Kapil Ahuja

Prof. Kapil Ahuja is a Full Professor in the Department of Computer Science & Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Indore (IIT Indore), where he heads the Mathematics of Data Science and Simulation (MODSS) research lab. After completing dual Master's degrees and a Ph.D. from Virginia Tech (USA) followed by postdoctoral work at the Max Planck Institute in Germany, he has held visiting positions at UT Austin, IMT Atlantique, Sandia National Labs, TU Dresden, and TU Braunschweig. His administrative roles include founding Dean of International Affairs and former Head of Computer Science & Engineering at IIT Indore.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Mathematics, Virginia Tech (2011)
• M.S. in Mathematics, Virginia Tech (2009)
• M.S. in Computer Science, Virginia Tech (2007)
• B.Tech. in Mechanical Engineering, IIT (BHU) Varanasi (2001)

Research Focus: Prof. Ahuja's work bridges theoretical advances with real-world applications, emphasizing machine learning algorithms for plant/cancer studies, game-theoretic poverty reduction models, exascale climate modeling solvers, and drone trajectory optimization. His interdisciplinary approach integrates numerical linear algebra with network science to solve complex systems problems across healthcare, agriculture, and climate science, supported by 4.85 Crores INR in external funding.

Publication Trends: Recent work demonstrates growing emphasis on AI-driven optimization for physical systems (drones, climate models) and biomedical applications (cancer classification). His publications increasingly feature cross-disciplinary collaborations between computer science, biology, and economics, with notable contributions in explainable AI for healthcare and resource allocation algorithms for social networks.

Scientific Recognition:

• National Teacher's Award (2024) from the President of India
• Five-time recipient of IIT Indore's Best Teacher Award (2013-2023)
• Best Poster Award at International Workshop on Game Theory & Networks (2019)
• Steeneck Graduate Research Fellowship (Virginia Tech, 2011)
• Multiple SIAM travel awards for international conferences

Mentorship & Service: Prof. Ahuja has graduated 5 Ph.D. and 4 M.S. (Research) students while mentoring 75 B.Tech. projects. He serves as Associate Editor for Applied Intelligence Journal (Springer Nature) and Knowledge and Information Systems, organizes international conferences, and reviews for 35+ academic sources. His administrative leadership significantly expanded IIT Indore's global partnerships through the Research Park initiative.

Research Infrastructure: The MODSS lab maintains active collaborations with Oak Ridge National Lab, Sandia National Labs, and European institutions. Current projects include AI-optimized drone swarms for agricultural monitoring and game-theoretic models for poverty intervention, utilizing high-performance computing resources for large-scale simulations.