CSC News

Pande Receives Prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

Congratulations to PhD student Jay Pande on being chosen to receive a prestigious and highly competitive National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship.

Pande graduated from Duke University in 2020, and is currently a second year PhD student in Computer Science at NC State.  His research interests focus on using artificial intelligence to support adaptive learning environments that embrace principles of universal design for learning. Specifically, his research involves the use of automatic speech recognition and natural language processing to analyze spoken communication and promote personalization and accessibility in learning environments. He is also passionate about increasing the participation of people with disabilities in computer science across all levels of academia and industry.

“My research will investigate the extent to which an AI-driven virtual agent within a learning environment that can participate in spoken language dialogue can equitably support students of all abilities by providing personalized feedback. This research will address foundational problems in how to computationally understand, reason about, and generate spoken natural language, and, unlike most other research about these issues, will focus on adolescents (specifically, middle school students) rather than an adult population.”

He is part of the IntelliMedia Group at NC State, a research group that is dedicated to bringing about dramatic improvements in human-computer interaction and communication.  Additionally, Pande is an advisory committee member for the Working Group for Students and Professionals with Disabilities in STEM, which is sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science and works to increase the participation of people with disabilities in STEM.

The purpose of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) is to ensure the quality, vitality, and diversity of the scientific and engineering workforce of the United States. GRFP seeks to broaden participation in science and engineering of underrepresented groups, including women, minorities, persons with disabilities, and veterans. The five-year fellowship provides three years of financial support inclusive of an annual stipend of $37,000, and a cost-of-education allowance of $12,000 to the recipient’s institution.

Since 1952, NSF has funded over 60,000 Graduate Research Fellowships out of more than 500,000 applicants.  Currently, 42 Fellows have gone on to become Nobel laureates, and more than 450 have become members of the National Academy of Sciences.  In addition, the Graduate Research Fellowship Program has a high rate of doctorate degree completion, with more than 70 percent of students completing their doctorates within 11 years.

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