Sethuraman Panchanathan
Sethuraman Panchanathan
Senior vice president for knowledge enterprise development, Arizona State University
- Serachelvan
Professor Sethuraman (Panch) Panchanathan is currently the Senior Vice President of Knowledge Enterprise Development. In this role he is responsible for advancing research, innovation, entrepreneurship and economic development at ASU. He is a Foundation Chair in Computing and Informatics and the Director of the Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing (CUbiC). Dr. Panchanathan was the Founding Director of the School of Computing and Informatics and was instrumental in founding the Biomedical Informatics Department at ASU. He was also the Chair of the Computer Science and Engineering Department. On June 13, 2014 he was nominated by US President Barack Obama as a member of the National Science Board of National Science Foundation.
Panch’s research interests are in the areas of Human-centered Multimedia Computing, Ubiquitous Computing Environments for enhancing the quality of life for individuals with Disabilities, and Haptic User Interfaces. CUbiC’s flagship project iCARE for individuals who are blind and visually impaired won the Governor’s Innovator of the Year-Academia Award.
Panchanathan has plenty of experience in that research community. He is listed on three patents and has published more than 400 research papers during his time at ASU. He has also mentored over 100 graduate students, post-docs, research engineers and research scientists who occupy leading positions in academia and industry. He has been a Chair, invited speaker, panel member, organizer of special sessions, and a program committee member of many conferences. Panch is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Society of Optical Engineering (SPIE) and a member of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.
“Every facet of research at ASU is important to the overall goal of tackling complex societal challenges,” he said. “It is therefore important to understand and appreciate the different expertise areas at the university and to help advance the research aspirations of each faculty member and researcher.
He attended the Vivekananda College (University of Madras), graduating in 1981 with a B.Sc. in Physics. Subsequently, in 1984, he earned a B.E. in Electronics and Communication Engineering from the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. In 1986, he completed his M.Tech in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai. He later enrolled in the doctoral program at the University of Ottawa, Canada and received his Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering in 1989.
Panchanathan worked as a Data Communication Engineer for International Software India Limited in Chennai, in 1986. Prior to working for ASU, Panchanathan served at the University of Ottawa as a founding Director of the Visual Computing and Communications Laboratory from 1990 to 1997. He worked as Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering from 1994 to 1997, and Assistant Professor from 1989 to 1994.
He moved to Arizona in 1997 as a tenured associate professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at ASU In 2001, he was promoted to full professor and founded the Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing (CUbiC), which is focused on designing technologies and devices for assisting individuals with disabilities. He also founded and led the School of Computing and Informatics (2006-2009) and the Department of Biomedical Informatics (2005-2007). Panchanathan was appointed as the university Chief Research Officer in 2009, where he was responsible for conceptualizing and building large interdisciplinary initiatives at ASU. In 2011, he was promoted to Senior Vice President of ASU’s Office of Knowledge Enterprise Development, for the advancement of research, entrepreneurship, innovation and economic development activities.
Panchanathan is married to Sarada “Soumya” Panchanathan, who is a clinical pediatrician at the Maricopa County Hospital, and is also a part-time faculty, teaching informatics at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, Phoenix Campus, and biomedical informatics at ASU. Together they have two children Amritha and Roshan.
Honors and Awards
Governor’s Innovator of the Year for Academia Award, Governor’s Celebration of Innovation Awards, Information Technology Centric Assistive and Rehabilitative Environments (iCARE) for Individuals who are blind and Visually Impaired, Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing, 2004.
ASU Leadership Award, “Outstanding service and contributions to the ASU Department of Computer Science and Engineering and the School of Computing and Informatics”, 2009.
Academic Collaboration Award, Outstanding Contributions to Improving the lives of Individuals with Disabilities through the iCARE Research Project, ASU Disability Resources for Students, 2004.
Best paper award, “Configurable Haptic Training System for Laparoscopy”, at Medicine Meets Virtual Reality 16 Conference, CA, 2008.
Canadian Advanced Technology Association (CATA) Best Graduate Thesis Award, Masters Thesis student Mr. Eric Chan, Toronto, 1994.
Microsoft Imagine Cup 2010for CUbiC iCARE Note-Taker Project, World Finals in Touch and Tablet category, Warsaw, Poland, 2010.
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