Washington: Indian-American computer
scientist Subhash Khot, well known for his 'Unique Games
Conjecture' has been selected for a prestigious USD 500,000
national science award.
Khot, a theoretical computer scientist, works in an
area called "Computational Complexity" which seeks to
understand the power and limits of efficient computation.
The Indian-American will receive the prestigious Alan
T Waterman Award of the National Science Foundation (NSF) for
the year 2010 for his outstanding research.
Khot is an associate professor at the Courant
Institute of Mathematical Sciences. He will be presented the
Waterman Award on the evening of May 4 at a dinner ceremony to
be held in Washington, at the US Department of State.
Alan T Waterman Award is given annually to an
outstanding researcher under the age of 36 in any field of
science and engineering supported by NSF.
The honour includes a grant of USD 500,000 over three
years for scientific research or advanced study in the
recipient's field of science.
"Subhash Khot is a gifted and ambitious young
scientist," said NSF Director Arden L Bement, Jr.
"He courageously tackles some of the most challenging
computational problems, all the while advancing computer
security, with vast consequences for the broader security of
our personal identities, commercial interests, societal
institutions, even for national security as a whole."
Khot earned a bachelor's degree from the Indian
Institute of Technology in Bombay in 1999, and a doctorate in
computer science from Princeton University in 2003.
Jeannette Wing, assistant director for NSF's Computer
& Information Science & Engineering (CISE) directorate,
further described his contributions: "Subhash is a brilliant
theoretical computer scientist, and is most well known for his
Unique Games Conjecture.
He has made many unexpected and original
contributions to computational complexity and his work draws
connections among optimisation, computer science and
mathematics.
In a media release the NSF said, a fundamental
phenomenon in computer science is the existence of
computational problems that cannot be quickly solved.
These "computationally intractable" problems, as they
are called, present far-reaching consequences, it said.
"For instance, they limit our ability to use
mathematics to tackle large-scale problems arising in science
and engineering, such as the optimal design of protein
folding.
“Conversely, they make computer security possible as
computational intractability thwarts hackers' attempts to
access personal information stored in online databases," NSF
said.
He has uncovered a problem about probabilistic games
called "the Unique Games Problem".
“His work shows that it lies at the core of a variety
of intractable computational problems," NSF said.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, March 10, 2010, 20:47