Bengaluru, Aug 11 (IANS): Microsoft on Thursday announced the appointment of Sriram Rajamani as the new Managing Director of its India Research Lab, effective from August 1.

Rajamani will spearhead Microsoft India's continued focus on world-class research, innovation and collaboration with the scientific community, the company said in a statement.

“I look forward to leading and expanding Microsoft's commitment to world-class research and innovation in India and deepening our partnerships with our academic partners,” Rajamani said.

He replaces Chandu Thekkath, who previously worked as Managing Director of the lab for two years.

“Rajamani is a renowned computer scientist with a proven research and managerial track record spanning the last 17 years in Microsoft's research organisation,” added Jeannette Wing, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Research Labs.

A distinguished researcher, Rajamani has expertise in programming language design, security and privacy, cloud security and probabilistic programming.

Prior to joining the India lab, he headed the software productivity tools group within Microsoft's Redmond research lab.