PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Sharad Mehrotra

Sharad Mehrotra is a database researcher at the University of California, Irvine whose work spans multimedia retrieval, cloud data management and data systems for smart spaces, including the integration of machine learning into databases. After a Ph.D. at the University of Texas at Austin in 1993, he helped build the MARS multimedia retrieval system, which brought relevance feedback to the search of images and video. In 2001, he, his graduate students and IBM collaborators built a "database as a service", and the related 2002 SIGMOD paper on SQL over encrypted data won the SIGMOD Test of Time Award in 2012. He led the NSF-funded RESCUE project for emergency responders, became an IEEE Fellow in 2021 and an ACM Fellow in 2023, and received the 2026 IEEE TCDE Impact Award. He is a Distinguished Professor of Computer Science at UC Irvine and directs its Center for Emergency Response Technologies.

Born
1968
Works
450
Citations
18,067
h-index
54
Badges

Years link to their sources. Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 1990s

    Ph.D. and the MARS system

    After earning a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in 1993, he works as a scientist at Matsushita Information Technology Laboratory and, before joining UC Irvine, serves on the faculty of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. In the mid-1990s, he helps build the Multimedia Analysis and Retrieval System (MARS), which introduces relevance feedback, retrieval models and efficient mechanisms to index and search images and video. A MARS paper on relevance feedback receives a Most Cited Paper Award from IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology in 1998.

  2. 2001–2002

    Database as a service

    He works with graduate students and IBM collaborators in 2001 to build a "database as a service", anticipating today's cloud database services. A paper on locally adaptive dimensionality reduction for indexing large time series databases takes the SIGMOD Best Paper award in 2001. The related SIGMOD 2002 paper, "Executing SQL Over Encrypted Data in the Database-Service-Provider Model," studies how encryption can build trust in hosted data.

  3. By 2010

    Directing the RESCUE project

    By July 2010, he directs RESCUE (Responding to Crises and Unexpected Events), an NSF-funded project led by UC Irvine that turns research into tools for first responders. With $12.5M in NSF funding, the project produces software deployed at response agencies.

  4. 2012

    SIGMOD Test of Time Award

    The 2002 SIGMOD paper on executing SQL over encrypted data, written with Hakan Hacigumus, Bala Iyer and Chen Li, receives the ACM SIGMOD Test of Time Award in 2012. It leads to a research area on encrypted data search that remains active.

  5. 2021

    An IEEE Fellowship

    IEEE names him a Fellow in its class of 2021 for contributions to the fields of data management and multimedia information retrieval.

  6. 2023

    An ACM Fellowship

    The ACM names him one of 68 ACM Fellows for 2023, recognizing his research in data management, multimedia information retrieval and emergency response. His current work builds data management technology for smart spaces in the TIPPERS system, and he lists integrating machine learning into databases among the challenges.

  7. 2026

    The TCDE Impact Award

    He receives the 2026 IEEE TCDE Impact Award from the IEEE Computer Society's Technical Committee on Data Engineering for foundational contributions to cloud data management and multimedia indexing and information retrieval. He also receives the IFIP WG 11.3 Outstanding Research Award for work on data and applications security and privacy.

  8. As of October 2026

    Professor at UC Irvine

    In 2026, he is a Distinguished Professor of Computer Science at UC Irvine's Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences, where he directs the Center for Emergency Response Technologies (CERT).

Career

  1. Since 1998University of California, IrvineDistinguished Professor of Computer Science
  2. 2021–2025New Jersey Institute of Technology
  3. 2002–2003University of Texas at Austin
  4. 1996–2002University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignFaculty
  5. Matsushita Information Technology LaboratoryScientist

Education

  1. 1993University of Texas at AustinPh.D.

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

Most-cited works

  1. Relevance feedback: a power tool for interactive content-based image retrieval1998 · IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology · 1,765 citationsWith Thomas Huang and Yong Rui
  2. Dimensionality Reduction for Fast Similarity Search in Large Time Series Databases2001 · Knowledge and Information Systems · 1,573 citationsWith Michael Pazzani
  3. Executing SQL over encrypted data in the database-service-provider model2002 · ACM-SIGMOD International Conference on Management of Data · 1,155 citations
  4. Locally adaptive dimensionality reduction for indexing large time series databases2001 · ACM-SIGMOD International Conference on Management of Data · 878 citationsWith Michael Pazzani
  5. Content-based image retrieval with relevance feedback in MARS2002 · International Conference on Image Processing · 727 citationsWith Thomas Huang and Yong Rui

From OpenAlex, as of 21 October 2026.

  1. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes University of California, Irvine. 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.
  2. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes University of California, Irvine. 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.
  3. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes University of California, Irvine. 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.
  4. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes University of California, Irvine. We estimate that Google holds the highest combined h-index at 8,016, while universities account for 73% of the deduplicated total across AI organizations.

Colleagues

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

Sources and credits

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  1. Sharad Mehrotra - UC Irvine Donald Bren School of Information & Computer Sciences ics.uci.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  2. Professor Sharad Mehrotra Named IEEE Fellow - UC Irvine Donald Bren School of Information & Computer Sciences ics.uci.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  3. Mehrotra Named ACM Fellow - UC Irvine Donald Bren School of Information & Computer Sciences ics.uci.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  4. Technology to the RESCUE govtech.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  5. SIGMOD Test-of-Time Award – SIGMOD Website sigmod.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  6. TCDE Award Recipients - IEEE Computer Society Technical Committee on Data Engineering tc.computer.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  7. Sharad Mehrotra Receives IEEE TCDE Impact and IFIP WG 11.3 Awards - UC Irvine Donald Bren School of Information & Computer Sciences ics.uci.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.