PEOPLE
AIMI Leadership
Meet the team leading AIMI’s mission—connecting academic expertise with industry to drive innovation in artificial intelligence and materials research.
AIMI is a research center in Penn State’s Institute of Computational and Data Science, one of seven interdisciplinary research institutes within Penn State’s Office of the Senior Vice President for Research that brings researchers together to develop and apply innovative, high performance computation methods, including AI and ML.
The Institute Behind AIMI
AIMI is a center within the Institute for Computational and Data Sciences (ICDS), which is the hub of computational and data science research at Penn State. ICDS partners with colleges and campuses to recruit talented scientists, invests in cutting-edge data- and computation-enabled research, and leads initiatives to expand research leveraging data science.
ICDS also operates a world-class high-performance computing system that facilitates AI-ML research. The Roar supercomputer lets Penn State researchers carry out advanced simulation and statistical modeling, data analysis, data mining, machine learning, and more. ICDS offers 36,500 computing cores, 25 PB of storage, a dynamic software stack of broadly used research applications, ~890 gigaflops of total peak theoretical performance.
Leadership Team
Dr. Soundar Kumara
Director of AIMI
Dr. Kumara is a pioneering researcher in applied AI and machine learning, especially in manufacturing and healthcare.
With over $45 million in funded projects, he’s led collaborations with NSF, DARPA, and major corporations.
He is widely recognized as a leader in smart manufacturing and sensor-based analytics.
His research has been cited over 14,000 times, with more than 300 publications. Take a look at his publications here: Google Scholar
Dr. Kumara is a Fellow of IISE, CIRP, AAAS, and ASME, and a recipient of numerous national awards.
Gretta Kellogg
Assistant Director, AIMI
Asst. Director of Strategic Initiatives, Institute for Computational & Data Sciences
Asst. Director, Center for Applications of AI & ML to Industry
Gretta brings 20+ years of experience leading large-scale, interdisciplinary research initiatives.
She has deep expertise in high-performance computing and open-source platform deployment.
Her work connects scientists across disciplines and drives new funding opportunities.
Gretta has supported life sciences and AI research by aligning technical strategy with team needs.
Her leadership style emphasizes cross-disciplinary collaboration and enabling discovery at scale.
Todd Price
Corporate Relations Director for Research, ICDS
Todd leads industry partnerships that support high-performance computing and AI-driven research.
With 15+ years in IT, data analytics, and business development, he brings deep technical and strategic insight.
He works to bridge the gap between academia and industry through innovative engagement models.
Todd is passionate about applying computational research to solve real-world problems at scale. His role helps AIMI grow its network of collaborators and increase its impact across sectors.