Sethuraman Panchanathan

This article relies excessively on references to primary sources. Please improve this article by adding secondary or tertiary sources. Find sources: "Sethuraman Panchanathan" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (November 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Sethuraman Panchanathan
Panchanathan in 2020
15th 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)^[1] 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.^[2]

He previously served at Arizona State University as executive vice president of knowledge enterprise development and the chief research and innovation officer. He was the founding director of the Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing (CUbiC), Foundation Chair of Computing and Informatics at ASU, and a professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence (SCAI), part of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering.^[3]

In January 2025, Panchanathan was announced as a recipient of the Padma Shri, the Government of India's fourth-highest civilian award.^[4][5] The award was conferred by President Droupadi Murmu at the May 2025 Civil Investiture Ceremony-II.^[6]

Panchanathan was born in Chennai, India.^[7] He attended Vivekananda College (University of Madras), graduating in 1981 with a B.Sc. in physics.^[8] In 1984, he earned a B.E. in Electronics and Communication Engineering from the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, India.^[9]

In 1986, he completed his M.Tech. in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. He later enrolled in the doctoral program at the University of Ottawa and received his Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering in 1989^[10] while working under the direction of Morris Goldberg.^[11]

In 1989, Panchanathan joined the University of Ottawa as assistant professor and in 1994 was promoted to associate professor.^[12]

In 1997, Panchanathan joined ASU in Tempe, Arizona as a tenured associate professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering^[13]. In 2001, he was promoted to full professor and founded the Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing (CUbiC)^[14] and became an IEEE fellow for his contributions to compressed domain processing and indexing in visual computing and communications.^[15] He also founded and led the School of Computing and Informatics (2006-2009) and the Department of Biomedical Informatics (2005-2007).^[14]

Panchanathan was appointed ASU's chief research officer in 2009,^[16] and in 2011, was promoted to senior vice president of ASU's Office of Knowledge Enterprise Development.^[17]

In 2016, Panchanathan became executive vice president of ASU Knowledge Enterprise Development and chief research and innovation officer. He served in this role until his nomination as Director of the National Science Foundation in 2020.^[18]

On June 13, 2014, President Barack Obama nominated Panchanathan to the National Science Board of the National Science Foundation (NSF).^[19]

On December 19, 2019, President Donald Trump nominated Panchanathan as Director of the National Science Foundation; the U.S. Senate confirmed the appointment on June 18, 2020 and he assumed office on June 23, 2020.^[20][7]

In 2022, Panchanathan announced the formation of the Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP), the first new directorate formed by the NSF in more than 30 years.^[21] Other notable achievements during his tenure include a new GRANTED program to broaden participation in research and education,^[22] the establishment of a network of 27 National Artificial Intelligence Research Institutes,^[23][24] the creation of the Global Centers Program to support "large-scale use-inspired research in collaboration with international partners to address global challenges that cannot be solved by any single country,"^[25] and the launch of the Regional Innovation Engines^[26] program to expand the geography of place-based innovation

He resigned as director on April 24, 2025, stating, "I believe I have done all I can to advance the critical mission of the agency and feel that it is time for me to pass the baton to new leadership."^[27][28]

In February 2021, Dr. Cynthia Sagers, a professor and former Vice President for Research at ASU's Knowledge Enterprise, filed a lawsuit against ASU and Panchanathan, alleging that Panchanathan demoted Sagers after she raised concerns about his behavior. ASU conducted an internal investigation into the allegations and concluded that the claims were unsubstantiated; the university proceeded with the demotion, effective December 1, 2020.^[29] The lawsuit was later terminated by the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona by a granted motion for summary judgement.^[30]

On February 4, 2025, 168 NSF workers, representing approximately 10% of the workforce, were fired as part of mass layoffs in the U.S. federal workforce. Panchanathan's absence from the firing meetings was criticized by other NSF employees.^[31][32][33]

Panchanathan's research interests include Human-centered Multimedia Computing (HCMC),^[34] assistive and rehabilitative technologies,^[35] haptic user interfaces, face/gait analysis and recognition, medical image processing, media processor designs and ubiquitous computing environments for enhancing quality of life for individuals with disabilities.^[36] He has mentored over 100 students and scholars, including graduate students, post-docs, research engineers and research scientists.^[37] He spoke on the importance of fostering a culture of innovation to solve grand challenges that society faces today in a 2017 TEDxASU presentation.^[38]

Panchanathan is married to Sarada "Soumya" Panchanathan.^[39] They have two children and three grandchildren.^[3]

• Padma Shri Award: Government of India, 2025.^[40]
• Distinguished Career Award in Computer Science and Policy, Washington Academy of Sciences, 2022.^[41]
• IEEE-USA Award for Distinguished Public Service, Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE)-USA, 2021.^[42]
• Distinguished Alumnus Award, Indian Institute of Science, 2020.^[43]
• Distinguished Alumnus Award, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, 2017.^[44]
• Alumnus of the Year for Professional Excellence Award, University of Ottawa, 2017.^[45]
• COO of the Year: Recognized by Phoenix Business Journal, 2017.^[46]
• 20 People to Know in Arizona Education: Listed by Phoenix Business Journal, 2017.^[47]
• Microsoft Imagine Cup: World Finals in Touch and Tablet category for CUbiC iCARE Note-Taker Project, Warsaw, Poland, 2010.^[48]
• Governor's Innovator of the Year for Academia Award: Governor's Celebration of Innovation Awards for iCARE (Information Technology Centric Assistive and Rehabilitative Environments) for Individuals who are Blind and Visually Impaired, Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing, 2004.^[49]

• Elected member, National Academy of Engineering, 2024.^[50]
• Advisor for Science and Technology to the Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, 2018.^[51]
• Vice President of Strategic Initiatives and Membership: National Academy of Inventors' Board of Directors, 2018.^[52]
• Oak Ridge Associated Universities' Board of Directors, 2018.^[53]
• Forbes Technology Council, 2017–2018.
• National Academy of Inventors' Board of Directors, 2017–2018.^[54]

• Fellow, National Academy of Inventors (NAI).
• Fellow, Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE).
• Member, Virginia Academy of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (VASEM).
• Fellow, Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).
• Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
• Fellow, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
• Fellow, Society for Photo–Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE).

• H. Venkateswara and S. Panchanathan, Domain Adaptation in Computer Vision with Deep Learning, Springer International Publishing, 2020.
• T. McDaniel and S. Panchanathan, Haptic Interfaces for Accessibility, Health, and Enhanced Quality of Life, Springer International Publishing, 2019.
• Panchanathan, S.; Chakraborty, S.; McDaniel, T.; Tadayon, R.; Fakhri, B.; O'Connor, N.; Marsden, M.; Little, S.; McGuinness, K.; Monaghan, D. (2017). "Enriching the Fan Experience in a Smart Stadium Using Internet of Things Technologies". International Journal of Semantic Computing. 11 (2): 137–170. doi:10.1142/S1793351X17400062. S2CID 34151501.
• Panchanathan, S.; Chakraborty, S.; McDaniel, T.; Tadayon, R. (August 2016). "Person-Centered Multimedia Computing: A New Paradigm Inspired by Assistive and Rehabilitative Applications". IEEE MultiMedia. 23 (3): 12–19. doi:10.1109/MMUL.2016.51.
• Panchanathan, S.; Chakraborty, S.; McDaniel, T. (2016). "Social Interaction Assistant: A Person-Centered Approach to Enrich Social Interactions for Individuals With Visual Impairments". IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Signal Processing. 10 (5): 942–951. Bibcode:2016ISTSP..10..942P. doi:10.1109/JSTSP.2016.2543681.
• Panchanathan, S.; McDaniel, T. (2014). "Person-centered accessible technologies and computing solutions through interdisciplinary and integrated perspectives from disability research". International Journal Universal Access in the Information Society – Special Issue on User Experience and Access Using Augmented and Multimedia Technologies. 14 (3): 415–426. doi:10.1007/s10209-014-0369-9.
• Panchanathan, S.; McDaniel, T.; Balasubramanian, V. (2013). "An interdisciplinary approach to the design, development and deployment of person-centered accessible technologies". 2013 International Conference on Recent Trends in Information Technology (ICRTIT). pp. 750–757. doi:10.1109/ICRTIT.2013.6844294. ISBN 978-1-4799-1024-3.
• Panchanathan, S.; McDaniel, T.; Balasubramanian, V. (2012). "Person-centered accessible technologies: Improved usability and adaptation through inspirations from disability research". Proceedings of the 2012 ACM workshop on User experience in e-learning and augmented technologies in education. pp. 1–6. doi:10.1145/2390895.2390897. ISBN 978-1-4503-1593-7.
• Panchanathan, S.; Krishnan, N.; Krishna, S.; McDaniel, T.; Balasubramanian, V. (2008). "Enriched human-centered multimedia computing through inspirations from disabilities and deficit-centered computing solutions". Proceedings of the 3rd ACM international workshop on Human-centered computing. pp. 35–42. doi:10.1145/1462027.1462033. ISBN 978-1-60558-320-4.

• ASU Office of Knowledge Enterprise Development

Government offices
Preceded by Kelvin Droegemeier Acting	Director of the National Science Foundation 2020–2025	Succeeded by Brian Stone Acting