Communications of the ACM
IIT Kanpur, NYU Tandon Launch Joint Doctoral Degree Program
NYU Tandon Dean Jelena Kova?evi? and IIT Kanpur Director Abhay Karandikar signed a five-year agreement between their engineering schools on November 22, 2019.
New York University Tandon School of Engineering and the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, will begin offering dual doctoral degrees in computer and electrical engineering starting this fall.
Leaders of the two institutions signed a five-year agreement that will expand an international collaboration that formally began in 2016, with their partnership for research and education in cybersecurity. The latest agreement will allow students in computer or electrical engineering to enroll at either school, then finish the last two years of their doctoral program at the other, graduating with degrees from both.
Applicants will need to pass qualifying exams at both schools, and advisors at both must approve and supervise their dissertation work, but only one dissertation defense will be required for the students accepted into the program. All course credits will transfer.
For doctoral students from either continent, the collaboration will offer cultural and academic diversity they would normally find only by leaving their home country for about twice the length of time. Students will also encounter complementary academic strengths at the collaborating schools.
IIT Kanpur is one of India's leading science and engineering schools, and a pioneer of computer science education in India. Its wireless communication program is also widely recognized. NYU Tandon, meanwhile, counts among its centers of excellence NYU Wireless, which is among the world's top five academic research centers for 5G wireless technology.
Both schools also focus on securing electronics — another area of study for computer and electrical engineers. NYU Tandon and the NYU Center for Cybersecurity are acknowledged international leaders in the field, and IIT Kanpur is known for its cybersecurity excellence. It was the first university in Asia to collaborate with NYU on its giant CSAW student cybersecurity games — emphasizing contests that advance research in hardware security.
The agreement also recognizes the increasing globalization of science and engineering. IIT Kanpur is one of the best engineering schools in India, celebrating its diamond jubilee this year. NYU is one of the world's foremost research universities, with academic sites across the globe, the most U.S. students studying abroad, and more international students than any other U.S. college or university. NYU Tandon, NYU Abu Dhabi, and NYU Shanghai collaborate closely on engineering research and curriculum.
"NYU Tandon's informal ties to IIT Kanpur have already brought us outstanding doctoral candidates and collaborations with a world-leading institution of engineering and science. We therefore look forward to this new opportunity to join together to vault even more international boundaries in research and education," says NYU Tandon Dean Jelena Kovačević. As part of Kovačević's plan to expand research at NYU Tandon, the number of doctoral candidates has grown to more than 350, with plans to reach 500 within five years.
"We at IIT Kanpur are excited to join hands with NYU on a dual degree program for electrical and computer engineering departments," says Director Abhay Karandikar. "We are sure that this program will be successful, with both institutes benefiting from the collaborative work in addressing important academic and industrial problems, carried out by outstanding faculties and students. We also hope that we expand this partnership to other areas of science and engineering in years to come."
Kovačević and Karandikar signed the agreement on November 22, 2019, in New York.
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