Dr. Sashank Varma

Biography

Sashank Varma is a cognitive scientist focused on understanding complex forms of human cognition through human experimentation and computational modeling. His primary research explores mathematical and computational thinking, specifically how individuals grapple with abstract mathematical concepts such as geometry and topology, and how they tackle computationally 'hard' problems like the traveling salesperson problem. His research on artificial intelligence emphasizes cognitive alignment, investigating how machine learning models align with human cognitive processes. Varma's group conducts studies on large language models and multimodal systems to determine if and how they can emulate human reasoning in mathematics and language. Recent efforts include examining developmental alignment, aiming to enhance the performance of machine learning models by paralleling the trajectory of children’s cognitive development.

Research Interests

Experience