INI Alum Harshvardhan Chunawala Earns Prestigious Amazon Web Service Golden Jacket

The Amazon Web Services (AWS) Golden Jacket is one of the most selective recognitions in the global cloud computing ecosystem, awarded to people who have completed all active AWS certifications while demonstrating sustained technical depth, industry leadership and real-world impact. Harshvardhan Chunawala, engineering technologist, cybersecurity researcher and alum of the Information Networking Institute (INI), joined this prestigious group of roughly 100 at the first-ever public award ceremony during the AWS Summit 2025 in Washington, D.C.  

“This recognition stands for more than certifications,” said H. Chunawala. “It reflects decades of building secure cloud systems, architecting infrastructure for regulated industries and investing in others through academia and mentorship. It’s a reminder that meaningful impact in technology comes from sustained technical precision, responsibility and real-world relevance.” 

Harshvardhan Chunawala (right) at AWS Golden Jacket Ceremony

H. Chunawala’s technical journey began in his middle school in India, where he coded webpages and launched phishing awareness campaigns that gave him an early, real-world understanding of cybersecurity risks and trust in digital systems. His passion for cybersecurity and cloud computing grew during his undergraduate studies and at the INI as a student of the M.S. in Information Technology – Information Security (MSIT-IS) program on the Cyber Forensics and Incident Reporting (CyFIR) Track.  

For his Practicum project, his specialization in cloud infrastructure security allowed him to lead the research for the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory's Transactive Energy Service System (TESS) project. As part of a U.S. Department of Energy initiative, TESS was built on AWS, involving near real-time telemetry, mission-critical infrastructure and secure system design to support large-scale energy resilience. H. Chunawala’s contributions included developing the foundations of the project on the cloud, ensuring the protection of critical energy data and transactions. TESS is now deployed in Maine, New Hampshire and Colorado with expansion planned nationwide.  

His research passion continued as a Principal Investigator for the Mites sensor study, working with CyLab Director and privacy pioneer Director and Bosch Distinguished Professor in Security and Privacy Technologies Lorrie Cranor and Computer Science Department Assistant Professor Yuvraj Agarwal. He led a research group examining interpretations of sensor notices in shared spaces and supported students researching breach notification terminology, contributing to work presented at the USENIX Symposium 2022. 

In collaboration with INI Director Dr. Dena Haritos Tsamitis and Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) Robotics Institute faculty, H. Chunawala launched cybersecurity-focused space Practicum projects to train students for real-world space missions and cloud computing. He became the first INI student to serve as a Mission Operator during Carnegie Mellon’s Iris Lunar Rover mission in 2024, commanding the rover from Earth. That legacy lives on through the centralized space operations center, Carnegie Mellon Mission Control (CMMC), which H. Chunawala helped establish to support CMU-led missions, including the upcoming MoonRanger Lunar Rover mission. These initiatives are part of his broader collaboration with CMU to advance cyber-resilient space communications and apply cloud computing to missions aligned with national space objectives.

When the moment arrived to accept his Golden Jacket, H. Chunawala accepted the award wearing a MoonRanger T-shirt, representing CMU’s ongoing leadership in lunar exploration and his combined research interests of cloud computing security and space engineering. 

H. Chunawala remains an engaged presence at the INI and CMU. “It was at the INI that I learned to blend precision with responsibility, and technical architecture with long-term consequence,” he shared. “That environment pushed me to take new initiatives, to build systems that endure and to lead with integrity and impact.” 

Harshvardhan Chunawala (middle) at Fireside Chat with AWS Leadership at AWS NYC Summit 2025

Currently at AWS, H. Chunawala works with large enterprises, startup founders and C-suite leaders across industries powering key functions infrastructure — including financial services, healthcare, clean technology, aerospace, manufacturing and cybersecurity. He helps shape platforms that operate in high-consequence environments. As an active educator, he is a Visiting Professor at his undergraduate alma mater, teaching cybersecurity and cloud computing and supports early exposure to technical education in the United States, India and Africa. Additionally, he is the only Golden Jacket recipient who is an AWS Academy Authorized Instructor, helping grow cloud talent globally. At the AWS NYC Summit 2025, H. Chunawala was a featured speaker and shared his journey to the Golden Jacket during a fireside chat with AWS leadership. 

For current INI students, H. Chunawala offered this advice: “Stay connected to your mentors, your peers and your reasons for doing impactful work. The INI is a community that teaches you how to contribute meaningfully to the betterment of society. It’s where meaningful ideas take root, and those seeking to make an impact find the tools and support to do so. The work continues, as the heart beats.”