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Venu Govindaraju

Vice President for Research and Economic Development
University at Buffalo

AREAS OF EXPERTISE:

Artificial intelligence, including document analysis recognition, machine learning, pattern recognition, biometrics and generative AI

Portrait of Venu Govindaraju.

Venu Govindaraju is a computer scientist with decades of experience in artificial intelligence.

He can speak to the news media about the history of AI and its future, especially as generative AI and other emerging AI platforms are widely adopted.

He can discuss how AI is transforming everything from health care and computing to education and business. He can address AI subsets, including machine learning, deep learning, pattern recognition, biometrics, document analysis recognition and retrieval, natural language processing and more.

In the early 1990s, Govindaraju was the technical lead of a UB-based research team that developed the world's first autonomous system capable of deciphering handwritten addresses. Adopted by the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) and, later, Royal Mail, it is estimated to have saved the organizations billions of dollars while transforming the field of document analysis recognition.

In September 2014, Govindaraju was named interim UB vice president for research and economic development. He was appointed to the post in January 2016. Since then, federal research expenditures at UB and its affiliated insitutes have grown to more $450 million annually, with significant advancements in life sciences, computer science and engineering, and other fields.

In January 2023, the National Science Foundation awarded $20 million to a team led by Govindaraju to establish the National AI Institute for Exceptional Education at UB. As director and principal investigator of the award, Govindaraju is leading the development of AI tools that will screen children early for speech and/or language processing challenges. This also includes providing teachers with AI-based interventions, such as personalized learning programs. This work is expected to alleviate the shortage of speech-language pathologists as well as help children, with dyslexia, dysgraphia and other communication and language impairments.

CONTACT:

Venu Govindaraju, PhD
 Vice President for Research and Economic Development
Director of the National Institute for Exceptional Education
SUNY Distinguished Professor of Computer Science and Engineering
Director of the Center for Unified Biometrics and Sensors
 University at Buffalo 

NEWS ABOUT VENU GOVINDARAJU