Draft:Venkat Venkatasubramanian

Venkat Venkatasubramanian is Samuel Ruben-Peter G. Viele Professor of Engineering in the Department of Chemical Engineering, and Professor of Computer Science (affiliated) and Professor of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research (affiliated), at Columbia University in the City of New York. He earned his Ph. D. in Chemical Engineering (with a Minor in Theoretical Physics) at Cornell University, M.S. in Physics at Vanderbilt University, and B. Tech. in Chemical Engineering at the University of Madras, India.

Venkatasubramanian worked as a postdoctoral researcher with Professor Geoffrey Hinton in the Department of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University in 1983-84. He was on the faculty at Purdue University for over two decades, where he was Reilly Professor of Chemical Engineering in 2011, before returning to Columbia. At Columbia, Venkatasubramanian directs the research efforts of graduate students and co-workers in the Complex Resilient Intelligent Systems Laboratory. He is also the founding Co-Director of the Center for the Management of Systemic Risk (CMSR), a transdisciplinary center with faculty from several departments at Columbia University.

Venkatasubramanian is a complex-dynamical-systems theorist interested in developing mathematical models of their structure, function, and behavior from fundamental conceptual principles. By nature, he is an artist-philosopher with a tendency for curiosity-driven scientific research in an impressionistic style, emphasizing conceptual issues over mere techniques. Venkatasubramanian's research interests are diverse, ranging from AI to systems engineering to theoretical physics to economics, but they are generally focused on the theme of understanding complexity and emergent behavior in different domains.  His teaching interests include artificial intelligence, risk analysis, process design & control, pharmaceutical engineering, complex adaptive systems, statistical physics, applied statistics, and economic inequality.

Venkatasubramanian has published over 250 refereed papers. He has delivered over 240 invited talks including 70 keynote or plenary lectures on artificial intelligence.  A 2020 academic study reported that three papers co-authored by Venkatasubramanian are among the ten most-cited papers in the 43-year history of the journal Computers & Chemical Engineering. His 2019 paper on AI in chemical engineering is the most cited paper among all the papers published in the AIChE Journal in the last 20 years. He authored a three-volume CACHE case study on Knowledge-based Systems for Heuristic Classification Problems in Process Engineering in 1988. He also co-authored two books, Advanced Knowledge Representation and Handbook of Diffusion and Thermal Properties of Polymers and Polymer Solutions. Venkatasubramanian has been the co-editor of two books, Intelligent Systems in Process Engineering and Computer-Aided Molecular Design. His most recent book, How Much Inequality is Fair? Mathematical Principles of a Moral, Optimal, and Stable Capitalist Society, was published in 2017. Thirty-nine Ph. D. and ten M. S. students graduated under his supervision or co-supervision.  

Venkatasubramanian’s contributions have been recognized by several awards and honors. He was the 1990 recipient of the Eminent Overseas Lectureship Award from the Institution of Engineers in Australia. In 1993, he was awarded the United Nations Development Program Invited Lectureship at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, India. In 1996, Industry week magazine selected him as “one of the fifty R&D stars in the United States whose achievements are shaping the future of our industrial culture and America's technology policy”. He received the Norris Shreve Award for Outstanding Teaching in Chemical Engineering three times, in 1993, 2004, and 2006, and the Teaching for Tomorrow Award in 2004, both awarded by Purdue University. He is past-President of the Computer Aids for Chemical Engineering (CACHE) Corporation, a non-profit organization for promoting computers in chemical engineering education.  He served as Editor for Computers & Chemical Engineering, 2008-2019, for the topical area of cyberinfrastructure, informatics, and intelligent systems.

In 2009, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers honored Venkatasubramanian with the Computing in Chemical Engineering Award for his innovative contributions in process systems engineering and recognized him as a Fellow of AIChE in 2011. In 2011, the College of Engineering at Purdue University honored his outstanding contributions to research with the Research Excellence Award.  In 2019, Venkat was recognized with the inaugural Distinguished Alumni Award from his alma mater, A. C. College of Technology. In 2024, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers honored him with William H. Walker Award for  pioneering contributions in developing hybrid artificial intelligence modeling frameworks for process fault diagnosis, supervisory control, process safety, and the inverse design of materials. Venkatasubramanian’s other interests include comparative theology, classical music, and cricket.