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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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