Rajesh Kasturirangan is a

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

and a

cognitive scientist Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary, scientific study of the mind and its processes. It examines the nature, the tasks, and the functions of cognition (in a broad sense). Mental faculties of concern to cognitive scientists include percep ...

from India whose research is on how language and concepts are grounded in the world. He completed his M.Sc in 1993 at

IIT Kanpur The Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT- Kanpur or IIT-K) is a public institute of technology located in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. As an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), it was declared an Institute of National Importance by th ...

, and Ph.D. in mathematics from

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

in 1998. He then did another PhD in

Cognitive Science Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary, scientific study of the mind and its processes. It examines the nature, the tasks, and the functions of cognition (in a broad sense). Mental faculties of concern to cognitive scientists include percep ...

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

2004 under the supervision of

Whitman Richards Whitman Albin Richards (1932–16 September 2016) was professor of cognitive sciences and of media arts and sciences and principal investigator in the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Te ...

.http://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/28313/55636098.pdf?sequence=1 His dissertation was "Mapping Spatial Relations".

Career and research

He was a research scientist at Department of Brain and Cognitive Science,

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

, before joining

NIAS Nias (, Nias: ''Tanö Niha'') is an island located off the western coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. Nias is also the name of the archipelago () of which the island is the centre, but also includes the Batu Islands to the southeast and the small ...

Bangalore. His research interests vary from applying a combination of philosophical argument, mathematical techniques and empirical observations to classical problems in cognitive science and the

philosophy of mind Philosophy of mind is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of the mind and its relation to the Body (biology), body and the Reality, external world. The mind–body problem is a paradigmatic issue in philosophy of mind, although a ...

such as the semantics of natural languages, the epistemology of beliefs and the structure of intentionality and consciousness. Rajesh Kasturirangan holds an adjunct appointment at

Azim Premji University Azim Premji University is a private university, located in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. It was founded in 2010 and is named after Azim Premji, an Indian businessman and philanthropist who was chairman of Wipro Limited. The university offers und ...

Recognition

He was awarded the Burnett Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship (

), and Copeland Fellowship, Amherst College. He was a visiting Scholar at School of Interdisciplinary Studies,

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry located in Princeton, New Jersey. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholars, including Albert Ein ...

, and also a fellow at

Mind and Life Institute The Mind & Life Institute is a US-registered, 501(c)(3) organization, not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1991 to establish the field of contemplative neuroscience, contemplative sciences. Based in Charlottesville, Va., the institute ...

. He was an invited speaker for numerous conferences and talks on education and philosophy. He was one among the twenty of the world's foremost scientists and philosophers, who were invited to speak at The Mind and Life XXVI conference, held on 17–22 January 2013.Archived a
Ghostarchive
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kasturirangan, Rajesh 20th-century Indian mathematicians University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni IIT Kanpur alumni Scientists from Bengaluru Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Indian cognitive scientists Philosophers of mind Consciousness researchers and theorists 20th-century Indian linguists 21st-century Indian mathematicians 21st-century Indian linguists Institute for Advanced Study visiting scholars Amherst College faculty 20th-century Indian philosophers 21st-century Indian philosophers Indian emigrants to the United States