Bio
Dr. Budhendra “Budhu’ Bhaduri is the Chief Data Officer (CDO) for Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). He provides executive leadership for an enterprise-wide data and AI strategy that accelerates scientific discovery and operational excellence by ensuring the laboratory’s research, operational, security, and mission data are responsibly governed, AI-ready, and managed according to FAIR principles. In this role, he establishes policies for data stewardship, ethics, accessibility, and risk management. He collaborates with major laboratory initiatives and DOE’s Genesis AI efforts to scale AI-enabled and autonomous science. He also represents ORNL on national and federal committees shaping data and AI-readiness strategies.
Previously, Dr. Bhaduri served as the director of science programs and partnerships for ORNL’s National Security Sciences Directorate, providing strategic leadership to scientific and programmatic endeavors spanning geospatial science, AI and machine learning, and scalable and high-performance computing, with a focus on defense and intelligence programs.
A Corporate Research Fellow, Budhu has spearheaded initiatives covering novel implementation of geospatial science and technology for a wide variety of programs supporting energy, environment, and national security missions across the Department of Energy (DOE), the Department of Defense, and the Department of Homeland Security. From 2018 to 2024, he led the Geospatial Science and Human Security Division and was responsible for managing over 100 staff and an interdisciplinary research portfolio focused on human dynamics, geographic data science, GeoAI, remote sensing, scalable geocomputation, resilient communications, and autonomous systems. From 2014 to 2019, he founded and led ORNL’s Urban Dynamics Institute, a cross-disciplinary initiative that fostered a data driven understanding of complex urban systems. Over his career, Dr. Bhaduri’s research has had global impact, benefiting U.S. federal missions, international organizations, and philanthropic foundations.
Dr. Bhaduri is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Association of Geographers. He has served on the Geographical and Geospatial Sciences and the Mapping Science Committees of the National Academy of Sciences. He is a founding member of DOE’s Geospatial Sciences Steering Committee and a recipient of the Secretary of Energy’s Achievement Award and DOE’s Outstanding Mentor Award for his service in developing the nation’s future workforce. He holds professorial appointments with the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and actively engages with academic institutions to advance collaborative research in data science and engineering.
Dr. Bhaduri received his Ph.D. from Purdue University. He holds an M.S. from Kent State University and an M.Sc. and a B.Sc. from University of Calcutta, India.
Awards
2025 Top 50 Data Changemaker in Energy Sector, CDO Magazine and Data Society
2022 Fellow, American Association of Geographers (AAG)
2022 Jack and Laura Dangermond Lecture, University of California Santa Barbara
2021 Secretary of Energy Achievement Award, National Virtual Biotechnology Laboratory Team
2021 Sustainability Science Award, Ecological Society of America
2020 Distinguished Innovation Award, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
2019 Excellence in Technology Transfer Award, Federal Laboratory Consortium
2018 James R. Anderson Medal of Honor in Applied Geography, American Association of Geographers
2018 Special Achievement in GIS Award, Environmental Systems Research Institute, California
2017 Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
2017 Carolyn Merry Mentoring Award, University Consortium for Geographic Information Science
2012 Award for R&D Group Leadership and achievement of international recognition for programmatic scientific impacts, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
2010 Homeland Security Award in the field of Emergency Response, Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation and Agusta-Westland North America
2005 Director’s Award for Outstanding Individual Accomplishments in Community Service, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
2002 Outstanding Mentor Award, Office of Science Undergraduate Research Programs, Department of Energy