Minal Suresh Patil
Doctoral Candidate @ Umeå universitet • MSc from University College London
Hi, I’m Minal!
I am currently pursuing a doctorate degree in computer science at Umeå universitet advised by Kary Främling. My PhD is in collaboration and funded by Sweden’s national initiative project Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program(WASP) and Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (KAW).
Machine learning has made significant progress on System 1 (from Daniel Kahneman’s book “Thinking, Fast and Slow”) functionality - behaviours that are quick, spontaneous, and unconscious—such as object recognition, interpreting basic words, and driving vehicles in ideal roadways. Nonetheless, it still has challenges with System 2 abilities, which typically entail systematic, logical, and conscious reasoning such as programming or solving math problems. To address this, my research seeks to establish intelligent systems that reason in a precise, consistent, verifiable and interpretable manner in real-life situations.
My research interests lie at the intersection between Formal Methods and Software Engineering, particularly in applying formal methods to software systems with components generated via machine learning.
My research is also focussed on addressing societal concerns pertinent to algorithm-led decisions in the public and private sector:
- What are the implications of issues around algorithmic transparency and explainability?
- How can we guarantee machine learning models and their explanations are robust to adversarial attacks?
- How do we check datasets for bias or incompleteness, and how do we tackle these where we find them?