Faculty

Nikhil Krishnaswamy



I am an assistant Professor of Computer Science and director of the SIGNAL Lab. I got my Ph.D. from Brandeis University in 2017, followed by a three-year postdoc leading lab research on the DARPA-funded Communicating With Computers program. I also have an M.A. in Computational Linguistics from Brandeis (2013) and a B.S. in Computer Games Development from DePaul University (2010). I’ve worked in various aspects of AI, linguistics, defense, gaming, and education for a number of years. Before coming to Fort Collins, I previously lived in Maryland, New Mexico, Chicago, Ohio, and most recently, Boston, MA, where I began my academic career. My research revolves around using computational models of intelligence to tell us more about human intelligence, and how our methods of perceiving and interacting with the world determine how we communicate about it. When not practicing computational shamanism, I run long distances, play heavy metal guitar, and enjoy pretending to be an author and a chef.
Email: nkrishna [at] colostate [dot] edu
Location: Fort Collins, CO
Website: https://www.nikhilkrishnaswamy.com


Ph.D. Researchers

Abhijnan Nath



Abhijnan works primarily in AI for natural language understanding (NLU) and computational semantics, spanning topics like coreference resolution and cognate detection, transformer-based language models, and their downstream applications with a drive to extend such research to low-resource languages. He holds an MSc. in Physics (minor in Computer Science) from Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani, India and studied Rawlsian Political theory at JNU, New Delhi. In the past, he has collaborated with the Jackson Lab, Stanford University, and the Natural Resource Ecology Lab, CSU to build their atmospheric N20 prediction pipeline using time-series data exploration. He is a big fan of Pavarotti, Bach, and Dream Theater and loves to work on his musical projects when he is not dealing with CUDA tensors!
Email: abhijnan [dot] nath [at] colostate [dot] edu
Location: Fort Collins, CO
Website: https://abhijnannath.github.io/abhijnan.github.io

Anju Gopinath



Anju is a Ph.D. student in the Computer Science department at Colorado State University. She did her Master’s in Computer Science and Engineering at IIT Madras, India. Previously, she has worked at Subex Ltd., Intel India Pvt. Ltd and Oppo US Research Centre. Her main research interests are hand grasps and affordances. Among other things, this has applications in robots tasked to pick, transfer and place objects at desired locations in factories, or avatars interacting with objects in mixed reality environments. In her free time, she enjoys trying out new recipes and watching good movies. She also volunteers as a mentor for CSU undergrads. Among her other interests is science communication.
Email: anju [at] colostate [dot] edu
Location: Fort Collins, CO
Website: https://anjugopinath.github.io

Brittany Cates



Brittany is a Ph.D. student in Computer Science at Colorado State University, with a focus in Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence. With her prior education in Psychology, she is fascinated by the ways in which the cognitive science intersects with AI and user experience. On the rare occasions she finds herself away from a computer screen, she enjoys reading, gardening, and art.
Email: brittany [dot] cates [at] colostate [dot] edu
Location: Loveland, CO
Website: https://blcates.github.io

Ibrahim Khebour



Ph.D. Student in Computer Science at Colorado State University

Location: Fort Collins, CO

Mariah Bradford



Ph.D. Student in Computer Science at Colorado State University

Location: Fort Collins, CO

Nada Alalyani



Ph.D. Student in Computer Science at Colorado State University

Location: Fort Collins, CO

Sadaf Ghaffari



Ph.D. Student in Computer Science at Colorado State University

Location: Fort Collins, CO

Shadi Manafi



Shadi is a Ph.D. student in the Computer Science department at Colorado State University. Her main research interest centers around how to maximize linguistc interaction between humans and robots. She holds an M.Sc. degree in Artificial Intelligence and B.Sc. degree in Computer Engineering-Software from KNTU in Iran. Apart from spending countless hours studying state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms and human cognition and proposing new ideas, she really enjoys playing volleyball and cooking.
Email: shadim [at] colostate [dot] edu
Location: San Diego, CA

Sheikh Mannan



Ph.D. Student in Computer Science at Colorado State University
Email: sheikh [dot] mannan [at] colostate [dot] edu
Location: Fort Collins, CO
Website: https://sheikhmannan.com


Master’s Researchers

Avyakta Chelle



Graduate Student in Computer Science at Colorado State University

Location: Fort Collins, CO

Hannah VanderHoeven



Graduate Student in Computer Science at Colorado State University

Location: Salt Lake City, UT


Alumni


Kush Pandya (M.S., 2023) - KIBO Investment Advisors
Aniket Tomar (M.S., 2023) - Sprouts.ai
Dhruva Patil (Ph.D., 2022) - Amazon Research
Ramya Sree Patchava (M.S., 2022) - HP
Shri Ram Gaddam (M.S., 2022) - SpringML
Jason Garcia (M.S., 2022) - Ph.D., Math - Colorado State
Mohit Katragadda (M.S., 2021) - SpringML
Shivani Mogullapalli (M.S., 2021) - Amazon


Honorary

(people who I never signed a piece of paper for but who I worked with closely)
Sina Mahdipour Saravani (M.S., 2022) - Ph.D., Computer Science - U. Utah
Zihui Li (M.C.S., 2022) - Huma.ai