Ananth Grama named to lead Purdue’s Institute for Physical AI 

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. –  Karen Plaut, Purdue’s executive vice president for research, has announced the appointment of Ananth Grama, the Samuel D. Conte Distinguished Professor of Computer Science, as director of the Purdue Institute for Physical AI (IPAI). Grama’s appointment became effective March 10.

A Purdue faculty member since 1996, Grama is widely recognized as an innovator in parallel and distributed computing, large-scale data analytics and artificial intelligence.

“Dr. Grama has distinguished himself for his seminal contributions to computational science and engineering, while also making an indelible mark as an educator,” Plaut said. “He brings strong technical expertise and vision and has contributed to multidisciplinary teams that will be important to IPAI’s work.” 

Under IPAI, Purdue is making an unprecedented push into “bytes-meet-atoms” research. Researchers bring interdisciplinary thinking and problem-solving to issues at the intersection of AI and fields such as advanced manufacturing, semiconductor processing, materials science, agriculture, digital forestry, drug development and smart infrastructure. Since its launch, IPAI researchers have made important strides toward fostering research at the intersection between the virtual and the physical. As part of a $50 million grant from the Lilly Endowment for Purdue Computes, IPAI efforts are bolstered with the launches of the new Gautschi supercomputer and the IPAI Postdoctoral Research Program, which is bringing faculty together from AI and other fields to develop the next generation of leaders in this emerging field.

IPAI’s work to bridge the gap between virtual and physical AI applications is part of Purdue Computes, the university’s strategic initiative focused on advancing research in computing, physical AI, semiconductors and quantum technologies.

“I am tremendously excited about this opportunity to leverage Purdue’s premier programs in diverse disciplines, including artificial intelligence, to build a world-leading institute in physical AI that solves the biggest challenges facing mankind and makes profound and lasting impact on society,” Grama said.

A fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Grama has focused his work on models, methods and software for diverse computing systems, ranging from embedded processors to large-scale supercomputing platforms. His work in these areas laid the foundation of scalability, parallel algorithm design and systems infrastructure for load balancing and resource management. He has applied these tools to diverse applications including materials modeling, systems biology and transcriptomics, structural modeling and design, and secure advanced manufacturing. His recent work has focused on novel optimization techniques for training AI models, foundations of online learning, and limits of generative models and mitigating hallucinations. 

He has published more than 200 research papers and co-authored a textbook, “Introduction to Parallel Computing: Design and Analysis of Algorithms.”

Grama succeeds Eugenio Culurciello, professor of biomedical engineering, who has served as interim director of IPAI since 2023. Plaut added, “We thank Eugenio for his leadership and exhaustive efforts to establish IPAI as an institute that will strengthen Purdue’s reputation for groundbreaking research between the bytes of AI and the atoms of growing, making and moving things.” 

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Writer/Media contact: Peter Shelby, pwshelby@purdue.edu