Nirmala Sitharaman visits National Science Foundation in Washington

FM Nirmala Sitharaman (Image: ANI)

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman visited the National Science Foundation headquarters here and was given presentations on key issues like astronomy, AI for robotics and public messaging during health crises.

Sitharaman was in the American capital to attend the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. She started her six-day trip last Monday with an interaction with the think-tank community at the prestigious Brookings Institute.

During her visit to the NSF on Sunday, Sitharaman was given virtual presentations on topics such as astronomy, public messaging during health crises like COVID-19, and AI for robotics, with applications for agriculture and environmental sustainability by eminent and distinguished professors.

Dr Katherine Bouman, lead researcher for the breakthrough discovery on black holes; Nobel laureate and MIT Professor of Economics Dr Abhijit Banerjee; and Dr Girish Chowdhary, co-founder and chief technology officer of Earth Sense were among those who made presentations.

NSF director Dr Sethuraman Panchanathan briefed Sitharaman on the work of the foundation and gave her a tour of the NSF gallery.

"The NSF is proud of the partnerships India and the US have fostered over the years to advance society. Global collaboration has powered amazing things, from capturing the first images of a black hole to battling pandemics," Panchanathan said. Sitharaman left for India later in the evening.