BRADFORD students will be able to apply for a £10,000 scholarship for an exciting course exploring space AI later this year.
In September, the University of Bradford will launch the Renduchintala Centre for Space AI with its inaugural MSc Satellite Systems Engineering programme.
Telecoms expert Dr Venkata ‘Murthy’ Renduchintala has made a multi-million-pound donation to kickstart the new centre.
A former chief engineering officer for Intel Corporation, he now sits on the board of Fortune 500 information technology service company Accenture plc and is a member of the advisory councils for two engineering schools within the University of California Academic system.
Although he now lives in California, he studied in Bradford from 1983 to 1991.
He said: “The foundation of everything I’ve achieved has been built on what Bradford gave me academically.
“When you get to my age - somewhere between 50 and 60 - you think a lot more about what you are going to leave behind.
“This is an area where Bradford can rise above parochial perspectives. This new centre will provide the University with the ability to participate in a discussion that only has context in a global scale and thereby gives visibility of Bradford to a much broader community.
“We’re trying to elevate Bradford’s participation into a study that has global relevance, and by doing so raise the reputation and standing of the University.”
He added that science is going through a “fantastic time” at the moment.
“As far as space is concerned, we’ve only seen the trailer of the movie”, he said.
“It’s exciting to see scientists coming together to augment the tech that has already led to the degree of space research we have today.
“It's going to open a new frontier of understanding and Bradford will be part of the vanguard.”
He also sees the Renduchintala Space Centre AI as a catalyst to realise - and monetise - the untapped potential of research across the University.
He said: “The University can take advantage of the great research it has by taking a few pages out of the copybooks of some US universities.
“Imagine if Bradford was able to generate a research budget of $20 to $30m a year by commercialisation of its research.
“It’s not pie in the sky, this happens every day in the US, and it could happen here.
“Everyone is trying to find the next great idea and universities are a rich hunting ground for that. Bradford has the level of expertise to take advantage.”
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