PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

C Krishna Mohan

Also known as Krishna Mohan Chalavadi

C Krishna Mohan is a computer science professor whose AI research spans video content analysis, cloud segmentation, and federated learning. He started at NITK as a programmer in 1991, earned an M.Tech from NITK and a Ph.D. from IIT Madras, then joined IIT Hyderabad in 2009 and became founding head of its CSE department in 2010. He coauthored ACLNet, a cloud-segmentation network, in 2022 and a 2025 study of second-order methods for federated learning. He held a Fulbright Visiting Scholar research appointment in computer science and machine learning in 2023–2024 and received IIT Hyderabad's Faculty Research Excellence Award in 2024. As of October 2026, he is a professor at IIT Hyderabad, heads VIGIL, and has received the institute's Faculty Publications Excellence Award.

Timeline

  1. 1991–2009

    Starting at NITK

    He starts at NITK Surathkal as a programmer in 1991 and becomes an associate professor there in 2006. He earns an M.Tech from NITK and a Ph.D. from IIT Madras.

  2. 2009–2020

    Building IIT Hyderabad's CSE department

    He joins IIT Hyderabad in 2009 and serves as founding head of its Computer Science and Engineering department from May 2010 to October 2014. He reaches professor rank in September 2018 and takes up the Dean of Public and Corporate Relations role in January 2020.

  3. 2022

    ACLNet for cloud segmentation

    He coauthors ACLNet in 2022, a deep learning network that combines attention and k-means clustering to segment clouds in ground images.

  4. 2023–2024

    A Fulbright research appointment

    He undertakes Fulbright Visiting Scholar research in computer science, specializing in machine learning, during the 2023–2024 academic year.

  5. 2024

    A research excellence award

    He receives IIT Hyderabad's Faculty Research Excellence Award in 2024.

  6. June–August 2025

    A Kennesaw State visit

    During June–August 2025, he visits Kennesaw State University in Atlanta as a visiting researcher.

  7. 2025

    Federated learning methods

    In 2025, he coauthors Accelerated Training of Federated Learning via Second-Order Methods, a study of how second-order optimization can address slow convergence and costly communication in federated learning.

  8. As of October 2026

    Professor and VIGIL head

    In 2026, IIT Hyderabad gives him its Faculty Publications Excellence Award based on the Stanford top 2% list. As of October 2026, he is a professor in Computer Science and Engineering and Artificial Intelligence at IIT Hyderabad and heads VIGIL, whose research covers image and video content analysis, representation learning, and AI/ML.

Career

  1. Since 2009Indian Institute of Technology HyderabadHead, Founding Head
  2. 2025Kennesaw State UniversityVisiting Researcher
  3. 1991–2009National Institute of Technology KarnatakaProgrammer, Associate Professor

Education

  1. National Institute of Technology KarnatakaM.Tech
  2. IIT MadrasPh.D.

From the biography.

  1. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  2. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  3. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes National Institute of Technology Karnataka. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  4. The United States employs an estimated 48% of people shaping AIIncludes IIT Madras. We estimate where the people shaping AI work today, how universities, companies and research institutes split across countries, and how country shares have changed since the 1960s.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. Prof. C Krishna Mohan people.iith.ac.in. Checked 20 October 2026.
  2. ACLNet: An Attention and Clustering-based Cloud Segmentation Network arxiv.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  3. Krishna Mohan Chalavadi | Fulbright Scholar Program fulbrightscholars.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  4. Accelerated Training of Federated Learning via Second-Order Methods arxiv.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  5. C. Krishna Mohan | IIT Hyderabad iith.ac.in. Checked 20 October 2026.