Two Indian American Scientists Arvind Murugan and Saad Bhamla named Schmidt Polymaths

NEW YORK (TIP) : Two Indian American scientists — Arvind Murugan and Saad Bhamla — have been named Schmidt Polymaths with six other global scientists and engineers working in a variety of disciplines.
They will each receive up to $2.5 million over five years to pursue research in new disciplines or using new methodologies, Schmidt Sciences announced.
As Schmidt Polymaths, the researchers pursue new approaches compared to previous work. The new cohort of polymaths will answer questions like how to expand access to healthcare with low-cost technologies, what happens to our chromosomes when we age and how to create more accurate computer simulations of climate.
“Our world is one deeply interconnected system—but to study it more deeply, we’ve divided it into increasingly narrow categories,” said Wendy Schmidt, who co-founded Schmidt Sciences with her husband Eric. “Schmidt Polymaths see the bigger picture, pursue answers beyond boundaries and expand the edges of what’s possible.  Their work can help steer us all toward a healthier future, for people and the planet.”
The eight selected scientists represent the fifth cohort of the highly selective Schmidt Polymaths program. Awardees must have been tenured—or achieved similar status—within the previous three years.
Drawn from universities worldwide and selected through a competitive application process, Schmidt Polymaths are required to demonstrate past ability and future potential to pursue early-stage, novel research that would otherwise be challenging to fund—even without the current dramatic declines in U.S. funding for science.
Indian American 2025 Schmidt Polymaths are:
Arvind Murugan, Associate Professor of Physics, University of Chicago.
Dr. Murugan will use experiments to explore how molecules can learn and compute by doing what comes naturally, revealing how evolution and synthetic biology can harness hidden powers in the physics of matter without micromanaging every detail.
Murugan obtained a BS in mathematics from the California Institute of Technology. He earned his PhD in high energy physics from Princeton University.  He then transitioned to working on problems at the intersection of biology, theoretical computer science and statistical physics at the Institute for Advanced Study and the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University. He joined the physics faculty at the University of Chicago in the fall of 2015.
The major thrust of his research is how physical and biological systems can learn from their environmental history and manifest neural network-like behavior.
His current work focuses on learning in molecular self-assembly and mechanical systems; and on the biological side, in the evolution of molecular error correction.
He was a Simons Investigator in the Mathematical Modeling of Living Systems, an NSF CAREER awardee and a recipient of the International Prize in Biophysics from Tel Aviv University.
Saad Bhamla, Associate Professor in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology.
Dr. Bhamla will develop low-cost technologies to tackle planetary-scale challenges, including AI-enabled point-of-care diagnostics in low-resource environments. They will also engineer autonomous morphing machines that adapt, evolve and learn like living systems.
The BhamlaLab explores fundamental and applied research questions through the development of new experimental tools and techniques at the intersection of soft matter, organismic physics and global health.
Bhamla has a PhD, Chemical Engineering from Stanford University and a BS, Chemical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Madras.
Schmidt Sciences is a nonprofit organization founded in 2024 by Eric and Wendy Schmidt that works to accelerate scientific knowledge and breakthroughs with the most promising, advanced tools to support a thriving planet.
The organization prioritizes research in areas poised for impact including AI and advanced computing, astrophysics, biosciences, climate, and space—as well as supporting researchers in a variety of disciplines through its science systems program