Dr. Ashok Rao
Director, NIE-MC

Educational Qualification:
BE (Mys Univ), ME (IISc), Ph.D(IIT/B)

ME Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (1985)  &

Ph.D.  and Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (1991) respectively.
He specializes in Digital Signal Processing area and is known to be one of the leading figures in this area in India. In addition he teaches and researches in areas of Image Processing, Multimedia, Linear Algebra, Renewable Energy, Bio-Metrics, Appropriate Technology & Sustainable Development, Management, Archeology, Education & Academic Reforms and ICT.
He has over 30 years of Teaching & Research Experience which Includes:

  • 6 years in IIT Bombay, 7 years in IISc Bangalore,
  • 4 years in NITK Surathkal, the rest in various places in India.
  • Guided Ph.D’s both in E & C and Comp.Sci areas and has over 100 publications.
  • He is also a Solar Photo Voltaic (SPV) specialist having been trained by Siemens Solar California during 1996-1997.

Earlier he was Head, Network Project at CEDT, IISc Bangalore from 1999-2005. It was a project funded by SDC (Swiss Agency for Development & Co-operation) and covered E & C Engineering education in whole of South India (Kar. TN.,AP., & Kerala). This is among the very few successful higher education projects in India. The learning’s and experiences from this project has been scaled up as TEQIP across India to cover broader Engineering Education.
Awards:

  • He is a Gold Medalist from IISc, Bangalore during 1983-85.
  • He has been awarded Texas Instruments (TI) International DSP Design & Education Award for promoting Excellence in Under Graduate DSP education during 1996-98.
  • He has received Citation from Philips Company for regularly crafting excellent UG students in E & C, in area of Signal processing & Digital Communication during 96-98.
  • He is among the very few across the world to be invited to make a presentation in PAN-IIT-2006 global meet.

He is also a Entrepreneur having successfully started and managed several IT & Renewable Energy companies during 1998 to 2011. From 1999, he has been a Consultant on Design of DSP & Multimedia systems to Philips, NXP (Star TV), Tektronix, Honeywell, Toshiba, SONY, Infineon, Texas Instruments, Analog Devices, LG, etc.
From 2007 to 2013, He has been a Guest / Visiting Professor at IIM’s at Bangalore & Indore, teaching PGPP and PGSEM programs and executive MBA programs there. He teaches Entrepreneurship and Public Policy courses there. He was Senior Advisor for Research, Govt.of Kerala (Dept of Technical Education) from 2013 to March 2017 working to Initiate, Scale Up and Diversify Research (Culture and competency building exercise) in Govt.Engg College Wayanad. The outcome has been very impressive with remote rural college able to do very important, Diverse and Valuable research in many branches of Engineering discipline.
He is one of the very few to have taught courses & done research in multidisciplinary areas and Institutions like IIT, IISc, NIT and IIM in India.