‎IIT Madras alumnus and Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan has set up three Chairs in computational brain research at the institute with an endowment of ₹10 crore each.

The second NR Narayana Murthy Distinguished Chair in Computational Brain Research was launched this morning at the institute.

The first occupant of the Chair was Mriganka Sur, Paul E and Lilah Newton Professor of Neuroscience and Director of the Simons Centre for the Social Brain at MIT, where he founded after 15 years as head of the MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences.

The Chairs will complement a Brain Research Centre that will come up in Bengaluru and Chairs created in IISC, Bangalore and postdoctoral fellows sponsored at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburg, US.

A press release says that according to Goplakrishnan's wish, the first Chair was named after HN Mahabala, a retired faculty at the IIT Madras CSE Department. The second Chair was named ‎after his colleague Narayana Murthy.

The Chair is intended for occupancy by leading researchers from academia, laboratories and industry. It will be operated as an inter-disciplinary Institute Chair, Gopalakrishnan said.

Murthy in his remarks said the three Chairs would provide an integrated perspective on brain research and put India on the map of having leading edge ‎infrastructure in brain research.

Related Topics