Sailendra Akash Bonagiri
UC Davis, California 95616
Namaste!
I’m Akash, a PhD student in Computer Science at UC Davis, specializing in Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, and Human-AI Interaction. My research focuses on:
- LLM evaluation, trustworthiness, and continual learning
- Multimodal Reasoning & Agents
- Personalized machine learning and retrieval-based systems
- Low-resource NLP and culturally adaptive AI
Before my PhD, I completed my undergraduate degree at BITS Pilani, where I built a strong foundation in ML and NLP. Later, I worked in industry as an Applied ML Engineer, where I developed AI-driven solutions for PepsiCo. Co-built EvaluAItor, a multimodal mock interview platform. Optimized financial recommendation systems at Innoviti.These experiences have shaped my approach to bridging theoretical research with real-world impact.
Beyond research, I’m an explorer at heart—whether it’s riding horses, sketching the world in graphite, or writing & directing short films. I see problem-solving as storytelling, where algorithms, data, and creativity intertwine.
News
| Jan 15, 2025 | Submitted Towards Safer Social Media Platforms: Scalable and Performant Few-Shot Harmful Content Moderation Using Large Language Models to AAAI ICWSM 2025 |
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| Jan 01, 2025 | Started PhD in CS (Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing) at University of California, Davis under the guidance of Dr. Setareh Rafatirad |
| Jun 01, 2024 | Developed HanumaGPT, enhancing the nanoGPT architecture significantly by reducing computational complexity and improving generation efficiency, establishing a new benchmark for performance in large language models. |
| May 11, 2024 | Presented NLP4Gov: A Comprehensive Search & Retrieval Library for Computational Policy Analysis at CHI 2024. This paper highlights the development of an advanced NLP-based search and retrieval library designed to enhance document semantic search efficiency and retrieval precision. |
| Mar 01, 2024 | Started working under the guidance of Prof. Magdalena Wojcieszak and Dr. Anshuman Chhabra for multimodal harm classification on social media platforms. |
| Jan 01, 2023 | Joined the UCD C2 lab under the supervision of Dr. Seth Frey and Dr. Mahasweta Chakraborti, applying NLP for computational policy analysis. |
| Sep 01, 2022 | Joined MS CS at University of California, Davis. |
| Jan 08, 2022 | Presented Aletheia: A Hindi Fake News Detection System, applying advanced NLP techniques to combat misinformation in Indic Languages effectively. Recognized with the Best Paper Award at ACM IKDD CODS COMAD 2022. |
| Jun 28, 2021 | Spearheaded a project at PepsiCo as a Machine Learning Engineer, resulting in a 35% increase in crop yield through a Precision-Agro SaaS ML application, which revolutionized the assessment of potato plant health using multimodal text and image recognition. |
| Jun 28, 2021 | Presented Learnings from Attempt to Build NLP Fake News Classification system for Hindi at ACM SIGCAS 2021, sharing insights from work on developing systems for detecting fake news in Hindi. |
| Jun 01, 2019 | Joined the Responsible Technologies Research Group, focused on developing ethical AI and machine learning solutions to enhance transparency and reliability in technology. |