Education
B. Tech, I.I.T. Bombay, India
M.S., PhD, Michigan State University
About
Gautam Biswas is the Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Engineering and a Professor of Computer Science and Electrical and Computer Engineering at Vanderbilt University, and a Senior Research Scientist at the Institute for Software Integrated Systems (ISIS). He earned a B.Tech. in Electrical Engineering from IIT Bombay and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science from Michigan State University.
Professor Biswas’s research covers AI, machine learning, and the learning sciences. His lab has developed open-ended learning environments that integrate STEM and computing education, as well as influential Learning-by-Teaching systems that enhance STEM instruction. Recently, he has focused on scenario-based environments that support scientific, engineering, and computational thinking through model building and problem solving. His lab also uses deep learning–based multimodal analytics to study student behavior in collaborative learning settings, with applications in education and training. He received the 2023 Prof. Ramkumar Educational Data Mining Test of Time Award for his work in learning analytics. Additionally, he applies multimodal analysis to evaluate trainee performance in mixed-reality training, including U.S. Army Battle Drill exercises and CCAT preparation for U.S. Air Force medics.
In cyber-physical systems, Biswas has developed methods for anomaly detection, diagnosis, prognosis, and fault-adaptive control, with applications ranging from nuclear reactor cooling loops and automotive systems to aircraft fuel transfer and life-support systems for space habitats. His recent work highlights system-wide safety for UAV operations with NASA and emphasizes distributed monitoring and online prognosis for complex systems. Working with Honeywell, he received the NASA 2011 Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate Award for his work on the Vehicle Level Reasoning System and Data Mining methods to enhance aircraft diagnostics and prognostics. His research is supported by ARL, NASA, NSF, DARPA, and the U.S. Department of Education, and includes collaborations with Airbus, Honeywell, and Boeing. He has authored over 700 refereed publications (h-index: 71) and is a Life Fellow of IEEE and a Fellow of APSCE and the PHM Society.
Research Focus
Artificial Intelligence in Education
Deep Reinforcement Learning
Multimodal Learning Analytics
Publication Highlight
1) Cohn, C., Rayala, S., Srivastava, N., Fonteles, J. H., Jain, S., Luo, X., … & Biswas, G. (2026, March). A theory of adaptive scaffolding for LLM-based pedagogical agents. In Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (Vol. 40, No. 3, pp. 1757-1765).
2) Fonteles, J. H., Cohn, C., Ayalon, E., Zhou, M., Ts, A., Davalos, E., … & Biswas, G. (2026). Analyzing embodied learning in classroom settings: A human-in-the-loop AI approach for multimodal learning analytics. Learning and Instruction, 103, 102274.
3) Naug, A., Quinones-Grueiro, M., & Biswas, G. (2022). Deep reinforcement learning control for non-stationary building energy management. Energy and Buildings, 277, 112584.