She had been accepted as a student at Harvard University and University of California, Berkely but her family did not permit her to travel abroad for her education, because it was taboo for young, unmarried girls to travel abroad. HK Anasuya Devi did her PhD work at the IISc in an interdisciplinary fashion and later even developed a system for soil taxonomy before ISRO sent its remote sensing satellite into space.
During her time as a student at IISc, she was very involved in student life: she set up a Samskruta Sangha, was instrumental in getting a new hostel built for women students, and in the setting up of swimming lessons for women students. She also helped re-instate students to their scholarships and was an active member of the student council.
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