Venu Govindaraju

Venu Govindaraju is an Indian-American whose research interests are in the fields of artificial intelligence, handwriting recognition, document image analysis and biometrics. He presently serves as the Vice President for Research and Economic Development,^[1][2] and is a SUNY Distinguished Professor^[3] of Computer Science and Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, NY, USA.

Venu Govindaraju
Vice President for Research and Economic Development University at Buffalo
Personal details
Born	1964 Vijayawada, India
Citizenship	American
Alma mater	Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
Scientific career
Fields	Artificial Intelligence Computer science and engineering Pattern recognition Machine learning Handwriting recognition Biometrics
Institutions	University at Buffalo
Doctoral advisor	Sargur Srihari

He has been recognized by leaders in Congress,^[4] the New York State Assembly, the County of Erie (New York) and Town of Amherst (New York) for being a “world-renown researcher and compassionate leader…whose work exemplifies the spirit of discovery, service and dedication to the public good.”

Research career

After graduating with a Ph.D. from the University at Buffalo, Govindaraju served from 1992 to 2003 as a research scientist at the Center of Excellence for Document Analysis and Recognition (CEDAR), at the University at Buffalo founded and managed by Sargur Srihari. He became Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University at Buffalo in 2000, a full Professor in 2002, and a SUNY Distinguished Professor, the highest faculty rank in the State University of New York system, in 2010. Govindaraju was the founding director of the Center for Unified Biometrics and Sensors and has remained its director since its inception in 2003.^[5]

Govindaraju is principal investigator and leads the NSF-funded National AI Institute for Exceptional Education,^[6] developing models to detect language and communication challenges in children early. His groundbreaking work, previously having transformed the postal industry,^[7] now empowers speech-language pathologists with tools to screen and support children with dyslexia and dysgraphia.

Awards and Honors

Govindaraju was invited to join the Empire AI board of directors in 2025.

In 2024, Govindaraju received the University at Buffalo President's Medal in recognition of extraordinary service to the university.^[8]

Also in 2024, he was named Person of the Year by the Council of Heritage and Arts of India for his groundbreaking contributions to AI.^[9]

Govindaraju is a fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery,^[10] the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers),^[11] the AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science),^[12] the IAPR (International Association for Pattern Recognition),^[13] and the SPIE (International Society for Optics and Photonics).^[14]

He is the recipient of the 2001 International Conference on Document Analysis and Recognition Young Investigator award,^[15] the 2004 MIT Global Indus Technovator Award,^[16] the 2010 IEEE Technical Achievement Award,^[17] the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) Distinguished Alumnus Award (2014), and the 2015 IAPR/ICDAR Outstanding Achievements Award.^[18] He was named a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors in 2015.^[19]

Education

Govindaraju earned his undergraduate degree with honors (BTech) in computer science from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India in 1986 and his master's and Ph.D.^[20] degrees in computer science in 1988 and 1992 from the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, NY, USA.^{[citation needed]}