Gift From Infosys Co-founder To Create Research Partnership
Dr. Subra Suresh and Senapathy "Kris" Gopalakrishnan
Indian Institute of Science
Global technology leader and Infosys co-founder Senapathy "Kris" Gopalakrishnan has donated $1.8 million to Carnegie Mellon University to establish a research partnership between CMU and the Centre for Brain Research at the renowned Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore.
The partnership will strategically leverage the research strengths of both institutions while enhancing the connection between CMU and India.
"I am profoundly grateful to Kris for his generous gift and his wonderful support of this partnership between CMU and IISc," said CMU President Subra Suresh. "One of the most pressing challenges facing humanity is to understand the human brain. Our hope is that this new research collaboration will lead to discoveries about neuro–degenerative diseases that afflict the aging population, and that those findings help improve our diagnostic and treatment capabilities for such diseases."
The centre at IISc was launched through a foundational gift from the Pratiksha Trust, a charitable trust established by Gopalakrishnan, and is focused on understanding and treating neuro-degenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.
This partnership will provide opportunities for applying new technologies from fields ranging from imaging to machine learning to address critical questions about neuro-degeneration and normal aging.
Carnegie Mellon's Pittsburgh campus is home to more than 1,000 students from India, comprising nearly 10 percent of the entire student population on campus. India also is home to the second largest concentration of CMU alumni. The partnership will explore avenues to further strengthen the intellectual ties between CMU and India, while addressing some of the most challenging research problems in brain research.
"Carnegie Mellon University is a world-renowned leader in many areas of research and education. I am very pleased to support President Subra Suresh's strategic vision for the collaboration between CMU and IISc through this gift so that we can address one of the grand challenges of our times by understanding the human brain," Gopalakrishnan said.
Professor Padmanabhan Balaram (S'73), director of the Indian Institute of Science, said, "As an alumnus of Carnegie Mellon, I know firsthand the enormous impact a collaboration of the kind envisioned here between CMU and IISc will have in enhancing our understanding of the human brain. I thank Mr. Gopalakrishnan for his support in creating CBR and for connecting its faculty with CMU through this gift."
IISc has grown to become India's premier center for research and postgraduate education in science and engineering. Founded in 1909, the institute has offered several new areas of research, many of them for the first time in India. Many of India's most distinguished scientists also have been associated with IISc as students or faculty, and the institute's alumni head many major organizations in India and abroad.
Related Links: Read press release | Times of India: Infosys co-founder gives IISc Rs 225 crore