CMI seeks closer industry partnerships in AI, mathematical sciences

Madhavan Mukund, Director, CMI

The Chennai Mathematical Institute (CMI) is looking to double down on industry collaborations to add more dimensions to the student experience at the research and education institute.

Speaking at the institute’s Twenty-third Annual Convocation here one Friday, Madhavan Mukund, Director, CMI said that in recent years, many CMI graduates have taken up challenging industry positions across diverse domains, from investment to finance to manufacturing to technology.

“Although CMI is largely a theoretical academic institute, we have ambitions to contribute to the world around us. To this effect, we have been making active efforts to engage with industry and government,” he said.

He mentioned that the institute is willing to engage with the industry in any area related to the mathematical sciences, especially around AI and machine learning. 

“We have also been trying to work with the State government including the Tamil Nadu E-Governance Agency, which has been charged with bringing in data-related governance to the government activities,” he said. 

real-world challenges

Soumya Swaminathan, Chairperson, MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, speaking at the event urged graduates to use their scientific training to address real-world challenges and ensure that the benefits of science reach those with fewer opportunities. 

Scientists should inspire the next generation, particularly children from disadvantaged backgrounds, while emphasising that science is most impactful when knowledge is shared, she said. “We cannot underestimate the importance of sharing knowledge and of inspiring the next generation,” she added.

CMI graduated 20 undergraduate students, 61 post graduate students alongside 8 PhD students. The institute offers two undergraduate programmes namely Mathematics and Computer Science, and Mathematics and Physics alongside three master’s programmes in Mathematics, Computer Science and Data Science and PhD programmes in Mathematics, Computer Science, and Physics.

On CMI’s new Dr. FC Kohli Centre of Excellence located close to its main campus Siruseri, Mukund said that the campus is almost ready and should be open in the next few months. 

“The centre will expand CMI’s activities by specialising in research programmes on focused topics, ranging from a few days to months long. We will host visiting faculty and scientists at different levels from across the world and will have seminars, instruction schools, and workshops,” he said. 

Meanwhile, Mukund said that there have been alarming stories about admissions to colleges dropping to unsustainable numbers and departments having to shut down programmes in Mathematics. To reverse this trend the institute is also hosting training camps for mathematics olympiads for young school students, he said.

“In our new campus a large fraction of the effort will go into having outreach activities towards building this kind of interest in mathematics. There is a large space set aside in the campus for what we call loosely a mathematics museum, which will have exhibits and activities which are designed to encourage students from both school and college to come and explore mathematics in a way which possibly they don’t get to in their classrooms,” Mukund said.

Published on July 24, 2026