<span style="color: #222222;">US President Donald Trump has picked Indian-American computer scientist Sethuraman Panchanathan to lead the prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF). </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The NSF is a US government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Panchanathan would succeed France Cordova when her six-year term as the NSF Director ends in 2020. NSF Director is a Senate-confirmed position.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Panchanathan is currently the Executive Vice President and the Chief Research and Innovation Officer at the Arizona State University. He is also the Founding Director of the Centre for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing at the ASU.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Panchanathan earned a bachelor's degree in Physics from the University of Madras in 1981 and in Electronics and Communication Engineering from the Bangalore-based Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in 1984. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">He then earned his master's degree in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras in 1986 and PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Canada-based University of Ottawa in 1989.</span><br />