Late Dr. Kesavan was a founding member of SHEN. He also served as a member of its board of directors from September 15, 2004 to January 31, 2013. Dr. Kesavan assed away on November 26, 2014 in Waterloo, Ontario.
Dr. H.K. Kesavan received his undergraduate degrees in science and engineering from Bangalore, India, and his postgraduate degrees in electrical engineering from the Universities of Illinois and Michigan State in the U.S.A. During his career, he has served as Chairman of the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, and later as the founding Chairman of the Department of Systems Design Engineering at the same university. In between, for a period of five years, he was the first Head of the Electrical Engineering Department at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, and also, concurrently, the Head of its Computer Center. Later, he was also the first Dean of Research and Development at the Institute. At present, he is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Waterloo. Dr. Kesavan's research interests encompass two broad fields: first, system theory from the viewpoint of graph theory and secondly, the study of probabilistic systems based on the optimization of information-theoretic principles. He has numerous research publications in both areas and has coauthored several books.
Dr. Kesavan has maintained a life-long interest in the philosophical aspects of science. Dr. Kesavan is the author of a book called Science and Mysticism - The Essence of Vedic Philosophy. This book presents a global view of Vedic philosophy from the insights that science and mysticism provide. The motivation for writing this book arose from his constant interaction with students of Indian origin at the The University of Waterloo, Canada. Dr. Kesavan is one of the prime movers of SHEN. His enthusiasm for SHEN is infectious.