SUNY Online Teaching Ambassador 2022: SUNY Poly – Unni Pillai

Unni Pillai is an Associate Professor at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, SUNY Polytechnic Institute. He obtained his undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering from Nanyang Technological University, master’s degree in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and PhD in Economics from the University of Minnesota. His research focuses on the economic drivers of technological change in high technology industries, and the macroeconomic impact of such changes. His previous work has looked at the semiconductor, solar photovoltaic and battery industries. His current work focuses on innovation and diffusion of information technology and computational techniques like Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Computing, and its impact on productivity, employment and economic growth.

Dr. Pillai teaches two online courses every Spring and Fall Semester. Many of the students taking the classes are working full time, and the online classes provide a very useful opportunity for such students to continue their education. With the recent development of many new tools for online education, students in asynchronously taught online courses can get a participatory experience that is in many ways more enriching than in-class courses.