BENGALURU: A Bengaluru-origin associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences has received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) for his medical invention. Dr Rahul Mangharam’s device can monitor the functioning of devices like pacemakers (a small device placed in the chest or abdomen to help control abnormal heart
rhythms) and defibrillators (a machine used to deliver an electric shock to re-establish normal conduction of the heart’s electrical impulse). According to the National Science Foundation that nominates the awardees, PECASE aims at recognising the finest scientists and engineers who, early in their independent research careers, show exceptional potential for leadership at the frontiers of scientific knowledge.
American President Barack Obama celebrated PECASE winners’ achievements at a private ceremony at the White House in May. Mangharam was the only Indian-origin scientist at the event.
The 39-year-old, who studied at Vidya Niketan, Frank Anthony Public School and Aditi Mallya International School in Bengaluru, left for the USA in 1996. He completed his PhD in electrical and computer engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.
Mangharam’s family is on cloud nine. Nandlal, his father who lives near Nandidurg Road, says, “I feel so proud of him. My son has so many good ideas. He once told me how the human brain can be computerised. I didn’t take him seriously until I read an article about it elsewhere.”
Mangharam has received several other honours like the IEEE Benjamin Franklin Key Award in 2014, the National Science Foundation Career Award in 2013 and the 2012 Intel Early Faculty Career Award. He has worked on projects at Toyota, General Motors, Honeywell, Comcast, Denso and Apple.
“Rahul is a simple, quiet but dynamic person. He gives lectures at various institutions across the world. I am happy that the US government has appreciated his work. Unlike in India, Indians’ hard work is recognised and honoured abroad,” Nandlal goes on to say.
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