Dhireesha Kudithipudi, founding director of the MATRIX AI Consortium at UT San Antonio, has been named a member of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Future Council on Next-Generation Computing. She is one of only 19 global experts selected to serve on the council to advise global leaders on emerging computing technologies.
This prestigious appointment recognizes her leadership in transdisciplinary research and positions MATRIX as a key contributor to international discussions that will define the next era of global technology.
Shaping the future of computing
The WEF Global Future Councils represent an elite knowledge network composed of 37 thematic groups with more than 700 experts addressing some of the world’s most critical emerging issues. Kudithipudi will serve alongside prominent figures from IBM Research, SandboxAQ, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, UC Berkeley, the University of Toronto, Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation and the European Space Agency.
The council’s insights and recommendations are reflected in its recently published Next-Generation Computing Framework. Released in October 2026 in collaboration with the WEF, the report offers guidance to global governments and organizations by examining the technologies and strategic priorities shaping the future of computing worldwide.
Kudithipudi also received a special invitation from the WEF to attend its Quantum Economy Day in Geneva, Switzerland, in October.
“It is a privilege to contribute to the WEF council’s global effort to shape the future of computing. Bringing together scientific, industry and policy perspectives from around the world is essential to setting shared priorities and ensuring that advances in computing address global challenges,” Kudithipudi said.
Advancing brain-inspired AI
Kudithipudi has spent years advancing neuromorphic AI — artificial intelligence modeled on the brain — from early experimentation to real-world applications. Her research explores how systems modeled on biological processes can address one of AI’s growing challenges: energy consumption. Traditional AI models can require significant amounts of energy, in part because conventional computing architectures separate memory and processing units. In contrast, neuromorphic computing draws inspiration from the brain’s structure and function to create systems capable of learning and adapting with dramatically lower energy consumption.
In January 2025, Kudithipudi was lead author of a landmark review paper published in Nature that brought together international experts to examine pathways for scaling neuromorphic computing.
Her research aligns with issues the WEF council examines, including how next-generation computing systems can become more powerful while remaining sustainable and centered on human needs. Addressing that challenge requires expertise across traditional boundaries, an approach at the heart of MATRIX, Kudithipudi noted.
Building a high-functioning research ecosystem
Under Kudithipudi’s leadership, MATRIX has grown into a vibrant transdisciplinary network of nearly 90 scientists across three organizations, featuring expertise spanning engineering, neuroscience, ethics, medicine and computing. The consortium is dedicated to solving real-world challenges in healthcare, energy, cybersecurity and smart cities.
MATRIX advances major federally funded research initiatives, with Kudithipudi leading national research efforts and serving as an institutional lead for two Centers of Excellence and contributing to a total of six. These specialized research collaborations unite expertise across academia, national laboratories and industry to address complex scientific and technological challenges. Such efforts represent one facet of MATRIX’s broader research portfolio, encompassing adaptive AI, energy-efficient edge computing and computing in extreme environments.
Infrastructure ready for deployment
While institutions worldwide compete to develop faster, more powerful and sustainable computing systems, UT San Antonio has already built the physical hardware infrastructure required to support the next generation of computing technologies.
This year, Kudithipudi led the university’s launch of THOR: The Neuromorphic Commons, the nation’s first open-access hub for brain-inspired computing. Access to THOR allows researchers, engineers, neuroscientists, startups and federal agencies nationwide to deploy and test neuromorphic applications on a unified platform.
Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), THOR was built with a mission to integrate specialized hardware, new software frameworks and deployment infrastructure into one centralized research platform.
From San Antonio to a global stage
Kudithipudi’s appointment expands UT San Antonio’s participation in international discussions about the future of computing while creating opportunities for new research collaborations and partnerships. These efforts both underscore and accelerate the next stage of growth for MATRIX, connecting researchers with major federal initiatives, national research infrastructure and collaborators across sectors, she said.
“The future of computing demands a fundamental shift toward energy-efficient, brain-inspired systems capable of learning and adapting throughout their lifetime,” Kudithipudi said. “At MATRIX AI, we are advancing this vision through foundational research, next-generation computing architectures and chips, and real-world systems that will shape the future of AI.”
