Duke Welcomes India’s Minister of State for Electronics & Information Technology to Explore Innovation and Partnership

The strides were fast, and the conversations even faster.

As India’s Minister of State for Electronics & Information Technology and Commerce & Industry Jitin Prasada and a senior delegation moved across Duke’s campus, discussions jumped from artificial intelligence and computer science to engineering, health care, workforce development, renewable energy and robotics. Duke leaders and faculty showcased the university’s expertise and explored future collaborations with India.

The visit was part of activities connected to India’s G20 engagement, including the Innovation Ministerial in Chapel Hill, where ministers discussed the opportunities and challenges presented by emerging technologies. At Duke, conversations focused on how the university and government can work together to advance innovation, develop talent and apply new technologies to address real-world challenges.

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Hosted by senior university leaders and faculty experts, the visit brought together representatives from Duke’s offices of the provost and interdisciplinary programs, Pratt School of Engineering, Duke Health, Duke Global and the university’s computer science and robotics communities.

Executive Vice Provost Mohamed Noor opened the roundtable with an overview of Duke’s academic strengths, interdisciplinary structure and emerging initiatives.

“One of the things that’s uniquely different about Duke is how our faculty and schools work across boundaries,” said Manoj Mohanan, vice provost for interdisciplinary programs. “You will find faculty from computer science, engineering, business, law and medicine working together. That ‘One Duke’ concept is a major strength.”

Noor spoke to Duke’s developing plans for a new computationally focused academic unit, the C-School, as one such example of emerging interdisciplinary opportunities, noting, “We’re very excited about the new C-School initiative, which will bring together computing initiatives from across the university, from Engineering, Arts & Sciences, Sanford and Medicine.”  

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Vinik Dean of Engineering Jerome Lynch highlighted the central role engineering plays in many of those collaborations.

“Our areas of specialization include quantum computing, AI, robotics, biotech,” Lynch said. “We’re one of the leading biotech programs in the United States, if not the world, here at Duke.”

The conversations underscored Duke’s longstanding and growing connections with India. More than 600 Duke students come from India, with roughly half enrolled in the Pratt School of Engineering. Duke faculty maintain research collaborations with institutions across the country, while the university continues to build partnerships in areas ranging from health and technology to energy and sustainability.

“Asia is already a priority and even more so for us going forward,” said Krishna Udayakumar, Duke’s chief global strategist. “There’s a strong level of interest and affiliation already, so we are poised to think about how to work more effectively in India going forward.”

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Lynch also emphasized Duke’s focus on translating research discoveries into real-world solutions, describing how collaborations often begin with talent development and research but ultimately seek to move technologies from university laboratories into industry and communities.

“India has a historic IT industry, biotech industry, pharmaceutical industry,” Lynch said. “Those are the areas that excite us about a collaboration.”

Faculty shared examples of collaborations already connecting Duke and India. Computer scientist Bhuwan Dhingra highlighted an ongoing partnership with researchers at the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru focused on distinguishing AI-generated and human-generated content. Duke leaders also discussed a decade-long relationship with NATHEALTH (the Healthcare Federation of India) and ongoing engagement around India’s evolving strategy for AI in health care.

Mohanan pointed to Duke’s recent collaboration with Coal India on renewable energy initiatives as another example of the university’s engagement.

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The delegation learned how Duke is applying AI responsibly in clinical settings. Eric Poon, Duke Health’s chief health information officer, described Duke Health’s AI governance process, which evaluates AI tools for safety, effectiveness and measurable impact before deployment.

“We are very proud of having the oldest AI governance process in the U.S.,” Poon said. “We have developed the discipline at Duke Health to evaluate every piece of AI that we deploy in clinical decision-making.”

He highlighted the impact of ambient AI technologies that assist clinicians with documentation and workflow tasks.

“Our analysis suggests that ambient technology has contributed to an increase in productivity of approximately $46 million a year,” Poon said.

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The discussion explored how AI could help address health care workforce challenges while expanding access to quality care, particularly in regions facing shortages of health care professionals.

“For India, this presents a significant opportunity,” Mohanan said. “It’s a country that does not have enough doctors given its massive population. If you can skill up the workforce on the nursing side, on the paramedical side to use AI tools, you can deliver care that was not available earlier.”

Lynch noted that Duke’s strengths in engineering, medicine, nursing and health care position the university to help address such challenges.

“The School of Nursing is looking at the delivery of quality care in rural and under-resourced communities,” Lynch said. “Technology can help provide levels of care that would otherwise be difficult to access.”  

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The delegation toured Duke’s Robotics Lab, where faculty demonstrated advanced systems that integrate robotics, artificial intelligence, sensing technologies and real-world applications.

Boyuan Chen, Dickinson Family Assistant Professor in the Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science and strategic advisor for robotics at Duke, showcased projects ranging from autonomous drones and terrain-capable robots to next-generation humanoid systems designed and built at Duke.

“My lab works on many aspects of robotics,” Chen said. “We start from sensors all the way to robots that adapt in different environments or different applications, manufacturing, health care, defense.”

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The delegation also saw demonstrations of AI-enabled robotics, including a “Text-to-Robot” system that uses natural-language prompts to generate robotic designs. Discussions included how robotics technologies could support future applications in nursing and patient care.

Chen emphasized the advantages of Duke’s close integration between engineering and health care.

“Next to my office is a neurosurgeon,” he said. “And Duke is the only university I’ve ever been where you can talk to the doctor literally by walking five minutes.”

Throughout the visit, a common theme emerged: addressing global challenges requires expertise that crosses traditional academic boundaries. By bringing together leaders in computing, engineering, medicine, nursing, public policy and other fields, Duke demonstrated how interdisciplinary collaboration can accelerate innovation while expanding its impact.

As Duke and India continue to deepen their engagement, university leaders expressed optimism about future partnerships that advance research, educate the next generation of innovators and develop technologies that improve lives in both countries and beyond.

India Delegation

The India delegation included Minister of State for Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology and Commerce & Industry Jitin Prasada; Private Secretary to Hon’ble MoS, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology Neeraj Kumar Singh; Joint Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology Ajit Kumar; Scientist ‘F’/Director, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology Rajesh Kumar; Scientist ‘F’, Department of Science and Technology Arindam Bhattacharyya; Scientist ‘D’, Department of Science and Technology DST Suchita Lokhande; Deputy Director, Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade Deepak Kumar and Counsellor (Commerce) Embassy of India, Washington DC Akhilesh Singh.

Duke Delegation

The Duke delegation included Executive Vice Provost Mohamed Noor, Vice Provost for Interdisciplinary Programs Manoj Mohanan, Vinik Dean of Engineering at the Pratt School of Engineering Jerome Lynch, Chief Global Strategist Krishna Udayakumar, Duke Health Chief Health Information Officer Eric Poon, Bishop-MacDermott Family Professor of Computer Science Debmalya Panigrahi and Assistant Professor of Computer Science Bhuwan Dhingra. Additional faculty attended the tour of the Robotics Lab led by Dickinson Family Assistant Professor in the Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science and Strategic Advisor for Robotics Boyuan Chen, including John Cocke Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Yiran Chen, Theodore Kennedy Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering Jessilyn Dunn, Paul Ruffin Scarborough Associate Professor of Engineering Johann Guilleminot and Professor of Biomedical Engineering Amanda Randles. 

Main image: Minister Jitin Prasada (second from left) and members of his delegation walk across Duke’s campus with university leaders during their visit to Duke. (Photo: Carol Bales)