Kavita Krishnaswamy is a Ph.D. candidate working with Dr. Tim Oates at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). She is both a Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellow and a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow. She has also worked at the National Science Foundation’s Engineering Research Center - Quality of Life Technology Center (QoLT) at Carnegie Mellon/University of Pittsburgh, AccessComputing, and IBM Business consulting services. She was born with Spinal Muscular Atrophy and is only able move the index finger of her right hand. She pursues research in the fields of robotics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, brain computer interfaces, and assistive technologies as part of her Ph.D. dissertation. Kavita attends many events and conferences with the Beam telepresence robot by Suitable Technologies to meet, learn, and network with professionals internationally with autonomy.

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