Biography
I am presently a Senior Systems Scientist in the Program on Computation, Organizations, and Society (COS) in the School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh. I have an appointment in the Department of Engineering and Public Policy, and am Associate Director of TechBridgeWorld, CMU's initiative on bridging technology and global development. I am also a Senior Fellow at the Center for Study of Science, Technology, and Policy (CSTEP), Bangalore, India, a newly established not-for-profit Think Tank.
My work broadly fits into the inter- and
multi-disciplinary realm of technology
and policy for infrastructure and human
development, with an
emphasis on Information and Communications Technology
(ICT), as well as power/energy systems. My research focuses
covers a wide variety of topics, incorporating
economics, regulation, security, and social issues.
Much
of my current work focuses on ICT and development, especially
the research challenges in integrating ICT into infrastructural and
social
systems. I organized a series of global conferences
on ICT for development for
the United Nations, World Bank, and US National Science Foundation,
resulting
in a well-received book on this topic:
Information
and Communications Technology for Sustainable Development: Defining a
Global Research Agenda. I am especially active in
the
community of scholars engaged in the field of ICT and Development
(ICTD). I helped initiate and organize the
interdisciplinary, double-blind peer reviewed IEEE/ACM conferences on
ICTD. I will be Program Co-chair of
ICTD2009, where
Bill
Gates
will be delivering a Keynote Address.
An avid
scholar of the digital divide, I was
Vice-Chairman of the United Nations ICT Task Force
Working Group on Enabling
Environment (formerly, Low-Cost Connectivity Access), and have wide
experience in network design and architecture, especially for
underserved and
rural areas. In the late 1990s, working with CMU colleagues, I spent
several years designing a
next-generation optical network for India (similar to Internet2), and
to help deregulate the Indian Telecom
sector.
I have had the opportunity to deliver invited seminars and Keynote Addresses at
numerous international conferences,
workshops, etc, on topics ranging from telecommunications technologies
to the Digital Divide. I advise industry
and governments in technology analysis and decision-making, and I've been fortunate that my work
has been able to directly influence national and
international
policy, including through private
briefings for senior government officials and even cabinet or higher
rank
leaders. I am on the Technology
Advisory Board for Southern California Edison's (a leading US
utility's) project on advanced (“smart”) metering
technology, a billion+ dollar
project which was influenced by my publications and
analysis. I recently helped
establish a non-profit Think Tank in India for
technology policy
analysis, CSTEP - Center
for Study of Science, Technology, and Policy, which is
Chaired by Dr. V. S.
Arunachalam, former
Science Advisor to Defense and Prime
Ministers of India.
I have taught
courses
spanning telecommunications, networking, wireless technologies, the
role of ICT
(Information and Communications Technologies) for Human Development,
and
broader ethical and policy issues of computing.
My doctorate was from Carnegie Mellon (1998) in Engineering and Public Policy,
and undergraduate degree was in Electrical Engineering (with Honors, Magna cum Laude)
from Brown University
(1995).
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