Anand J. Kulkarni holds a PhD in Artificial Intelligence (AI) with a focus on Distributed Optimization from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He also earned his MS in AI from the University of Regina in Canada. Previously, he served as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Odette School of Business at the University of Windsor, Canada. Since 2021, he has been working as a Research Professor and Associate Director of the Institute of Artificial Intelligence at MIT World Peace University (MITWPU) in Pune, India. His research interests encompass AI-based nature-inspired optimization algorithms and self-organizing systems. Anand has pioneered several optimization methodologies, including Cohort Intelligence, the Ideology Algorithm, the Expectation Algorithm, the Socio-Evolution & Learning Optimization Algorithm, the Leader-Advocate-Believer Algorithm, and the Snail Homing & Mating Search Algorithm. He has published over 120 research papers in peer-reviewed journals, book chapters, and conference proceedings, along with 7 authored books and 15 edited volumes. Dr. Anand has guided 6 doctoral students, 10 master's students, and more than 60 undergraduate students. He has received several accolades, including the Best Paper Award at the IEEE International Conference on Networks, Systems, and Control (ICNSC) in Chicago, USA, and the Swatantryveer Savarkar Award in 2023 from the Pune Marathi Granthalay for his Marathi book titled "Artificial Intelligencechya Watewar."