Ranveer Chandra and Purvi Mehta

Fall 2026 Harry ’51 and Joshua ’49 Tsujimoto Perspectives in Global Development and the Environment Seminar Series

About the speaker

Ranveer Chandra is the Vice President of Frontier Tuning, and the CTO of Agri-Food at Microsoft. Previously, Ranveer served as the Managing Director for Research for Industry, the Chief Scientist of Microsoft Azure Global, and also led Networking Research at Microsoft Research, Redmond. His research has shipped as part of multiple Microsoft products, including VirtualWiFi in Windows 7 onwards, low power Wi-Fi in Windows 8, Energy Profiler in Visual Studio, Software Defined Batteries in Windows 10, and the Wireless Controller Protocol in XBOX One. His research also led to a new product(opens in new tab). Ranveer is active in the networking and systems research community, and has served as the Program Committee Chair of IEEE DySPAN 2012, ACM MobiCom 2013, and ACM HotNets 2022.

Ranveer started Project FarmBeats at Microsoft in 2015. He also led the battery research project, and the white space networking project at Microsoft Research. He was invited to the USDA to present his research to the US Secretary of Agriculture, and this work was featured by Bill Gates(opens in new tab) in GatesNotes, and was selected by Satya Nadella as one of 10 projects that inspired him in 2017(opens in new tab). Ranveer has also been invited to the FCC to present his work on TV white spaces, and spectrum regulators from India, China, Brazil, Singapore and US (including the FCC chairman) have visited the Microsoft campus to see his deployment of the world’s first urban white space network. As part of his doctoral dissertation, Ranveer developed VirtualWiFi. The software has over a million downloads and was among the top 5 downloaded software released by Microsoft Research. It is shipping as a feature in Windows since 2009.

Ranveer has published more than 150 papers, and holds over 150 patents granted by the USPTO. His research has been cited by the popular press, such as the Economist, MIT Technology Review, BBC, Scientific American, New York Times, WSJ, among others. He is a Fellow of the ACM and the IEEE, and has won several awards, including award papers at ACM CoNext, ACM SIGCOMM, IEEE RTSS, USENIX ATC, Runtime Verification (RV’16), ACM COMPASS, and ACM MobiCom, the Microsoft Research Graduate Fellowship, the Microsoft Gold Star Award, the MIT Technology Review’s Top Innovators Under 35, TR35 (2010) and Fellow in Communications, World Technology Network (2012). He was recently recognized by the Newsweek magazine as America’s 50 most Disruptive Innovators (2021), and Distinguished Alumnus of IIT Kharagpur (2025). Ranveer has an undergraduate degree from IIT Kharagpur, India and a PhD from Cornell University.

Purvi Mehta is the former Senior Advisor of the Global Growth and Opportunities division at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Global Development at Cornell University. 

Her formal education, up to her Ph.D., is from M.S. University (India), Tokyo University (Japan), and North Carolina State University (USA). Dr. Mehta has worked with leading international organizations like the CGIAR as head of Asia for the International Livestock Research Institute and International Food Policy Research Institute (USAID) as head of South Asia Biosafety program. 

She is on the board of several organizations, including the International Alliance for Ecology and Health, the International Centre for Rural Agriculture, the Board of National Commodity Derivatives Exchange Ltd (NCDEX), and the Advisory Council for the World Food Prize. She is also an honorary professor at Amity University in India. She has been closely associated with several agriculture and nutrition policy platforms in India, South and Southeast Asia, and Africa. She serves on several committees and advisory panels, bringing a blend of experience from Asia and Africa. 

Dr. Mehta has two books and over 50 publications to her credit. She is also a regular contributor as invited columnist for media houses like Economic Times, Financial Express, CNBC, etc.

Abstract

Forthcoming

About the seminar series

The Harry ’51 & Joshua ’49 Tsujimoto Perspectives in Global Development and the Environment Seminar Series showcases innovative approaches to development with experts from around the globe. Each year, the series attracts online registrants from over 45 countries and more than 350 organizations. 

Seminars are held Wednesdays from 12:20-1:10 p.m. Eastern time during the semester in 175 Warren Hall. Students, faculty and the general public are welcome to attend in-person or via Zoom.

The series is co-sponsored by the Sections of Global Development and Natural Resources and the Environment and the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management as part of courses GDEV 4961, AEM 4961, NTRES 4961, GDEV 6960, AEM 6960, and NTRES 6960.