Khot holds a bachelor's degree from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay in 1999, and received his doctorate in computer science from Princeton University in 2003 under the supervision of Sanjeev Arora.He has made several contributions to computational complexity and his work draws connections between optimization, computer science, mathematics.In 2010 Khot received the Alan T. Waterman Award, which recognizes an early career scientist for outstanding contributions in their field. In addition to a medal, Waterman awardees also receive a $500,000 grant for advanced research. Subhash Khot is a two time International Mathematics Olympiad silver medalist and stood first in the IIT-JEE 1995, the Joint Entrance Examination for admission to the IITs.