Interviewer:
Professor Kankanhalli, why did you decide to pursue IT as a major and then decide to continue teaching it?

Professor Mohan Kankanhalli:
I started off doing Electrical engineering as an undergraduate and when I decided to further my education, I found computer engineering to be much more exciting. This was a field in which a number of developments were taking place, so I naturally kind of gravitated towards it. And then I went into a research lab after my PhD and now I've become an academic. It has been a logical continuation of developments occurring in this field that attracted me to computer science.

Interviewer:
Sir, what do you feel about the new students that come in? As the Vice Dean of the School of Computing, do you feel that students with a background in Math are more successful in computer science?

Professor Mohan Kankanhalli:
Yes I think if you talk about hardcore computer science, I think a good background in mathematics is absolutely essential, there's no doubt about it. However, I think computer science is expanding and in fact, it has branched out into a number of disciplines. For example, information systems is the interaction of computer science with business, computational biology is the interaction of computer science with the biological sciences. In these subjects, just math is not sufficient - some math is required but a more interdisciplinary background is perhaps useful.

Interviewer:
In your opinion, what can be done to encourage more women to take up computing?

Professor Mohan Kankanhalli:
I think doing anything for university admissions is too late. Whatever has to be done should be done in school, maybe in primary school. And I think this notion of certain disciplin.es being the exclusive preserve of males or that males have a certain inclination towards certain disciplines - that message should not be sent in schools. I think all students, all female students should be told that all opportunities are available to them. If you start spreading the message in schools, maybe that will percolate to homes - this has to be a long term effort, it cannot be a short term effort. I personally believe there is no difference between males and females in order to succeed in computer science. It's a question of what kind of message we are sending to impressionable young women - whether they are desired in this area or not.

Interviewer:
What kind of measures can be taken at the primary school level?

Professor Mohan Kankanhalli:
I think there is a notion, sometimes not explicit but implicit, that math is hard especially for women and all these kinds of studies that are state that men are better or other such special reasons have a negative/ detrimental effect if they are not properly portrayed to school teachers and also to parents.

Interviewer:
Research in the US has shown that male brains are more suited to the processing of technical information compared to women. Any opinions?

Professor Mohan Kankanhalli:
If you see the number of students coming in there is a difference, hence the perception. But if I see the best computer science students - male or female, there's no difference

Interviewer:
Thank you so much sir.