Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Mehta Family Foundation (MFF), USA, to set up the Mehta Family School of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence at IIT Guwahati.
The Mehta Family School will be set up with the objective to promote Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (AI) courses at an undergraduate and postgraduate level. The first batch of B. Tech students for this school will be admitted through JEE in the academic year 2021- 22, a release said.
The MoU was signed virtually by Prof. T. G. Sitharam, Director, IIT Guwahati, and Rahul Mehta, Chief Executive Officer, Mehta Family Foundation, USA, in the presence of a galaxy of luminaries and Rajiv I. Modi, Chairman Board of Governors, IIT Guwahati, and Prof. Krishnaswamy Vijayraghavan, FRS, Principal Scientific Advisor, Government of India, as the chief guests and Prof. Sandeep Verma, Secretary, SERB as the special guest.
IIT Guwahati Director Prof. T. G. Sitharam said, “Mehta Family School of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence is an important initiative at IIT Guwahati that will bridge the gap of highly skilled personnel that exists in these emerging fields.”
Chief Executive Rahul Mehta said, “The explosion of data across all fields of knowledge continues unabated. Just like computer science changed the world, data science and artificial intelligence are posed to do the same. These fields will shape the methods used in education and research across the spectrum of human knowledge.”
“Global interdisciplinary collaborations as envisioned in this new school will lift our understanding of society and nature. Bringing together global talents such as Professor Shankar Subramaniam, Professor Rajesh Gupta (both Univ. of California, San Diego), and Professor Ananth Grama (Purdue Univ.) can accelerate the expansion in these fields. IIT Guwahati has the vision of the new talent India needs. Together we will build the framework for the future,” he added.
Through this MoU, MFF will provide support for the development of the school’s infrastructure and programs at IIT Guwahati campus. The school will offer programs for visiting students and faculty between the school and US institutions. The school will host conferences and establish chairs attracting world-class talent, the release added.
Mehta Family School of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence Head Prof. R. Bhattacharjee said, “This new School will be an abode of academic excellence imparting state-of-the-art teaching, supported by research and technology development in frontier areas of data science and artificial intelligence.”
“The curriculum has been developed to provide a strong theoretical foundation as well as emphasis on different interdisciplinary application areas. One of the objectives of the school is also to take up targeted multi-year interdisciplinary research projects and solve the problems which benefits society at large, a deep rooted vision of IIT Guwahati,” he added.
