Innovation, Science Education, and the Enhancement of Americans' Quality of Life

At this event, the Honorable Sethuraman Panchanathan, the 15th director of the National Science Foundation, shared insights from his career and work fostering policies that promote innovation to solve the grand challenges facing today’s society, bringing together science, technology and innovation to solve important national or global problems. A leader in science, engineering and education with more than three decades of experience in both higher education and government, Panchanathan has designed and built knowledge enterprises to advance research innovation, strategic partnerships, entrepreneurship, global development and economic growth. Ambassador David M. Satterfield, director of the Baker Institute, and Rice professor John S. Hutchinson delivered welcome remarks.

This event was organized as part of the activities celebrating the inauguration of President Reginald DesRoches, the eighth president of Rice University. In addition to the lecture by Panchanathan, guests were invited to attend presentations by Rice University Provost Amy Dittmar and Ramamoorthy Ramesh, vice president for research at Rice.

Panchanathan's lecture was part of the Civic Scientist Lecture Series, sponsored by the Baker Institute Science and Technology Policy Program with generous support from Benjamin and Winifer Cheng. Additional support was provided by Rice University’s George R. Brown School of Engineering and Wiess School of Natural Sciences.

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Agenda

1:00 pm	Welcome and Introduction John S. Hutchinson, Ph.D. Professor of Chemistry and Associate Co-chair for Graduate Studies, Rice University
1:10 pm	This Is Rice Amy Dittmar, Ph.D. Provost, Rice University Ramamoorthy Ramesh, Ph.D. Vice President for Research, Rice University
1:45 pm	Intermission
2:10 pm	Introduction John S. Hutchinson, Ph.D. Professor of Chemistry and Associate Co-chair for Graduate Studies, Rice University The Honorable David M. Satterfield Director, Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy; Former Ambassador to Lebanon and Turkey
2:20 pm	Lecture The Honorable Sethuraman Panchanathan, Ph.D. Director, National Science Foundation
2:45 pm	Question and Answer Session

Featured Speaker

The Honorable Sethuraman Panchanathan, Ph.D., is the 15th director of the U.S. National Science Foundation. Panchanathan previously served as the executive vice president of the Arizona State University (ASU) Knowledge Enterprise, where he was also chief research and innovation officer. He is also the founder and former director of the Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing at ASU.

Prior to joining NSF, Panchanathan served on the National Science Board as chair of the Committee on Strategy and as a member of the External Engagement and National Science and Engineering Policy committees. Additionally, he served on the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship and was chair of the Council on Research of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities and co-chair of the Extreme Innovation Taskforce of the Global Federation of Competitiveness Councils. In 2018, Panchanathan was appointed Arizona’s senior advisor for science and technology.

Panchanathan’s scientific contributions have advanced the areas of human-centered multimedia computing, haptic user interfaces, person-centered tools and ubiquitous computing technologies for enhancing the quality of life for individuals with different abilities; machine learning for multimedia applications; medical image processing; and media processor designs. He has published close to 500 articles in refereed journals and conference proceedings, and has received numerous awards, including Distinguished Alumnus awards and the Governor’s Innovator of the Year for Academia Award for his development of information technology-centric assistive and rehabilitative environments to assist individuals with visual impairments.