2026 · Scientific Reports 16, 22962
Geo-Sense: a portable distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) system for high-resolution seafloor monitoring
Aaron Micallef and colleagues, including Ankur Verma and Ayush Goyal
FOUNDER · RESEARCHER · EXPLORER
Ankur Verma, PhD
Founder & CEO, Lightscline
Building a tighter loop between sensing, analytics, and action.
Ankur Verma is a deep-tech entrepreneur and researcher working on AI for the physical world. He leads Lightscline, which develops on-site AI infrastructure for massive sensor data across manufacturing, maritime, energy, and defense.
He earned his PhD in Industrial Engineering at Penn State in 2024. His work connects smart sampling, efficient machine learning, and real-world sensing—from industrial machinery to the ocean floor.
RESEARCH & COMPANY
Intelligence closer
to the source.
What information does a sensor actually need to collect for a useful decision? That question connects Ankur’s research in undersampled learning with his work building Lightscline.
His interests span data-efficient neural networks, edge computing, industrial monitoring, and distributed acoustic sensing. The goal is to make advanced analytics practical where compute, power, storage, transmission, and latency are constrained.
The Lightscline story ↗Penn State on the research ↗SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Research in print.
2024 · Scientific Reports 14, 32041
Selective learning for sensing using shift-invariant spectrally stable undersampled networks
Ankur Verma, Ayush Goyal, Sanjay Sarma & Soundar Kumara
2024 · Procedia CIRP 121, 150–155
Machine learning-assisted collection of reduced sensor data for improved analytics pipeline
Ankur Verma, Ayush Goyal & Soundar Kumara
2024 · Manufacturing Letters 40, 81–84
Hierarchical energy signatures using machine learning for operational visibility and diagnostics in automotive manufacturing
Ankur Verma, Seog Chan Oh, Jorge Arinez & Soundar Kumara
2023 · Smart and Sustainable Manufacturing Systems 7(1), 82–110
A Graphical Representation of Sensor Mapping for Machine Tool Fault Monitoring and Prognostics for Smart Manufacturing
Abhishek Hanchate, Parth Sanjaybhai Dave, Ankur Verma et al.
2022 · ASME IMECE 2022 · Volume 2B: Advanced Manufacturing
Conveyer-Less Matrix Assembly Layout Design to Maximize Labor Productivity and Footprint Usage
Ankur Verma, Seog Chan Oh, James W. Wells, Jorge Arinez & Soundar Kumara
2021 · Manufacturing Letters 27, 39–41
Edge-cloud computing performance benchmarking for IoT based machinery vibration monitoring
Ankur Verma, Ayush Goyal, Soundar Kumara & Thomas Kurfess
PATENTS & INVENTIONS
From research
to invention.
Published patent application · US20250251722A1
Systems and methods for remote machine and equipment monitoring using compressed sensing techniques
Inventors: Ankur Verma and Soundar R. Tirupatikumara. Original assignee: Penn State Research Foundation. Published August 7, 2025.
AWARDS & RECOGNITION
Recognized for
turning ideas into impact.
Penn State · 2025 award cohort
Innovation Rockstars Award
Recognized through Penn State’s Innovation to Impact Awards for translating research into a startup venture.
SME · 2023
30 Under 30
Selected among SME’s emerging leaders in manufacturing.
Penn State
Diefenderfer Graduate Fellowship in Entrepreneurship
Research commercialization and customer discovery through Lightscline and the NSF I-Corps National Teams program.
SELECTED MEDIA
The work,
in the wider world.
R&D World · 2025
Sensor data, reimagined: When 90% less data can fuel 100x gains in efficiency in AI projects
IEEE Spectrum · 2025
New Neural Network Slashes Sensor Data Overload
R&D World · 2026
How lightweight AI startup Lightscline turns one to two years of seafloor data analysis into a two-month sprint
TALKS & TEACHING
Sharing the process.
OCEANS Monterey · 2026
Accelerating TB-Scale Multi-Modal Ocean Sensing Workflows
A hands-on tutorial on the Geo-Sense DAS deployment, connecting published research with practical sensing workflows.
National Space Society
International Space Development Conference speaker profile
IoT Slam
Ankur Verma — speaker profile
BEYOND THE LAB
Science, building,
and a sense of exploration.
Follow Ankur’s writing and explorations across deep tech, sensing, entrepreneurship, travel, and industrial history.