Qualification :

• Ph.D. in Computer Engineering, COEP Technological University (Savitribai Phule Pune University), 2022
• M.Tech / M.E.: M.E. in Computer Science & Engineering (Information Technology), SPPU, 2010 (First Class with Distinction) 
• B.E.: B.E. in Computer Engineering, SPPU, 2007 (First Class with Distinction) 

Experience:

Industrial Experience: ~1 Year (Software Engineer at Ascellent Technologies, July 2007 – August 2008)

Assistant Professor, COEP Technological University, Pune from 2010 – till date

Research Interest/Area:

Core Research Areas:

1. Applied Natural Language Processing & Semantics: Pragmatic context extraction, Context Vector Machines (CVM), Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA), Keyphrase Extraction, and Neurosymbolic architectures.

2. Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) & Spatiotemporal Learning: Graph-based pattern recognition, high-cardinality categorical classification, and fraud detection.

3. Applied Multimodal AI & Edge Systems: Sensor fusion and AI pipelines for environmental monitoring (marine waste detection, eco-imaging, flood simulations) and AR/VR immersive interfaces.

Future Research & Departmental Vision:

1. Establishing an advanced research cluster in Neurosymbolic AI & Contextual NLP for vernacular/low-resource languages and digital humanities.

2. Driving Interdisciplinary AI Applications in climate tech, smart agriculture, and environmental preservation.

3. Promoting industry-academia co-development through sponsored consultancy projects in document intelligence and semantic search.

Publication :

Book Chapters : Khatavkar, V., et al., “Integrating AR and VR in Sports Education and Training: A Pathway to Skill Acquisition,” Emerging Technologies in Education & Skill Development, IGI Global, 2026.

Selected Conference Papers :

1. V. Khatavkar, et al., “CascadeNS: Confidence-Cascaded Neurosymbolic Model for Sarcasm Detection,” in Proc. Springer International Conference, 2026.

2. V. Khatavkar, et al., “Integrating High-Cardinality Categorical Features and Graph Neural Networks for Customs Fraud Detection with Label Scarcity,” in Proc. IEEE International Conference, 2025.

3. V. Khatavkar, et al., “Data Analytics–Based Prediction of Solar Photovoltaic Power Generation,” in Proc. IEEE International Conference on Emerging Technologies, 2026.

Selected Journal Papers (SCI / Scopus Indexed) :

1. S. K. Mathivanan, D. Francis, S. Srinivasan, V. Khatavkar, K. P, and M. A. Shah, “Enhancing cervical cancer detection and robust classification through a fusion of deep learning models,” Scientific Reports (Nature Portfolio), vol. 14, 2024, doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-xxxxx .

2. S. Mehta, R. Karwa, R. Chavan, A. Joshi, and Dr. V. Khatavkar, “Keyphrase Extraction Using Graph-Based Statistical Approach with NLP Patterns,” Sādhanā (Springer / Indian Academy of Sciences), vol. 49, 2024.

3. M. Velankar, V. Khatavkar, V. Jagtap, and P. Kulkarni, “Knowledge discovery in time series data with contextual event identification,” International Journal of Knowledge Engineering and Data Mining, 2022.

4. V. Khatavkar, M. Velankar, and P. Kulkarni, “Thematic Context Derivator Algorithm for Enhanced Context Vector Machine: eCVM,” International Journal of Engineering and Advanced Technology (IJEAT), 2019.

Recent Teachings :

Foundations of AI, Drone Technology, Game Technology.

Awards & Recognition:

• Senior Member, IEEE (SMIEEE) with Humanitarian Technology Certification. Professional Member: ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) and ISTE (Life Member). 
• Google Certified Educator (Level 1, Level 2) & Gemini Certified Educator. Invited Peer Reviewer: Nature Scientific Reports, Springer Nature journals, and major IEEE transactions/conferences. 
• Academic Delegation Lead: Headed 31-member interdisciplinary delegation to Tokyo, Japan (visits to Kawasaki Robostage, Nissan Global, Central Tokyo University, 2026). 
• NSS Program Officer:  2011 till 2018 
• Committee Member : Unnat Bharat Abhiyaan, Unnat Maharashtra Abhiyaan , Technology Development Cell, Social Entrepreneurship and Rural Development Cell, Vikshit Bharat Cell
• Nominated AICTE BOS IT – 2018 to 2020

Funded Projects:

1. Wireless IDS ( AICTE , 2012-15) : Co-PI, Wireless IDS research project grant from AICTE of Rs 8 Lacs

2. Industry Consultancy (Rezoomex Technologies, 2022–2023): Lead Investigator, Orphan Entity Allocation in Resumes using Contextual NLP.

3. Government Consultancy (Pune Municipal Corporation / GoI, 2021–2022): Co-PI, Algorithm Randomness Validation for Public Housing Lottery System.

4. Creativity Index Calculation (COEP, 2022–2023): Principal Investigator, BERT-based cognitive question-answering evaluation.