Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA: Indian-American artificial intelligence expert Aniruddha S. Vaidya is set to receive the prestigious Outstanding Engineering Alumni Award 2026 from the Penn State College of Engineering on April 9.
Currently serving as Senior Director of Artificial Intelligence Computing at NVIDIA, Vaidya leads a global engineering team of over 130 professionals. He is being honored for his significant contributions to artificial intelligence, high-performance computing, and industry leadership.
At NVIDIA, Vaidya has played a crucial role in developing advanced AI infrastructure, including GPUs, systems-on-chip, and large-scale computing systems used in data centers, autonomous vehicles, and robotics. His work spans multiple generations of GPU architecture, from Kepler to Rubin, and includes contributions to NVSwitch systems and performance optimization tools.
Before joining NVIDIA, Vaidya spent more than a decade at Intel Labs as a senior staff research scientist, focusing on CPU server platforms, cache coherence, network-on-chip systems, and GPU computing.
An alumnus of Penn State, he earned his doctorate in computer science and engineering in 1999. He continues to support the institution through his role on the Industrial and Professional Advisory Council for the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
Vaidya began his academic journey in India, earning his bachelor’s degree from IIT (Varanasi) and a master’s degree from the Indian Institute of Science.
Alongside his professional achievements, he has contributed to community service through leadership roles with the Association for India’s Development.
The Outstanding Engineering Alumni Award represents the highest honor conferred by the College of Engineering, recognizing exceptional professional accomplishments.
At the same ceremony, Sudeepta Mondal will receive the Early Career Award. Currently a principal research engineer at RTX Technology Research Center, Mondal is recognized for his work in trustworthy AI, scientific machine learning, and generative AI, particularly for aerospace and defense applications.
Both awards will be presented during a joint ceremony on April 9 at the State Theatre.
