Hi, I’m Chethana — and yes, I'm a ML Research Engineer. ✨

If you’ve ever wondered what happens when a curious kid with too many questions grows up — well, here I am, still asking better questions, but now with datasets, algorithms, and a healthy obsession with reproducibility.

I’m currently a a Senior Research Associate at IIITB and previously had stint as a Research intern at IISc's Computational Data Sciences department and a Research Scholar Faculty at PES University. , walking the line between applied machine learning and foundational curiosity. My work focuses on secure and efficient multi-modal federated learning — think LiDAR, radar, and images teaming up while preserving privacy.

My path to this point? Winding and wonderful. I started off as an engineer, interned with HAL and BSNL, flirted with corporate software testing (hi Infosys 👋), and eventually found myself pulled into research. I’m fascinated by problems that don’t have obvious answers — from cryptanalysis of ML models to building virtual terrains from sensor data in real time.

I thrive where there’s a puzzle to solve, a paper to question, or a dataset that refuses to behave. And if you hand me a whiteboard, I’ll probably draw more arrows than necessary. It’s a talent.

Beyond the research grind, you’ll find me dancing (literally — I'm also a Kathak dancer), journaling in three different notebooks at once, and making way too many to-do lists for someone who just wants to “go with the flow.”

TL;DR — I believe the best science is the kind that gets shared, questioned, danced around (why not!), and ultimately builds something meaningful for everyone.