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About the LARA Lab

In this lab, we look at using and improving language tools to make better, human-centered artificial intelligence (AI) by looking at how people communicate and creating computer-supported human communication tools. To find out more about what we’re currently working on, check out the Projects page.

Location

Information Technology and Engineering (ITE) 368

Lab Members

Director

A picture of Dr. Martin. Lara has asymmetrical purple hair and dangly earrings. She is wearing a navy/maroon vertical stripped dress.

Lara J. Martin, PhD

, Assistant Professor in CSEE
she/they
[website] [
] [scholar] [social]

PhD Students


Patty Delafuente

, PhD Student in Computer Science
she
Joined Spring 2024
RAG for Fraud Detection
[website] [
]

Ray Groshan

, PhD Student in Computer Science
he/they
Joined Fall 2025
AAC/NLP for Assistive Technology
[website] [
] [scholar]

Arya Honraopatil

, PhD Student in Computer Science
she
Joined Summer 2024
D&D AI
[
]

Marcus McAllister

, PhD Student in Computer Science
he
Joined Fall 2024
Storytelling for Robotics
[
]
Co-Advised by: Cynthia Matuszek

Affiliated PhD Students

Statue of True Grit, UMBC's mascot. True Grit is a Chesapeake Bay Retriever. Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:UMBC_Mascot.jpg

Sai Vallurupalli

, PhD Student in Computer Science
she
[
] [scholar]
Advisor: Frank Ferraro

Masters Students


Venkata Sai Harsha Kothapalli

, MS Student in Computer Science
he
[website] [
]

Lahari Vuppalapati

, MS Student in Computer Science
she
[
]

Undergrad Students


Paul Abili

, BS Student in Computer Science
he
[
]

Lab Alumni

Affiliated PhD Students


Shawn Bray

, PhD Student in Computer Engineering
he
[scholar]
Statue of True Grit, UMBC's mascot. True Grit is a Chesapeake Bay Retriever. Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:UMBC_Mascot.jpg

Asha Kumar

, PhD Student in Human-Centered Computing
she
[scholar]
Advisor: Patti Ordóñez

Masters Students

Statue of True Grit, UMBC's mascot. True Grit is a Chesapeake Bay Retriever. Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:UMBC_Mascot.jpg

Ashish Athimamula

, MS Student in Computer Science
he

Shadab Choudhury

, MS Student in Computer Science
he
[website] [social]

Dedeepya Palakurthi

, MPS Student in Data Science
she

Saksham Kumar Sharma

, MS Student in Computer Science
he

Naren Sivakumar

, MS Student in Computer Science
he
[website]
Statue of True Grit, UMBC's mascot. True Grit is a Chesapeake Bay Retriever. Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:UMBC_Mascot.jpg

June Young

, MS Student in Computer Science
she/they

Undergraduate Students

Statue of True Grit, UMBC's mascot. True Grit is a Chesapeake Bay Retriever. Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:UMBC_Mascot.jpg

AJ Boyd

, BS Student in Computer Science
he
Statue of True Grit, UMBC's mascot. True Grit is a Chesapeake Bay Retriever. Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:UMBC_Mascot.jpg

Tori Saylor

, BS Student in Computer Science
she