Dr. Saptarashmi Bandyopadhyay Joins the City College as Assistant Professor of Computer Science and CREST Faculty Affiliate

The CUNY CREST Institute welcomes Dr. Saptarashmi Bandyopadhyay, Assistant Professor of Computer Science at The City College of New York (CCNY) and The Graduate Center, CUNY, as a new faculty affiliate. Dr. Bandyopadhyay joined CCNY on August 26, 2025, bringing expertise in Artificial Intelligence (AI), AI Agents, Modern Distributed Computing with AI Agents, Machine Learning, Computer Vision, Multimodal Vision Language AI to both teaching and research. Dr. Bandyopadhyay is also an affiliate of the UNU-Hub at CCNY-R-SIRUS and the Earth System Science & Environmental Engineering (EESE) program at CCNY. 

Being an Assistant Professor in Computer Science (CS) allows Dr. Bandyopadhyay to advance his research in AI Agents while mentoring the next generation of students and researchers in the field to create impactful research outcomes. He said, “I love inspiring others and this job allows me to do that in a profound way as a teacher and as an advisor. The most exciting part of my job is getting to meet and work with so many amazing people, from experts in AI to talented students. It is my hope to inspire students, especially the undergraduates at CCNY to pursue a career in research on AI Agents.” CCNY’s mission of accessible education, its history of Nobel and Turing Award-winning alumni, and its pioneering role in computer science research make Dr. Bandyopadhyay optimistic about the exciting future of CS and AI at the institution.

Dr. Bandyopadhyay in front of the Google HQ in Mountain View, CA.
He interned at Google X in 2023, and Google AI AR / Google Deepmind in 2024-2025, where he presented to the Google Deepmind Climate Research Group.

​​Dr. Bandyopadhyay’s research spans a wide array of cutting-edge areas, including AI Agents, Multi-Agent AI, Deep Reinforcement Learning, Imitation Learning, Control Theory, Computational Game Theory, Explainable AI, Self-Supervised Learning, Evolutionary Learning, Augmented Reality, Autonomous Vehicles, Autonomous Drones, Robotics, AI Agents’ Guided Climate Conservation. Some of his current/upcoming projects include:  

  • Proactive AI Agents for Assisting Users in Augmented Reality Environments
  • Networked AI Agents for Fleets of Commercialized Autonomous Vehicles
  • Hybrid Battery Energy Management Systems with Multi-Agent AI
  • Research Experiences for Undergraduates in Multi-Agent AI
  • Neurosymbolic Explainable AI Agents
  • Efficient Multi-Agent Communication

With his background in interdisciplinary CS/AI research and an appreciation for conserving nature, Dr. Bandyopadhyay views his affiliation with CREST as an opportunity to apply his multi-agent AI expertise to meaningful work in natural resource conservation, an interest that began with his early research on using AI to prevent deforestation in Indonesia.

As a CREST faculty affiliate, Dr. Bandyopadhyay can draw on expertise in atmospheric science to explore how AI agents support better decision-making during extreme weather events and promote sustainable living. Addressing data challenges is key to shaping how AI Agents behave and adapt in protecting the environment. He said, “Any scenario that involves an actor that interacts with their environment and others is relevant to AI Agents in CS. This holds especially true when interacting with the natural environment.”

Dr. Bandyopadhyay plans to lead new CREST projects using AI agents to conserve natural resources in low-data settings while also contributing to existing projects with opportunities for AI to enhance decision-making, and mentoring undergraduate, master’s, and PhD students in AI and computer science.

During the 2025 CUNY CREST HIRES program, Dr. Bandyopadhyay gave an engaging talk on Multi-Agent AI in the Real World to the high-schooles. It was insightful to learn about topics such as Multimodal Agentic Model Predictive Control framework using VLMs; explainable AI (XAI) for Multi-Agent Recommender Systems and YETI Agents for timely user intervention in Augmented Reality; AI agents for Climate Conservation, Education, Supply Chain Orchestration, and other areas; and the JAXMARL, a MARL library offering massive speedups.The session sparked great discussions and thoughtful questions.


Dr. Bandyopadhyay holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Maryland, College Park (2025), where he researched Multi-Agent Autonomous Decision Making in AI. He earned his M.S. in Computer Science and Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University, University Park (2020), completing a thesis on Vessel Analysis in Narrow Band Imaging Bronchoscopic Video. He holds a B.Tech. (Honours) in Computer Science and Engineering from the Indian Institute of Engineering Science & Technology, Shibpur (2018) where his honors thesis focused on Iterative Decoding of Low-Density Parity Check Codes.

CREST is excited to support Dr. Bandyopadhyay’s vision of applying AI to address global challenges while inspiring the next generation of researchers. 

 

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