candidates for MEMBERS AT LARGE (7/1/08-6/30/12)

MATHAI JOSEPH Pune, India

Advisor, Tata Consultancy Services

BIOGRAPHY STATEMENT

■ Mathai Joseph was Executive Director ■ The remarkable growth of the Indian
of the Tata Research Development and software industry has been a major stimu-
Design Centre in Pune, India, until 2007 lus for the recent spread of computing in
and is now an Advisor to Tata Consultancy India. It has led to a massive increase in
Services. He earlier held a Chair in Com- the number of engineering colleges pre-
puter Science at the University of Warwick paring students for entry into the industry.
from 1985-97. Before that, he was a However, this growth has not been accom-
senior research scientist at the Tata Insti- panied by any comparable growth in
tute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai, computer science research: there are few
India. He has been a Visiting Professor at institutions where high grade research is
Carnegie-Mellon University, Eindhoven done and only a few additions (notably the
University of Technology, University of India research centres of large computing
Warwick and University of York (U.K.). corporations) over this period; there are
He was a founder of some long-running still very few PhD students in the country.
international conference series, such as I believe ACM has a major role to play
Foundations of Software Technology and in creating links between the best in com-
Theoretical Computer Science, Formal puter science worldwide and education
Techniques in Real-Time and Fault-Toler- and research in India. ACM publications
ant Systems and, more recently, Software and conferences have set an unquestioned
Engineering Approaches to Outsourcing standard for representing the highest
and Offshoring. He has set up workshop grade of computer science research. ACM
series (TECS Week and TECS Workshop) awards, like the Turing Award, are univer-
to promote computer science research sally recognized for honoring the most
in India, especially among teachers significant contributions to computing.
in India’s engineering colleges, and Yet, as a professional society, ACM is still
established research collaborations with very under-represented in India and no
several prominent universities in different major ACM meetings are held here.
countries. A lot of my work has been to create

His main research interests have been forums for the exchange of ideas, new in real-time and fault-tolerant computing, research and people among industrial with emphasis on formal specification and and educational institutions in India and analysis. He has written and edited a num- overseas. I would like to work with ACM ber of books and conference and journal to grow these and other initiatives for pro-papers in these areas. He has worked moting computer science education and on software systems for many years and research in India. wrote an early book on the design of a I would also like to work with ACM to multiprocessor operating system. promote the understanding of the soft-

Mathai Joseph did a Master’s degree in ware industry as a global manufacturing Physics at Bombay University and a PhD industry, with a consequent redefinition at the Mathematical Laboratory, University of software engineering technology. ACM of Cambridge, UK. He has worked in has already made a valuable contribution several countries and now lives in Pune, through the report of its Task Force on the India. He has been investigating early subject and is well-placed to make the work in computing and computer science findings a source for policy makers and in India and the transition over the last few a part of every computing professional’s decades of the Indian software industry. education.

DOI: 10.1145/1342327.1342334