Prof HN Mahabala

Pioneering IT education

Not just an academician par excellence, Mahabala has also been one of the
pioneers of IT education in India, especially in the IITs. He was the one to
initiate the computer science program at IIT- Kanpur in 1965, the first in
India, which later blossomed under the tutelage of Rajaram. He also set up a
national computer center at IIT-Madras. Here in 1985, he started an
International Conference on VLSI design as a small workshop that has today grown
into a major event. Even today he is remembered for over 25 courses that he
taught in computer science. Mahabala was also CSI president, member of the
Electronic Commission and an expert member of the IT Standards Board setup by
the Government of Karnataka.