IIT Bhubaneswar establishes AI & High Performance Computing Research Centre

Bhubaneswar: Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bhubaneswar has established a new AI and HPC Research Center (AHRC) to conduct interdisciplinary and collaborative research in the fields of AI and High Performance Computing (HPC).

AHRC is designed as a National Research Center with participation of other eminent academic, industry, and government research organizations in India and abroad to find solutions to real world problems in several areas through research, innovation and application of Artificial Intelligence and High Performance Computing.

AHRC will promote a collaborative environment where scientists and academicians from multiple disciplines and multiple institutions will come together to form a common resource pool and knowledge pool to cope up with this fast moving field. Researchers from various fields of engineering, computer science, medicine, agriculture, basic sciences, finance, economics and other areas will work together to find integrated and comprehensive solutions to problems faced by industry and society. The most pressing research and innovation focus of AHRC is in the application of Artificial Intelligence and High Performance Computing in areas that directly benefits the society such as medicine, agriculture, environment, sustainable communities, smart cities and cyber security.

Prof Shreepad Karmalkar, Director, IIT Bhubaneswar will serve as the Chairman of the AHRC Board, and Prof Ashwini Kumar Nanda will lead AHRC activities as its founding Center-Director. In addition, Prof. Subhranshu Ranjan Samantaray and Professor Manoranjan Satpathy will serve as Associate Center-Directors of AHRC.

Speaking about the novel initiative of IIT Bhubaneswar, Prof. Shreepad Karmalkar said: “This one-of-a-kind national research center hosted by IIT Bhubaneswar will provide a global platform to the researchers from the state and across India for leading edge research and innovation in the field of Artificial Intelligence and high performing computing, which is the need of the hour.”

In the words of Center-Director Prof Ashwini Nanda, “The goal of AHRC is to bring global knowhow to serve the people of India, as well as make global technology impact and serve the global community through its world class research”.

In addition to establishing research collaboration with over a dozen US universities and industrial laboratories, AHRC is also collaborating closely with national institutions such as AIIMS and other IIT’s, as well as universities in Odisha and the Odisha state govt. For example, AHRC scientists are working on developing AI tools for diagnosis of several diseases and fast screening for life threatening diseases in the rural communities in Odisha in collaboration with scientists from AIIMS Bhubaneswar and State University of New York in the United States.