AI field is dominated by many Indians in academia and industry, says Washington State University professor Partha Pande.
Partha Pande was the director, school of electrical engineering and computer science, at Washington State University and he is now the interim dean, Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture. After his PhD from the University of British Columbia in Canada, he went to the US as an assistant professor and was selected for a leadership role at the Washington State University, early in his career. Pande, who has recently been named to Washington state’s prestigious CHIPS and Science Act working group; spoke to Ishani Duttagupta of the Times of India on a range of topics including the benefits of engineering education in India and the importance of collaboration between government, industry, and academia for the US semiconductor industry in the age of AI. Edited excerpts from the interview.
What have been some of challenges and highlights in your journey in becoming director, school of electrical engineering and computer science, Washington State University and interim dean, Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture?
I started at a very early stage of my career as a school director and so my colleagues were apprehensive about my leadership philosophy, because I was just a very research-active faculty, advising student getting grant money. But very soon, they started appreciating my collaborative style and some of them later mentioned that I was the best thing that happened to the school in decades. The most important challenges I faced where to put the school and the college on an upward growth trajectory in terms of research, productivity, student enrolment, faculty, and philanthropic fundraising. In the US system, every unit has to be revenue positive and reputation depends on the research productivity of the faculty. It was important for me, as a relatively younger person, to articulate my vision for the school, so that faculty and staff could realise the important role they play in enhancing the reputation and ranking of the school. The buy-in is very important and people that you are working with need to understand your vision. You are their advocate to internal and external stakeholders.
In US academia, we need to make critical changes because change is the norm. Everything is dynamic and we need to adapt. I keep on hiring new faculty and modernise the curriculum and laboratories in collaboration with colleagues. The Covid pandemic was very challenging and we had to move very fast in transitioning from learning in person to online in the state of Washington. Everyone suffered including students, faculty colleagues, and collaborators. Academic progress slowed down and students and faculty members suffered and their mental health was compromised. As a leader, it was challenging for me to maintain faculty and students’ morale during that time.
Did you face any challenges in your academic career because of your immigrant background? Do you connect strongly with your Indian heritage?
I do not think that the challenges I have faced in my career were due to my background as an immigrant. As you know, many engineering disciplines in the US have a lot of successful leaders with immigrant background. But I have been able to do so many things in my professional career because I have a steady home situation – a wonderful wife and a daughter, who is a first year freshman in college. My family and home life has been very robust and stable and that is partly because of our Indian heritage.
I am very deeply connected to my Indian heritage. I am a son of a professor with an Indian middle class upbringing that has enabled a consistent commitment to high standard of professionalism in the Washington State University system. I have inherited my work ethics from my Indian heritage. I was not born with a silver spoon but my parents instilled a work ethic in me to achieve my goals through hard work and dedication. My collaborative teamwork also comes from my upbringing and educational background. As a leader, I do not expect others to do something that I have not done myself. The ethical and moral standards come from my Indian heritage and middle class background.
Do you remain connected with India, professionally and personally?
Yes, my old parents still live in Kolkata and we go there almost every year. But more than that, I actually go to the IITs to recruit students. A lot of the PHD students in my current group are from India. Even though my time is now limited because of many responsibilities, I remain deeply connected with Indian academia. I value my Indian undergraduate education and the basics that I learnt from there.
Your area of expertise is machine learning (ML); do you find a lot of interest among students and researchers from India in new technologies including ML and artificial intelligence?
I am a chip designer who designs chips for AI and ML applications. This field is dominated by lot of Indian leaders in both academia and industry. If you take a look at companies like Microsoft, Amazon, Intel and Nvidia, they’re all inundated by Indian researchers in the same way that the software industry in Silicon Valley had a lot of Indian presence. This is because of the strong academic background and core undergraduate education in the Indian system. That’s why we can adapt to new technology and new science easily.
Do you see a lot of interest among students from India to study these new subjects?
Absolutely. Most students from India want to do something related to AI and ML. Every field including electrical engineering, computer engineering, computer science, mechanical engineering, civil engineering, transportation and chemical kinetics is dominated by AI. The revolution is here and is going to stay; the more quickly and fast we embrace it, the better. Indian students are undoubtedly doing that and are at the forefront.
You have been named to Washington state’s CHIPS and Science Act working group. What are some of the goals of this prestigious group and what will your role be?
The CHIPS and Science Act addresses the semiconductor industry in America and the concern that we were not manufacturing chips. We were completely outsourcing to Taiwan, and so the current US government wanted to bring semiconductor manufacturing into the US. But you cannot just bring in manufacturing if you don’t have trained workforce. This Act is a huge investment so that we can become self-sufficient in chip manufacturing. For that we need to have research, development and workforce development.
The CHIPS Act provides funding to both academia and industry to build the US semiconductor industry. The Federal government has come up with a new policy and put money in it. But now states need to create different entities and compete for that. My role in this committee is that I will work with all the stakeholders in the state of Washington so that we have a coordinated and comprehensive statewide approach to secure grant opportunities enabled by the Federal grant. This is competitive and I’m part of lot of initiatives. My experience as a researcher for two decades, working on various aspects of the chip design, is an asset. My role is to put together a team and see how we can target the funding opportunities. Washington state is home to many high tech companies and my role is also to coordinate with industry, academia and state agencies.
How important is collaboration between industry and academia in the area of chip design?
Collaboration with industry is a must in the semiconductor sector. Even a software-focussed company like Amazon now has a chip design arm and we collaborate with all these companies. My former students are everywhere including Intel, AMD, Nvidia and Qualcomm. Industry guides us and without collaboration we cannot do workforce development. My aim, as an engineering dean, is to create work-ready engineers; so industry collaboration is essential. It is also important to collaborate with local government and we are part of the initiative to train high school students and get them interested in semiconductors. Not just universities, our aim is to establish a semiconductor education pipeline from high school to community college.