Late Dr. Khushu-Lahiri, an illustrious alumna of IIT Kanpur, obtained her PhD in English under the supervision of Professor R. K. Gupta. Her brilliant academic career is marked by a number of awards and recognitions including the Fulbright Doctoral Fellowship at the University of Minnesota, USA, UGC Postdoctoral Fellowship, Associateship at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla and the British Council Grant at Oxford University. Dr Khushu-Lahiri started her teaching career in St. Xavier's College, Ahmedabad. In 2006, she joined the department of Humanities and Social Sciences at IIT Roorkee, and later in 2011, she moved to IIT Ropar where she headed the department of Humanities and Social Sciences.
Mr. Somdeb instituted Dr. Rajyashree Khushu Lahiri Memorial Lecture Series that is conducted by the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences.