Kranthi Kadaru won second place in the 2016 Gillespie Business Plan Competition. He also attended HackMIT 2017, a Hackathon at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Photo by Thomas Graning/Ole Miss Communications
Although the University of Mississippi was the only school he applied to, Kranthi Kadaru arrived on campus as a freshman with some doubts.
Hailing from India, he chose to enroll based on the academic excellence scholarship opportunities he was offered as well as photos of the campus that he saw online. He also had a passion for engineering that started in the eighth grade and led him to choose electrical engineering as a major.
“When I came here, I did not know anyone, could not speak English well, and the worst of all was the fear and self-doubt.” Kadaru said.
Nevertheless, he found his niche in a variety of campus activities and proved himself as a student leader in many of them. He found success in the classroom as well.
Kadaru recently participated in undergraduate research and completed his senior thesis as part of the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College. He worked on a team with Tai Do and Rodrick Rogers, both fellow electrical engineering students. The title of his project was “Home Network Protector – IOT Security Device,” and the aim was to develop a plug-and-play network security device with routing capabilities and security features to protect home networks from possible penetration techniques. It was directed by Matthew Morrison, assistant professor of electrical engineering.
Kadaru has also been named to Eta Kappa Nu electrical engineering society, Tau Beta Pi engineering society as well as Phi Kappa Phi, Omicron Delta Kappa and Golden Key. He was also recognized with Who’s Who honors last month.
Outside his academic pursuits, Kadaru founded the Ole Miss Robotics Club in 2017. He reflected on this experience as being his biggest success as a student.
“I was not sure if I would get any support for the organization, but I knew that I was passionate about robotics and may not have been the only one in the School of Engineering,” he said. “After receiving funding from the School of Engineering, we now have many dedicated members who are consistently working towards our goals and purpose of providing an engaging environment for students to learn about robotics.”
In addition to his work with the Robotics Club, Kadaru has served as an Associated Student Body senator, a member of the Engineering Student Body Leadership Council and a community assistant for Student Housing, and participated in the Gillespie Business Plan Competition where he earned second-place honors. He also served as president of the Entrepreneurship Club and worked as a Pre-College Programs counselor for the Division of Outreach.
Kadaru said he learned a lot from the activities he was involved in during his four years on campus and he is grateful for the opportunities that were provided to him at the university.
“Ole Miss pushed me to give back to the community and helped me get out of my comfort zone,” he said. “Every leadership role I served in helped me grow as a person. Overall, it was challenging but rewarding.”
He said he is also grateful for the experiences he had as part of the School of Engineering and credits faculty such as Morrison for their assistance and advice, which helped him achieve his academic goals.
“Our small, but growing, engineering program helped me form better relationships with faculty and staff,” he said.
Kadaru is slated to graduate summa cum laude this month. He has accepted a position as an R&D controls engineer at Hytrol Conveyor Co. Inc. in Jonesboro, Arkansas.