Dr. Vijayanand Kowtha

Dr. Vijay Kowtha is a strong and visible leader in the support and encouragement of young people in their studies in Engineering and specifically in formulating areas of responsive research. He was a leader in STEM education endeavor long before it became a national acronym, and his accomplishments stand as a foundation to the quest in the promotion of STEM since 1980s in the inner cities. Shortly after returning from England in 2007, he promoted basic research within DOD establishment using undergraduates who visited basic research facilities both in US and abroad. Several midshipmen completed their doctoral work under his guidance at Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College in UK and Chalmers in Sweden. These doctoral students worked in basic research in USA and mentored US college students locally in diverse engineering fields. Dr. Kowtha has organized STEM events promoting basic research at the USA science festival, US Navy, Sea and Air Exposition and Sigma Xi annual research meetings. His efforts resulted in responsive research and workforce development. Recently he formed a new non-profit called MASER (Mentors Advancing STEM Education and Research) with two MOUs with local universities. Dr. Kowtha also mentored high school students in First Robotics competitions for two decades, teams won national level competitions and many students have graduated and are now gainfully employed in federal workforce.

Dr. Kowtha exemplifies better than any scientist in articulating public policy issues engendered by the application of science and technology while as a basic researcher at NIH and at Naval Research Laboratory and as a C4ISR advocate at the Edison House in London England. He worked closely with leadership to pursue US-UK Data Exchange programs and worked closely on several NATO STANAGs with industry and inter-governmental leadership. He has worked on joint applications while representing NRL at the Tactical SIGINT Technology Panel. He has had several close working relationships with Basic Science at AFOSR and the local labs at Griffiths AFB and Wright Patterson.

The joint work at the Edison House in UK allowed for quick fruits with the USUK Informational Technology Exchange in 2007. The workshops on complexity at UK and in Europe spawned interest in applied programs at Arlington VA. He was instrumental in maintaining the US participation Advanced Knowledge Technologies with AFOSR Scientists.

Dr. Kowtha received his degrees in Applied Mathematics and Electrical Engineering from Courant Institute/NYU and Rutgers University. In addition to his professional position at the Naval Research Laboratory, he is a volunteer historian and a biophysicist in the Washington DC area. In the past he was actively involved in neuromorphic computing at NIH in the Laboratory of Biophysics NIH. As President of Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society he started the algorithmic seminars in systems molecular biology. As a member of IEEE Washington DC he has focused on the history of IEEE and the ONR Global work on systems science where he hopes to push the boundaries for science education. He has also been active with Sigma Xi and Washington Academy of Sciences for the past three decades. Dr. Kowtha has judged in interdisciplinary science panels for WAS over the past twenty years.