Meet the Team
Niccolò Pescetelli,
Principal Investigator
I am an Assistant Professor of Cyberpsychology and the Principal Investigator of the lab. I was trained as a cognitive scientist at the University of Padova (B.Sc.), University College London (M.Sc.), École Normale Supérieure (M.Sc.), and University of Oxford (D.Phil.), before turning computational social scientist at the MIT Media Lab. Before joining NJIT, I was at the Center for Humans and Machines at the Max Planck Institute.
Daniel Barkoczi,
Post-doctoral Associate
In my research, I develop mathematical and computational models of collective behavior and study how individual-level strategies interact with the structure of social environments to produce collective outcomes. I apply this approach to the study of collective problem-solving, organizational learning, wisdom of crowds, innovation diffusion and beyond.
Ali Raza,
M.Sc.
I am currently pursuing Master of Data Science from University of Potsdam. I am from Pakistan where I completed my Bachelor of Electrical Engineering. I am working on simulation and optimization work for the Hybrid Collective Intelligence group. I have represented Pakistan in Formula SAE Lincoln 2016 and Student Exchange Program UIP ’17 in Sichuan University, China.
Delali Kumapley
B.Sc.
I am an undergraduate student majoring in Computer Science at the New Jersey Institute of Technology's Albert Dorman Honors College. Previously, I gained research experience at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Responsible AI Lab, where I contributed to the development of AI-Powered Assistive Devices for the Visually Impaired. Currently, at the Collective Intelligence Lab, I assist in investigating conversational bootstrapping through simulated data.
Maximus Rafla
B.Sc.
I am an undergraduate student at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science with a minor in Applied Ethics and Philosophy. My interests include AI alignment, existential risk, and superintelligence risks. I have gained valuable work experience in the financial and legal sectors of IT, which has equipped me with a practical understanding of technology's real-world applications. At the Collective Intelligence Lab, I am exploring how to ensure the safe and ethical development of AI in large models.
Past members
Andreea Chirica,
B.Sc.
I am a bachelors of arts student at the New Jersey Institute of Technology studying Law, Technology, and Culture. My field of study mostly relates to social behavior analysis and its applications to the legal field. I have experience working with the New Jersey Law Revision Commission and am currently working on studying Irish Parliamentary Debates around reproductive rights with the Collective Intelligence Lab.
Vignesh Nethrapalli,
B.Sc.
I am an undergraduate pursuing a double major in computer science and mathematics at NJIT's Albert Dorman Honors College. I want to pursue data science in graduate school because it allows me to combine my interest in these two fields. I have some experience with data processing, manipulation, and analysis using machine learning. I am currently investigating GNN optimization and node classification in the Collective Intelligence Lab.
Sai Vedagiri,
B.Sc.
I am currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in computer science at NJIT’s Albert Dorman Honors College, and I am interested in the data science and cybersecurity subfields. I have previous research experience with inference attacks and link prediction in graph neural networks, Bluetooth LE technology, and low-frequency ultrasound technology. At the Collective Intelligence Lab, I work on approaches to optimization for GNNs.
Thomas Mueller,
Postdoctoral associate
My main research interests lie in the experimental study of human social interaction and communication, and in the cultural transmission of these behaviors and their outcomes. I make use of artificial language games to study the emergence and evolution of communication, and also study the interactions of humans in constrained, large-scale online environments to learn more about the change and organization of cultural traits.
Levin Brinkmann,
Pre-doctoral Fellow
I am a predoctoral fellow of the Hybrid Collective Intelligence Group at the Center for Human and Machines. I worked for several years in the fashion and advertising industry, where I developed inspirational algorithms for creative workers. I received my Master in Physics from the University of Goettingen in 2014. Prior to my work in the industry, I worked as a visiting research student at the King’s College London, and as a research assistant at the University of Goettingen.
Kira Von Kleist,
Ph.D.
I am a PhD candidate at UCSD. Prior to that I was a Bachelor student at Freie Universität in the field of Psychology, with a personal interest for Neuroscience, Clinical Psychology and Human-Machine Interactions. As a research assistant for the Hybrid Collective Intelligence group at the Center for Humans and Machines, I am responsible for data collection and data analysis.
Patrik Reichert,
M.Sc.
I am a PhD student at the Department of Economics, University of Gothenburg. My main research interest is managerial risk-taking under convex incentives. I am also interested in topics related to machine ethics.
I received my BA in Management from the University of Reading, my M.Sc. in Financial Economics from the University of Exeter. I also spent one year at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin attending the M.Sc. Economics and Management Science program. I was previously a research assistant in the Henley Business School, University of Reading, as well as in the Hybrid Collective Intelligence group at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin.
Pooja Keni,
M.Sc.
I am a software student, pursuing her Masters degree at Technische Universität Chemnitz. I received my Bachelor's degree in Electronics and Telecommunication from Mumbai University, India before working as Train Captain for India’s first monorail project in Mumbai. With keen interest in expanding my knowledge on upcoming technologies, I moved to Germany to study masters in Automotive Software Engineering. Currently I am writing my Master Thesis at TU Chemnitz.
