A Background Sketch

Having done my schooling in New Delhi, I moved to the U.S. in 1987 to do my undergraduate work in physics and engineering. I spent two years studying physics at Pomona College, in California, and then transferred to the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), also in southern California. Caltech has been ranked by Times Higher Education as the top university in the world, measured by parameters such as the quality of research and teaching. Studying there was a challenging and rewarding experience.

Caltech has a department called Computation and Neural Systems. The focus of this department is to understand neuronal networks in the broadest way - from trying to understand the dynamics of networks of real biological neurons to creating simulations that have engineering applications in pattern recognition and classification. This department pioneered the development of the field which is today called AI or Artificial Intelligence. I took most of my courses from this department and got my Caltech degree in Engineering and Applied Science.

Following graduation from college, I joined California Scientific Software, a small firm of Caltech alumni in the foothills of Northern California. California Scientific Software was a world leader in developing AI software, with its prominent BrainMaker neural computing software product. The owner, Mark Lawrence, a brilliant programmer and an amateur physicist, taught me how to program - and I still make use of his design principles.

I have been working mostly as an independent software and AI consultant since then.