CAIRO: Agastya Goel, a 17-year-old Indian-origin student from California, has won his second gold medal at the 36th International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI), which took place in Egypt. Agastya, son of Stanford professor Ashish Goel, secured the fourth overall rank at the prestigious contest, also dubbed as the world’s toughest programming competition for high school students.

Agastya scored 438.97 out of 600, while Kangyang Zhou of China topped the event with a perfect score of 600. A total of 34 students were awarded gold medals this year, including fellow Indian participant Kshitij Sodani, who ranked 21st.

This marks the 17-year-old’s second gold at the IOI. His father, Ashish Goel, made waves in 1990 by topping the IIT-JEE exam before going on to build a distinguished career at companies like Twitter and Stripe. 

Who is Agastya Goel?

Agastya Goel, a junior at Henry M Gunn High School in Palo Alto, California, loves physics, computer science, and music. His hobbies include tennis, hiking, stargazing, and playing the guitar and piano.

Agastya’s interest in physics began at a young age, with his father introducing him to the subject during car rides and hikes. One memorable experience was learning about projectile motion while playing Angry Birds. This sparked a fascination with physics that has only grown stronger over the years.

Agastya’s competitive spirit was ignited through the USACO competition series, which he started preparing for in 6th grade. His hard work earned him a spot at the USACO training camp in his freshman year, followed by selection for the US IOI team. 

Initially, Agastya considered majoring in computer science, but after exploring physics, he discovered a new passion. He spent 14 days intensively studying physics over winter break and was hooked. 

CALIFORNIA: Indian-origin business leaders from the IT industry lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership for putting India on the global map as a “credible innovator and leader” for all nations to invest in and grow.

Speaking at the Indiaspora AI Summit 2024 on ‘Can Artificial intelligence be good force for future or not’ at the University of Stanford on April 26, Informatica CEO Amit Walia said, “India is perceived very differently in the global space. It’s a space of innovation. It’s a space of human capital. It’s a space of progress and innovation. And as we look forward, what Modi has been able to do is put India into the global map as a credible innovator, leader for all countries to invest in and grow.”

Speaking at the same event, Elastic CEO Ashutosh Kulkarni said that PM Modi and the government have been doing amazing work.

Mr Kulkarni said, “The Prime Minister and the government has been doing some amazing work and their focus on being open to innovation, their focus on industry, their focus on bringing the population, India is now one of the, it is the largest, most populous country in the world and bringing that population towards progress, the way they have tapped into the potential of this country has just been fantastic.”

Calling PM Modi’s era “amazing,” Mayfield Fund Managing Partner Navin Chaddha praised PM Modi’s leadership for ties between India and the US and his ability to connect the Indian diaspora which he stressed is doing extremely well in the tech industry. He noted that India is making progress in using technology and improving its infrastructure.

Navin Chaddha said, “The Modi era has been amazing, the kind of relationship they’ve been able to build with the United States. And to be able to connect the Indian diaspora, which is doing extremely well in the tech industry, hats off to them. And also the progress India is making in using technology, improving the infrastructure is just amazing. So, Mr Modi, keep doing what you’re doing.”

Rohit Jain, Speaker and Moderator – CIO, Harvard Business School, called on PM Modi to increase his guarantee, as he has always delivered. The event on Artificial Intelligence was organised to deliberate and discuss artificial intelligence.

He said, “Mr Modi needs to increase his guarantee because he’s always been delivering. So, I think his promises have been 100 per cent true. So, he now needs to promise 110 per cent and then again he’ll deliver on that. Mr Modi, thank you for what you have done, not only for India, but for the world.”

Priya Rajan, Managing Director, National Venture Coverage and Business Development, MUFG lauded PM Modi’s leadership in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. He stated that a number of VCs across the globe want to invest in India.

She said, “I see the Modi magic play is in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, which is an adventure ecosystem. So you can see the number of VCs now wanting to invest, not just where in India, investing in India, but world investors around the world wanting to do things. And you’re seeing kind of US, a ton of US global investors now setting up shops in India. I think that’s all coming back to what Modi magic has created.”

At the event, prominent Indian diaspora, along with the esteemed corporate leaders from the US shared their insights on the topic “Can Artificial Intelligence be a force for future or not.”

Rajya Sabha MP Satnam Singh Sandhu participated in the event. Notably, PM Modi has been advocating that artificial intelligence can provide a great support to help humanity’s development in the 21st century.

Taking to X, Satnam Singh Sandhu stated, “Indiaspora AI Summit, Stanford University, USA: Delighted to be a part of the summit where we had @ericgarcetti, US Ambassador to India, Indian Diaspora and business leaders from IT sectors who reiterated how PM @narendramodi Ji is leveraging AI to shape nation’s future strategy to build Viksit Bharat by 2047.”

“They highlighted PM Modi’s tech-savvy approach and his efforts to promote AI applications in various sectors like agriculture, health-care, and education for social development and inclusive growth. They also condemned the Western bias against India to rank them lower in parameters like Ease of doing business, and cite the irregularities while computing such rankings,” he added.

Earlier in December, PM Narendra Modi said that artificial intelligence is a dynamic issue and that India is working on creating a global framework for AI. He made the remarks while interacting with the participants of the Grand Finale of the Smart India Hackathon.

Speaking to the participants via video conferencing, the Prime Minister said, “AI (Artificial Intelligence) is a very dynamic issue. If one solution is brought in, the mischievous people will find another way. We have to be very alert to any new technology. It can be very useful if used within rules, but if it is used in the wrong way, it can create a lot of problems.”

“We all are aware of the generative AI-created deep fake videos that look completely real. Hence we need to be more alert before believing any photo or video. India is working on creating a global framework for AI,” said PM Modi.

SILICON VALLEY: Pavan Davuluri, an IIT Madras graduate, has been appointed the new head of Microsoft Windows and Surface. He succeeds Panos Panay, who left for Amazon last year. Mr Davuluri previously oversaw the Surface group and now leads both Windows and Surface departments. 

Rajesh Jha, Microsoft’s head of experiences and devices, said, “As part of this change, we are bringing together the Windows Experiences and Windows + Devices teams as a core part of the Experiences + Devices (E+D) division. This will enable us to take a holistic approach to building silicon, systems, experiences, and devices that span Windows client and cloud for this AI era.”

“Pavan Davuluri will lead this team and continue to report to me. Shilpa Ranganathan and Jeff Johnson and their teams will report directly to Pavan. The Windows team will continue to work closely with the Microsoft AI team on AI, silicon, and experiences,” he said.

Who is Pavan Davuluri?

1. Pavan Kumar Davuluri is an IIT Madras graduate. He completed his post-graduation from the University of Maryland, according to his LinkedIn
2. Mr Davuluri began his career at Microsoft as a Reliability Component Manager in 2001.
3. Mr Davuluri has held various leadership positions over his 23-year tenure at Microsoft, working across PC and Xbox hardware, Surface, and Windows. 
4. Pavan Davuluri took on the role of corporate vice president for Windows and Silicon & Systems Integration in 2021, overseeing efforts to optimise Windows for Arm-based devices.
5. Mr Davuluri was recently assigned to lead Windows engineering alongside his existing responsibilities in Microsoft’s hardware endeavours. He will lead a dedicated team developing silicon systems for Microsoft’s Windows and Surface products.