Columbia University Professor of Chemistry to give a talk at BME

On Friday 21 March, Venkat Venkatsubramadian, Professor of Chemical Engineering at Columbia University and a member of the American Academy of Engineering, will visit BME. He will give a talk on his current research, meet teachers and be welcomed by Rector Charaf Hassan.

Venkat Venkatsubramadian earned his Ph. D. in Chemical Engineering at Cornell, M.S. in Physics at Vanderbilt, and B.Tech. in Chemical Engineering at the University of Madras, India. He taught at Purdue University for 23 years before returning to Columbia in 2011. He is a complex-dynamical-systems theorist interested in developing mathematical models of their structure, function, and behavior from fundamental conceptual principles. His research interests range from AI to systems engineering to theoretical physics to economics, but they are generally focused on understanding complexity and emergent behavior in different domains.

Apparently, his talk on Friday – entitled Quo Vadis ChatGPT? From Large Language Models to Large Knowledge Models – is not closely related to chemical engineering, but it is worth knowing that 

he is one of the leading expert on the application of large language models in engineering (mainly pharmaceuticals).

But let's see what he himself has to say about the topic of his talk:

"The surprising success of generative AI models in applications such as natural language processing and image synthesis excites many researchers, especially regarding the potential opportunities in process systems engineering (PSE). However, there is an essential difference between such applications and PSE. PSE is governed by fundamental laws of physics and chemistry (and biology), constitutive relations, and highly technical knowledge about materials, processes, and systems. While purely data-driven machine learning has its immediate uses, the long-term success of AI in scientific and engineering domains, I believe, would depend on leveraging first principles and technical knowledge effectively. ChatGPT’s 'hallucinations' are perhaps amusing in certain applications, but they are potentially dangerous in highly technical domains such as PSE. In this talk, I will discuss these challenges and opportunities going forward."

The talk takes place at 9:30 in the Eszter Pécsi Hall of building K.

Rector's Office, Communications Directorate