Ritwik Gupta Joins UMD CS, Studies AI in Complex Environments

Artificial intelligence systems often rely on clear images and predictable conditions to understand their surroundings. However, first responders and emergency crews may work amid smoke, damaged infrastructure, poor visibility and incomplete information, all conditions that can limit how well conventional computer vision systems function.

Ritwik Gupta, who joined the University of Maryland’s Department of Computer Science as an assistant professor this fall, studies how to build better AI systems that work with the noisy, unorthodox data first responders commonly encounter. His research brings together computer vision, novel sensing technologies and constraints around the transferable use of AI in both civilian and military settings. Gupta also holds a joint appointment in the Artificial Intelligence Interdisciplinary Institute at Maryland (AIM).

“I am extremely excited to join UMD CS,” Gupta said. “It is one of the rare departments in the world with both meaningful investments and strategy in interdisciplinary research. The faculty and students here are not only incredibly passionate about real-world impact, but also push the state of the art in their respective fields to achieve it. I’m looking forward to contributing to the rich academic culture in the department.”

Much of Gupta’s technical research centers on finding ways for AI systems to gather and interpret information when cameras alone may not be enough. One approach is active sensing, in which a system sends out a signal and measures what returns. Radar uses radio waves, for example, while sonar relies on sound.

“I am focused on representation learning for active sensing modalities such as radar and sonar,” Gupta said.

Representation learning is a subset of machine learning that helps computers identify useful patterns in complex data. Applied to active sensing, it can help an AI system interpret information collected through radar or sonar rather than depending primarily on conventional images.

That capability can become important when AI moves from controlled testing environments into the field. Conditions may change quickly, visibility may be limited and systems may encounter situations that were not represented during development.

Gupta has explored those challenges through projects with real-world applications. His previous research has been deployed to disaster response agencies around the world to assist with search and rescue and reconstruction for hundreds of disasters, helped identify and interdict suspicious activities at sea, and assisted the Ukrainian military in countering the invading forces of Russia.

“My focus is on solving the core theoretical issues that prevent first responders from having access to life-saving AI tools that work in their environments,” Gupta said.

For Gupta, however, deploying AI outside the laboratory also involves questions about how the same technologies may be used in different settings. Sensing and computer vision systems developed for civilian purposes can sometimes rely on methods similar to those used in military applications.

“Further, I focus on dual-use AI policy around the civilian and military use of, often, the same technologies for vastly different purposes,” Gupta said.

Dual-use AI refers to technologies with both civilian and military applications. A sensing system used in disaster response, for example, may share underlying methods with technology used in defense operations. Gupta’s research considers the policy questions that can emerge as similar technologies are developed or deployed for different purposes.

His work in these areas builds on experience spanning academic research, industry and government. Before joining UMD, Gupta led research on AI for humanitarian assistance and disaster response at Carnegie Mellon University and worked on real-time machine learning for Apple Vision Pro. He also served as the Technical Director for Autonomy at the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit.

Gupta earned his doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2025 and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 2017.

—Story by Samuel Malede Zewdu, CS Communications