My goal in pursuing research career is to simultaneously contribute to the advancement of basic science as well as the betterment of the human condition. The work that I have undertaken thus far has adopted a cross-disciplinary approach to merge these two objectives.
My first set of work was focused on helping individuals with disabilities through a combination of engineering and basic neuroscience. I contributed to the development of novel gadgets to assist individuals who had been paralyzed due to spinal injuries or other debilitating conditions. These gadgets enabled the use of breathing patterns, simple touch-pads and other body signals for communication and other everyday tasks.
A second line of work I focus on improving our ability to intervene in cases of epilepsy, one of the foremost kinds of neurological disabilities in the world.
The third, and most recent, aspect of my work relates to blindness. I am involved with Project Prakash, an initiative that restore sight to blinds. Through a combination of behavioral and brain-imaging studies, the effort has revealed evidence of visual learning late in childhood and has illuminated some of the processes that might underlie such learning. The findings have broad implications spanning fields like neurology and artificial intelligence.
My work is well received in India and abroad and I received INSPIRE faculty award in engineering and technology category. This fellowship has allowed me to contribute to unclassified projects in DRDO while also working on better understanding autism spectrum disorders in India.
The descriptions of my research conveyed the main theme that motivates me – merging cutting edge science and engineering with the most pressing societal needs. In the years ahead, I hope to further this synthesis.
Projects
Few key projects in the Neurocomputing Lab, IIT Delhi are:
- Neurocomputing and Cognitive Intelligence (Development of application oriented AI System)
- Development of low cost technology for healthcare
- 3D Motion Perception in children with Eye-motion Disorders
- Developing reinforcement based AI model for improvising the predictive skills of individual with autism
- Characterizing and improving face-processing skills in autistic children
- Seizure detection, prediction & evaluation: An intelligent model
- Portable Device for Rapid detection of Epileptiform discharges
- Technology for the rehabilitation for Autism