Interview with Dr. Mahasweta Sarkar

Featured Engineer

Dr. Mahasweta Sarkar

Dr. Mahasweta Sarkar - Associate Professor at San Diego State University

How did you get into engineering and when did you start?

Not too many people know this, but my first undergraduate degree was in Chemistry. Engineering happened quite by chance when I moved from India to the U.S.A right after finishing my degree in Chemistry. I was fascinated by the world of computers and computer programming and decided to study Computer Science and there has been no looking back since. I completed my undergraduate degree in Computer Science from San Diego State University and then went on to do my Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from University of California, San Diego (UCSD) after which I worked briefly as a Research Scientist for SPAWAR System Center, Point Loma before I joined SDSU as a faculty in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in August of 2006.

What are your favorite hardware tools that you use?

Most of my work involves modeling and simulation. So my favorite hardware is a blade server that can run a lot of simulations in parallel. I particularly like the Dell PowerEdge with 5 blades = 56 cores, 56GB of RAM and 448 GPU cores. In addition, Intel Xeon X5650 Quad Core blades are also my favorite. The operating system is Ubuntu.

What are your favorite software tools that you use?

I use the open source network simulator NS-2 the most. My work involves developing network algorithms for wireless data networks. NS-2 helps me create my own system model and scenarios to test my hypothesis and measure the performance of my design in terms of the network metrics that I might be trying to optimize or improvise. In addition I also use other commercially licensed network simulator tools like OPNET and QualNet. In order to analyze mathematical models of my system, I use the software called MATLAB.

What is the hardest/trickiest bug you have ever fixed?

When I was working on my Ph.D. dissertation, I created a power efficient wireless local area network model which performed optimally in terms of power consumption and data delivery delay. In order to simulate the system, I first wrote code in the C++ computer programming language before I transferred it to a simulator platform. Designing my own system on software was fun but challenging. Bug fixing had become second nature to me. That was definitely the trickiest project I have ever undertaken.

What is on your bookshelf?

Amongst many books on my shelf, the ones that deserve special mention are:

Computer Networks by Andrew Tanenbaum
Computer networks: a systems approach by Larry L. Peterson, Bruce S. Davie
Fundamentals of Queuing Theory by Donald Gross
A first course in probability by Sheldon Ross
The IEEE 802.11 Handbook: A designer’s companion By Bob O’Hara, Al Petrick – Standards Information Network
Several IEEE journals and magazines

What has been your favorite project?

I am currently working on a project which is extremely fascinating to me. Along with my research group, I am in the process of developing a prototype for a device which holds the promise of changing the face of human interaction. Often times we are on the lookout for a business partner, an investor, a research collaborator, a baby sitter, a fellow hiker or maybe even an yoga instructor. And often times in our day-to-day lives we might happen to cross such a potential “partner” in the isle of a grocery store, in a parking lot, at a coffee shop or in a conference venue without identifying him/her. Thus many such “connections” never form which otherwise could have led to very productive and mutually beneficial relationships. Our device has the potential to turn this dream into reality. Thus prior un-noticed and untapped mutually beneficial interactions can now be possible owing to our device. I am very excited to see the outcome.

What are you currently working on?

I have several ongoing research projects which mostly cater to improvising existing wireless technologies. However, the project that I described in my previous answer is what I am mainly focusing on currently. In addition, I am working on the concept of “Wireless Health” where we envision healthcare to be ubiquitous. Vital biological statistics measured by bio-sensors placed strategically on a patient’s body should be delivered without human intervention directly to a physician’s hand held device or a nurse’s workstation regardless of patient location. Our research in the area of Wireless Health mainly focuses on studying and analyzing the appropriateness of using existing wireless technologies like Bluetooth and Zigbee in an application like Wireless Health. Simultaneously, we are in the process of designing a communication paradigm that is most suited for an application like Wireless Health. Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN) is an area which has received significant attention in the recent past. Our research work entails energy efficient and delay intolerant protocol design for WBANs.

What direction do you see your business heading in the next few years?

I envision the world to be a networked place far and beyond what it is today. Smart appliances will dominate and rule our lives impacting the social, medical and professional aspects of our lives in ways we could not even comprehend ten years ago. My current two projects are a step in that direction.

What is your favorite course that you teach and why?

I like to teach courses on Computer Networks (CompE560 and EE 660). This is primarily because Computer Networks is my area of research and I feel that I can incorporate information on the state-of-the-art technologies in my class lectures which stimulates student learning. It is extremely rewarding to see students appreciating and understanding the “behind-the-scene” functionalities of the applications that they use on a daily basis like cell phone calls, emails and texting. This motivates them to pursue further studies in the area of Computer Networks thereby giving me the satisfaction of being able to successfully stoke their interest and pique their desire about a subject area.