Ericsson CTO and Purdue collaborator Mallik Tatipamula elected to Royal Society

In a landmark achievement, Mallikarjun (Mallik) Tatipamula, chief technology officer at Ericsson Silicon Valley and long-standing Purdue University collaborator, has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS), the world’s oldest and most prestigious scientific academy, founded in 1660. With just over 90 individuals elected globally this year, the FRS is considered among the highest honors in science. Previous honorees include Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein.

Tatipamula’s election is also a proud moment for the Purdue community, due to his long and deeply impactful association with the university. He has delivered guest lectures in courses such as IP Generation and Management — An Inventor’s View and Ideas to Innovation, enriching students’ understanding by bridging classroom theory with real-world innovation.

“Mallik’s engagement with Purdue goes beyond lectures or projects — its mentorship, partnership and shared purpose,” said Milind Kulkarni, the Michael and Katherine Birck Head of the Elmore Family School Electrical and Computer Engineering. “He brings the world to our students and connects our students with the world.”

Over his 35-year career, Tatipamula has driven four generational shifts in telecommunications: introducing internet protocol (IP) networking into mobile systems to enable the mobile internet; scaling the global backbone through internet protocol over dense wavelength-division multiplexing (IPoDWDM) systems; pioneering software-defined 5G architectures for Industry 4.0; and spearheading global frameworks for AI-native, sustainable 6G networks. His vision has shaped how billions connect, learn and thrive in the digital era.

Throughout his tenure as CTO of Ericsson, Tatipamula has overseen its strategic engagement with Purdue on major national initiatives including the National Science Foundation Future of Semiconductors initiative, the NSF/Department of Defense 5G Security Convergence Accelerator, the Ericsson-Saab-Purdue 5G test bed for digital aviation and 6G taxonomy development with the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy — all advancing Purdue’s leadership in next-generation communications and global tech policy.

“His contributions to our academic community have been significant, productive and multifaceted,” said Santokh Badesha, Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Tatipamula’s election also marks a historic milestone: He is the first Indian to be elected to all three of the U.K.’s premier academies — Royal Society, Royal Academy of Engineering and The Royal Society of Edinburgh. This rare trifecta reflects both his technical excellence and his global leadership in shaping collaborative research ecosystems.

“Being elected a Fellow of the Royal Society is deeply humbling. It’s not just about recognition — it’s a reminder of what becomes possible when passion meets purpose,” Tatipamula said. “We’re living in a time when AI, cloud and communications are converging to solve real-world problems. We must keep working together, across disciplines and across borders, to unlock their full potential.”

For Purdue students, researchers and faculty, Tatipamula’s journey — from a small town in India to the pinnacle of global science — stands as a powerful example of what’s possible when innovation, education and collaboration unite.