Microsoft Research India today launched ResearchAndYou.com, a computer science (CS) community portal at TechVista, its annual research symposium. The portal was unveiled by Nandan Nilekani, Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India. Coinciding with the lab’s fifth anniversary celebrations, the launch of this portal will bridge the gap between the small number of CS researchers in the country and the large pool of potential research talent at the Bachelor’s degree level. ResearchAndYou.com has some of the country’s leading academics and researchers as mentors and aims to achieve the following:

* Provide a forum where students across India can access the country’s leading researchers to seek guidance and information to start a career in research
* Clarify and demystify what research actually means vis-à-vis product development
* Attract students to take up advanced studies in CS
* Help students choose a career in research

“Research, innovation and technological leadership are closely related and interdependent. While India has great talent, it is yet to realize its potential to be a world leader in research. We hope ResearchAndYou.com will be a great resource in helping aspiring researchers,” said Dr. P. Anandan, Managing Director, Microsoft Research India.

“Access and exposure to world class research and researchers from an early stage in education is critical in motivating students to look at a research career, which in turn is critical to developing a rich research talent pool. ResearchAndYou.com seeks to address this issue,” said Dr. Richard F. Rashid, Senior VP, Research, Microsoft Corporation.

ResearchAndYou.com will provide students with an interactive forum where they can connect with researchers and faculty from fields of their interest to ask questions, explore research opportunities and understand the state-of-the-art. The portal will also serve as a single source of information for resources in different disciplines of computer science and related areas, with links and pointers to different kinds of information, including reference material, research papers, events and conferences, and research news.

“Over the last few years, we are seeing an increase in the applications for PhDs. At this juncture, it is important for the students to get access to quality information that will help them in deciding on the future, in particular, areas of choice for research,” said Dr. N. Balakrishnan, Associate Director, Indian Institute of Science. “This portal is intended to fill this void and help students to take up a research career, in particular, in the area of Computer Science and Engineering.”

TechVista 2010 was inaugurated by the Chief Guest, Nandan Nilekani, Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India. The morning session of TechVista also saw a Distinguished Address by Turing Award recipient Professor Adi Shamir, Weizmann Institute of Science, a panel discussion on “The Future of Computing and Computer Science” featuring four Turing Award recipients, and talks by Dr. Rick Rashid, Senior VP, Research, Microsoft and Dr. P. Anandan, MD, Microsoft Research India.