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NORTH AMERICAN Newsline OCTOBER 25, 2024 | The Indian Eye 31

ADITYA GROVER

NSF awards professor $500,000

grant for AI Research

CLA Samueli School of Engi-
neering’s assistant professor of
Ucomputer science, Aditya Gro-
ver, has received a National Science
Foundation, NSF CAREER Award
to support his research designing arti-
ficial intelligence models that can ex-
pedite the pace of scientific discovery
to help address urgent sustainability some use. These tiny brushes, ranging in size from a few nanometers to a few mi-
challenges, such as climate and ener- crometers, can be utilized in applications that include sensing, diagnostics, cur-
gy. This is Grover’s fourth early-career rent rectification, surface wettability modification, drug delivery, and oil recovery.
award in the past two years. A UMD faculty member since 2014, Das has published more than 193 jour-
This NSF award is the highest
honor for faculty members in the early nal papers, including in ACS Nano, Advanced Materials, Matter, Nature Com-
munications, and Soft Matter.
stages of their careers. The five-year, $500,000 grant will fund Grover’s research He is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and also of the Royal Society of
on developing generative AI models — artificial intelligence deep-learning Chemistry, which publishes Chemical Communications. In July 2022, he was
models that build new data based on the datasets used to train them — specifi- elected a Fellow of the Institute of Engineering Technology (IET), based in the
cally for scientific work. United Kingdom.
Grover’s research focuses on probabilistic machine learning — a subfield of
AI which uses a statistics- and probability-based approach to make predictions. SALIL GARG
At UCLA, he leads the Machine Intelligence (MINT) group, which develops
AI systems that can interact, reason and make sequential decisions with limited NIH recognizes researcher for
supervision.
Grover’s research will also explore how such generative AI applications can
then help build computer simulations, forecasting techniques and experimental innovative biomedical research
designs, with a particular emphasis on applying machine learning to the field of
climate science and sustainable energy. he National Institutes of Health
Grover’s team work on ClimaX, a generalizable deep learning model which (NIH) has awarded grant to Salil
demonstrated superior performance in weather-forecasting and climate-projec- TGarg, an Indian American, Yale
tion benchmarks, was published in 2023. researcher for conducting exceptional
In March, Grover was named a Schmidt Sciences AI2050 Early Career Fel- and creative research with the poten-
low. The two-year fellowship program provides a grant up to $300,000 for inter- tial to transform biomedical science.
disciplinary AI research with the goal of establishing AI systems aligned with Garg, an assistant professor of
human values by 2050. Grover was also recognized in Forbes’ 2024 30 Under 30 laboratory medicine at Yale School of
list in science and as a Kavli Fellow by the National Academy of Science in 2023. Medicine (YSM) received the pres-
tigious New Innovator Award, which
SIDDHARTHA DAS support “unusually innovative re-
search” from early career investigators
Journal names UoM’s faculty who are within 10 years of their final
degree or clinical residency and have
member as Pioneering not yet received a large NIH grant.
Garg’s research focuses on non-genetic heterogeneity, or how cell systems

Researcher with a singular genotype can form diverse cell states and functions. His lab em-
ploys highly interdisciplinary science, weaving together genomics, molecular
biology, cell biology, systems biology, and machine learning techniques to un-
derstand how cell-to-cell differences arise under apparently homogeneous con-
rofessor Siddhartha Das, a faculty member in the University of Mary- ditions. The lab is currently studying stem cells and cancer but maintains a broad
land’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, has been recognized as
Pa Pioneering Investigator by Chemical Communications, a top-ranked interest in many areas of mammalian physiology.
Garg is one of the 67 recipients recognized by NIH’s High-Risk, High-Re-
journal in the field of chemistry and chemical sciences. ward (HRHR) Research program, which supports “visionary and broadly im-
The recognition came in response to the article co-authored by Raashiq
Ishraaq, demonstrating the findings from Das in the article, “All-atom molecular pactful” behavioral and biomedical research projects. The 67 research grants,
which total about $207 million, are supported by the NIH Common Fund, as
dynamics simulations of polymer and polyelectrolyte brushes.” This research well as three other institutes, centers, and offices across NIH.
work has utilised sophisticated simulations of molecular dynamics in order to “The HRHR program champions exceptionally bold and innovative sci-
track properties of the brushes that are difficult to observe experimentally. ence that pushes the boundaries of biomedical and behavioral research,” said
“By employing all-atom molecular dynamics simulations, we are able to
study behaviors and properties that otherwise would elude researchers,” Das Tara A. Schwetz, deputy director for program coordination, planning, and stra-
tegic initiatives at NIH.
said. “We have great confidence that this avenue of research will open up ave-
nues to exciting real-world applications.” To read more about Indian diaspora and Global Indians, log on to and follow
Das’s research work focuses on toothbrush-like chains of polymers or poly- our website www.TheIndianEYE.com
electrolytes that can be used to “functionalize” surfaces—that is, apply them to

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