Faculty
Dr.Ketan Kotecha, PhD ( IIT Bombay)
Dean, Faculty of Engineering, Symbiosis International (Deemed University)
Professor & Director, Symbiosis Institute of Technology (director@sitpune.edu.in)
Head, Symbiosis Centre for Applied AI ( SCAAI) (head@scaai.siu.edu.in)
Expertise: Dr. Ketan Kotecha is a highly acclaimed researcher and educator in deep learning, artificial intelligence, computer algorithms, and machine learning, with a passion for cultivating higher-order thinking skills and critical thinking. He has mentored over 20 PhD students to success, and his editorial board appointments with IEEE Access, PeerJ Computer Science journal, Cogent Journal by Taylor & Francis, and Frontiers Journals reflect his standing as a thought leader in the field.
Experience:Dr. Kotecha is a world-renowned expert in AI and deep learning, with over 30 years of experience at the forefront of the field. He has recently achieved global recognition as one of the top 2% scientists worldwide, a distinction conferred by Stanford University. Dr Kotecha has published over 300 Scopus-indexed papers, and his work has been cited over 6,000 times. He also has an impressive i-10 index of 118. He has also published 10 patents.
He has secured prestigious research funding for Applied AI projects, including a PURSE grant from DST under the Promotion of University Research and Scientific Excellence scheme worth INR 5.2 cores and a grant from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India, worth INR 199.04 lakhs. These grants reflect his standing as a leading researcher in the field, and his work has the potential to make a significant impact on society.
A highly acclaimed researcher with a track record of securing prestigious funding and awards, he has recently received the Indo-Canada Shastri grant SSTSG 2023-24, in collaboration with the University of Winnipeg, for his project on Multimodal Co-learning tolerance soft computing for Real-life Deep Learning Applications. In the past, he has been awarded SPARC projects worth INR 166 lacs from MHRD, Government of India, for AI projects with Arizona State University, USA, and the University of Queensland, Australia, respectively. He is also the recipient of numerous other prestigious awards, including the Erasmus Plus Faculty Mobility Grant to the University of Wroclaw, Poland; the DUO-India Professors Fellowship for research in Responsible AI with Brunel University, UK; a grant from the Royal Academy of Engineering, UK, under the Newton Bhabha Fund; the Going Global Partnerships Exploratory Grant from the British Council, UK, in collaboration with Aston University; and two projects from DST under the Indo-Italy and Indo-Serbia schemes, worth Rs. 70 lacs.
Dr. Kotecha has also secured consultancy projects on AI in healthcare with Philips and Avegen, two leading global companies in the healthcare and technology industries. Under his acumen leadership, SIT Pune has grabbed a significant INR 30 crore CSR grant from Bajaj Auto to establish the Bajaj Engineering Skills Training Centre (BEST) and a grant of INR 50 Lakhs from the Ministry of Telecommunication to setup 5G use case lab in the domain of AI+telemedicine at SIT Pune. The BEST skill centre will provide advanced manufacturing skills training to engineering graduates, helping to bridge the skills gap and prepare them for the future workforce. Dr. Kotecha was awarded the prestigious LEAP grant from the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, to participate in a leadership training program at Cambridge University, UK, and IIT Kharagpur.
Dr. Kotecha has also been appointed as an Adjunct Professor at Swinburne University, Australia, a prestigious university with a global reputation for excellence in research and education. He is also a visiting professor at the prestigious UCSI University Malaysia. Under his leadership Symbiosis Institute of Pune has partnered with prominent global universities such as Aston University and Loughborough University, United Kingdom for collaborative undergraduate programs.
A highly sought-after keynote speaker in the field of AI, Dr. Kotecha has been invited to address prestigious forums such as the Machine Intelligence Lab at USA, Pretoria University, South Africa, IIT Bombay under World Bank Project, Global Meet on Sensors and Sensing Technology in Italy, and the 2nd International Congress on AI and Machine Learning in the Czech Republic. Under Dr. Kotecha's visionary leadership, SIT Pune has become the most sought-after destination for students and faculty alike.
Dr. Rahee Walambe, Associate Faculty, SCAAI
Dr. Rahee Walambe is an Associate Professor at SIT
Application of novel DL algorithms for cutting edge research is Dr Rahee Walambe’s area of interest and expertise. Principal Investigator of the project entitled Development of Explainable AI Techniques for Complex Disease Diagnosis using Genomics Data (XAI) in Collaboration with The University of Queensland, Australia and as a Co-Principal Investigator of the project entitled Development of Algorithms for Credibility Analysis of Information in collaboration with Arizona State University, USA, Dr Rahee has a firm hold on the development and application of deep learning methodologies and mathematical reasoning, which form the backbone of deep learning algorithms.
A teaching-researching faculty member in Symbiosis Institute of Technology, she has worked as a Principal Investigator for a Dept. of Science and Technology’s Women Scientist (WOS-A) Fellowship scheme from April 2014 to March 2017 for the project entitled ‘Cars that Drive and Park’ at PVG’s College of Engg and Technology. The grant was for the development of indigenous prototype for motion planning and path planning for Auto-navigation and auto-parking of a car type mobile robot.
Her proven research experience is in the broad area of Machine Learning, Mobile Robotics, Nonlinear Control and AI Applications. She is currently working in allied areas of Deep learning for applications in text processing, genomics, multi-sensor fusion, multi-agent systems and reinforcement learning. A doctorate from Lancaster University, UK, she has published impactful manuscripts in quality journals and books. She has filed patents on development of DL based assistive device for visually impaired people (patent filed in September 2019) and development of DL algorithm for Multi Sensor Fusion for gas detection (Patent filed in September 2019) with UG and PhD students. She has worked as a team member for DRDO project and as industrial research consultant. Dr Walambe has also been Invited Expert for various talks related with her expertise in India and abroad. She has published extensively in SCI and SCOPUs indexed journals and conferences.
https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=Aa6m2TkAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao
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Dr. Shilpa Shailesh Gite, Associate Faculty, SCAAI
Dr. Shilpa Shailesh Gite is an Associate Professor at SIT
Dr Shilpa Bade-Gite is a passionate educationist and a researcher at Symbiosis Institute of Technology. Her research areas include Deep learning, computer vision, Multi-sensor data fusion and Assistive driving. She is currently working in medical imaging, explainable AI, and QuantumAI. She has published impactful manuscripts in reputed international conferences and Scopus/ web of science indexed journals and books. She is also the recipient of Best Paper Awards at IEMERA Conference, UK in Oct 2020 and in RAiSE Conference, Dubai in Oct 2023..
She is a guide to several national/international undergraduates, post-graduate and PhD students from computer engineering and other disciplines. She has also served as Guest Editor for two SCIE indexed journals and also a Scopus indexed Book on Computer Vision. In addition to academics and research, she is also a reviewer for reputed journals such as IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, Neurocomputing, PeerJ Computer Science etc.
Her research work is seen at https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=VKolPrMAAAAJ&hl=en
Dr. Shruti Patil, Associate Faculty, SCAAI
Dr. Shruti Patil is an Associate Professor at SIT
Dr. Shruti Patil is an enthusiastic academician and an avid researcher with a contagious positive attitude. She is known as a keen observer who is fiercely creative, loves to take on the challenges and follow the unexplored path. She has been an industry professional in the past, currently associated with Symbiosis Institute of Technology as an Associate Professor and with SCAAI as a research associate. She has expertise in applying innovative technology solutions to real world problems. Her research areas include applied artificial intelligence, natural language processing, acoustic AI, adversarial machine learning, data privacy, digital twin applications, GANS, multimodal data analysis. She is currently working in the application domains of healthcare, sentiment analysis, emotion detection and machine simulation via which she is also guiding several UG, PG and PhD students as a domain expert. She has published research articles in reputed international conferences and Scopus/ web of science indexed journals, books. Dr Shruti has also been invited to deliver talks related with her expertise in various prestigious institutions.
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=TbO8PuYAAAAJ&hl=en
Dr. Satish Kumar, Associate Faculty, SCAAI
Dr. Satish Kumar is an Associate Professor at SIT
Dr. Satish Kumar is a young researcher and a keen academician. He is captivated by technology oriented innovative concepts and always looks ahead to execute interdisciplinary projects. He has his expertise in application of Artificial Intelligence into a variety of crucial manufacturing processes, including quality enhancement, process improvement, and optimization. He is now working on several industrial 4.0 initiatives, including digital twin smart manufacturing, remaining usable life estimation, and others. He has authored more than 30 Scopus/WoS indexed international/national journal and conferences publications. He has recently published a patent on “Micro-oxidation Coating device”. He is also currently editing Taylor & Francis CRC Pressbook titled "Industry 4.0 in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs): Opportunities, Challenges, and Solutions." He has completed various research funded proposals at Symbiosis International Deemed University and is also currently working on two research proposals “Inferring quality and fault localization of 3D printer products using Digital twin” and “Artificial Intelligence-based fault detection in bearing using vibration and sound sensor”. One student was recently awarded PhD. under his supervision and is currently guiding 5 Ph.D. research scholars.
Dr. Satish Kumar is also an expert reviewer on board for IEEE Access, Silicon, PeerJ Computer Science Surface Topography: Metrology and Properties, Material Research Express and other reputed journals. He was also deputed for research initiatives at Symbiosis Centre for Research and Innovation (SCRI). He has delivered many talks at leading universities on Industry 4.0 and Smart Manufacturing. His research work can be found at
https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=RjivgocAAAAJ&hl=en
about scri
Symbiosis Centre For Research and Innovation (SCRI), established in 2009, is the dedicated department of Symbiosis International (Deemed University) for promoting and facilitating research among students and faculty. Through its academic and administrative services, SCRI enables researchers to achieve excellence in their work, and eventually, translates SIU's vision of creation of knowledge for the benefit of the Society into reality.