PeopleofSuperintelligence

Lab leader

Bonnie Kruft

As of October 2026, Bonnie Kruft is Managing Director of Microsoft Research AI for Science and leads a global team applying machine learning to scientific discovery. She completed a Chemistry PhD at the CUNY Graduate Center in September 2015, then built data science and AI leadership experience at GSK and AstraZeneca. At Microsoft Research, she was Senior Director of AI for Science by October 2022, coauthored the 2023 DeepSpeed4Science paper, and described science-specific foundation models in 2024. In July 2026, she coauthored a Microsoft Research article about Aurora 1.5 weather forecasts.

Timeline

  1. September 2015

    A quantum chemistry PhD

    She earns a Chemistry PhD at the CUNY Graduate Center in September 2015 and studies transition-metal complexes with density functional theory.

  2. 2016–2019

    Data science strategy at GSK

    She joins GlaxoSmithKline in 2016 and leads Data Science Strategy for Pharmaceuticals R&D in February 2019.

  3. By 2022

    AI leadership at AstraZeneca

    By 2022, she leads R&D Data, Analytics and AI at AstraZeneca, delivering AI services for biopharmaceutical and oncology research. The services include an Augmented Drug Design platform and a Biological Insights Knowledge Graph.

  4. October 2022

    Senior Director at Microsoft

    By October 2022, she serves as Senior Director at Microsoft’s AI for Science, which brings machine learning and the natural sciences together in a global research team.

  5. 2023

    Coauthoring DeepSpeed4Science

    In 2023, she coauthors the DeepSpeed4Science initiative paper, which aims to build AI system technologies for accelerating scientific discoveries.

  6. 2024

    Science-specific foundation models

    In 2024, she describes Microsoft’s science-specific foundation models as a route to discovery that uses mathematics and molecular simulations.

  7. July 2026

    Expanding Aurora forecasts

    In July 2026, she coauthors Microsoft Research’s Aurora 1.5 article, which adds 22 weather variables, hourly resolution and probabilistic ensemble forecasting to the Aurora Earth-system model.

  8. As of October 2026

    Leading AI for Science

    As of October 2026, she is Managing Director of Microsoft Research AI for Science and leads a global team working at the intersection of machine learning and the natural sciences.

Sources and credits

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  1. Bonnie Kruft at Microsoft Research microsoft.com. Checked 15 October 2026.
  2. Density Functional Theory for the Investigation of Transition Metal Complexes: Structure, Binding, and Spectroscopy of Metal-Siderophores and the Catalase-Peroxidase Enzyme academicworks.cuny.edu. Checked 15 October 2026.
  3. Bonnie Kruft, Director, Data Science Strategy at GlaxoSmithKline bcchemcareers.wordpress.com. Checked 15 October 2026.
  4. Microsoft's AI for Science Senior Director Bonnie Kruft sama.com. Checked 15 October 2026.
  5. DeepSpeed4Science Initiative: Enabling Large-Scale Scientific Discovery through Sophisticated AI System Technologies arxiv.org. Checked 15 October 2026.
  6. From forecasting storms to designing molecules: How new AI foundation models can speed up scientific discovery news.microsoft.com. Checked 15 October 2026.
  7. Aurora 1.5: Extending open foundation models for weather and Earth-system applications microsoft.com. Checked 15 October 2026.