Ardeshir Contractor

Ardeshir Contractor is the director of strategic research projects, AI for Climate and Sustainability at the Institute for Experiential AI. Ardeshir was previously a Clinical Professor at Ohio State University, with a joint appointment in the College of Engineering and Fisher College of Business. He co-led the OSU-IIT Bombay Frontier Research Center and the OSU Computational Lab for Energy Applied Research. Ardeshir is also a visiting professor in Electrical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, and on the Institute's National Center for Photovoltaic Research advisory committee. Ardeshir was the Key Founder of Kiran Energy, one of India’s pioneering and leading solar energy companies, with joint ventures with First Solar and the Mahindra Group, which successfully exited in 2018. Ardeshir previously served as Managing Director of KPMG India. His areas of focus and research include energy transition, solar energy technology, innovations in finance, energy materials, and sustainability. He has served on several boards and government committees, including the public board director of Transportation Research Center Inc., Ohio, and Nature India, and as the Chair of Innovation, National Solar Energy Federation of India.