It’s important to remember where you came from. It’s more satisfying when the place you came from remembers you.
Apu Kapadia, an associate professor of Computer Science and Informatics, earned that satisfaction when he was recently honored by the University of Illinois with a Distinguished Alumni Educator award for 2015. The award honors computer science alumni or faculty members who have made outstanding contributions to computer science education and research. It also recognizes those who excel at motivating computer science students.
Kapadia graduated with a Bachelor of Computer Science from Illinois in 1998, and he earned a High-Performance Computer Science Fellowship as a graduate student at Illinois for his research on trustworthy communication. He received his Ph.D. from Illinois in 2005. After earning his doctorate, Kapadia served as a post-doctoral fellow at Dartmouth and later spent time at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. He came to IU in 2009.
Kapadia was one of 14 Illinois alumni to be honored at a banquet in late October.
“It was an honor to receive this award from Illinois,” Kapadia said. “It’s where I started on my path as a researcher and an educator. While we academics do what we do, it is always gratifying when your efforts are seen as worthwhile. Being able to thank my former faculty mentors and receive their endorsement in a ceremonial setting was a delight.”
Kapadia’s research at IU focuses on pervasive, mobile, and wearable computing, as well as any topics related to computer security and privacy. He has received five National Science Foundation Grants, including the NSF CAREER award in 2013, and he was honored with an Indiana University Trustees Teaching Award that same year.