Prof. Nitin Saxena from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE), the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK) has been awarded the prestigious JC Bose Fellowship of the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. The JC Bose Fellowship is specifically for active scientists with a demonstrated record of outstanding performance as evidenced by either receiving the SS Bhatnagar Prize or being a fellow of science academies.

The Fellowship has been awarded in recognition to Prof. Saxena’s contributions to computational complexity theory, algebra, geometry and number theory. Prof. Saxena completed Bachelors in Computer Science from the IIT Kanpur in 2002 and PhD under Prof. Manindra Agrawal in 2006. With this award, Prof. Saxena joins the ranks of more than 17 faculty members from IITK who have received the prestigious fellowship in the past.

The J.C. Bose Fellow will receive a personal fellowship of Rs.25,000/- per month and a Research Grant of Rs.15.00 lakh per annum for a period of five years. Rs.1.00 lakh will be provided as overheads for the host institute. The tenure of the fellowship may be extended for a subsequent term of 5 years based on rigorous assessment of research performance during the tenure of the fellowship.

This year, Prof. Nitin Saxena was elected a fellow of the prestigious Indian National Science Academy for 2024. Prof. Saxena was also awarded the IIT Bombay International Award for Excellence in Research in Engineering and Technology for 2023. He is now an elected Fellow in all the four national academies in science & engineering.

Prof. Nitin Saxena is a distinguished computer scientist whose groundbreaking contributions, from as early as 2002, left an indelible mark on the global scientific community. Notably, these early pioneering achievements were part of his undergraduate thesis at IIT Kanpur, an exceptionally rare accomplishment.

He collaborated with Prof. Manindra Agrawal and Dr. Neeraj Kayal to co-author a seminal paper titled 'PRIMES is in P,' introducing the AKS Primality test, with 'AKS' standing for Agrawal-Kayal-Saxena. Experts worldwide hailed this algorithm, for its elegance and effectiveness in primality testing.

His remarkable work earned him prestigious accolades in the fields of theoretical computer science and discrete mathematics, including the Gödel Prize 2006 and Fulkerson Prize 2006. Prof. Saxena holds the distinction of being the youngest Gödel Prize laureate in history. His contributions have also been recognized with esteemed awards such as the INSA Young Scientist Medal in 2015 and the Swarna Jayanti Fellowship in 2013-14.

In 2018, he added yet another feather to his cap with the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Mathematical Sciences, an honor typically reserved for those with many more years of experience. Remarkably, he achieved this distinction at the age of 37, making him one of the youngest recipients of this prestigious award.

His exceptional academic brilliance earned him the Distinguished Alumnus Award from IIT Kanpur in 2003. Moreover, in 2009, the IIT Kanpur Alumni Association, celebrating the institute’s 50th anniversary, recognized him among the top 50 alumni of all time.

Currently, Prof. Saxena is an N. Rama Rao Chair Professor in the Computer Science and Engineering Department, IITK and is the founding coordinator of Center for Developing Intelligent Systems (CDIS).