Dr. Subu Kandaswamy

Scholarly Associate Professor, Computer Science

School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS)

Washington State University, Pullman, WA

I joined the School of EECS, Washington State University in January 2023 as a Scholarly Associate Professor of Computer Science. Prior to this, I was an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Sri City, Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh, India. I earned my Ph.D. in Computer Science from Northwestern University in 2016, working under the mentorship of Dr. Ken Forbus as part of the Qualitative Reasoning Group.

As a career-track professor, my primary focus is on teaching. I currently teach courses on Web Application Development, Software Engineering Principles II (with an emphasis on software testing), Programming Language Design, and Advanced Data Structures. My goal is to equip students with both the theoretical knowledge and practical skills necessary for their professional success.

In my research, I focus on understanding the foundations of human intelligence to build more capable artificial systems. Specifically, I explore how humans learn, recognize, and utilize relational patterns—an essential component for advancing AI. My work is grounded in cognitive science, where I contribute through computational cognitive modeling to investigate these mechanisms.

I am also interested in Software Engineering research, particularly in microservices and building modern web applications. This area allows me to explore approaches to building scalable and flexible systems.

As a functional programming aficionado, I have a passion for languages from both sides of the Atlantic: Haskell and Clojure. These languages reflect my strong belief in the power of functional paradigms for writing clean, efficient, and maintainable code.

In my applied research, I work on agent-based modeling and simulations to address real-world problems. For example, I collaborated with undergraduate students to model Indian road traffic conditions, focusing on improving safety using agent-based simulations. This practical work complements my research by producing immediate and impactful results.

Publications

Agent Based Modeling and Simulations

Swathi, P., Kandaswamy, B., & Venkataraman, H. (2024, June). Routing Strategies to Enhance Situational Awareness of Connected Vehicles in Unorganised Traffic Junctions. In 2024 IEEE Transportation Electrification Conference and Expo (ITEC) (pp. 1-5). IEEE.
Masihullah, S., & Kandaswamy, S. (2022, July). A Decentralized Collaborative Strategy for PTZ Camera Network Tracking System using Graph Learning. 4th International Applied Mathematics, Modelling and Simulation Conference (AMMS 2022). (in press)
Murukutla, S. A., Koushik, S. B., Chinthala, S. P. R., Bobbillapati, A., & Kandaswamy, S. (2021, October). A Simple Agent Based Modeling Tool for Plastic and Debris Tracking in Oceans. In International Conference on Practical Applications of Agents and Multi-Agent Systems (pp. 139-150). Springer, Cham.
Meegada, S., & Kandaswamy, S. (2021, September). Comparison of Viral Information Spreading Strategies in Social Media. Social Simulation Conference 2021. Cracow, Poland - 20-24 September 2021.
Mohammed, H., Reddy, V. H., & Kandaswamy, S. (2020). A Decentralized Strategy for Cooperative Driving among Autonomous Cars at Lane Closures. In 2020 IEEE 32nd International Conference on Tools with Artificial Intelligence (ICTAI) (pp. 905-910). IEEE.
Nair, D., Yerragunta, S., Kandaswamy, S., and Venkataraman, H. (2020) Assessing the impact of heterogeneous traffic on highways via agent-based simulations. Proceedings of the 2020 Winter Simulation Conference, Florida , USA - 13-16 December 2020.

Cognitive Modeling

Kandaswamy, S., Forbus, K. and Gentner, D. (2014). Modeling Learning via Progressive Alignment using Interim Generalizations. Proceedings of the 36th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (CogSci). Quebec City, Canada.
Kandaswamy, S., and Forbus, K. (2012). Modeling Learning of Relational Abstractions via Structural Alignment. Proceedings of the 34th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (CogSci). Sapporo, Japan

Sketch Understanding & Qualitative Representations

McLure, M.D., Kandaswamy, S., and Forbus, K.D. (2015). Finding Textures in Sketches using Planar Ising Models. Proceedings of the 28th International Workshop on Qualitative Reasoning. Minneapolis, MN.
Lovett, A., Kandaswamy, S., McLure, M.D, and Forbus, K. (2012). Evaluating qualitative models of shape representation. Proceedings of the 26th International Workshop on Qualitative Reasoning. Los Angeles, CA.

Dissertation

Kandaswamy, B. (2016). Comparison driven representational change (Doctoral dissertation, Northwestern University).
Kandaswamy, B. (2005). Planning techniques for agent based 3D animations. Masters Thesis, University of North Texas.

Free Software Contributions

Forbus, K. D., Friedman, S., Kandaswamy, S., Lovett, A., & Usher, M. (2017). Case Mapper. [link]
Forbus, K., Usher, M., Lovett, A., Chang, M., McLure, M., Kandaswamy, S., Wetzel, J. and Lockwood, K., CogSketch v4. 15. [link]

Patents

Elkholy, A. H., Kandaswamy, B., Gustafson, S. M., & Al-Olimat, H. S. (2019). Machine assisted learning of entities. U.S. Patent No. 10,242,320. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Work Experience

Scholarly Associate Professor (Career Track), Washington State University, 2023 - Current
Assistant Professor, Indian Institute of Information Technology Sri City, 2018 - 2022
(Sr.) Applied Researcher, Maana Inc, Bellevue, WA, 2017-2018