IISc Announces Notable Alumni/Graduate Awards 2026

A view of the Indian Institute of Science campus.

The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has announced that eight scientists and engineers have been selected for its prestigious Alumni/Alumni Awards and Young Alumni/Alumni Medals for 2026.

She said the awards recognize graduates who have made exceptional contributions to their profession, society and institute.

The nominations were judged by a committee headed by IISc Director Govindan Rangarajan.

“The Distinguished Alumni Awards and Young Alumni Medals are an opportunity to celebrate their journeys and achievements and to recognize the many ways they continue to inspire our community,” said Prof. Rangarajan.

This year’s distinguished alumni/graduate award recipients are BS Manjunath, Dipakar Das Sarma, Jagannath Nayak, Maruthi R. Akella and Rajat Moona.

Mr. Manjunath is a globally recognized computer scientist and academic leader and the Frank Koenig Distinguished Professor in Signals and Systems and Distinguished Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, USA.

Mr. Sarma is an internationally renowned Condensed Matter Physicist and Materials Chemist, currently Head of National Science Department, ANRF and Emeritus Professor, Department of Solid State and Structural Chemistry, IISc.

Mr. Nayak is a renowned defense scientist and Director General for Missile and Strategic Systems at DRDO.

Mr. Akella is a globally recognized aeronautical scientist and control systems engineer who currently holds the Cockrell Family Chair in Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, USA.

Mr. Moona is an internationally renowned computer scientist and technologist and Director of IIT Gandhinagar.

The Young Alumni Medals, awarded to researchers under the age of 40, will be awarded to Abhishek Sinha, Geethu Joseph and Himanshu Joshi.

Mr. Sinha is a leading theoretical computer scientist, currently Lecturer at College of Technology and Computer Science, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai.

Ms. Joseph is an internationally recognized researcher in sparse control, intelligent sensing and autonomous systems and an associate professor at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.

Mr. Joshi is an internationally renowned researcher in Computational Biophysics, Multiscale Molecular Simulations, DNA Nanotechnology and Assistant Professor of Biotechnology at IIT Hyderabad.

The awardees will be felicitated at a ceremony to be held on December 19 at the JN Tata Auditorium, IISc.

Published – 06 Nov 2026 21:10 IST