Meet IIT-JEE topper who joined IIT Bombay with AIR 1, worked at NASA, left it for...

The IIT-JEE entrance exam is known as one of India's toughest exams which is taken by lakhs of aspirants each year who aim to secure admission to the prestigious Indian Institute of Technologies (IITs). However, Pandurang Nayak is an inspiration to many IIT aspirants who aim to achieve big in life. Pandurang Nayak secured AIR in the IIT-JEE exam in 1980, however, that was only the start of an incredible career for the young Indian.  

In 1992, Pandurang Nayak moved to the United States to pursue a PhD in computer science at Stanford University, following his graduation from IIT Bombay. An ACM Distinguished Dissertation was his doctoral dissertation. After completing his studies, IIT-JEE top scorer Pandurang Nayak began working as a research scientist in the NASA Ames Research Center's Computational Sciences Division in 1992. He also served as the deputy lead for the Remote Agent project, which involved creating the first artificial intelligence system to be given primary control of a spacecraft. In 1999, the 'NASA Software of the Year Award' was given to the Remote Agent he designed.

Later, from 1999 to 2004, he served as Stratify Inc.'s chief architect and subsequently its chief technical officer (CTO). Nayak became a Member of Technical Staff at Google in 2004. His work on Google Search involves the use of data, machine learning, and information retrieval techniques to help provide billions of users worldwide with relevant, high-quality search results.