Kushagra "Kush" Tiwary
ktiwary [at] mit [dot] edu | LinkedIn | X | Google Scholar
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Office: E14-374H, 75 Amherst St, Cambridge, MA 02139 | Download Image
I am a 2nd year PhD student in the Camera Culture group at the MIT Media Lab, advised by Ramesh Raskar. I also work with Brian Cheung and Tomaso Poggio's group. I received my S.M.'23 from MIT and B.S.'19 ECE from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Prior to MIT, I built the Software 2.0 stack at Optimus Ride.
My research focuses on building AI systems that invent and discover through interaction with environments. I explore how scientific and engineering problems can be reframed as generation–verification loops using AI and simulation. Concretely, this involves:
- Combining reinforcement learning, evolutionary algorithms, and large language models to generate novel solutions and discoveries.
- Designing scientific environments where artificial agents can probe and explain *why* phenomena in vision science.
- Creating new forms of vision for embodied agents interacting with the real world.
I’m an interdisciplinary researcher by nature, and so is my work—spanning computer vision, graphics, reinforcement learning, artificial life, and vision science.
I’m also passionate about public engagement and science advocacy; parts of my work have been exhibited at the MIT Museum and the Museum of Science to invite broader audiences to ask how AI can be a tool not just for automation, but for insight into human perception and invention.
Reach out to chat or collaborate (Bell Labs model of open doors).
I am grateful to be the first in my extended family to be in a PhD program. To learn more about how to apply to PhD programs, I also volunteer for the Media Lab’s SOS Program and the EECS Graduate Application Assistance Program (GAAP).