Sethuraman Panchanathan

Sethuraman Panchanathan
Sethuraman Panchanathan
	Panchanathan in 2020
15th Director of the National Science Foundation
	In office; June 23, 2020 – April 24, 2025
President	Donald Trump; Joe Biden; Donald Trump;
Preceded by	Kelvin Droegemeier (acting)
Succeeded by	Brian Stone (acting)
Personal details
Born	1960 or 1961 (age 64–65); Chennai, India
Education	University of Madras (BS); Indian Institute of Science (BEng); Indian Institute of Technology (MTech); University of Ottawa (PhD);
Scientific career
Fields	Electrical engineering; Computer engineering; Informatics;
Institutions	University of Ottawa; Arizona State University;
Thesis	Algorithms and Architectures for Image Coding Using Vector Quantization (1989)
Doctoral advisor	Morris Goldberg

Sethuraman Panchanathan (born 1960/1961) is an Indian–American computer scientist and academic administrator who served as the 15th Director of the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) from 2020 to 2025.

Panchanathan is a professor and foundation chair in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University (ASU). Prior to serving on the National Science Board and as NSF director, Panchanathan led ASU's Knowledge Enterprise, its research apparatus, as executive vice president and chief research and innovation officer. During his tenure at the NSF, the agency formed its first new directorate in more than 30 years and established a network of artificial intelligence research institutes, among other initiatives. His departure from the foundation came amid significant cuts to NSF funding.

Panchanathan's research focuses on machine learning and assistive computing technologies for disabled people. In 2025, Panchanathan received the Padma Shri, one of the Government of India's highest civilian awards.