Suma Bhat

Suma Bhat is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), affiliated with the Coordinated Science Laboratory. She also holds affiliate faculty positions in Computer Science, Educational Psychology, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, and the Center for Social and Behavioral Science. Her research focuses on natural language processing (NLP), human-AI interaction, computational social science, and medical language processing, with an emphasis on understanding linguistic nuances and enhancing user experiences in AI-driven systems.

Her teaching includes courses like ECE 120 (Introduction to Computing), ECE 365 (Data Science and Engineering), and ECE 594 (Mathematical Models of Language). She received the 2021 ECE Ronald W. Pratt Faculty Outstanding Teaching Award. Her work explores parameter-efficient NLP methods, especially for idiosyncratic language phenomena like idioms and figurative expressions, and applies NLP to educational and medical contexts.

Bhat leads the DIYA initiative, promoting data science education through camps and workshops, particularly for underrepresented groups. Recent efforts include expanding DIYA to India and collaborating on projects addressing societal challenges like climate change and healthcare equity. Her research group, ILEARN, investigates online learning dynamics and learner behavior, with notable contributions to automated assessment and medical education tools.