CV

Curriculum Vitae of Pawan Kumar.

Contact Information

Name Pawan Kumar
Email pkumar97@asu.edu

Experience

  • 2025 - present

    Tempe, AZ, USA

    Graduate Teaching Assistant
    Arizona State University
    • Supports testing and grading for assigned courses
    • Assists with the preparation, distribution, and collection of test materials
    • Observes and monitors students during examinations and related assessments
  • 2024 - 2024

    Tempe, AZ, USA

    Graduate Service Assistant
    Arizona State University
    • Supported testing and grading for assigned courses
    • Assisted with the preparation, distribution, and collection of test materials
    • Observed and monitored students during examinations and related assessments
  • 2022 - 2024

    Tempe, AZ, USA

    Shift Team Lead
    Aramark
    • Managed daily operations in a high-volume team environment
    • Trained and mentored new team members
    • Resolved operational issues to improve service quality and efficiency
    • Adapted operations to improve team performance and customer experience
  • 2021 - 2021

    Bangalore, India

    Machine Learning and Communication Intern
    Sooktha Consulting Private Limited
    • Studied and characterized NB-IoT connectivity for real-world applications
    • Worked on NB-IoT connectivity setup and bidirectional data transmission with multiple sensors and devices
    • Conducted tests on connectivity, frequency, uplink, and downlink across devices and data rates
    • Integrated sensors with a cloud platform for real-time data collection using TCP
    • Developed a machine learning model to analyze temperature and humidity trends

Education

  • 2024 - present

    Tempe, AZ, USA

    Ph.D.
    Arizona State University
    Computer Engineering
    • Advised by Prof. Hokeun Kim
    • Research areas: Embedded Systems, Cyber-Physical Systems, Robotics, Machine Learning
  • 2022 - 2024

    Tempe, AZ, USA

    M.S.
    Arizona State University
    Computer Engineering
    • GPA: 3.52/4.0
    • Advised by Prof. Hokeun Kim
    • Thesis: Cost-Effective Cyber-Physical System Prototype for Precision Agriculture with a Focus on Crop
    • Relevant coursework: Privacy and Machine Learning, Communication Networks, Probability and Random Processes, Foundations of Algorithms, Knowledge Representation, Perception in Robotics, Broadband Networks, Embedded Machine Learning
  • 2018 - 2022

    Bangalore, India

    B.E.
    Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering
    Electronics and Instrumentation
    • GPA: 8.58/10

Research Interests

  • Embedded Systems
  • Cyber-Physical Systems
  • Robotics
  • Machine Learning

Publications

Projects

  • Heterogeneous rover-drone platform

    Designing and developing a rover and drone platform integrated with Raspberry Pi for scalable aerial and ground cyber-physical system operations.

    • Integrates rover and drone systems within a common CPS framework
    • Supports scalable, intelligent, and affordable field operations
  • Rover for farm applications

    Developed a farming rover by repurposing a ride-on toy car and integrating Raspberry Pi for control and sensing.

    • Built a data pipeline for image and sensor preprocessing
    • Enabled citrus plant detection and analysis
    • Designed a removable support structure for onboard hardware
  • Cost-Effective Cyber-Physical System Prototype for Precision Agriculture with a Focus on Crop

    Designed and implemented a CPS prototype for crop monitoring and growth prediction in hydroponic environments.

    • Integrated ESP32, Raspberry Pi, sensors, and digital image processing
    • Compared TF-Luna and ultrasonic sensors for non-destructive plant measurements
    • Built linear and Bayesian regression models with over 90 percent test accuracy
  • Trash Sorter Using Object Detection

    Developed an object-detection-based trash sorting system integrated with the Franka Emika Robot.

    • Researched object detection approaches
    • Integrated perception with robotic sorting
    • Documented design and performance results
  • Analysis of Poisoning Attacks in Federated Learning for Educational Data Mining

    Studied poisoning attacks in federated learning models for student dropout prediction.

    • Used the KDDCUP2015 dataset
    • Evaluated mitigation strategies and model robustness
  • Automatic Early Detection of SARS-COVID-19 Using Deep Learning Techniques

    Led a team project on deep learning models for COVID-19 severity classification using X-rays and CT scans.

    • Compared VGG-19, ResNet-50, InceptionV3, and Xception
    • Evaluated accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 score

Awards

  • 2026
    SCAI Conference Funding Award
    School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, Arizona State University
  • 2026
    YPP Travel Award for DATE Conference
    Design, Automation and Test in Europe (DATE)
  • 2024
    Travel award to present in Rapid system prototyping workshop as part of ESWEEK 2024
    Arizona State University Graduate College
  • 2022
    Best project of social relevance award for COVID detection using X-ray and CT scans
    Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering
  • 2020
    Best performing intern at the Student Partner Internship Program
  • 2019
    Quarter finalist at AICTE, DST and Texas Instruments India Innovation Challenge Design Contest