Prof M Balakrishnan is a Senior Advisor, Faculty Affairs at Plaksha University. He joined Plaksha as a Visiting Faculty after more than three decades in the CSE Department at IIT Delhi. He has held various leadership positions, including Dean(Post Graduate Studies & Research), Deputy Director (Faculty) and Deputy Director (Strategy & Planning). At IIT Delhi, he has been responsible for numerous initiatives related to industry-academia partnerships, institutional collaborations, curriculum, society outreach as well as administrative reforms. He continues to be an Honorary Professor in the CSE Department at IIT Delhi. His research interests are in Embedded Systems Design, Electronic Design Automation and Assistive Technology. He has been a pioneer in Assistive Technology research in India and has received three National awards as well as the ACM Eugene L Lawler Award. He founded the ASSISTECH lab at IIT Delhi as well as the EMPOWER Assistive Technology conference. He is a fellow of ACM as well as INAE.
Prof Balakrishnan's research interests include assistive technologies, embedded systems, EDA and system-level design.
He founded the ASSISTECH laboratory along with Prof. PVM Rao (Mech Engg Department) nearly 15 years ago, which is focused on mobility and education for visually impaired people. The lab has consistently worked towards building affordable assistive technology solutions that address the needs of our infrastructure and society. ASSISTECH successes include SmartCane as well as a non-profit startup, Raised Lines Foundation, which is dedicated to supporting STEM education for visually impaired people by developing tactile diagrams and kits.
Prof Balakrishnan has been a recipient of three National awards, the ACM Eugene L Lawler Award, and IIT Delhi's Life Time Award for his work in the disability space.
Prof Balakrishnan has supervised 21 PhD and more than 200 UG/PG projects at IIT Delhi and published extensively.