Lead Research Scientist SSAI and Science Advisor, NASA Atmospheric Science Data Center
Dr. Makhan Virdi, a leading earth scientist, geoinformatics expert, and artificial intelligence (AI) specialist, is passionate about exploring emerging science and technology. His interests extend to the societal perception and implications of these advancements and promoting evidence-based decision-making. He currently holds the position of Science Advisor for the Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC) at NASA Langley Research Center, where he provides scientific direction, programmatic support, and facilitates collaboration between NASA's atmospheric science missions, ASDC, and the broader scientific community.
Renowned for his efforts to make earth science data findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR), Dr. Virdi led a team that earned a national award from the US Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC). His research interests encompass a broad spectrum of topics, including the application of AI in earth science, land use monitoring, hydrology, climate extremes, agriculture, and atmospheric science.
As a Lead Research Scientist at Science Systems and Applications, Inc. (SSAI), Dr. Virdi leads development of AI-based frameworks for scientific analysis, and capacity building through his mentorship and curriculum development contributions to the Data Science and AI Lab (DSAIL), Software Carpentry, and NASA-Openscapes initiatives.