Amy and Bill Gurley Endowment for Texas Robotics<\/a>, which provides a 1:1 match for new endowments and expands opportunities for students and faculty working at the forefront of robotics.<\/p>\n\u201cUT students and faculty need the resources to build the robot brain, which is essentially the AI that will define the future of robotics,\u201d Deepu says.<\/p>\n
The robot brain \u2014 AI that lets robots think and learn \u2014 is the missing piece in robotics. He cautions that putting untested AI into robots can be risky, since the machines could cause damage.\u00a0By training and testing AI in simulation, researchers can experiment safely before applying it to robots for tasks that are dangerous or difficult for people. With technology advancing rapidly, he is eager to see UT students and faculty keep pace while making meaningful progress.<\/p>\n
Central to the gift is a computing cluster, a set of powerful computers that work together to help researchers train AI models and run simulations. As Deepu explains, \u201cWithout the right computing infrastructure, research cannot move forward.\u201d The endowment gives researchers the resources to experiment safely and take their work further than ever before.<\/p>\n
Shaped by Experience<\/p>\n
Deepu\u2019s commitment to expanding opportunity is rooted in his own experience as a student.<\/p>\n
Reflecting on the challenge of a rigorous Ph.D. program, he remembers: \u201cDuring my first semester, I was near the bottom in a few of my classes. I had to catch up, which taught me how hard you need to work to succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n
In honor of his mentor, Dr. Lizy John, Deepu established the Dr. Lizy John Endowed Graduate Fellowship, which supports graduate students in electrical and computer engineering.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe gave me the freedom to explore what interested me and pushed me to excel,\u201d he says. \u201cI wanted to create an opportunity for other students to have that same experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Nvidia-Talla Endowment for Texas Robotics gives students and faculty the tools to explore, experiment and expand what\u2019s possible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As a child, Deepu Talla, Ph.D. ECE \u201901, was captivated by the imaginative worlds of \u201cStar Trek\u201d and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242093,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[11918,23466,8014,3618,1049,3621,27,29,28,11657],"class_list":{"0":"post-242092","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-alumni","9":"tag-austin-impact","10":"tag-cockrell-school-of-engineering","11":"tag-college-of-natural-sciences","12":"tag-students","13":"tag-technology","14":"tag-texas","15":"tag-texas-headlines","16":"tag-texas-news","17":"tag-what-starts-here-campaign-stories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242092\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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As a child, Deepu Talla, Ph.D. ECE \u201901, was captivated by the imaginative worlds of \u201cStar Trek\u201d and \u201cStar Wars,\u201d where intelligent machines were still science fiction. That early fascination has inspired his work in robotics and continues to drive him today. Now vice president of robotics and edge computing at Nvidia, a global leader in computing and AI, Deepu is helping bring that future closer to reality while giving back to UT through the Nvidia-Talla Endowment for Texas Robotics.<\/p>\n