Sethuraman Panchanathan
Sethuraman Panchanathan | |
|---|---|
Panchanathan in 2020 | |
| Director of the National Science Foundation | |
| In office June 23, 2020 – April 24, 2025 | |
| President | Donald Trump Joe Biden Donald Trump |
| Preceded by | Kelvin Droegemeier (acting) |
| Succeeded by | Brian Stone (acting) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1960 or 1961 (age 63–64) Chennai, India |
| Spouse | Soumya Panchanathan |
| Education | University of Madras (BS) Indian Institute of Science (BEng) Indian Institute of Technology (MTech) University of Ottawa (PhD) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Electrical engineering Computer engineering Informatics |
| Institutions | University of Ottawa Arizona State University |
| Thesis | Algorithms and Architectures for Image Coding Using Vector Quantization (1989) |
| Doctoral advisor | Morris Goldberg |
Sethuraman Panchanathan (born 1960/1961) is an Indian–American computer scientist and academic administrator, and served as the 15th Director of the U.S. National Science Foundation from 2020 to 2025. He resigned from the position on April 24, 2025.
He previously served at Arizona State University as executive vice president of knowledge enterprise development and chief research and innovation officer. He was also founding director of the Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing (CUbiC), Foundation Chair of Computing and Informatics at the university, and a professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence (SCAI), part of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering.
In January 2025, Sethuraman Panchanathan was announced as a recipient of the Padma Shri, the Government of India's fourth-highest civilian award. The award was conferred by President Droupadi Murmu at the May 2025 Civil Investiture Ceremony-II.