Indian-origin academic Neeli Bendapudi has been appointed as one of five co-chairs of an Association of American Universities (AAU) task force focused on the expansion of research and academic partnerships among higher education institutions in the US and India.

Seen as a “natural fit” for the task force, Bendapudi, who is the president of the Pennsylvania State University, comes with a 30-year career as a leader in higher education and business, a Pennsylvania State University release said.

“I am honored to be selected to co-chair this talented and dedicated team — tasked by the White House — to strengthen interdisciplinary partnerships between American and Indian universities to advance innovations in areas such as semiconductor technology, nuclear energy, unmanned vehicles, space exploration, AI and digital infrastructure,” Bendapudi said.

“Our participation reflects the valuable role Penn State plays in American higher education, and I look forward to building on Penn State’s existing partnerships with universities in India, and bringing our research and academic expertise to the forefront to support this impactful collaboration,” she said in a statement.

AAU created the national task force in coordination with the Biden administration’s US-India initiative on critical and emerging technology, which seeks to grow technological and industrial collaboration between the two nations.

The task force will meet monthly to determine focus areas for bilateral research and education cooperation, to identify existing programs that could provide blueprints for future partnerships, and to formulate strategies on how best to move forward.

Given the growing population of college-age students in India, Penn State will be carefully considering how best to handle articulation agreements and transfer credits from Indian institutions in the months ahead, a University statement said.

Bendapudi was president of the University of Louisville, where she oversaw a series of transformative efforts spanning academics; finance; the health enterprise, philanthropy; athletics; diversity, equity, and inclusion; and more.

Born and raised in India, she received a bachelor’s degree and MBA from Andhra University before earning her doctorate in marketing from the University of Kansas — following her father’s footsteps to advance her education at an American university.

She has served as provost and executive vice chancellor at the University of Kansas, dean of the School of Business at the University of Kansas, and as founding director of the Initiative for Managing Services at the Ohio State University.

In addition to consulting for some of the world’s largest companies and organisations, she was the executive vice president and chief customer officer for Huntington National Bank.