Applicant’s Name : Mr.

Ronak Kumar Samantray

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[ 1 ]What particularly qualifies this applicant for study at MIT?

Mr. Ronak K.Samantray qualifies eminently for study at MIT because :

• He has a passion for research and innovation

• His understanding of the basics in his area of specialization, i.e. Computer
Science and Engineering is excellent
• His analytical ( both general and mathematical ) abilities and his clarity of
thought are exceptional as exemplified by his high programming skills
• His familiarity with the cutting-edge developments in his proposed area of
advanced study and research is of outstanding level
• He bears a truly and exceptionally pleasing personality, is ideally cut out for
leading and motivating team members

[ 2 ]What are the applicant's accomplishments in research or independent projects?

Research Projects (during his academic career at CET, Bhubaneswar)

• File Access Prediction Based on Neural Networks –The primary aim of this research was to find
more efficient dynamic file access predictors using neural networks. Experiments performed on
Distributed File System Traces obtained from Carnegie Mellon University showed that the our
predictor model gave higher accuracy than the normal static predictors like Last Successor, Stable
Successor and Best k-out-of-m etc. This work has been accepted for publication in the IEEE
Transactions on Neural Networks. Guide: Prof (Dr) P K Patra, CET Bhubaneswar

• New Distributed Working System for a Version Control System – The aim of this project was to
enable the developers to commit/check-in files from any client machine as compared to the current
system (like in VSTF and CVS etc.) where files need to be checked-in only from the same
machine at which it was checked-out. This project was carried out as a part of RedHat Internship
Program and it this concept has been published in the International Journal of Computer Science
and Application – Vol. 1, Issue 3,Guide : Mr. Subhransu Behera, RedHat Technologies

• Privacy Preserving Similarity Matching for Simple Polygons – As a part of this research an
algorithm was developed to match two maps ( a map can be considered as an arrangement of
simple polygon) securely so that no information is leaked except which that can be inferred from
the result. Guide: Dr. Srinathan Kannan, IIIT Hyderabad.

• Live Browser: A novel approach to Intelligent and Personalised Browsing – Conceptualised and
developed an intelligent web-browser which learns user’s time-based browsing interest behaviour.
Using these profile some new features were conceptualised Auto-Homepage (automatically
determines the website user would like to see when he opens the browser), Auto-Highlighting
(highlights the parts of a website which may be of some interest to the user at that given time),
Intelligent Search (personalises search results by re-ordering them at the client side based on
user’s interest) etc. This paper was accepted at the International
ConferenceofWebApplication2007.
 • Optimising the area coverage using randomised and colony behaviour of ants – As a part of this
research an algorithm was developed to maximise the area covered when a set of robotics ants are
left in any confined area to explore. The basic principle of the algorithm was the randomised
movement of a group of ants. This algorithm was implemented and submitted for the International
‘Mission Mars 2007’ Contest conducted by IIT Kharagpur where it received Rank 21.

Independent Projects (during his academic career at CET, Bhubaneswar)

• Online Examination System- Developed a generic and scalable Online Examination System. The
novelty in the system was that it could accommodate pictures and equations without the teachers
(who prepares the exam-questions) having to deal with any special UI. He could directly upload
an excel sheet containing the questions onto the system. This system is currently being used to
conduct the Internal Examinations at CET-Bhubaneswar.

• Smart Communication Tool – A cheap bulk messaging tool. The aim for this tool was to develop
a cheap hardware to send and manage bulk messages. This tool is currently being used by the
BPUT university to send meeting notifications to all the teachers/students across the state.

• Automated Attendance System (with a new approach to Voice Identification Method) – A new
software for Automated Attendance tracking that can be used in various schools and colleges. This
system was different from others because it had a facility to track the attendance using Voice
Identification Method. Experiments on the Voice Identification Algorithm showed 76.7%
efficiency when tested with 760 voice samples.

• e-Word – A text editor developed completely in TCC but it had features similar to MS-Word. This
application had various UI-Innovations in terms text formatting. This application was developed in
2004 but later in 2007 similar text formatting was found in MSWord 2007!

In addition to the above, I am aware that he has pursued several excellent research
projects during his professional career of about one year at Microsoft India. Some
of them known to me are listed below :

• Online User Re-visitation Pattern

• Time-Aware Test Suite Prioritization using Test Case Interaction Coverage and
Genetic Algorithm

• Tracking Code Coverage in a Distributed Testing Environment

• Incremental Code Coverage for Quality Control

(This model has been adopted by many projects within Microsoft and the concept
was published in MSIT ThinkWeek 2009)
[3]How does the applicant compare to other students you know who have attended
MIT?

I do not know any student who has joined MIT at the Graduate level in recent times.
However, I know of a few students who went to MIT as Undergraduates ( e.g. Mr.
Abhinav Kumar ). Mr. Ronak Samantray does possess potential of similar level and
would compare very well with them.

[4]Can the student clearly communicate ideas in written and spoken English?

Mr. Ronak Samantray possesses exceptional level competence and capability in both
written and spoken English, and combined with his clarity of thought and logic,
communicating ideas for him is spontaneous.

[5]Do you have any reservations about the applicant's ability to succeed at MIT?

I have every hope that Mr. Ronak Samantray would be able to acquit himself very well at
MIT and have no reservation about his success there.

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