Pratik Desai

M.C.A, B.Sc. (Math)

Assistant Professor of Computer Science, Nilkamal School of Mathematics, Applied Statistics & Analytics (NSoMASA), NMIMS (Deemed-to-be) University

Research Interest: Knowledge Representation & Reasoning, Commonsense Intelligence, Neuro-Symbolic AI, Cognitive Architectures.

Career Positions (Recent Five)

Academic Experience

• Assistant Professor of Computer Science, NSoMASA, NMIMS University, Mumbai (September 2024 – Present)

Teaching Areas: Engaged in teaching advanced courses including Deep Learning Techniques, Computational Thinking & Data Science, Cloud Computing with Amazon AWS, and Supervised Machine Learning.

• Assistant Professor, MCA Department, DES’ Navinchandra Mehta Institute of Technology & Development, University of Mumbai (August 2013 – August 2024)

Core Teaching Areas: Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Simulation & Modeling, Information & Network Security, Computer Organization & Architecture, Distributed & Parallel Databases, Dimensional Modeling, Software Project Management, Advanced Java.

• Assistant Professor, B.Sc (IT & CS), N.G. Acharya & D.K. Marathe College of Science, Commerce & Arts, University of Mumbai (June 2012 – July 2013)

Core Teaching Areas: Advanced Java, Operating Systems, Computer Networks, Network Security & Software Project Management.

Industry Experience

• Senior Software Engineer, Spend Analytics Product Team, Zycus Infotech Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai (January 2010 – May 2012) (zycus.com)
  Worked with Zycus, a leading spend-management product company serving Fortune 500/1000 clients, as part of the core products team. Contributed to SIM (Supplier Information Management) and E-Proc (E-Procurement) platforms, working extensively with Enterprise Java technologies, before transitioning to academia.
• Software Engineer, Product Team, Verchaska Infotech Pvt. Ltd. (now VE Technologies), Navi Mumbai (March 2007 – January 2010) (www.vesimplify.com/about-us)

Served as a core product team member developing two major travel-tech platforms—Fare-Engine and Provesio—using Enterprise Java technologies, for clients such as Cleartrip, Cox & Kings, Griffin, Wipro, and Ezeego1.

Qualifications

Membership of Professional Bodies

Member, Cognitive Science Society (since 2023) - https://cognitivesciencesociety.org/

Current Teaching and Administrative Responsibilities

Teaching and mentoring projects for M.Sc and B.Sc programs in Data Science, and M.Sc in (Statistics & Data Science), with a total workload of 16 hours per week. I handle both theory and laboratory courses across these programs. Courses taught in recent years include: Deep Learning Techniques, Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, Computational Thinking & Data Science, Cloud Computing with Amazon AWS, Data Warehousing & Dimensional Modeling.

Research and Consultancy

Served as an internal mentor for M.Sc (Statistics & Data Science) students on an HDFC Bank Data Science project aimed at optimizing targeted marketing communication across multiple customer channels.

Key Publications

1. Desai, P. A. (2022). Computational social choice – A mutually enriching alliance between computer science & social choice theory. Asian Journal of Organic & Medicinal Chemistry, 7(2), 166–172. (Special Issue II: Current Trend on Research in Applied Science, Management and Technology)
2. Desai, P. A. (2021). Fortifying of ubiquitous computing systems with autonomic adaptivity. Shodh Sarita, 8(29), 119–126.
3. Desai, P. A. (2020). Artificial immune systems – An interplay between computational immunology and immunology-inspired computing. Shodh Sarita, 7(25), 309–321.

Official Email Id: pratik.desai@nmims.edu | pratik.a.desai@gmail.com