Indranil Gupta serves as a Professor of Computer Science at UIUC, with additional appointments across the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science, the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, the Information Trust Institute, and the Coordinated Science Laboratory. These roles reflect both the interdisciplinary relevance and the far-reaching influence of his work.
He leads the Distributed Protocols Research Group (DPRG), a highly respected research group focused on advancing Indranil Gupta distributed systems innovations across data centers, cloud platforms, Internet-of-Things ecosystems, and distributed machine learning infrastructures.
What distinguishes his leadership is not just technical brilliance, but clarity of purpose: building systems that are reliable, predictable, scalable, and human-centered.
Indranil Gupta: A Quarter-Century of Impactful Research
Over the last 25 years, Indranil Gupta has contributed foundational ideas that address some of the hardest problems in distributed computing—fault tolerance, scalability, coordination, and performance at massive scale.
His research spans:
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Large-scale data centers and cloud computing systems
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Distributed storage, batch and stream processing
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Peer-to-peer systems and nature-inspired computing
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Distributed machine learning
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IoT-driven distributed architectures
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Verification and reliability of production systems
What makes his work exceptional is its real-world adoption. His ideas have influenced open-source systems and production platforms used by multi-billion-dollar companies, impacting millions of users globally—often without them ever realizing it.
IEEE Fellow: Recognition at the Highest Level
In recognition of these sustained contributions, Indranil Gupta was elevated to IEEE Fellow, effective January 1, 2025—one of the highest honors in engineering and computing.
This distinction is reserved for less than 0.1% of IEEE’s voting members each year, following a rigorous evaluation process. He was cited for his “contributions to reliable large-scale distributed systems”—a concise phrase that captures decades of transformative work.
The elevation places him among the most influential technologists shaping the future of computing.
Indranil Gupta: Transforming Global Education at Unprecedented Scale
Beyond research, Indranil Gupta has revolutionized how distributed systems are taught worldwide.
He teaches one of the largest distributed systems courses ever created, offered globally via Coursera under the title “Cloud Computing Concepts” (Parts 1 and 2). The numbers tell a remarkable story:
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Around 100,000 active learners annually
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Over 900,000 learners reached since 2015
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Students from 198 countries
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Used by startups, enterprises, and working professionals
This global reach makes Indranil Gupta distributed systems education one of the most influential learning pipelines in modern computer science.
At UIUC, he continues to mentor students through flagship courses such as:
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CS 425 – Distributed Systems
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CS 525 – Advanced Distributed Systems
His teaching excellence has earned him repeated recognition on UIUC’s “List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent.”
Creativity That Makes Learning Stick
Indranil Gupta understands something many educators overlook: learning is emotional as well as intellectual.
To engage students more deeply, he famously created a “Distributed Systems Rap Song” for his CS 425 class—an unconventional but powerful tool that turned complex concepts into memorable learning moments. The result was not novelty, but connection.
He has also produced viral YouTube content on distributed systems concepts, further expanding access to high-quality technical education.
Amplifying Voices Through the Immigrant Computer Scientists Podcast
Another defining dimension of his impact lies beyond classrooms and papers.
Indranil Gupta hosts the Immigrant Computer Scientists Podcast, a deeply human platform that documents the personal journeys of immigrant researchers who have shaped modern computing. Through long-form oral history interviews, the podcast explores perseverance, identity, and contribution.
The podcast has:
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Ranked in the top 20% of podcasts worldwide
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Preserved invaluable first-hand narratives
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Inspired young researchers across continents
This initiative reflects his commitment to broadening participation, visibility, and belonging in computing.
Funded Innovation for the Future
In September 2025, Indranil Gupta received a $1.1 million NSF grant, jointly with Deepak Vasisht, to pioneer new techniques for short-video delivery systems—a challenge central to modern internet infrastructure.
The project once again demonstrates how Indranil Gupta distributed systems research continues to evolve alongside real-world demands, addressing emerging challenges in scale, latency, and user experience.