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Prof. Mriganka Sur

(BT/EE/1974)

Prof.Mriganka Sur is an Indian neuroscientist and the Newton Professor of Neuroscience and Director of the Simons Center for the Social Brain at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is also a Visiting Faculty Member in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras and N.R. Narayana Murthy Distinguished Chair in Computational Brain Research at the Centre for Computational Brain Research, IIT Madras.

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Prof.Mriganka Sur did his B.Tech in Electrical Engineering from the IIT Kanpur in 1974, and earned his Master of Science and PhD degrees in electrical engineering from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, USA, in 1975 and 1978 respectively. After postdoctoral research at Stony Brook University, he was appointed as the faculty of Yale University School of Medicine in 1983 and later joined the faculty of the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1986. He was named in 1993 the Sherman Fairchild Professor of Neuroscience and in 1997 head of the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences. He is currently the Newton Professor of Neuroscience and Director at Simons Center for the Social Brain at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Prof. Sur is a pioneer in the study of brain plasticity and its mechanisms. Using experimental and theoretical approaches, his laboratory studies developmental plasticity and the dynamic changes in mature cortical networks during information processing, learning and memory. The Sur laboratory also studies genes involved in constructing the cerebral cortex, and the ways in which gene networks are influenced by brain activity.
Prof. Mriganka Sur was conferred with the Distinguished Alumnus Award, 2002 from IIT Kanpur.


Achievements and Honors


  • Narayana Murthy Distinguished Chair, IIT Madras, 2015
  • National Institutes of Health, Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies Initiative award, 2014
  • Brain and Cognitive Sciences Award, Excellence in Undergraduate Advising, MIT, 2013
  • Distinguished Alumnus Award, Psychological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, 2012
  • Member, Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, USA, 2011 DBT Distinguished Biotechnology Chair, National Brain Research Center, India, 2011
  • Top 50 Alumni, IIT Kanpur, 2010
  • Foundation Day Lecture and Medal, National Brain Research Center, India, 2008
  • Newton Chair of Neuroscience, MIT, 2008
  • Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2008
  • Fellow, International Neuropsychological Symposium, 2008
  • Fellow, Third World Academy of Sciences/Academy of Sciences of the Developing World, 2007
  • Fellow, Royal Society, UK, 2006
  • Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2003
  • Member, Rodin Remediation Academy, Stockholm, 2002
  • Fellow, Neurosciences Research Program, La Jolla, 2002
  • Distinguished Alumnus Award, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, 2002
  • Member, National Academy of Sciences, India, 2001
  • Sigma Xi, 2001
  • School of Science Prize for Excellence in Graduate Teaching and Advising, MIT, 2000
  • Sherman Fairchild Chair of Neuroscience, MIT, 1998
  • Hans-Lukas Teuber Scholar in the Brain Sciences, MIT, 1997
  • TOKTEN Award, United Nations Development Program, 1991
  • Graduate Student Council Teaching Award, MIT, 1989
  • McKnight Neuroscience Development Award, 1988
  • Distinguished Neuroscientist Award, ASIOA, 1987
  • Whitaker Health Sciences Fund Faculty Award, 1986
  • Charles Judson Herrick Award, American Association of Anatomists, 1983
  • A.P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship, 1985
  • Meghnad Saha Award, Institute of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers, India, 1976
  • First Division with Distinction, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, 1974

Last updated Feb 22, 2021