Rajeev Kumar
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Professor, Computer Science & Engineering (CSE) Former Professor @ IIT Kharagpur, IIT Kanpur, BITS Pilani, JNU New Delhi. Phone: 95-9905-3655, 94-3474-7400 E-mail: rajeevkumar.cse@gmail.com GitHub |
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Rajeev Kumar, an academician and consultant with 40+ years in teaching, research & development, has served at IIT Kharagpur, IIT Kanpur, BITS Pilani, and JNU. He has also worked as a Scientist at India’s DRDO and DST and was a Visiting Design Engineer at National Semiconductors Germany. He is a motivational speaker, an inspiring mentor, and a prolific writer shaping policy, institution excellence, and professionalism in emerging technologies, such as AI/ML, Cyber Security, and Multimedia Systems.
He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from Univ. Sheffield, an M.Tech. in Computer Sc. & Tech. from Univ. Roorkee (now IIT Roorkee), an M.Sc. in Physics (Electronics) from Univ. Allahabad, and an LL.M. (Professional) from National Law Univ. Delhi.
R & D: His initial learning at DRDO culminated in technology transformation for end-users. His research interests include machine/deep learning, ethics in AI, medical image analysis, multimedia, programming languages, software systems, evolutionary optimization, and scientometrics. He has published over 250 research articles in international journals and conferences, several in lead venues. He has supervised 20 doctoral, over 80 master theses, and 100 UG projects. He founded the Data to Knowledge (D2K) Lab at JNU. He worked on industry-funded projects from Microsoft USA and NSC USA; the NSC project was in close collaboration with their USA, Germany, and Israel units. He is a reviewer for lead venues. He delivered several keynote/invited lectures and tutorials at conferences. He visited several universities in the USA, UK, Germany, Switzerland, Japan, S. Korea, and Singapore. His h-index on Google Scholar is 25.
Teaching: Rajeev has designed and taught several CSE courses from freshman to senior graduate level. He has taught programming (C/C++/C#/Java/R/Python), core and advanced (Data Struct., Algorithms, Compiler, Software Engg, Pattern Classification, Machine Learning), application (Image/Video Processing, Computer Vision, Multimedia Sys.), and specialized courses (Statistics, Evolutionary Comp, Research Method, etc.). At JNU, he introduced the Academic Ethics course. His teaching is participative and interactive; he focuses on active learning, thinking, creativity, and innovation with flexible workloads/assessments.
Academic Leadership: He served as a Senator in IITs Kharagpur/Kanpur and BITS, a member of the Court and Academic Council at JNU, and educational bodies, such as the Board of Studies, and Statutory Comm. He worked for reforms in curriculum, academic structure, regulations, and ordinances. He is known as a crisis handler with out-of-box solutions to complex challenges.
Public Policy: His contributions to higher education policy are significant. He reformed IIT admission exams by introducing transparency through micro-level SOPs. He pioneered the common examination and counseling (JoSAA/CSAB) for IITs/NITs/IIITs/CFTIs, a widely adopted model across disciplines. Inclusion of common examinations in NEP 2020, leading to CUETs for Central Universities, highlights his impact. His prototype for common counseling in Central Universities, developed with the Ministry, is set for future implementation. He advocated for the Research Advisory Comm. (RAC) and Ethics course for PhD Students in JNU, both adopted by UGC. India's Hon'ble Supreme Court hailed him as one of the many unsung heroes who helped in improving the system.
He authored ABET-guided output-based quantifiable accreditation guidelines and defined Academic Performance Indices (APIs) for the National Board of Accreditation (NBA). The guidelines, originally used in 2011, have since been modified and are in use by both the NBA and NAAC. This work enabled India to join the Washington Accord in June 2014.
With over four decades of academic and administrative experience across universities and institutions in India and abroad, he has cultivated a deep passion for teaching, research, curriculum development, faculty mentoring, and institution building. His reform-focused, student-centered leadership, 24/7 work ethic, open communication, legal insight, and broad vision make him a valuable asset.