Yedatore Venkatakrishnaiya Venkatesh did his PhD (1970) from Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore. He has worked as Associate Professor (1978-83), Professor (1983- ), Chairman (1992-96), Department of Electrical Engineering, Chairman, Division of Electrical Sciences (1998-2001), Dean, Faculty of Engineering (2002-04), all at IISc. He was Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at University of Karlsruhe and Freiburg (1974-76, 78, 82, 83, 85, 90), National Research Council Fellow, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (1985-87), Visiting Professor, Technische Universitaet Graz (1985), Visiting Faculty, Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand (1990); Visiting Fellow, Australian National University (1991, 1993); Visiting Professor, University of Kaiserslautern (1992, 94/95), International Distinguished Research Fellow, University of Calgary (2000), Visiting Professor, National University of Singapore (2001-02, 2004-06) and Visiting Research Professor, NUS (2007, 2008/09).

Academic and Research Achievements: Venkatesh's areas of specialization include machine and computer vision, neural networks for pattern recognition, signal processing and remote sensing data analysis, and system theory. For certain classes of linear and nonlinear time-varying feedback systems, he has used the most general L2- and LP- (p>=2) stability and instability conditions, invoking some new differential/integral and norm inequalities. In signal processing (including image-processing), he has worked out a novel framework involving generalized Hermite polynomials for reconstruction of signals from partial information, like zero-crossing or phase; and representation of signals at multiple resolutions, using the Hermite-sieve as wavelet-like functions. He has extracted contours of multiple objects in images using a novel modification of the self-organizing map (SOM), and has developed a new approach to solve the problem of stereo-correspondence by a further modification of the SOM. He also authored a monograph Energy Methods in Linear and Non-Liner Time Varying System Stability and Instability Analyses (Springer-Verlar).

Other Contributions: Starting from around 1978, as a part of the ISRO project to acquire and process remotely sensed mutispectral image data, Venkatesh created the Laboratory for Computer Vision and Artificial Intelligence in the Department of Electrical Engineering at IISc. He was involved in a number of research projects in India and abroad, dealing with mutlispectral satellite image data analysis, signal and image processing, medical image analysis, and biometrics. He also served on the Editorial Board of the Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing.

Awards and Honours: Professor Venkatesh was bestowed the Bowen Memorial Prize by the University of Mysore, Alumni Award for Excellence in Research (Engineering) and Tata-Chem Professorship by IISc, Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship, Germany, National Research Council Fellowship, USA, and Distinguished International Research Fellowship by the University of Calgary, Canada. He was also elected Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore and National Academy of Sciences (India), Allahabad.