Summary of Achievements
Professor Aggarwal has been recognized with numerous accolades for his work in innovation and education. As a mentor, he guided the startup "RootWorkz Learning" to win the Eureka 2020-21 competition organized by IIT Bombay, securing a prize of Rs 2.5 lakh. His innovative spirit was further acknowledged when he won the NDIN Innovation Challenge for COVID-19 from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, highlighting his ability to create impactful solutions for real-world problems.
His research has also garnered attention, as evidenced by the "Top Downloaded Paper Award" from Wiley International Pvt Ltd for the 2018-19 period. This speaks to the relevance and quality of his published work. Furthermore, he was appreciated by the Punjab School Education Board, Mohali, for developing Data Mining and Analytics Software.
In his professional capacity, Prof. Aggarwal received the "Outstanding Faculty Contributor" award from Infosys Technologies Pvt. Ltd., where he also successfully completed a sabbatical project on "Tool based Estimation Model Development." His work in this area led to two letters of appreciation: one from the Vice President of Infosys Technologies and another from the CEO of AXEDE Corp., USA, for his development of the CMS Effort Estimation Model.
His contributions also extend to institutional and national service. He served as a Procurement Coordinator and Consultant for the TEQIP-II project in Chandigarh, managing a budget of Rs 30 crore. He was awarded Rs 10,000 by Prof. R.C. Sobti to develop an SMS-based attendance management system at UIET. During the 2004 Lok Sabha Elections, he trained over 1000 personnel in the use of electronic voting machines. Academically, his excellence was recognized with a Bronze medal for standing third in his graduation from Punjab Technical University.
Other Details
Professor Aggarwal has played a pivotal role in establishing and leading several key institutional projects and initiatives. He was instrumental in establishing an AI Data Centre lab at the DIC, Panjab University, with a value of Rs 1 crore. As the Project In Charge of the Panjab University Incubation Centre since March 2024, he has successfully established five pre-incubators valued at Rs 15 crore, fostering a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship.
His organizational skills are evident from his role as the Organizing Secretary for the 3rd International Conference on Biomedical Engineering and Assistive Technologies (BEATS-2014). He also served as a consultant and Nodal Officer for Procurement, Finance, and Management in the State Project Facilitation Unit, UT Chandigarh, for TEQIP-II.
In the realm of quality assurance and accreditation, Prof. Aggarwal was a key member of the NBA Core team at UIET, where he helped prepare the NBA proposal and implement regulations. His research has also been recognized through Best Paper Prizes for three of his papers: "Automatic triggering of Acoustic Sensing by Human Activity Recognition using the Accelerometer" in ACM Compute 2018 (awarded Rs 25,000), "Analysis of Lung Segmentation and Boundary Correction Techniques on Lung CT Image" in CHASCON 2012, and "Real Time Human Activity Recognition Using Shape-from-Motion Reconstruction" in CHASCON 2008.
He has shared his expertise by delivering more than 50 expert lectures at various forums, including refresher courses, FDPs, and workshops. He has also been instrumental in setting up critical infrastructure, including two Design Innovation Centre Labs (Sensor Lab and Computer Vision Lab) and a PU DATA set Server to provide Storage as a Service (SaaS). He also set up servers to provide Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) by offering virtual machines on the cloud.
His involvement in academic and professional communities is extensive. He has been a Technical Committee Member for over 80 international conferences, including IEEE International conferences and others like ICIIP and Confluence. He also assisted PEC, Chandigarh, in obtaining ISO 9001 certification in 2003. Prof. Aggarwal's diverse contributions highlight his commitment to institutional growth, technical innovation, and academic excellence.