Jump to content

Amar Gupta

From Alfawiki
Amar Gupta
Born1953
Nadiad, Gujarat, India
Occupation(s)Computer scientist, professor
Years active1979–present
Known forInnovation in telemedicine, digital health, distributed teams, electronic check processing, fairness in machine learning

Amar Gupta (born 1953) is an Indian-born computer scientist currently residing in the United States. His professional journey spans academia, industry, and international institutions, with a focus on bridging technology and business and creating prototype systems that facilitated the broad adoption of emerging technologies.

Gupta's professional life is closely associated with MIT. In 2015, he returned to MIT to contribute at the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES), the Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, and the Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). His work centers on innovation and entrepreneurship within Digital Health and globally dispersed teams. He holds leadership roles as Principal or Co-Principal Investigator and Coordinator on projects such as "Telemedicine" and "Enhancing Productivity of Geographically Distributed Teams."

During the interval between his appointments at MIT, Gupta served as the Phyllis and Ivan Seidenberg Endowed Professor and dean at Pace University’s Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems. Prior to that, he was the Thomas R. Brown Professor of Management and Technology at the University of Arizona, where he held multiple interdisciplinary professorships spanning Entrepreneurship, Management Information Systems, Computer Science, Latin American Studies, Public Health, Law, and Pharmacy. He also directed the Nexus of Entrepreneurship and Technology Initiative.

Education

Born in 1953 in Nadiad, Gujarat, India, Gupta completed his Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering in 1974 at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. His senior project on an Electronic Taximeter was recognized as a finalist for best project that year. In 1980, he earned a Master of Science in management from MIT Sloan School of Management, where his thesis received an Honorable Mention for the Brooks Prize. That same year, he obtained a PhD in computer science from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi based on research conducted at MIT.

Life and career

Between 1979 and 2004, Gupta was founding co-director of MIT’s Productivity from Information Technology (PROFIT) Initiative and held significant positions at MIT Sloan School of Management. As director of the Research Program on Communications Policy within MIT’s School of Engineering, he facilitated the creation of the Internet Telephony Consortium (later renamed Internet and Telephony Convergence Consortium), playing a critical role in advancing voice-over-IP commercialization. Serving as associate director of MIT's International Financial Services Research Center, he spearheaded research that contributed to nationwide electronic check clearing systems influencing legislation such as the US Check-21 Act and similar developments worldwide. Gupta also served three terms on Sloan’s Diversity Committee, promoting increased participation from underrepresented minorities and mentoring distinguished students including Salman Khan (founder of Khan Academy), Ronjon Nag (founder of Cellmania), and Phil Mui (strategist at Google Analytics).

Gupta provided strategic advice on technology and innovation to multinational corporations including IBM, Citibank, Chevron, and AIG. His consultancy extended to UN agencies such as WHO, UNDP, UNIDO, and the World Bank where he contributed to national policy formulation and large-scale information management projects. Leading a UNDP team during banking crises in a Latin American country, he helped establish a national financial information infrastructure. He was part of WHO’s expert group developing health informatics policies adopted by over 100 nations. Additionally, Gupta advised UNDP’s $500 million initiative to equip Brazilian schools with computers and supported World Bank distance education programs in Mozambique. He secured authorization for two UN Centers of Excellence in Information Technology. As MIT Sloan’s inaugural senior research scientist, he co-developed the United States’ first international outsourcing course alongside Professor Lester Thurow.

From 2004 until 2012, Gupta held the Thomas R. Brown Professorship in Management and Technology at the University of Arizona’s Eller College of Management. He also served as professor in entrepreneurship and management information systems while acting as senior director for research and business development. He initiated dual degree programs combining graduate studies with entrepreneurship certificates across Colleges of Agriculture, Science, Engineering, Medicine, and Optics. Gupta fostered interdisciplinary research collaborations focused on improving healthcare along the US-Mexico border without additional funding resources. He also pursued establishing a privately funded International Center of Excellence.

Between 2012 and 2015, Gupta joined Pace University’s Seidenberg School of Computer Science as founder and head of the "Nexus of Entrepreneurship and Technology" initiative. Working closely with trustees from the Thomas R. Brown Foundation, he refined impactful project concepts and launched cross-disciplinary telehealth programs. He cultivated partnerships with healthcare IT startups that garnered several New York City Pilot Health Tech Innovation Awards and established collaborations with government bodies and private sector entities. One notable achievement was The Telehealth Intervention Program for Seniors (TIPS), which received a National Association of Counties Achievement Award in 2016.

National telemedicine policy

Gupta introduced a national telemedicine framework, which was adopted on June 11, 2018, by the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). This policy allows VA healthcare providers to deliver services across state borders with reduced administrative burdens.

Telemedicine

Gupta explored the possibility of utilizing healthcare professionals worldwide during their daytime hours to offer superior patient care internationally during nighttime periods. This innovative approach was published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.

24-Hour Knowledge Factory

The concept of the 24-Hour Knowledge Factory was created by Gupta to facilitate continuous collaboration among experts located in different time zones on shared projects. Various sectors are currently examining this model. In recognition of this pioneering idea, Gupta received an IBM faculty award in 2007.

Healthcare applications

Gupta proposed a triad strategy for healthcare solutions that incorporates on-site personnel, remote specialists, and sophisticated computational tools. Initially suggested in 2001 for mammogram analysis involving technicians, radiologists, and data analytics, this approach earned first place at Cornell's Big Red Venture Contest. A more detailed version was featured in The Wall Street Journal, accompanied by a related interview video.

Electronic check processing

Gupta was the principal inventor behind the US Patent titled "System and Method for Character Recognition with Normalization" (Patent #5633954, issued May 1997). This patent played a pivotal role in a significant Canadian court ruling in 2010 and pertains to the automated reading of check amounts and electronic transmission to issuing banks. This technology forms the foundation of the Check 21 Act in the United States.

Fairness in machine learning

From 2021 to 2022, Gupta spearheaded two major projects addressing fairness in artificial intelligence: one examined equity in mortgage lending, published in Machine Learning and Knowledge Extraction and highlighted by MIT News and The Boston Globe; the other investigated bias in opioid prescription patterns, submitted as a master’s thesis at MIT.

Books

  • Outsourcing and Offshoring of Professional Services: Business Optimization in a Global Economy (IGI Global, 2008, )
  • Knowledge Reuse and Agile Processes: Catalysts for Innovation (co-authored with Amit Mitra, IGI Global, 2008, )
  • Creating Agile Business Systems with Reusable Knowledge (co-authored with Amit Mitra, Cambridge University Press, 2006, )
  • Agile Systems with Reusable Patterns of Business Knowledge: A Component-Based Approach (co-authored with Amit Mitra, Artech House, 2005, )

Articles in Popular Media (Partial List)

  • Prescription for Change, The Wall Street Journal, October 20, 2008 (article and video interview).
  • Expanding the 24 Hour Workplace, The Wall Street Journal, September 15, 2007 (article and podcast interview).
  • The Critical Role of Trusted Agents, Sloan Management Review, Vol. 43, No. 4, Summer 2002, pp. 94–95.
  • Personal Computers (with H.D. Toong), Scientific American, Vol. 247, No. 6, December 1982, pp. 88–99.

Publications

  • "Teleneurology Consultations for Prognostication and Brain Death Diagnosis," co-authored with U.M. Gircar, R. Palacios, L. H. Schwamm, P. Singla, H. May, J. Estrada, C. Whitney, and M. Matiello, forthcoming in Telemedicine and eHealth.
  • "Impact of Telemedicine in Pediatric Post-Operative Care," written with K. Young and R. Palacios, published in Telemedicine and e-Health, 2018.
  • "The Role of Brokers and Social Identities in the Development of Capabilities in Global Virtual Teams," with E. Mattarelli, G. Carli, and M. R. Tagliaventi, featured in the Journal of International Management in 2017.
  • "Third-World 'Sloggers' or Elite Global Professionals? Using Organizational Toolkits to Redefine Work Identity in IT Offshore Outsourcing," co-authored by S. Koopman and E. Mattarelli, appeared in Organization Science, 27(4), 2016; recipient of the Best Published Paper Award from the Academy of Management OCIS Division in 2017.
  • "Threats to the International Trade Regime: Economic and Legal Challenges from Anti-Offshoring Measures," written with D. Sao, published in The International Lawyer, Vol. 47, No. 3, 2014.
  • "Navigating the Mutual Knowledge Problem: A Comparative Case Study of Distributed Work," co-authored with S. Koppman, appeared in Information Technology & People, Vol. 27, No. 1, 2014.
  • "Interoperable Electronic Health Record: Adoption of a National Standard to Address Healthcare Crisis," with D. Sao and D. A. Gantz, published in Journal of Legal Medicine, Vol. 34, No. 1, 2013.
  • "Legal and Regulatory Barriers to Telemedicine in the US: Private and Public Approaches Toward Healthcare Reform," included in The Globalization of Health Care: Legal and Ethical Challenges (with D. Sao and D. A. Gantz), Oxford University Press, 2013.
  • "A Case for Federal Regulation of Telemedicine Post-Affordable Care Act," co-written with Bill Marino and Roshen Prasad, featured in Columbia Science and Technology Law Review, Vol. XVI, Spring 2015.
  • "Creating the 24-Hour Knowledge Factory," written alongside L. Hou, T. Hedberg, C. Prendergast, and I. Crk, published in Information Systems Management, Vol. 29, No. 2, April 2012.
  • "The Constitutionality of Legal Barriers to Telemedicine in the US: Future Directions Related to Health Care Reform," with D. Sao, appeared in Health Matrix: Journal of Law-Medicine, Vol. 21, 2011.
  • "Disputes Related to Healthcare Across National Boundaries: Potential for Arbitration," co-authored by D. Sao and D.A. Gantz, published in George Washington International Law Journal, Vol. 42, 2011.
  • "Leveraging Temporal and Spatial Separations with the 24-Hour Knowledge Factory Paradigm," written with R. Bondade and I.Crk, featured in Information Systems Frontiers, Vol.13, No.3, July 2011.
  • "Global Software Development using the 24-Hour Knowledge Factory Paradigm," co-authored with N.Denny et al., published in International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology, Vol.40, No.3, 2011.
  • "Offshoring, IS Employment, and the IS Discipline: Additional Considerations," appeared in Journal of Information Technology, Vol.25, 2010.
  • "Neural Network Models to Detect Airplane Near-Collision Situations," co-written with R.Palacios et al., published in Journal of Transportation Planning and Technology, Vol.33 No.3, April 2010.
  • "Information Technology Conduit as a Portal to Circumvent the Graveyard Shift," authored with S.Sando et al., featured in Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, Vol.6 No.2, 2010.
  • "The 24-Hour Knowledge Factory: Work and Organizational Redesign," written alongside S.Seshasai et al., published in Information Management Resources Journal, Vol.23 No.4, 2010.
  • "Harmonization of International Legal Structure for Professional Services: Lessons from US Federal-State Relations," co-authored with D.Sao, appeared in Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law, Vol.18 No.2 Spring 2010.
  • "US Federalism and Anti-Offshoring Legislation: Constitutionality of Measures Against Outsourcing Professional Services," written with D.Sao, featured in Texas International Law Journal, Vol.44 Summer 2009.
  • "Use of Information Systems by Collocated and Distributed Teams: Towards the 24-Hour Knowledge Factory," authored with S.Seshasai et al., published in Journal of Strategic Information Systems, Vol.18 No.3, 2009.
  • "Offshore-Onsite Subgroup Dynamics in Globally Distributed Teams," co-written with E.Mattarelli, appeared in Information Technology and People, Vol.22 2009.
  • "A Standardized Pre-Hospital Electronic Patient Care System," authored alongside M.Gaynor et al., published in International Journal of Electronic Healthcare, Vol.5 No.2, 2009.
  • "Self-Configuration and Administration on Wireless Grids," co-authored by A.Agarwal, featured in International Journal of Grid and High Performance Computing, Vol.1 No.3, 2009.
  • "Deriving Mutual Benefits from Offshore Outsourcing: The 24-Hour Knowledge Factory Scenario," appeared in Communications of the ACM, Vol.52 No.6 June 2009.
  • "The Valuation of Technology-Based Intellectual Property in Offshoring Decisions," co-written with G.Wiederhold et al., published by Communications of Association for Information Systems (CAIS), Vol.24 No.31, 2009.
  • "Role of Wireless Grids in Outsourcing and Offshoring: Approaches and Technical Challenges," authored with A.Agarwal, featured in Journal of Information Technology Research, Vol.2 No.2, 2009.
  • "Public and Private Sector Legal Process Outsourcing: Toward a Global Model of Legal Expertise Deliverance" (with S.Borsand), appeared in PACE International Law Review, 2009.
  • Additional works address subjects such as IT architecture for healthcare systems; knowledge management; offshoring strategies; neural network applications for pattern recognition; telecommunications policy; microprocessor technology; data mining techniques; and automated document processing spanning from the early 1980s through recent years.

External links

Retrieved from "https://www.alfawiki.org/index.php?title=Amar_Gupta&oldid=27624"