PiCET 2026 Valedictory: 12 Track Winners, Four Research Categories, and the Parul University B.Tech Programmes That Train for Each

Track 1 covered research at the intersection of secure communications, cybersecurity methods, and intelligent computing systems. The track aligns with the curriculum of the B.Tech in Cyber Security at Parul University and the M.Tech in Computer Science Engineering with specialisation modules in information security, network security, and applied cryptography. Research in this track aligns directly with the themes of Prof. Ashutosh Dhar Dwivedi‘s keynote on digital security and post-quantum cryptography.

• Track 1 First Prize (₹15,000): Mohammad Atif and team, Paper ID 535.
• Track 1 Second Prize (₹10,000): Akash Patil and team, Paper ID 348.
• Track 1 Third Prize (₹5,000): Vivel Patel and team, Paper ID 439.

Track 2 covered research in data analytics, machine learning architectures, and applied intelligent systems. The research, learnings, and practices are based on the curriculum of the B.Tech in CSE, B.Tech in IT and postgraduate M.Tech in CSE. Research in this track aligns with the themes of Prof. Deepak Garg‘s keynote on AI and Mr. Aravind Voruganti’s keynote on institutional intelligence platforms.

• Track 2 First Prize (₹15,000): Prabodh Sahu and team, Paper ID 310.
• Track 2 Second Prize (₹10,000): Reshma Pais, Paper ID 715.
• Track 2 Third Prize (₹5,000): Dhawan Jorat Vyas, Paper ID 871.

In this track, sustainability engineering is the focus of the research across various disciplines. The track follows the interdisciplinary curriculum across the engineering faculty and includes the sustainability theme that Dr. K. N. Madhusudan and Dr. Geetika Madan Patel raised during the PiCET 2026 inauguration. The research has sustainability as the main focus area at Parul University, with an emphasis on green building, environmental science (supported by the NABL-accredited Environmental Lab), and the climate-responsive engineering work that the university’s COE (center of excellence) research supports.

• Track 3 First Prize (₹15,000): Dikshita Saxena and team, Paper ID 814.
• Track 3 Second Prize (₹10,000): Harish Daga and team, Paper ID 36.
• Track 3 Third Prize (₹5,000): Dainik Kumar Savaliya and team, Paper ID 750.

Track 4 covered AI architectures, supervised and unsupervised learning, and applied AI across multiple domains. The track aligns with the curriculum of the B.Tech in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning and the M.Tech and Ph.D. programmes for students pursuing advanced AI research. Research in this track aligns directly with the themes of Prof. Deepak Garg’s keynote on AI and the full body of PiCET 2026 technical paper presentations documented in the technical paper article.

• Track 4 First Prize (₹15,000): Nitin Pal and team, Paper ID 861.
• Track 4 Second Prize (₹10,000): Kunjal Gandhi and team, Paper ID 510.
• Track 4 Third Prize (₹5,000): Mohil Makwana, Paper ID 684.

In addition to the twelve track winners, consolation prizes were awarded to recognise commendable research efforts and presentation quality across the conference. Krishna Rahul G, Vandyat Pancharia, and Kalpesh Jadhav were among the consolation award recipients.

Each of the four PiCET 2026 research tracks corresponds to specific programmes at the Parul Institute of Engineering and Technology, Parul University. The following are the programs that prepare students for the research that track represents.

The B.Tech in Computer Science Engineering is the foundational programme that feeds students into Tracks 1, 2, and 4 across the PiCET research portfolio. The curriculum covers data structures, algorithms, operating systems, computer networks, database management systems, software engineering, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and applied programming. Students from the B.Tech CSE programme contributed across multiple papers at PiCET 2026 including image captioning research, recommender systems, and the no-code ML framework.

The B.Tech in AI and Machine Learning is the specialised programme for students focused on Track 4 research. The curriculum includes deep learning, neural network architectures, computer vision, natural language processing, reinforcement learning, MLOps, generative AI, and the ethical frameworks around AI deployment. The programme prepares students for the kind of healthcare AI, agriculture AI, education AI, and computer vision research presented across the PiCET 2026 paper sessions.

The B.Tech in Cyber Security is the specialised programme that feeds students into Track 1 research. The curriculum covers network security, application security, threat intelligence, cryptography, security operations, governance, and compliance frameworks. The programme aligns directly with the themes Prof. Ashutosh Dhar Dwivedi raised at his PiCET 2026 keynote including symmetric and asymmetric encryption, the quantum threat to RSA, post-quantum cryptography, and password-less authentication using FIDO2 hardware keys.

The B.Tech in Information Technology feeds students into Track 2 research and into applied software engineering across multiple domains. The curriculum covers software development across modern stacks, mobile application development, cloud computing, database systems, web technologies, and applied machine learning integration. The undergraduate student presenter at PiCET 2026 day-two morning, Mr. Mohmad Ali Unawala, came from the Parul Institute of Information Technology and presented graph neural network research for outfit recommendation.

The B.Tech in Electronics and Communication Engineering feeds students into Track 3 research at the intersection of electronics and applied engineering. The curriculum covers signal processing, communication systems, digital and analog electronics, microprocessors, and sensor technology. Students from this programme study the photonics, optical communication, and fibre laser foundations Prof. Sulaiman Wadi Harun built his career on, as well as the signal processing methods underlying DC microgrid fault detection presented at the PiCET technical sessions.

The M.Tech in Computer Science Engineering is the postgraduate programme that allows specialisation into the senior practice roles across all four PiCET tracks. The curriculum includes advanced AI architectures, parallel and distributed computing, advanced cryptography, advanced software engineering, and the research methodology that anchors thesis-level work. M.Tech CSE candidates contributed papers across the PiCET 2026 sessions.

The Ph.D. in Engineering and Technology anchors doctoral-level research at Parul University. Ph.D. candidates contributed substantively to PiCET 2026 including the image captioning research by Mr. Harshil Narendrabhai Chauhan, the satellite video moving object detection by Ms. Jimbiwa Kajimalwendo, the streamflow forecasting work on the Narmada River, and the Gujarati question answering survey by Mr. Baldha Niravkumar Amrutlal.

Conference research is not separable from the academic programme structure that produces the researchers. The twelve PiCET 2026 award winners and the broader cohort of 406 paper authors all emerged from undergraduate, postgraduate, or doctoral programmes that specifically train students for the research domains they presented in. For prospective students choosing where to pursue engineering studies in India, the PiCET-to-programme mapping demonstrates the structural pipeline from undergraduate curriculum through doctoral research that Parul University operates.

Parul University holds NAAC A++ accreditation at a 3.55 CGPA and is a Category 1 University with Grant of Graded Autonomy. The new Lakshya 2047 Centre for Future Skills, inaugurated on 8 May 2026 (just six days after PiCET 2026 closed), is Gujarat’s first NSDC Centre for Future Skills established in partnership with the National Skill Development Corporation and Ethnotech Academy. The fifteen-laboratory infrastructure at Lakshya 2047 provides the NSDC Lab Ecosystem (NVIDIA, Cisco, ABB, ANSYS, Adobe, AWS, Apple, AR/VR, VLSI, Autodesk), the AICTE AVPL/IDEA Lab Zone, and the research-laboratory cluster (Mind Lab, Centre of Excellence in Sensor Technology, Special Integrated Facilities Idea Lab) that students entering Parul’s engineering programmes can access from their first semester.

For students pursuing entrepreneurial paths from their PiCET-aligned research, PIERC provides the institutional infrastructure for incubation, funding, and commercialisation. PIERC has incubated 254 start-ups, extended over ₹20 crore in funding, and supported over ₹40 crore in revenue generation across the portfolio. Several PiCET-presented research works in healthcare AI, agriculture AI, and computer vision have direct pathways into PIERC-supported entrepreneurial ventures.

Also Read: 22 Research Papers Across Three Sessions at PiCET