Yashaswini Murthy
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PhD Candidate Email: ymurthy2@illinois.edu |
About
I am currently pursuing a Ph.D. in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), under the guidance of Prof. R. Srikant. My research interests lie at the intersection of reinforcement learning theory and applied probability. Specifically, my doctoral work has focused on average reward Markov Decision Processes (MDPs) and robust MDPs with risk-sensitive exponential costs, exploring both their theoretical foundations and applications in reinforcement learning.
In the summer of 2024, I completed an academic internship at Georgia Tech, where I focused on countable state space reinforcement learning. During the fall of 2023, I interned at INRIA, Paris, where my research centered on reversible MDPs. Before these experiences, I worked as a research assistant in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at UIUC, contributing to projects in differential privacy and game theory.
Before beginning my Ph.D. program, I earned both a Master’s and a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, specializing in automation, from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, along with a Minor in Systems and Control Engineering. My Master’s thesis centered on the mathematical modeling, control, and motion planning of microrobots in Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids, employing methods from nonlinear control, Lie theory, and differential geometric control.
Outside of work, I like photography, running and reading non fiction, science and historical fiction. I absolutely love traveling and also derive a lot of joy from good food (despite not enjoying the process of making it).