About Us

About AI Meru

ZenStar AI is a program that exposes students, 8th to 12th grade, to fundamental artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) concepts, guides them to build socially impactful projects, and conduct cutting-edge research. Taught by a team of both academic & industry experts in AI & ML.

Leadership

Your Goals, Our Commitment

Program designed by Award Winning Research Team. The programs are curated by both academic & corporate professionals from top universities/organizations to help guide students & industry professionals down a path of academic & industry success with artificial intelligence.

Dr. Siddharth Krishnan

Co-Founder & AI Program Director

Faculty member of Computer Science at UNC Charlotte with 10+ years in AI & ML research, 25+ publications in leading CS conferences and journals including three best paper awards; has also led several AI project development and implementation efforts at UNC Charlotte and Virgnia Tech. 

At UNC Charlotte’s College of Computing and Informatics, Dr. Krishnan co-directs the Scalable Machine Research Laboratory and teaches AI & ML courses both at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Vejay Mehta

Co-Founder & Operations Director

Vejay Mehta brings over 25 years of diverse experience in the retail, service, and finance sectors. A graduate in electronics, he has a deep understanding of technology’s role in business innovation. As a business networking specialist, Vejay has consistently leveraged his expertise to enhance business operations through tech-driven strategies. 

His practical experience and focus on tech integration make him an invaluable guide for students looking to apply AI in real-world business scenarios

Captain Sriram Gopalan

Outreach & Partnerships Director

Captain Sriram Gopalan is a veteran mariner with over 30 years of experience as a ship captain and technical engineer in the shipping industry. His deep expertise in navigation and marine engineering makes him a highly sought-after talent. Renowned for his analytical skills and project planning, Captain Sriram ensures the successful and timely delivery of complex projects.
His commitment to precision and practical application aligns perfectly with the principles of actionable learning in AI.

Our Facality

Program Partners

Dr. Monika Akbar

Monika is an Associate Professor of the Department of Computer Science at The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). Her academic background includes a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Virginia Tech and an M.S. in Computer Science from Montana State University-Bozeman.

Dr. Ram Bala

Ram is an Associate Professor of Business Analytics at the Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara University. He holds a Ph.D. in Operations Research from the UCLA. Ram is recognized as a world-renowned researcher in using machine learning for business use cases.

Dr. Razvan Bunescu

Razvan is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at UNC Charlotte. He received his Ph.D. at the University of Austin. His research focuses on AI, natural language processing, & recommender systems.

Dr. Srijan Das

Srijan is an Assistant Professor at University of North Carolina Charlotte. He was a Postdoc at Stony Brook University, New York. He completed his Ph.D. in computer science from University Côte d'Azur and Inria Sophia Antipolis. His research focuses on AI Computer Vision and self driving cars.

Dr. Samah Gad

Samah is an experienced engineering and machine learning leader with over 17 years of industry experience spanning research and teaching, with over 9 years managing large engineering organizations. She earned her PhD in Computer Science from Virginia Tech.

Dr. M Shahriar Hossain

Shahriar is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). He received a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Virginia Tech and joined the Department of Computer Science at UTEP. His research focuses on Data Science, with a specialization in Big Data Mining and Machine Learning.

Dr. Maya Kapoor

Software Engineer and Research Scientist at Parsons Corporation. Her research interests are in security, encryption, data processing and knowledge discovery, and networking. Received her Ph.D. in Computing from UNC Charlotte in 2023. Has published extensively in peer-reviewed conferences and journals in the last five years.

Dr. Christian Kümmerle

Christian is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at UNC Charlotte. He received his Ph.D. from the Technical University of Munich and PostDoc from Johns Hopkins University. His research addresses computational and statistical challenges arising from AI & ML systems.

Dr. Thomas Moyer

Thomas is a staff software engineer at Canonical & an adjunct professor at UNC Charlotte. He was a research scientist at MIT Lincoln Laboratory in the Secure Resilient Systems and Technology Group. He received his Ph.D. at Penn State and his research focuses at the intersection of AI & Cybersecurity.