Raj Pai

Center: NASA Ames Research Center (ARC)

Division: Aviation Systems Division

Professional Biography

Raj Pai serves as Senior Technologist for the Aviation Systems Division where he leads machine learning and big data research programs in support of the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD)’s Sky for All Initiative and the FAA’s Info-centric National Airspace Systems (NAS).

Prior to joining NASA, Raj Pai spent more than 25 years in Silicon Valley in both technology and business roles. As a domain expert in machine learning, AI, big data, and cloud technologies, Pai is passionate about understanding customer needs across market segments and harnessing technology solutions to solve them. As product leader at leading data companies including Teradata, Informatica, and Tibco, Intel, he and his team developed and deployed enterprise solutions across healthcare, financial services, and telecommunications. At smart grid startup, AutoGrid Inc., he drove the effort to deploy internet applications for global energy service providers enabling them to harvest clean energy sources for growth and efficiency. Pai also served as CEO/founder at Claritics where he pioneered cloud-based user analytics for gaming and media.

Pai is a well-known thought leader and frequent speaker at industry and academic events and is a mentor for Data Science interns and researchers at NASA. In his personal life, he is actively involved with entrepreneurs, educators, and change makers in the Bay Area and he enjoys riding his bike and is always willing to engage in a “foodie” adventure.

Pai received his Bachelor’s degree in Technology from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay; a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Hawaii, Mānoa; and a Master of Business Administration from the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley.