The Honorable Sethuraman Panchanathan is the 15th director of the US National Science Foundation, an $8.5B independent federal agency and the only government agency charged with advancing all fields of scientific discovery, technological innovation, and STEM education. NSF is recognized as the backbone supporting the United States leadership in scientific development.

Dr. Panchanathan has a distinguished career in science, technology, engineering, and education that spans more than three decades. He is recognized as a leader in the field of human – centered computing and informatics and has an h-index of 46 with over 8000 citations.

Dr. Panchanathan’s scientific contributions have advanced the areas of human centered multimedia computing, haptic user interfaces, person – centered ubiquitous computing technologies for empowering individuals with a range of abilities. He is a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Association for Computing Machinery, and other prestigious science and engineering organizations. He is a graduate of the University of Madras (BS); the Indian Institute of Science (BEng); the Indian Institute of Technology (MTech); and University of Ottawa (PhD).