Saugata Basu

Saugata Basu is a Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science at Purdue University, with Mathematics as his home department. He holds a joint appointment and has a distinguished academic career, previously serving at the Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Michigan, and IBM T. J. Watson Research Center. His research spans real algebraic geometry, computational algebra and geometry, theoretical computer science, and applied topology. He has authored influential works such as the textbook Algorithms in Real Algebraic Geometry and contributed to foundational results in semi-algebraic geometry and computational complexity.

Education: PhD from New York University's Courant Institute (1996) and BTech in Computer Science from IIT Kharagpur (1991). He has held visiting positions at institutions including Université de Rennes, Institute Henri Poincaré, and the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkeley.

Research interests include O-minimal structures, computational topology, and algorithmic semi-algebraic geometry. His work bridges theoretical mathematics with applications in computer science, cryptography, and optimization. Notable awards include the Sloan Fellowship (2003–2005) and NSF Career Award (2002–2007).

Grants and collaborations span topics like symmetry in algebraic geometry, quantum computations, and topological data analysis. He frequently presents at leading conferences such as FOCS, STOC, and SIAM Algebraic Geometry.