Prabakaran Chandran
பிரபாகரன்சந்திரன்
I love complexity, and how it has made this beautiful world.
Welcome,
Complexity makes me observe and study its subtle beauties. I compute, and weave systems and intelligence to solve emerging problems, as they create boundless opportunities. That means studying how complex systems learn and behave, asking the right question before the method, turning each experiment into understanding, and solving problems that matter, for the world.
I grew up in a village near Rasipuram, became a control engineer almost by accident, and have looked at the world as a system ever since. Now I do research at Columbia on how learning systems work, I teach, and I write down what each experiment changes in my understanding.
I also sketch, cook and read old Tamil poetry. I used to keep those in a separate house. They live here now, beside the work: art, philosophy, science and engineering under one roof. This is where I learn and teach, write to the world, and work on problems worth solving. Take your time.
கற்றதனால் ஆய பயனென்கொல் வாலறிவன்
நற்றாள் தொழாஅர் எனின்.No fruit have men of all their studied lore,
Save they the 'Purely Wise One's' feet adore.
G. U. Pope, 1886
On the bench
The many kinds of Research EngineerNewest
Everything →
Writing
Essays on what I study and build, and musings on everything else: reflections, poems in English and Tamil, and the sketchbook.
NewestPreferred Problem Spaces — Building My Career Around What Keeps Me CuriousLab
Experiments, notebooks and builds. Each one starts from a question, and its failures stay in the book.
NewestThe many kinds of Research EngineerLessons
Bentos of ten essential readings, courses I work through in the open, tutorials and primers from first principles, and the shelf I read from. Written so the next person gets there faster.
NewestThe Art of Problem Solving in the Age of SuperintelligenceInquiries
What I keep asking, what I think now and how sure I am, and the work beneath each one. Answers welcome.
KeptWhat system is worth understanding, and what is actually happening underneath it?Correspondence
When an experiment changes my mind, I write a letter about it. There is no schedule, and each one asks you something back.
NewestIntroducing "nudge_" — A Newsletter for the Inquisitive Grad MindAbout
Prabakaran Chandran, from a control engineering degree in Tamil Nadu to research and teaching in New York. The long version.
The recordRésumé
