Prof. Ashwin Ganesan is a computer science researcher and academic leader with over 20 years of experience spanning research, teaching, curriculum development, and industry engagement. His research develops algorithms and graph-based AI methods for entity resolution, financial crime detection, and network optimization. Current work at IIT Madras CyStar develops the expressivity theory of GNNs for entity resolution in master data management and graph-based methods for detecting fraud patterns in transaction networks, funded by a Dun & Bradstreet CSR grant. A significant line of sole-authored work proves tight performance guarantees for distributed algorithms in wireless networks, published in top-tier venues such as IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking and IEEE Transactions on Information Theory. He has designed curricula for academic programs at multiple institutions, delivered corporate training in AI and algorithms, and led a curriculum redesign that grew enrollment sixfold at one institution while similar programs elsewhere were declining or shutting down. Educated in Austria and the United States, he holds a B.S. from Marquette University and an M.S. from UW-Madison, with PhD coursework and qualifying exams at UC Berkeley and UW-Madison. He currently teaches at BITS Pilani WILP and IIIT Surat, and has taught more than 3,000 students across more than ten institutions.
International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma and US High School Diploma, American International School of Vienna, Austria, 1990-1994.
Co-op student, Eaton Corporation, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1995-1997 (one year full time)
B.S. in Electrical Engineering, Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1998. Double major in Electrical and Computer Engineering (Computer Engineering option) and Mathematics; minor in Computer Science.
M.S. in Electrical Engineering, University of Wisconsin at Madison, 2000. Specialization: Communications and Signal Processing. Research focus: Wireless Communications and Information Theory.
Completed Ph.D. qualifying exams in Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Wisconsin at Madison, Spring 2000.
Completed Ph.D. preliminary oral exam in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at University of California at Berkeley, January 2002.
Completed Ph.D. coursework in Electrical and Computer Engineering and a Ph.D. minor in Mathematics, University of Wisconsin at Madison.
Status: Dissertator.
Research in applications of graph theory.
Outstanding Sophomore, Junior, and Senior in Electrical Engineering awards, 1995-1998, Marquette University
William Lowell Putnam Mathematics Competition, National List (top 500 scorers in the nation) since freshman year, 1994, 1995, 1997. Top Scorer of MU’s Putnam Team during freshman year. Marquette University’s team ranked 19th (among 313 colleges and universities from US and Canada) in 1997.
Top Scholar in Curriculum Award, Marquette University, 1998
Eta Kappa Nu’s Alton B. Zerby and Carl T. Koerner Award for the Outstanding Electrical Engineering Senior Student in the United States of America, Honorable Mention (one of four finalists in the nation), 1998.
Scholarships and Fellowships:
St. Ignatius Undergraduate Scholarship, Marquette University, 1994-1998
College of Engineering Brett Scholarship, Marquette University, 1996-1998
Dr. Russell J. Niederjohn Academic Excellence Scholarship Award, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Marquette University, 1997
Frank Rogers Bacon Fellowship, University of Wisconsin at Madison, 1998-1999
Regents’ Fellowship, University of California at Berkeley, 2001-2002
Co-op Engineer, Advanced Controls Technology division and Systems and Design Analysis division, Corporate Research and Development - Milwaukee Center, Eaton Corporation, Milwaukee, WI, USA, 1995–1997
Undergraduate Research Assistant, Intelligent Systems and Controls Laboratory, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, USA, 1996–1998
Research and Teaching Assistant (Fellow, 1998–1999), Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Wisconsin at Madison, WI, USA, 1998–2001
Research Intern, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA, Summer 2001
Graduate Student Researcher & Instructor (Fellow, 2001–2002), Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California at Berkeley, CA, USA, 2001–2004
Research and Teaching Assistant, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Wisconsin at Madison, WI, USA, 2004–2008
Senior Lecturer, Department of Computer Engineering, Fr. C. Rodrigues Institute of Technology, Vashi, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, 2008
Assistant Professor, Department of Information Technology, K. J. Somaiya College of Engineering, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, 2009–2010
Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics, Amrita School of Engineering, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India, 2010–2014
Assistant Professor, Department of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering, Vidyalankar Institute of Technology, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, 2014–2015
Assistant Professor, School of Computing and Information Technology, Manipal University Jaipur, Rajasthan, India, 2016–2017
Assistant Professor, School of Computer Science and Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India, 2017–2019
Associate Professor, International School of Engineering (INSOFE Education Pvt. Ltd.), Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, 2020-2022
Professor, International School of Engineering (INSOFE Education Pvt. Ltd., acquired by upGrad in 2022), Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, 2022-2023
Professor, ATLAS SkillTech University, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, 2023-2024
Professor of Practice, Indian Institute of Information Technology, Surat, Gujarat, India, 2024 - Present
Project Consultant, Centre for Cybersecurity, Trust and Reliability, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India, 2024 - Present
Adjunct Faculty, Department of Computer Science and Information Systems, BITS Pilani WILP, 2025 - Present