The human mind is a fascinating machine. With deliberate practice, we develop connections in our brains that allow us to perform a task with high levels of efficiency and accuracy (expert performance). What is more intriguing is that practice alone does not explain differences in expertise. Certain individuals seem to learn specific skills faster than others, individuals who have a 'talent' for the task. Whether skills are developed with deliberate practice or are inherent to gifted individuals (Nurture vs. Nature), experts in a task possess specific skills that make them experts. 

Recent advances in AI have allowed us to develop powerful models that can perform highly complex tasks at expert levels (often better). However, these models require immense computational resources and data to learn these tasks. Humans, on the other hand, can learn much more efficiently with limited cognitive resources. 

My research is geared toward understanding the skills and competencies necessary to be an expert in a task and how such skills allow a resource-rational agent to perform optimally in complex tasks.

Projects:

• 2024-Present: Optimal Teaching Strategies for Humans in Hybrid Domains [Funded by Toyota Research Institute]

• 2019-2024: Collaborative behavior in small human teams. [Funded by the Office of Naval Research]

• 2019-2021: Decision-making in a simulated industrial control room.

• Sontakke, M. V., Banerjee, S., Ghosh, S., Bequette, B. W., & Gray, W. (2023). The Contribution of Human Cognition and Decision-Making to Understanding the Dynamics of Chemical Manufacturing Process Tasks. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 45(45). 

• Banerjee, S., & Gray, W. (2023, June). Role Stability and Team Performance in a 4-Player Cooperative Cooking Game. Paper presented at Virtual MathPsych/ICCM 2023. Via mathpsych.org/presentation/1226. 

• Gray, W., & Banerjee, S. (2022, October). Expertises for Small Team -- Cooperative Interactions. Poster Presentation at HFES 2022. 

• Gray, W. D., & Banerjee, S. (2021). Constructing Expertise: Surmounting Performance Plateaus by Tasks, by Tools, and by Techniques. Topics in cognitive science, 13(4), 610–665. https://doi.org/10.1111/tops.12575  

• Banerjee, S., Majumder, P., & Mitra, M. (2017). Re-evaluating the Need for Modelling Term-Dependence in Text Classification Problems. arXiv [Cs.IR]. Retrieved from http://arxiv.org/abs/1710.09085 

• Chhaya, N., & Banerjee, S. (2015). A Survey on the Effects of Gamification to Improve Quality of Education. Workshop on Information and Communication Technology for Development (2015).

I have an undergraduate degree in Computer Science (BSc, 2011-2014) from the University of Calcutta, West Bengal, India. As an undergrad, I minored in Mathematics and Physics. I also have a master's degree in Information Technology and Web-Science (MS, 2018-2019) and a PhD in Cognitive Science (2020-2024) from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI).

• Photography [500px, Instagram]

• Travel: My inclination for traveling primarily stems from my love for photography. I love capturing nature in all its glory through my lens and sharing it with the world.

• Other Interests: 

  • Cooking

  • DIY (Cleaning and Repairs)

  • Following market trends in technology (Cellphones, Computer hardware and software, Wearable devices, IOT, Renewable energy).