Narayanaswamy Balakrishnan received the BE (Hons) Electronics and Communication in 1972 from the University of Madras, and PhD (1979) from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore. He then joined the Department of Aerospace Engineering as an Assistant Professor at IISc. He is currently working as the Associate Director, Professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering and also the Supercomputer Education and Research Centre, all at IISc.

Academic and Research Achievements: Professor Balakrishnan's areas of research, where he has over 230 publications in the international journals and international conferences, include numerical electromagnetics, high-performance computing and networks, polarimetric radars and aerospace electronic systems, information security, digital library and speech processing. He has established excellent schools of Electromagnetics and Information Security, and has made significant contributions to the synthesis of conventional and monopulse array antennas and in the area of polarimetric Radars.

Other Contributions: Professor Balakrishnan was instrumental in the creation of National Centre for Science Information in 1984 and the Supercomputer Education and Research Centre in 1994 at IISc. He has been involved in taking important policy decisions as a member of Scientific Advisory Council to the Cabinet, National Security Advisory Board, Telecom Regulatory Authority, and on Board of Directors of public sector companies, as well as on Academic Councils of several institutes across the country. He played a critical role in the creation of the Million Books to the Web. He served as the Vice-President, INSA (2006-08).

Awards and Honours: Professor Balakrishnan has received several awards including the Padma Shri (2002) from the President of India, the Prof S N Mitra Memorial Award of the Indian National Academy of Engineering (2013), the IETE Diamond Jubilee Medal (2013), the CDAC-ACS Foundation Lecture Award (2008),  the JC Bose National Fellowship (2007), the Satish Dhawan Chair Professorship (2003-06), the Jawaharlal Nehru Birth Centenary Lecture Award (2001) of INSA, the Excellence in Education Award (1998) of the Aeronautical Society of India, the Hari Om Ashram Prerit Dr Vikram Sarabhai Research Award (1995). He is a Fellow of Indian Academy of Sciences (India), Allahabad, National Academy of Sciences, Bangalore, Indian National Academy of Engineering and the Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers. He is an Honorary Professor of the Jawaharlal Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore and the National Institute for Advanced Studies, Bangalore.