Shwetak Patel

Shwetak Patel is an American computer scientist and entrepreneur best known for his work on developing novel sensing solutions and ubiquitous computing. On 9th December 1981, Shwetak Patel was born in Selma, Alabama. He graduated his high school from Jefferson Country International Baccalaureate school in 2000 in Birmingham, Alabama. From Georgia Institute of Technology, he accomplished his B.S. in Computer Science in 2003. In 2008, under the advisement of Dr. Gregory Abowd, Shwetak received his Ph.D. in Computer Science.

Shwetak Patel’s core interest is in the areas of ubiquitous computing and human computer interaction. He has mostly done research in the areas of user interface software and technology. More than 50 articles have been published by him. He has also been awarded the best paper award several times. He was promoted to associate professor in July 2013, and then he was named the Washington Research Foundation Endowed Professor in July 2014 at the University of Washington in Computer Science & Engineering and Electrical Engineering, where he leads his research group, known as the Ubicomp Lab.

One of the most famous things he has done is his work on developing novel sensing solutions and ubiquitous computing. Our daily lives are hectic, and there is a lot of things we need to be looking out for and computer science, and sensing can play a role in collecting this data that we don’t have time to collect. That is what motivated him that computing can make a difference in terms of collecting those data, making sense for it and then letting us do what we do best that is enjoy our daily lives.

Shwetak invented a series of sensor technology for home environments. He worked on building easy-to-deploy and low-cost sensing systems or sensors that give us information about a variety of things that people care about including energy and health without an elaborate network of expensive instruments. The sensors enabled users to measure their energy and water consumption and helped to detect inefficiencies more effectively. His work relates to the average person because these devices are designed so that the average person can actually install them. We don’t need a professional like a plumber and an electrician to install them for us and it also gives us information that people can understand like ways to visualize this information, as a result, we know what’s happening in our home and something that we can actually grasp.

In one of his interviews, he said that translating this work into something that is user-friendly is extremely challenging as we have to look at how to make this easy to deploy, safe to deploy. But applying computer science to significant problems is what motivates him. He wanted to have an impact on something that could touch people’s daily lives, and he thought that energy is one way to do that. In addition, he also explored the potential for home security for elder care, as they served the function of sensing human activity and monitoring movement in a room.

His work has escorted in some really enthusing possibilities in the areas of sustainability and well-being. The extensive implementation of systems where people can monitor their health with smartphones could modernize healthcare — specifically in the emerging world. Shwetak Patel surely illustrates the ACM Prize’s objective of identifying work with ‘fundamental impact and broad implications.’

Dr. Patel co-founded a company called, Zensi which indicated the mass potential in the field of energy conservation. After evaluating their company growth and potential Belkin International, Inc got their hands on it in 2010. He is also a co-founder of a low-power wireless sensor platform company called SNUPI Technologies and a customer household sensing product called WallyHome which was attained by Sears in 2015.

Dr. Patel co-founded a company called, Zensi which indicated the mass potential in the field of energy conservation. After evaluating their company growth and potential Belkin International, Inc got their hands on it in 2010. He is also a co-founder of a low-power wireless sensor platform company called SNUPI Technologies and a customer household sensing product called WallyHome which was attained by Sears in 2015.

For his offerings to create a sensing system for sustainability and health, he was awarded the 2018 ACM prize in computing. In 2011 he won the most decorated and one of the most famed awards amongst the geniuses the MacArthur fellow.

He has been well dedicated to developing applications for energy monitoring, activity recognition, mobile sensing systems and wireless sensor platforms. He has driven on such great technologies in partnership with Microsoft Research. His methodology is always on making easy to deploy and low-cost systems which can also be labelled as Infrastructure mediated sensing.

He has received many awards and honours. Some of them are:

ACM Fellow (2016)

ACM Prize in computing (2018)

Microsoft Research Outstanding Collaborator Award (2016)

World Economic Forum Young Global Scientist Award (2013)

NSF Career Award (2013)

Sloan Fellowship (2012)

MacArthur Fellowship (2011)

Microsoft Research Faculty Fellowship (2011)

Seattle Magazine Most Influential (2011)

Wired Magazine Cover Story (2011)

MIT TR-35 Award: MIT Technology Review Top Young Innovator under the age of 35 (2009)

He was entitled topmost innovator of the year by Seattle Business Magazine, was entitled Newsmaker of the year by Seattle Business Journal and was a receiver of the Microsoft Research Faculty Fellowship in 2011. His previous work was also privileged by the New York Times as a top technology of the year in 2005. Dr. Patel is also a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers Community.