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
Austin Youngren
Ph.D. Student in Computer Science at Colorado State University
Location: Pueblo, CO
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
Animesh Gurjar
Graduate Student in Computer Science at Colorado State University
Location: Fort Collins, CO
Carine Graff
Carine has a background in foreign language acquisition and applied linguistics. She holds a Ph.D. in natural language translation studies from Kent State University, Ohio and obtained her Master’s in computer science from SMU in Dallas, Texas. Her research interests lie at the intersection of LLM alignment, speech recognition, ethics, and language translation. Carine is particularly interested in how aligned LLMs can support responsible multilingual systems that integrate speech and text. A central ethical concern in her research is the exclusion of certain accents and underrepresented languages in speech recognition systems, which reinforces linguistic inequities but also marginalizes individuals who rely on these systems due to disabilities. Her work investigates how to build more inclusive models that not only translate accurately across languages, but also recognize diverse speech patterns, ensuring fair and accountable AI-mediated communication. In her free time, Carine loves hiking in the Rockies, cooking, and baking her own miches campagne (round loaves of French sourdough).
Email: carine [dot] graff [at] colostate [dot] edu
Location: Fort Collins, CO
Website: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carinegraff/
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
Sadaf Ghaffari
Ph.D. Student in Computer Science at Colorado State University
Location: Fort Collins, CO
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
Hannah VanderHoeven
Hannah is a Ph.D. student at Colorado State University. Her research with the Situated Grounding and Natural Language (SIGNAL) Lab focuses mainly on multimodal feature processing and their applications in human computer interaction. She’s interested in investigating how gesture semantics, when standalone or combined with other communicative features, can impact assumptions or features made available to an agent—specifically, leveraging pragmatics to help determine how multimodality can be used to effectively communicate the optimal amount of information to a listener. In addition to educational experience, Hannah has 9 years of industry experience working as a software engineer, with an emphasis on user interface and design. Her job has provided experience designing, writing, and maintaining graphical user interfaces that support various hardware systems and customers. Hannah also has a passion for education and mentoring. Throughout her professional and educational career, she has consistently looked for teaching and volunteer opportunities, including mentoring junior engineers at her job and volunteering at a local elementary school teaching coding to children.
Location: Salt Lake City, UT
Videep Venkatesha
Graduate Student in Computer Science at Colorado State University
Location: Fort Collins, CO
Master’s Researchers
Eric Redman
Graduate Student in Computer Science at Colorado State University
Location: Denver, CO
Alumni
Tarun Varma Buddaraju (M.S., 2025)
Sai Kiran Ganesh Kumar (M.S., 2025)
Avyakta Chelle (M.S., 2025) - Yellow.AI
Shadi Manafi (Ph.D., 2024) - Edwards Lifesciences
Nada Alalyani (Ph.D., 2024) - Assistant Professor, College of Computer & Information Sciences - Prince Sultan Univ., Saudi Arabia
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 Univ.
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