Page 28 - The Indian EYE 050925

Newsmakers of the Week MAY 09, 2025 | The Indian Eye 28

NEWSMAKERS OF THE WEEK

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

MEHTAAB SAWHNEY BALAJI SREENIVASAN

Columbia Professor unravels Entrepreneur selected as Finalist

Prime Numbers’ mystery for the award by E&Y

rnst & Young LLP announced the finalists for the prestigious Entre-
ehtaab Sawhney, a Clay Research Fellow and professor at Columbia preneur of The Year® 2025 Gulf South Award. Now in its 40th year,
University has solved one of prime numbers’ many mysteries this fall. Ethe Entrepreneur of The Year program celebrates the bold leaders who
MSawhney, who joined Columbia last year, enjoys the thorny work of disrupt markets through the world’s most groundbreaking companies, revolu-
proving a seemingly straightforward statement of fact. His research interests tionizing industries and making a profound impact on communities.
are broadly within combinatorics, probability, analytic number theory and the- The Gulf South program celebrates entrepreneurs from Central and
oretical computer science. South Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. An independent panel of judges se-
Prime numbers, which can only be divided by themselves and one, seems lected Balaji Sreenivasan for his entrepreneurial spirit, purpose, growth, and
to be randomly distributed, but, in aggregate, they actually show patterns that lasting impact in building long-term value.
Professor Sawhney unravelled. “Building Aurigo has been one of the greatest joys of my life. Entrepre-
Professor Mehtaab Sawhney worked with Professor Ben Green of Oxford neurship, to me, is about solving meaningful problems and creating some-
University to prove that there are an infinite number of prime solutions to thing that lasts. We’re building AI-powered software that’s transforming how
p2 + 4q2, where both p and q must also be prime. It’s one of more than 50 the world plans and delivers infrastructure, and I’m grateful every day to work
math proofs that Sawhney has solved since starting graduate school, which with such a brilliant, passionate team. This recognition is really a reflection
he completed in a very-speedy-for-a-PhD four years. The findings have been of our team and what we’ve built together,” said Balaji Sreenivasan, Founder
described as “phenomenally impressive” and “terrific” by mathematicians not and CEO, Aurigo Software Technologies Inc.
involved in the research. Aurigo Software is a leading AI-powered software company that helps in-
For example, 41 is a prime number, and one can write it as five squared frastructure and facility owners around the world plan and build better. With
plus four times two squared (52 + 4[22] = 41). a vision to build a better tomorrow, Aurigo’s platform supports some of the
There’s actually quite a lot of these at these lower levels, but they get largest capital improvement and infrastructure programs globally, transform-
gradually sparser as you get into higher numbers. ing how critical assets are managed, delivered, and optimized.
Professor Sawhney majored in math and minored in computer science Entrepreneur of The Year program celebrates original founders who boot-
and chose to be in academia for the freedom it offers in day-to-day work, strapped their business from inception or who raised outside capital to grow
especially with your thinking time. their company; transformational CEOs who infused innovation into an existing
Talking about Columbia University, Professor Sawhney said, “I grew up organization to catapult its trajectory; and multigenerational family business
on Long Island. I actually came to Columbia in high school for a science hon- leaders who reimagined a legacy business model to strengthen it for the future.
ors research program that took place on Saturdays, where we took classes The US program consists of 17 regional programs and regional award
taught by graduate students or postdocs. I’ve always really liked the campus, winners will be announced on June 12 during a special celebration in Houston
and the math department has great and collegial researchers. I did my under- who will become lifetime members of an esteemed community of Entrepre-
graduate and PhD at MIT and a master’s at Cambridge, but I knew I wanted neur of The Year alumni from around the world. The winners will then be
to come back here.” considered by the National judges for the Entrepreneur of The Year National
Professor Sawhney’s educational history includes MIT (September 2020 - Awards, which will be presented in November at the annual Strategic Growth
June 2024) Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics; MIT (September 2017 - Febru- Forum, where National finalists and award winners are announced.
ary 2020) Bachelor of Science in Mathematics with Minor in Computer Science. Continued on next page... >>

www.TheIndianEYE.com