Gopalan came to IISc in August 1977 after
having obtained a Bachelor's degree in Technology from IIT
Kharagpur. He stayed till August 1980 during which time he
obtained a Master's degree at the School of Automation and
then briefly contemplated working on a doctoral degree.
He eventually took these plans with him to the University
of Pennsylvania. He has subsequently been on the Computer
Science faculty at Duke University (Durham, North Carolina)
and the University of Chicago (Chicago, Illinois) and is presently
at the University of Minnesota (Minneapolis, Minnesota). Gopalan
is married to Ameeta Kelekar, also an IISc alumnus although
from a "real" science discipline. They have a daughter,
Prerna.
Like most events of this kind in life, the time spent at
IISc was one that had a distinct beginning and an equally
definite ending. It was, however, an important period for
Gopalan, one during which he was able to discover some of
the structure in Computer Science that interests him today
and, thereby, to escape from the clutches of Engineering.
It is also a time fondly remembered for the Bangalore climate
(that still used to be salubrious in those days), the many
friends from the classrooms, the hostels, the dining halls,
the hockey field and the tennis courts. These alliances, memories
and influences still persist, giving IISc a special status
in the mind.
May 29, 2004
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