Ms. Gayathri Garimella, IIITB Alumna

Cryptography is a unique skill set where you use codes to convey information through various channels safely. It is one of interesting streams in computer science and not many opt to take up career in this discipline. Ms. Gayathri Garimella, an Alumna of IIITB chose to pursue research in Cryptography, which requires strong motivation, interest and ease of learning mathematics and computer science. In an interview with her mentor, Prof. Ashish Choudhury, Ms. Gayathri unwinds how she went on to become a successful Cryptographer from the time she was a student of the Integrated Master’s Program at IIITB. With an outstanding academic record at IIITB, Ms. Gayathri is now a fourth year Ph.D. student at Oregon State University, one of the highly regarded research universities in the world.

Prof. Ashish: How do you recall your journey at IIITB?

Ms. Gayathri: I am grateful that I was at IIITB for five years! I have great memories of being an iMTech student and I fondly recall the personal attention faculty members had towards the students. We got lot of support from professors, which was rare and exceptional compared to other colleges. I value and cherish the attention we got from them. The caring approach was just not confined in communicating with students, even the curriculum was designed with lot of rigor. As we were straight from the high school, we were gradually weaned into academics. We had open internet exams and open textbook exams. In the process, the expectations were kept really high and professors wanted us to get there. We were well supported with their availability. The courses made us think and apply ourselves. Most of the courses had a project element and it was not conventional format that we could easily pick up from the internet. By third year, we felt like pursuing master level course with lot ease and comfort.

Prof. Ashish: Institutional support is very important for students to choose research and career. What do you think about IIITB's role in nurturing students in research?

Ms. Gayathri: IIITB fostered the element of research at a very early stage of our iMTech course. The huge focus on research allowed us to deep dive into the research methodology. We were encouraged to work with our professors, collaborate with other institutions like IISC, IMC, Indian Statistical Institute and so on. If any student aspired to take up research, the professors were so keen make it happen for him/her. The institute was very open and go extra mile to help students including financial assistance. It was this kind of commitment from IIITB and its faculty that encouraged me to pick up research.  

Prof. Ashish: Usually, an iMTech student decides to take up research at the end of 8th semester but you were determined at the end of 5th semester itself. What motivated you to do so?

Ms. Gayathri: I am fortunate that I grew up in a family with a strong spirit of enquiry and scientific temperament. When I was young, I spent lot of time in IISc lab where my she was pursuing research in biotechnology. My inclination towards discrete math and algorithms only substantiated my passion for research. Incidentally, in my third year, I was a part of the Crypto group at IISc and I realized the affinity towards Cryptography. 

Prof. Ashish: Why do you think IIITB is a conducive environment for women students?

Ms. Gayathri: The culture of respecting women in IIITB gave us the sense of safety and freedom in the campus. We never had any dress code nor were any specific rules for female students. The institution has always upheld the inclusivity and treated everyone equal with no gender bias. The female professors were our role models. The faculty members had same expectations from each and every student. It was a safe environment to express yourself and felt included always. In addition, Bangalore is a safe city for women to be located at. During our five year studying at IIITB we have seen lot women professionals working in big companies around Electronic City.

Prof. Ashish: Cryptography is a very challenging stream in computer science. What does it take to be a good cryptographer?

Ms. Gayathri: Indeed, it is an exciting and stimulating career in the evolving world of cryptography. The ability to adapt yourself to the changes is a basic requirement to be a cryptographer. Both the engineering mindset and design mindset need to work in tandem which is like going through different level abstractions. Math is the cornerstone of cryptography, it is about algorithms and design. It involves various aspects like optimization, linear algebra and statistics as well. You can term cryptographers to be predominantly artistic individuals, meaning that they are creative and original and work well in a setting that allows for self-expression.

To be a successful cryptographer, you need look at the core of something that works and you might be able to make connections that others have not seen. Really look deep inside and see the underlying patterns and see what’s happening. This is the mind frame that one needs to have to work in cryptography.

Prof. Ashish: Tell us briefly about your current research work and few interesting aspects in that domain

Ms. Gayathri: Private set intersection is a secure multiparty computation cryptographic technique that allows two parties holding sets to compare these sets privately in order to compute the intersection. In this scenario, neither party reveals anything to the counterparty except for the elements in the intersection. This is one of the most famous applications of secured computation.

So I have been working on the variants of the problem like computing interesting set operations or computing SQL operations on private data and related areas. What interesting to me is that currently it is lying at the intersection of theory and practice. Our work is designing theoretical protocols that have the proof of security. You need to come up with new algorithmic techniques to design protocols at a better and faster manner. Interestingly it is evolving to an extent where data sets of million in sizes can compute the intersection in a couple of seconds. In the area of cryptography, there are interesting problems to solve from both academia and industry perspectives.

Prof. Ashish: Taking cues from your own life, could you suggest women students to come out of their comfort zones and pursue career of their own interest?

Ms. Gayathri: Firstly, it is important to have role models and a conducive environment to pursue your dreams. Luckily, I have a wonderful support system at home. My mother taught me to dream big and my father taught how to go after those dreams relentlessly and make them happen in the real world. I have seen my parents handle the struggles of having a demanding academic career firsthand which helped me prepare for it. I have had wonderful role models, I used to watch Prof. Arpita Patra who inspired me for the way she worked and conducted herself. I remember the wonderful conversations I had with Prof. Manisha Kulkarni who directed me the ways to approach research. My role models have helped me to get right inspiration to discover who I am and to do my best.

For a woman researcher, it is important to have a good professional network where you can help each other and share your journey. Having a good support system and learning from others' experience is a quick way to learn. Always focus on your competence and enhancing your skill set!