About me
I am an Assistant Professor at the Wadhwani School of Data Science and AI at IIT Madras. My research focuses on the mathematical foundations of learning from human preferences, with applications to recommendation and search. My research is largely theoretical in nature, mixing various tools from probability, statistics, optimisation, and network science.
Previously, I was a postdoctoral researcher at EPFL, Switzerland, working with Prof. Matthias Grossglauser. I obtained my PhD and MS from the Electrical and Computer Engineering department at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, advised by Prof. Bruce Hajek. I graduated from IIT Bombay with a B.Tech. in Electrical Engineering in 2016.
For a detailed description of my research interests, see my Research and Publications pages.
Working with me
I am looking to build a research group to explore the challenges of building the next generation of AI systems that truly understand user preferences, whether for recommender systems, search engines, or AI assistants. If you are a student at IIT Madras and would like to work in this area, please get in touch! I am happy to mentor students at all levels (Bachelors, Masters, Doctoral, or Postdoctoral).
Opportunities
I hold drop-in office hours in my office, Room 655, NAC2, on Mondays 3–4 pm and Wednesdays 4–5 pm. Feel free to stop by without an appointment. For all other times, please email me to schedule a meeting.
Students outside of IIT Madras are encouraged to explore the following opportunities:
- 3–6 month Internships for Bachelors and Masters students (annual admissions)
- 1–2 year Post Bacc Fellowship (rolling admissions, apply anytime)
- MS by Research or PhD programs (6-month admission cycle)
- Postdoctoral Fellowship (rolling admissions, apply anytime)
Prerequisites
My research straddles both theory and practice. One should be comfortable with basic concepts in probability, optimisation, and machine learning, and also with coding using machine learning libraries. Coursework similar to the first two years of the B.Tech in AI & Data Analytics program at WSAI would be good preparation.