Shri Harsha Adapala

Research Assistant

Email: shriadapala@outlook.com

Phone: +1-7166581292

About Me

You can call me Shri and I am a Research Assitant at the University at Buffalo working in the fields of Conversational AI and Instance Segmentation. I also have experience in Cloud Platforms and Robotic Process Automation.

I’ve got this whole Batman vibe going on. Just waiting for my utility belt to arrive in the mail!

Technical Proficiency

  • Proficient in programming languages: C++, and Python.
  • Expertise in Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Computer Vision, Natural Language Processing, and Reinforcement Learning.
  • Hands-on experience with PyTorch, CUDA programming, AWS, and Azure.

Academic Projects

Prompt-to-Song Generation using Large Language Models

The process involves understanding the semantics of the prompt, generating relevant lyrics, identifying the musical genre, and composing melodic and harmonic elements to create the final song.

◦ The methodology is divided into three main stages: Lyric Generation from Textual Prompts, Genre Classification of the Lyrics, and Chord Progression Generation Conditioned on Lyrics and Genre.

◦ Lyric Generation from Textual Prompts - Fine-tuned LLMs (FlanT5 and Llama models) generate lyrics from encoded prompts, with the LLM fine-tuned on a lyrics-prompt dataset for three epochs.

◦ Genre Classification of the Lyrics - Pre-trained models (BERT, DistilBERT, and RoBERTa) are fine-tuned for genre classification to classify the generated lyrics.

◦ Chord Progression Generation Conditioned on Lyrics and Genre - Combines a two-stage encoder-decoder model (DistilBERT and LSTM) with reinforcement learning (RLHF) to generate chord progressions based on lyrical context.

Exploring Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning in Cooperative Gridworld and Complex Multi-Agent Environments

Exploring Multiagent Systems utilizing Reinforcement Learning within Cooperative and Mixed Cooperative and Competitive Environments.

◦ Solved Environments - Grid World Cooperative Environment, Mixed Cooperative and Competitive Environments Multiparticle Simple Adversary Environment.

◦ Implemented Algorithms - Decentralized Q-Learning, Correlated Q-Learning, REINFORCE, MultiAgent Deep Q-Learning, MultiAgent Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient.

Adaptive Deep-Learning for Environment Agnostic Human Action Recognition

Focus on developing a deep learning-based system for accurate identification and analysis of human actions in varied environments.

◦ Developed a sophisticated deep learning system tailored for accurate recognition of human actions across diverse settings, particularly for surveillance and sports analysis, utilizing a refined subset of 10 classes from the UCF101 dataset.

◦ Applied AlexNet3D and VGG3D models for advanced video data processing.

◦ Segmented the videos for an effective background and human masking

◦ Achieved notable metrics: AlexNet (up to 36% accuracy, 37.51% precision) and VGG (up to 39% accuracy, 35.26% precision) under varying conditions.

A2C - Exploring OpenAI Gym Environments and Enhancing Actor Critic Algorithms for Optimal Performance

Explores the OpenAI Gym library, implementing the DQN algorithm as described in DeepMind's seminal paper, and subsequently improving the DQN algorithm for enhanced performance and stability.

◦ Implemented A2C

◦ Solved Environments - Cartpole, Lunar Lander, Inverted Pendulum, Bi-Pedal Walker

Deep Q-Learning - Exploring OpenAI Gym Environments and Enhancing DQN for Optimal Performance

Explores the OpenAI Gym library, implementing the DQN algorithm as described in DeepMind's seminal paper, and subsequently improving the DQN algorithm for enhanced performance and stability.

◦ Implemented DQN and Double DQN

◦ Solved Environments - Cartpole, Lunar Lander

NovelConvo AI - Intelligent Conversations with Literary Companions (RAG Application)

NovelConvo AI is an innovative Q&A and chat system tailored for classic book enthusiasts.

◦ Trained and Integrated Chatterbot, enhancing its capabilities with diverse data sets for natural and contextually relevant dialogues.

◦ Utilized DeBERTa-v3-large-mnli-fever-anli-ling-wanli to classify novels and prompts, streamlining user interactions.

◦ Developed an Inverted Index using Python and Flask, integrating Linked Lists for efficient data management.

◦ Implemented a Document-at-a-Time (DAAT) Boolean query processing system for advanced information retrieval.

◦ Integrated Open AI’s Retrieval Augmented Generation to the system to make responses more sophisticated.

◦ Developed a chatbot web application using ReactJs.

Neural Machine Translation

Language Translator from English to French.

◦ Constructed and deployed a Sequence-to-Sequence network using an encoding and decoding paradigm, utilizing LSTM nodes as the foundation. Implementation achieved a noteworthy test Bleu score of 0.365.

◦ Executed a bidirectional Sequence-to-Sequence network, incorporating both forward and backward encoding. Implementation, succeeded in a commendable test Bleu score of 0.369, highlighting the model’s proficiency in generating high-quality sequences.

◦ Performed a Sequence-to-Sequence network with bidirectional encoding and incorporated an Attention mechanism in the decoding process. This advanced architecture led to remarkable results, attaining a notable test Bleu score of 0.406. The model’s ability to generate accurate and coherent sequences was improved by the inclusion of Attention.

Robust Pathfinding - Tabular and Deep Reinforcement Learning in Deterministic and Stochastic Grid Worlds

This project explores the efficacy of reinforcement learning algorithms in navigating complex grid environments with varying levels of determinism and stochasticity.

◦ Three distinct grid worlds are studied, ranging from deterministic to stochastic transitions and rewards.

◦ Implemented reinforcement learning algorithms include SARSA, Q-Learning, N-Step SARSA, Double Q-Learning, Deep Q-Learning, and Double Deep Q-Learning.

Inverted Index and Boolean DAAT Retrieval Web Application in Flask (Python)

Implementation of an Inverted Index using Linked Lists and Flask in Python. It allows for efficient Boolean queries using a Document-at-a-time (DAAT) strategy, ideal for understanding Information Retrieval concepts.

◦ Developed an Inverted Index using Python and Flask, integrating Linked Lists for efficient data management.

◦ Implemented a Document-at-a-Time (DAAT) Boolean query processing system for advanced information retrieval.

◦ Crafted a text preprocessing module for document tokenization and normalization.

◦ Enabled interactive querying through a Flask web application, demonstrating web development and information retrieval skills.

Neural Image Classification

Academic project on different image classification tasks.

◦ Developed and trained an initial AlexNet model, and then I modified the AlexNet architecture to enable the classification of three categories: Dogs, Food, and Vehicles. This modification resulted in impressive accuracy rates of 90% and 92.6% for the respective categories. Subsequently, I implemented the VGG-13 model, employing Mixed Precision Training techniques. This approach yielded a remarkable accuracy of 91.4%.

◦ Executed the implementation and training of a customized AlexNet model for the classification of Google Street View House Numbers, resulting in an impressive accuracy of 91.4%.

◦ Developed and trained a customized AlexNet model for classifying the OCTMNIST dataset, yielding an accuracy of 71%.

◦ Created and trained a customized AlexNet model to classify a 10-class ImageNet dataset, achieving an accuracy of 68.4%. Then, I implemented the VGG-13 model and employed Mixed Precision Training, which led to a notable accuracy improvement of 71.8%.

Reinforcement Learning for Stock Market Trading - A Case Study on Nvidia Stock

This project applies a Q-learning agent to develop a trading strategy that maximizes profit through stock trading.

◦ Leverage Q-learning to develop an optimized trading strategy for stock trading.

◦ Trained to learn stock price trends and make buy, sell, or hold decisions based on its learned strategy.

◦ Percentage return on investment (ROI) willl be Perfromance Metric.

FIFA 23 Players Archive - Comprehensive Data & Analysis Database Management System with Power BI Visualization

Revamp football data management with a dynamic player database system.

◦ Created and maintained a Fifa23 Players database from scratch using database design theory. This involves data massaging using Python, modeling E/R diagrams, and translating it into a relational schema.

◦ Analyzed functional dependencies and normalized the tables to eliminate data redundancies and anomalies.

◦ Formulated and executed a variety of SQL queries to address common retail scenarios, and optimized queries for efficient data retrieval.

◦ Designed and created an interactive PowerBi Dashboard that provides visual insights into the database, showcasing different stats.

Experience

University at Buffalo

Research Assistant

Jan 2024 - Present

https://www.buffalo.edu

◦ Working under Dr. Rohini Srihari in the NLP Lab on Enhancing Alternative Augmentative Communication (AAC).

◦ Collecting Data and Annotating it.

◦ Building Real-Time Data Retrieval Module and Context Generation using LLMs and fine-tuning them.

University at Buffalo

Research Assistant

Jan 2024 - Present

https://www.buffalo.edu

◦ Working under Dr. Karthik Dantu in the Computer Vision DRONES Lab on detecting and classifying plastic material using Computer Vision and Instance Segmentation for Buffalo’s plastic recycling plant.

◦ Collecting Data and Annotating it.

◦ Building Pipelines to train and test the Mask R-CNN model on different datasets.

◦ Building Visualization Scripts to analyze the models’ internal representation on different datasets.

University at Buffalo

Graduate Teaching Assistant

May 2023 - May 2024

https://www.buffalo.edu

◦ Played a pivotal role in two key courses: Probability Theory and Stochastic Processes, and Applied Statistical Analysis.

◦ Facilitated weekly practical sessions, enabling students to gain hands-on experience and deepen their understanding of course materials.

◦ Held the position of a grader for the Time Series Analysis course. Evaluated and assessed students’ assignments, exams, and projects related to the course.

◦ Managed a diverse cohort of 260 students.

Thoucentric

Data Scientist

February 2021 - December 2022

https://thoucentric.com

◦ Conducted sentiment analysis on reviews within the Research and Development department of Unilever, utilizing Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs). Identified areas of improvement within the company’s products based on distinguished sentiment, providing valuable insights for improving product offerings. Increased annual product sales from 54% to 56.16%.

◦ Created an Information Retrieval system (IR) to accurately identify and map products across various sources and marketplaces, facilitating efficient mapping and integration of products between different platforms and marketplaces for the company’s legacy data. Facilitated initiation of an internal project valued at $10,000 for the company.

Cloudaccel InC.

Data Scientist / Robotic Process Automation Engineer / Cloud Infrastructure Engineer

March 2018 - February 2021

https://cloudaccel.io

◦ Devised and integrated Auto Encoders as a crucial component in the company’s flagship project to detect machine anomalies. Utilized optimized and cleaned data for enhanced performance. Increased monthly alerts from 300 to 450, demonstrating improved monitoring and detection capabilities.

◦ Led migration of a client’s entire infrastructure from an on-premises environment to AWS, ensuring a seamless transition. Realized an annual cost savings of $60,000 by utilizing a pay-as-you-go model.

◦ Migrated client’s infrastructure from AWS to Azure, including a 15GB database and services like Autoscaling, Load balancing, etc. Achieved a seamless transfer with only 2 minutes of downtime. Demonstrated expertise in optimizing costs and minimizing downtime, ensuring a cost-effective and efficient transition for clients.

◦ Designed and accomplished robust and scalable cloud environments prioritizing high availability, fault tolerance, and optimal performance. Implemented industry best practices to minimize downtime, maximize availability, and maintain cost-efficiency. Resulted in the completion of a $5,000 valued project.

◦ Implemented infrastructure as code methodologies to enhance the product development process. Streamlined infrastructure deployment and management through automation, ensuring efficient and consistent provisioning of resources. Reduced manual errors and ensured scalability and reproducibility throughout the product lifecycle. Decreased deployment time from 5 hours to 0.5 hours per deployment, resulting in improved efficiency.

◦ Designed and performed a robust monitoring system for the company’s flagship product. Leveraged on capabilities of Elastic Stack, including Elasticsearch, Logstash, and Kibana, to efficiently manage and analyze logs. Comprehensive solution provided real-time insights and increased visibility into virtual machines’ performance, catalyzing proactive issue identification and timely resolution. The comprehensive solution enabled real-time insights and increased visibility into virtual machines, resulting in a 50% improvement in issue identification (200 to 300 alerts) and timely resolution, reducing downtime and maximizing operational efficiency.

◦ Constructed and deployed automation bots using Blue Prism and UI Path to streamline email management and automate file downloads, eliminating redundant tasks for clients. Achieved a weekly reduction of 10 hours in manual workload.

Education

University at Buffalo

Master of Science, Data Science

2023 - 2024

Graduated with CGPA of 4/4

Worked as a Graduate Teaching Assistant

Worked as a Research Assistant

Sri Venkateswara University

Bachelor of Technology, Computer Science and Engineering

2013 - 2019

Graduated with a CGPA of 7.6/10

General Secretary of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering 2016-17

Member of Anti-Ragging Squad 2016-17

The R&D Crusade - A Scientific Journey Beyond Gotham.

In the vast landscape of AI research, follow the caped crusader of science as we navigate the frontiers of innovation, armed with intellect and curiosity

In Progress……..