Hi Vanishree, it is a pleasure to be speaking to you. As a winner of the ISP in 2009 you had the world open to you. We are very happy that you have opted to carry on with your research and continue with your studies.

Do tell us what is your area of research and what draws you towards further research?

Thank you. I am extremely excited about getting a chance to continue my research because the grandeur of Mathematics has always fascinated me. I had a strong penchant for it since my early childhood. During my early (1st and 2nd years of) B.E. at PES Institute of Technology, I studied Number Theory, Abstract Algebra, and Galois Theory, and had, by then, developed strong predilection towards research, thanks to the inspirational guidance of Dr. Sudarshan Iyengar (currently a post-doctoral researcher at Heidelberg, Germany), who was extremely hortatory, and gifted me with loads of books in these subjects. These subjects are the cornerstones of Cryptography and I naturally became attracted towards the subject, which is also my area of research now.

Where did you get your inspiration for your research and how do you intend to take it forward?

I was once reading a paper entitled ‘How To Share Secrets’ (by Prof. Adi Shamir), and I still remain mesmerized by it. The technique was so simple, yet so elegant! It caught me! I delved deeper into it… And one fine day, I had an idea to construct my own Secret Sharing scheme, and I should say here that the experience of solving a good challenging problem is bliss in itself. This was my motivation to do research of my own.

But then, I had no exposure to research yet, and did not know how a research paper is to be written or presented. But that was only till the day when Intel announced its Intel Scholar Program. As I learnt about the announcement from a friend, I had no doubt what my next step was, and soon registered as a contestant to the competition, although almost unaware of how life-changing ISP would turn out to be in my case.

I submitted the abstract of my idea, ‘Secret Sharing Goes Live!’ and the day it was shortlisted in the prelims, I was on cloud nine! I worked hard for months on this idea and wrote a paper for the semi-finals, and which also got through as one among the 32 projects; I worked still harder through the finals by when my idea had developed by leaps and bounds and was a hundred times more advanced than it was in the prelims, thanks to the ISP team for the constant encouragement and help, and to Prof. Koshy George for his support. When the final moment of verdict came, it was one of the the happiest moments of my entire life when I won the first prize in the (UG category),

I intend to take my research forward by pursuing my Ph.D in Cryptography at the University of California at Los Angeles.

One of the happiest moments of your life you say, was when you won an ISP (Intel Scholar Program) award. Do share with us some other moments in this journey that have made you very proud?

Well, the second such moment was when I got a chance to intern with the Crypto group at Microsoft Research Lab in Bangalore, thanks to the ISP achievement and the seven international and two national publications I had by then. The third was what I just shared earlier, an opportunity to study at my dream university – University of California at Los Angeles – where I would be pursuing my Ph.D in Cryptography!

I think it’s a novel gesture from Intel to encourage budding researchers through programs like ISP and here go my Three Cheers to it! And yes, I couldn’t have done any of this if it were not my mother’s constant encouragement.

Where do you see yourself in the future?

Working with an active research group, either in the academia or at a research lab, is what I would like to look forward to in my near future. After the contest I have continued working on my project and have even published 7 research papers. In fact there are very few engineering Phd’s in India. Participating in the Intel research contest helped me to mould my career and I wish for other students to get the same encouragement that I did.

What is your message to other young innovators like you?

Research is fun. But it is indeed unfortunate that a career in research is put at the backburner when it comes to choice of career with most Indian students (except possibly IITians who tend to plunge into research from their second year of B.Tech and in all likelihood pursue PhD soon after B.Tech).

It needs to be remembered out that the amount of freedom and self-satisfaction that one gets in research is a trillion times than one can possibly derive in any other field. So I urge young innovators to continue to be passionate about their area of research by keeping themselves abreast of the state-of-the-art and by persistently trying to solve some good open problems therein. Cheers!