The Whiting School of Engineering has announced the appointment of key leadership for the AI-X Foundry, with all appointments effective immediately. The AI-X Foundry provides the organizational framework and support infrastructure for AI and data science efforts driven by our faculty across the Johns Hopkins Institutions. Developing the organizational framework and the computational, technical, and staffing infrastructure are the first steps in this initiative which will likely continue to evolve and grow.
K.T. Ramesh, the Alonzo G. Decker, Jr., Professor of Science and Engineering, and senior advisor to the president for AI, will be the Executive Director of the AI-X Foundry. Professor Ramesh is a professor in the Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering in the Whiting School of Engineering, with a joint appointment in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences. He is currently also the director of the Hopkins Extreme Materials Institute (HEMI).
Alexis Battle will be the Deputy Executive Director of the AI-X Foundry. Professor Battle is an associate professor of biomedical engineering and computer science in the Whiting School of Engineering and is currently also the director of the Malone Center for Engineering in Healthcare.
Other key leadership appointments in the AI-X Foundry include:
Director of Research (Foundations of AI): Mark Dredze, the John C. Malone Associate Professor of computer science. Professor Dredze is an associate professor in the Department of Computer Science in the Whiting School of Engineering, with a joint appointment in Biomedical Informatics and Data Science in the School of Medicine.
Director of Research (Safety and Assurance): James Bellingham, the Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of exploration robotics. Professor Bellingham holds primary appointments in the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the Whiting School of Engineering and the Asymmetric Operations Sector of the Applied Physics Laboratory. He is also the executive director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Assured Autonomy.
Director of Research (Discovery and Inquiry): Paulette Clancy, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering in the Whiting School of Engineering. Professor Clancy is currently the head of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.
Director of Research (Health and Medicine): Natalia Trayanova, Murray B. Sachs Professor of biomedical engineering in the Whiting School of Engineering. Professor Trayanova has a secondary appointment in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics and a joint appointment in the Department of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Professor Trayanova also directs the Alliance for Cardiovascular Diagnostic and Treatment Innovation.
Director, AI-X @ APL: Cara LaPointe of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory is also a co-director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Assured Autonomy.
Director of Infrastructure: Alexander Szalay, a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor, with primary appointments in the Department of Physics and Astronomy in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences and the Department of Computer Science in the Whiting School of Engineering. Professor Szalay is also the director of the Institute for Data Intensive Engineering and Science.
Associate Director of Infrastructure: Benjamin Van Durme, an associate professor of computer science in the Whiting School of Engineering, with a joint appointment in the Department of Cognitive Science in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences. Professor Van Durme is also the research lead at Microsoft Semantic Machines.
These leadership roles will engage with a broad cross-section of the Johns Hopkins community, and that will have an impact on scholarship, discovery, and innovation across the institution.