Rao Vemuri, PhD, Professor Emeritus

Emeritus Professor Rao Vemuri, Chair of the Taksha Center for Machine Learning and Hydrology (TCMLH), and Distinguished Member of the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) for the Taksha Center of Data Science (TCDS), joined UC Davis faculty in 1986 and held a joint appointment with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory until he retired in 2012. While at LLNL he worked on the use of neural network methods for detecting clandestine underground nuclear explosions, the use of genetic algorithms in assembling DNA restriction fragments in the Human Genome Project, use of Bayesian nets in solving inverse problems while searching for Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq during Saddam Hussain’s rule. Prior to his current position he taught at SUNY, Binghamton and Purdue University, West Lafayette. He also worked at TRW, Redondo Beach on such projects as the Hubble Space Telescope and the MX Missile.

During one of his sabbaticals in India he had spent two months at NRSA, Hyderabad (Dr. B. L. Deekshatulu, Director) and at DRDL (Dr. A. P. L. Abdul Kalam, Director). As a faculty facilitator in IUCEE (Indo-Universal Collaboration for Engineering Education) he visited India several times and conducted short courses. For another sabbatical he had spent a couple of months at the University of Hyderabad (a Central University). As a Fulbright-Nehru scholar, he spent two months at Vaagdevi College in Warangal 2010. He has served twice as a US Faculty Fellow of the Vietnam Educational Foundation. Now he is teaching a hybrid course for the University of Science, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam under a US Faculty Grant. In 2017 he visited Central University, Rajasthan as a GIAN visiting scholar.

His teaching and research interests are in AI, Machine Learning and Knowledge Discovery. He had been the founder/CEO of Smartifacts, LLC in 2002. He served on the editorial boards of several journals and had been the Editor-in-Chief of CS Press. He is a Senior Life Member of IEEE and member of ACM.

Prof. Vemuri was instrumental in starting a Chair for Telugu Studies at the Institute for South Asia Studies, University of California, Berkeley. Telugu instruction has been going on since 2007 and the program would welcome opportunities for collaboration from India-based Telugu/Sanskrit programs.

Publications

Click here for a list of selected publications by Prof. Vemuri.