The Max-Planck Institute in Germany is regarded as one of the world’s top research organizations. Over the years, luminaries such as Albert Einstein, Werner Heisenberg and Max-Planck have been associated with the Institute. Scientists from this Institute have claimed 32 Nobel Prizes.

Now an Amrita graduate will begin his doctoral studies at this premier research institute.

Kaustubh Beedkar, who graduated from Amrita’s Coimbatore campus in 2007, with a BTech degree in Information Technology, has already completed nine months at the Max-Planck Institute.

He came here in July 2011, when he was offered a year-long research fellowship in Informatics. When the year is over, he will begin his doctorate here, conducting research in the fields of Distributed Machine Learning and Open Information Extraction.

“My research, in web-scale information extraction, tries to extract and exploit knowledge that exists in written form somewhere on the web. Their target applications include question answering, for example, who won the Nobel Prize from Ulm?” he shared.

“I am investigating techniques based on factor analysis and certain probabilistic models, which can scale to the web,” he added.

After graduating from Amrita in 2007, Kaustubh enrolled at the Georgia Institute of Technology, USA for a master’s degree in Computer Science. In 2009, after completing the master’s program, Kaustubh joined a four member tech start-up, Band Metrics, based out of Atlanta. Here he helped develop statistical algorithms and built statistical data analytics systems for music industry professionals who wanted to analyze data from various social networks.

In 2010, Kaustubh moved back to India to work with Harman International R&D in Bangalore. The company designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of products to provide audio/visual entertainment, as well as navigation systems for the automotive and consumer. Here he worked on next-generation infotainment systems for high-end cars.

“I had a zest to be creative in the field of engineering and pursue a target, which is challenging. My stint in these industries was rewarding in many ways. Many times though, my role was restricted to solving certain engineering problems, which became less challenging with time. A desire for more stimulating and challenging problems pulled me towards academic research,” he candidly shared.

Kaustubh had only words of praise for his alma mater.

“Amrita being India’s leading teaching and research institute greatly helped me nurture my potential and build a strong foundation during my formative years. I attribute a lot of my success to my teachers. With world class computing infrastructure and unique value-based teaching, it was the best place for me to learn and grow.”

What does he think the future holds?

“I don’t believe in long term planning. What I do wish is to enjoy research as much as I can and if life gives an opportunity, I will love to teach!”

“Follow your heart. If you wish to pursue a dream, give it your cent percent without bothering about the result even once!”

March 20, 2012
School of Engineering, Coimbatore