ECE Professor Emina Soljanin Named 2023-24 Indian Institute of Science Distinguished Visiting Chair Professor 

Emina Soljanin, a distinguished professor in the School of Engineering Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), will hold the prestigious 2023-2024 Mrs. Urmila Agrawal Distinguished Visiting Chair Professorship.  

Administered by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and established by Rakesh Agrawal, the president and founder of Data Insights Laboratories in memory of his mother, the competitive visiting professorship is awarded each year to a leading woman scholar distinguished by her cutting-edge research in science and engineering.  

“The department is very proud of the international recognition of Professor Soljanin’s research in areas ranging from distributed computing to quantum information science,” says ECE department chair and professor Yingying Chen. “We applaud her efforts in establishing international collaborations and increasing the visibility of Rutgers Engineering.” 

For Soljanin, the visiting chair professorship appointment is especially meaningful for two reasons. “It comes from a leading institution in my area of research and the world, and it also honors a woman, Mrs. Urmila Agrawal, who championed education throughout her life in earlier times, particularly women’s education. She often said, ‘Value Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of knowledge, over Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of wealth,’” she says. 

Sparking New Research Collaborations 

On her first visit to India during a four to ten-week period in the summer of 2024, Soljanin will be visiting the IISc Quantum Technology and the Center for Networked Intelligence. 

According to Soljanin, her current research interests revolve around reliable, efficient, and secure quantum and classical distributed computing and communications.  

“The IISc has scientists in all these areas. I plan to focus on my areas of interest where collaboration is likely to be the most productive. My primary host’s current interests are in quantum computing, but we have a history of working on related fundamental problems in information theory and coding,” she explains. 

“I hope for lots of collaboration beyond the short stay. Scientific visits often spark new interests and open new research avenues. ” She adds, “I look forward to meeting and getting to know colleagues at IISc better, and I hope to find research topics we are equally excited about and to work together.” 

In addition to offering opportunities for collaboration on potentially high-impact topics of mutual interest, the visiting professorship encourages mentorship. While in India, Soljanin says she hopes “to inspire budding scientists – particularly those from underrepresented groups – to join my field.”