What is DS&AI?

In the present day, the volume of data generated from commercial, financial, medical, academic, social, and scientific activities has reached an exponential level. Data science (DS) is an emerging interdisciplinary field that employs scientific methodologies to extract valuable insights from diverse datasets. This involves developing techniques to collect and generate new datasets, curating and storing data, conducting computational analyses, and visualizing information, ultimately leading to obtaining insights that facilitate understanding past events, reasoning about the current state, and making predictions for the future.

Artificial intelligence (AI), in short, is intelligence demonstrated by machines. But what is intelligence? Historically, the traits, such as sensing, perceiving, understanding, and responding to the environment, depicted by animals and humans have been associated with intelligence. The field of AI deals with developing systematic studies which help understand intelligence and, subsequently, model it by developing computational methods to help solve challenging problems around us.

About School of DS&AI

The Data Science and AI knowledge base is witnessing theoretical advancements and technological breakthroughs. Newer applications are emerging at a rapid pace. The future AI-skilled Workforce will need a knowledge, skills, and competencies which blur the boundaries between disciplines.

Established at IIT Guwahati and setup with support from the Mehta Family Foundation in 2021, the School aims to be a leading place working on creating knowledge by analyzing different kinds of datasets and developing methods to engineer intelligence. We adopt an interdisciplinary approach to research with contributions from the fields including but not limited to mathematics, electrical engineering, computer science, psychology, humanities, chemistry, and biology. With our undergraduate and postgraduate programs, we aim to create engineers and researchers ready to take up any data science & AI challenge. In this quest, we welcome joining hands with organizations from across the globe.
Starting in 2021, the School introduced BTech and PhD programs in DS&AI. By 2023, it extended its involvement into the MTech in Data Science program, offered jointly with Dept Mathematics and Dept. EEE of the institute. In October 2023, a pioneering move was made with the launch of the BSc (Hons.) in DS&AI online program, designed to reach a global audience. The architectural plans for the School's new building were unveiled in July 2023, with construction currently underway.

Partnership with Mehta Family Foudation

The Mehta Family Foundation, has a rich history in supporting initiatives enhancing the quality of life and access to education. Based in Houston, Texas, USA, the Foundation has supported over 100 institutions promoting education and healthcare. The Foundation promotes and supports pioneering futuristic research areas fostering intellectual talent in India. With this objective in mind, the Foundation wholeheartedly supports the Mehta Family School of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence startup. The School aims to excel in education and research in these sectors vital for India. As the nation becomes economically prosperous, there is a growing demand for tools to understand and improve society. Applying these fields will create long-term improvements in medicine, healthcare, food supply, logistics, and power generation, to name a few. India will need this critical talent to be at the forefront of the knowledge revolution.
The Foundation intends to support the Mehta Family School of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence through various means. This includes MFF-CARE, Foundation lecture series, Foundation scholarships for faculty and students, facilitating exchanges and liaisons between IIT Guwahati and international partners, and supporting state-of-the-art physical infrastructure for world-class teaching and research. The Mehta Family Foundation Collaborative for Academic and Research Excellent in India (MFF CARE) enriches the Indian education and research ecosystem by facilitating long-term collaborative relationships between Indian and American organizations. The collaboration builds upon the excellent platform provided by India's leading universities and institutes.
The Foundation envisages the Mehta Family School of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence becoming a coveted academic School for students in these new fields. The School will make meaningful contributions to society and the country via excellence in teaching, scientific research, and technology development. Below are links to few other academic Schools/Departments supported by the Mehta Family Foundation.