Hello :)
I am Deepak, a PhD Student at Cornell University advised by Rene Kizilcec and Aditya Vashistha. Previously, I have researched at Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence and Microsoft Research.
My research focuses on AI-based educational technologies for non-native English speakers and the development of AI systems to serve the Global South. My skill set spans software development, statistical analysis, and qualitative methods, enabling mixed-methods research that bridges technical approaches and social science perspectives.
Currently, I am investigating the potential of personalized conversational AI to support the learning of students in their native language through ConvoEd. Please feel free to reach out for collaborations!
Oh also, check out Tales For Tweens, an Inclusive and Progressive Storybook that I have created for Young Indians. Please consider sharing it with kids, parents, and educators! :)
Recent News
03/26Contributed to a Vogue article on whether AI could drive local knowledge out of fashion
01/26Our paper on Designing Culturally Aligned AI Systems For Social Good in Non-Western Contexts has been accepted to CHI 2026 🎉
01/26Secured a grant worth $7,500 from Cartesia to develop ConvoEd, a conversational AI-powered learning platform for students in their native language 🎉
12/25Our paper on Teacher-AI Collaboration for Curating and Customizing Lesson Plans in Low-Resource Schools has been accepted to CSCW 2026 🎉
11/25My essay on the knowledge gaps in generative AI has been republished by The Guardian 🎉
11/25Spoke in Raport o Stanie Świata (Report on the State of the World), a Polish national podcast, about the epistemic aspects of AI: Link to the episode
10/25Published an essay on Aeon: Holes in the web: An Essay on the Knowledge Gaps in Generative AI 🎉
06/25Interning at Microsoft Research investigating how AI systems are designed and built for the users in the non-Western contexts
02/25Began as a volunteer for organizing the Thought Summit: LLMs And Society, hosted by the Global AI Initiative at Cornell University
01/25Stanford CESTA's Digital Publication Platform, which I helped build from the ground up, is now officially launched! 🎉
01/25Completed my field work in Karnataka for the user study of Shiksha Copilot in partnership with Microsoft Research India and Sikshana Foundation
09/24Second edition of Tales For Tweens, a book that I created for young Indians, is available in Amazon India
08/24Started my PhD at Cornell CIS in the Info Science program
03/24From Consumers to Critical Users: Prompty, an AI Literacy Tool for High School Students published in the Proceedings of the 38th AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI-24). Link to the paper
Publications
Holes in the web: An Essay on the Knowledge Gaps in Generative AI
Deepak Varuvel Dennison
Aeon🔖Republished in The Guardian
Designing Culturally Aligned AI Systems For Social Good in Non-Western Contexts
Deepak Varuvel Dennison, Mohit Jain, Tanuja Ganu, Aditya Vashistha
Accepted to CHI 2026
Teacher-AI Collaboration for Curating and Customizing Lesson Plans in Low-Resource Schools
Deepak Varuvel Dennison, Bakhtawar Ahtisham, Kavyansh Chourasia, Nirmit Arora, Rahul Singh, Rene F. Kizilcec, Akshay Nambi, Tanuja Ganu, Aditya Vashistha
Accepted to CSCW 2026
Does Increased Choice over Learning Topic Improve the Effectiveness of Automated Feedback for Educators?
Dorottya Demszky, Heather C. Hill, Eric S. Taylor, Ashlee Kupor, Deepak Varuvel Dennison, Chris Piech
Education Sciences
From Consumers to Critical Users: Prompty, an AI Literacy Tool For High School Students
Deepak Varuvel Dennison,* Raycelle C. C. Garcia,* Parth Sarin, Jacob Wolf, Christine Bywater, Benjamin Xie and Victor R.Lee
AAAI-24: Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence
Co-designing AI Education Curriculum with Cross-Disciplinary High School Teachers
Benjamin Xie, Parth Sarin,* Jacob Wolf,* Raycelle C. C. Garcia, Victoria Delaney, Isabel Sieh, Anika Fuloria, Deepak Varuvel Dennison, Christine Bywater, Victor R. Lee
AAAI-24: Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence
Evaluating LLMs' Generation of Growth-Mindset Supportive Teacher Language
Margarett Clapper, Cameron Hecht, Michaela Jones, Nirel Jonesmitchell, Meghann Johnson, Deepak Dennison, Dorrotya Demszky and David Yeager
AIED2023 Workshop: Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Educational Technology Research and Development
📌Pinned Links
Projects
ConvoEd: Improving Learning with Conversational AI
Stanford CESTA Research Anthology
Tales For Tweens: A book for tomorrow's progressive citizens
Elalytics: Integrating literary and data literacy
COVID-19 Vaccination Booking System For Chennai Corporation
ElectionPromises: A Platform to Help Citizens Make Informed Voting Decisions
Writing
Software Tools
Media Features
Could AI Drive Indigenous Knowledge Out of Fashion?
This inclusive children’s book has gender-neutral characters and lessons in climate change
'Tales for Tweens', a collection of open-source stories, targets taboo through positive tales
Chennai Corporation’s vaccination portal gets a good response