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Newsmakers of the Week MAY 02, 2025 | The Indian Eye 30

NEWSMAKERS OF THE WEEK

Selected stories about Indian diaspora from our website www.theindianeye.com

HARSH JAIN SANJAY KRISHNA

Columbia Engineering honors as Professor honored as Innovator

2025 Class Day Speaker of the Year by Ohio State Univ.

arsh Jain ’14BUS, the CEO and co-founder of Dream Sports, India’s he Ohio State University honored Sanjay Krishna, Electrical and Comput-
leading sports technology company, has been chosen as the Class Day er Engineering Professor with the 2025 Innovator of the Year award at the
Hspeaker to address the Columbia Engineering Graduate Class of 2025 TEnterprise for Research, Innovation and Knowledge’s Annual Showcase.
on Monday, May 19, 2025. In a video overview of his work, Krishna expressed his gratitude, stat-
“I’m honored to be speaking on this momentous occasion and interacting ing, “It’s really humbling to be named Ohio State Innovator of the Year. It
with the talented students of the Class of 2025,” said Jain. “They have worked really captures the sense of what I’m trying to do.” He emphasized that his
hard to reach this milestone and I hope my learnings from my entrepreneurial goal involves both innovation as a professor—training the next generation of
journey help them turn their passions into successful careers.” students—and entrepreneurship by bringing innovations to the marketplace.
Jain combined his love for sports, gaming, and technology to create In- The Innovator of the Year award recognizes established Ohio State re-
dia’s first multi-billion-dollar sports tech conglomerate, Dream Sports, with searchers who are actively working to promote the commercialization of uni-
the mission to “Make Sports Better.” In 2011, he co-founded Dream11 with versity intellectual property, through invention disclosures filed, patents ap-
Bhavit Sheth, and led it to become one of the largest fantasy sports platforms plied for and/or received, technologies licensed or spin-off companies formed.
in the world. While accepting the award, Krishna remarked on the hidden struggles be-
A lifelong Manchester United, Mumbai Indians, and Indian cricket team hind success, saying, “This award is basically the tip of the iceberg. You all see
fan, Jain’s Dream Sports portfolio currently has 250 million users across its the success, but behind the iceberg of success is submerged all the failures, all
brands, including Dream11, FanCode, DreamSetGo, Dream Cricket, and the mistakes that we had.” He acknowledged the importance of collaboration,
Dream Sports Foundation. thanking his colleagues, students, and family for their support.
In June of 2024, Columbia Engineering partnered with Dream Sports As the George R. Smith Chair in the College of Engineering, Krishna
to launch the Columbia-Dream Sports AI Innovation Center to advance re- leads a lab focused on developing next-generation infrared detectors, arrays,
search and workforce development at the intersection of AI, machine learn- and imagers. He is also a co-founder and chief technical officer of SK Infra-
ing, and sports tech. The Center supports faculty research awards, student red, a startup dedicated to defense, aerospace, and commercial applications
fellowships, a seminar series, and other collaborative initiatives. of infrared imaging. His contributions to innovation and research continue to
“Harsh Jain is a visionary in the field of AI and sports and a natural choice to make a significant impact in his field.
address our graduates,” said Shih-Fu Chang, Dean of Columbia Engineering. He was previously the Director of the Center for High Technology Ma-
Jain, a member of the School’s Board of Visitors, completed his engineer- terials, Professor and Regents Lecturer in the Department of Electrical and
ing degree from the University of Pennsylvania and has an MBA from Colum- Computer Engineering at the University of New Mexico. Sanjay received his
bia Business School. He is based in Mumbai, India, and is actively involved in M.S. in Electrical Engineering in 1999 and PhD in Applied Physics in 2001
philanthropy through the Dream Sports Foundation, focused on serving the from the University of Michigan. He joined UNM as a tenure track faculty
Indian sports ecosystem, as well as Raksha Foundation, an NGO he set up member in 2001.
along with his wife Rachana, that serves children and animals in need. Continued on next page... >>

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