10

15020031051520354515

3IT for X (Education, Agriculture, Power)111Software Engineering10

37Total

4Visual Information Processing28Language Technologies: MT, IE, Speech1

9876543

4Structural Engineering & Building Sciences3Bioinformatics3Communications2Robotics4Security, Theory & Algorithms4VLSI & Embedded Systems3Data Engineering

MS+PhDFaculty Hons

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adSome Highlights

• DUC 2006:– IIIT’s summarization system was 1st in all categories

• RoboCup/RoboRescue:– Kshitij team placed 3rd in RoboRescue simulation 2005– Best new agent in 2006

• CSI-Nihilent eGovernance awards:– eSagu project overall winner for 2005-06.

• Hosting major academic events:– IJCNLP 2008, IJCAI 07, ACCV 2006, FSTTCS 2005,

COMAD 2005, ICON 2004, etc.

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adResearch Philosophy

• Development of theory and algorithms– Publish paper, patents, etc– Be seen and recognized at the best forums

• Building research systems– Needs large UG/PG teams, continuity of activity

• Building field prototypes with industry– Academia has technology but can’t do alone– Needs team, research staff, mechanism

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adCase: Information Extraction

• Language analysis for information extraction– $250K per CPU per year for commercial tools

• Language group at institute had the expertise– Demonstrated using existing toolkit– Made it deployment ready with trained students– Trained company employees on the toolkit– Supplied qualified students as employees

• Tool has a lot more applicability

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adCase: BioSuite

• TCS developed a Bioinformatics suite underNMITLI scheme of CSIR

• Needed expertise in Graphics/Visualizaiton• Vision/Graphics group provided

– Students developed a prototype over summer– Participated in the design with the TCS team– Trained company employees in graphics– Supplied graphics trained UG students

• Domain expertise has many applications

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adeSagu

• IT-based personalized agricultural extension system– Coordinators in villages visit each farm– Send digital images and text info to IIIT-H– Agricultural experts provide relevant advice– Advice delivered on farmer’s doorstep– Keeping track of progress

• Saving: About Rs 4000 per acre• 1000 cotton frams in 2004-05

5000 farms and 6 crops in 2005-06• Being replicated nationwide by MLA & IIIT-H

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adSocial Impact

• RAVI: Screen reader for Indian languages• Virtual Laboratory

– Experiments with local content in local language– Tools to enable teachers design experiments

• Retinal Image Processing– Tracking drusen and retinal damages– Diagnosing diabetes from retinal scans– Working with doctors from LV Prasad hospital

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adNational Impact

• Many solutions delivered to DRDO– Flythrough system for SASE– Image mosaicing and registration for ADE– Robotics and Vision with CAIR

• Information extraction for ADRIN, ISRO• Active role in MCIT’s Indian language consortia

– Machine translation, search, information extraction– OCRs, handwriting recongition

• Digital Library of India– 3 crore pages of interest to India made digital

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adManpower Impact

• MS/Honours students at variousorganizations– GE JFWTC, MSR, Adobe, KritiKal– Nvidia, ATI, Riya, SET Labs, TCS ATC– Google, Yahoo!, MSR, Gridstone

• Our Vision:– 50% of high-end designers and developers in

product companies to be our MS/Hons students

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adHow can the industry help?

• Believe in us– Our experiments/efforts are showing results– Plan assuming technology expertise and

qualified students are available• Support us

– Nurture your broad areas of interest at IIIT-H– Technical, financial, strategic, involvement– Look to us for technology, not just technologists

• Spread the message– Research is essential and pays off

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adSupport: Traditional Methods

• MS/PhD fellowships to motivate students– Support for individual students– Impact is limited to the individual

• Research funding for activity– For an activity; has deliverables and schedules– Constrains theses and/or needs new people

• Faculty awards– Reward performance of faculty

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adSupport: New Avenues

• Yearly Research Awards for Students– Some stipend, conference travel, books– We select and administer based on performance

• Area-based student fellowship– Support for 2 research students in, say, computer vision– We identify the students; s/he benefits

• Nurture an area– Funding for research in, say, grid-computing– Outcome: trained manpower, expertise, papers, prototypes.– Producing 5-6 expert students at IIIT-H costs less than recruiting and

training one person– If your area has research activity, you ultimately benefit

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adConcrete Options

• Student Research Award (charity)– Rs 2 lakhs per award per year

• Area-based student fellowship– Rs 4.5 lakhs for an MS student support

• Nurturing an area– Rs 10 lakhs per year for impact of 1 faculty, 4-5

student (MS/Hons), thesis, and papers– Researchers look for employment, funder has

special claims to research

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adSupport: More Options

• Travel support for faculty and students– Indian researchers missing from international forums– Visibility is important to students and faculty

• Access to advanced technologies early– To nullify the locational disadvantage of India

• Affiliate with research centres– Visit and interact frequently– Teach classes, guide students

• Hire UGs and send here for MS/PhD– Make them experts in theory and practice

• Tell UGs to do MS/PhD: You have influence

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adHiring Research Students

• Hire them as research students– Give them respect as researchers– Call them over, listen to them, and hire them– We will circulate their folders

• Don’t treat them like UG students– Use a separate process and team to select them– Don’t follow aptitude test, programming test, etc– Instruct HR accordingly

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adInvolving with Research Students

• Support them, involve with them during their study• Hire them after they complete their degree not in

the middle– Don’t kill the golden goose

• Give them jobs that utilize their skills/training– Treat them specially, you will benefit

• Support them to complete and continue theirresearch with IIIT-H– Be flexible so they can complete their thesis– Completing and presenting papers, extending their work

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adSummary: What do we offer?

• Top-class technology and expertise in manyareas

• Well-trained research students– PhD: First one to come out in 2007

• Veritable researchers and experts in the area– MS by Research: About 30 have graduated

• Good training and expertise– B.Tech (Honours): 30-40 per year

• Exposure through many courses• Over 2 years of research/project experience

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adConclusions

• IIIT, Hyderabad is committed to research andhas a lot to offer to you

• Industry and IIIT-H can achieve a lot moretogether

• Several options for collaboration• Industry benefits through technologies,

expertise, and trained researchers