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Gati Aher

Ph.D. ML @ CMU

gativaher [AT] gmail.com

Coder • Researcher • Math-Enthusiast • Artist


Hello! I am a Ph.D. student at Carnegie Mellon University in the Machine Learning Department. I conduct research on how machine learning and generative AI can support personalization in education. I am currently advised by Dr. Zachary Lipton.

Previously, I have worked on AI safety and large language models projects through internships at Microsoft Research (advised by Dr. Adam Kalai & Dr. Rosa Arriaga), Indico Data (advised by Madison May), and The MITRE Corporation (advised by Dr. John Henderson).

I finished my undergraduate at Olin College of Engineering majoring in Engineering: Computing. There, I worked as a computing researcher in Olin's Microbiology and Bioinformatics lab advised by Dr. Jean Huang, in Olin's Satellite + Spectrum Technology & Policy group advised by Dr. Whitney Lohmeyer, and on a senior capstone research project advised by Fidelity Center for Applied Technology.

Research Interests

Probabilistic NLP Models

Large language models trained at scale show emerging intelligent behavior, such as coherent and grammatical structures, cultural knowledge, and abstract reasoning capabilities.

  • @ Microsoft Research, I used GPT-3 and Turning-NLP to simulate distributions of responses to psychology experiments.

Model Robustness

Adversarial attacks may manipulate the behavior of AI systems to serve a malicious end goal.

  • @ The MITRE Corporation, I prototyped a docker containerized adversarial attack testing platform and populated a public information resource.
  • @ MITRE NLP Lab, I supported research into practical attacks on machine translation using paraphrase.

Cross-Source Information Extraction

Extracting information from documents requires the ability to link events, entities and associated relations across multiple sources.

  • @ Indico Data R&D, I worked on deep learning NLP and CV approaches to PDF information extraction.
  • @ Olin Satellite Lab, I consolidated multiple possibly contradictory data sources when scraping the FCC's international filings database.

Event Sequence Modeling

With language, voice, and time-series data, data items are dependent on data before or after it.

  • @ Olin Microbiology Lab, I characterized time-series data from perturbed and recovering microbial communities using methods from compositional data analysis.
  • @ Fidelity R&D, I analyzed distributions of cryptocurrency technical trading indicators over time.

Experience

Olin Microbiology Lab
Olin Satellite Lab
Fidelity R&D
Microsoft Research
Indico Data R&D
MITRE NLP Lab
Cumulus Digital Systems
The MITRE Corporation
Boston University

Undergraduate Researcher @ Olin Bioinformatics & Microbiology Lab

January 2021 - January 2023, part-time

Advised by Professor Jean Huang

  • Led research on analyzing composition shifts in time-series of cultured, perturbed microbiomes.
  • Conducted literature review to find, apply, and analyze limitations of Random Matrix Theory approach, Compositional Data Analysis, and network analysis.
  • Presented poster at Northeastern Microbiologists: Physiology, Ecology, and Taxonomy (NEMPET).
  • Led project on cleaning and interpreting 2D Fourier analysis to isolate patterns in bacterial surface images to identify pattern and shape of surface proteins.

Peer-Reviewed Publications

Using large language models to simulate multiple humans and replicate human subject studies
G. Aher, R. I. Arriaga, and A. T. Kalai.
ICML 2023, *Oral.

Evaluating the FCC's $10 Billion Gamble: Successfully Accelerating Access to Spectrum in Auction 107
G. Aher, P. Post, P. Boyalakuntla, G. Miner, L. Heinrich, Y. Mao, J. A. Musey, W. Lohmeyer.
Journal of Information Policy (JIP 2023).

Analysis of Geostationary Federal Communication Commission Satellite Applications from 2000 to 2022
P. Post, K. Fleming, K. Canavan, S. Cho, G. Aher, W. Lohmeyer.
Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets (2023).

Posters

What Factors Affect Microbial Community Composition?
Northeastern Microbiologists: Physiology, Ecology, and Taxonomy (NEMPET 2021)

SOARing with Drones in Education
Massachusetts Computer Using Educators (MassCUE 2018)

Refining Private Set Intersection Under Secure Multi-Party Computation
Boston University, Greater Boston Research Opportunities for Women (GROW 2018)

Artificial Intelligence, Chatbots, and Amazon Web Services
International Society of Technology Educators (ISTE 2018)

Projects

400+ hours designing, building, integrating, and collecting gesture samples

Reflecting on the Gesture Detection Ring

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React.js + DigitalOcean + SQLite + Auth0 Football Pick-Em' site used by 40+ active weekly users

Fullstack React Development

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Algorithms and implementations for small-world (local clustering) and scale-free (hubs) graphs

Generating Realistic Graphs

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Deep learning object-detection trials on pre-training, multi-label, small & imbalanced targets

Faster R-CNN for Handwriting Detection

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Constant time querying, compressing huge index numbers, and bypassing the curse of global updates

Data Structures for Large Scale Information Retrieval

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Characterizing repeating protein patterns on bacteria image with 2D Fourier Transform

Fourier Transform Detective Story

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Browse Projects By Category

Teaching, Leadership, and Academic Service

ENGR3599A-SL Olin College (Instructor Student-Led Course, Spring 2023): Advanced Algorithms

MTH2110 Olin College (Teaching Assistant Head Grader, Fall 2022): Discrete Mathematics

GirlsWhoCode Olin College (Branch Leader, Fall 2022)

Data Science and ML Lunch-and-Learn Olin College (Organizer & Presenter, Fall 2021)

ENGR2510 Olin College (Teaching Assistant, Fall 2022)

Einstein's Workshop Coding & STEM Classes (Teaching Assistant, 2017 - 2019)

Shishu Bharati Indian Language K-8 (Teaching Assistant, 2015 - 2019)

FIRST Lego League Robotics (Mentor, Fall 2018)

Some recent art...

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My hobbies include drawing, dance, long-distance running, and playing four instruments :)