Kakali Basak is a highly accomplished Senior Program Manager with 25 years of experience in technology leadership, project management, and research coordination. She has successfully led large-scale technology initiatives, combining her strong technical expertise with strategic leadership to drive innovation. Her diverse background spans both commercial product development and academic research, with multiple publications in renowned journals and conferences.
Currently, she is the Senior Program Manager for M3S at SMART (Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology), where she leads operational strategy, research infrastructure development, and industry-academic collaborations to bridge the gap between AI research and real-world applications.
Previously, she held senior positions at Motional Singapore Pte Ltd., managing technical programs of autonomous driving technology teams, and at SMART’s Future Urban Mobility initiative, where she led the development of Open source transport simulation software.
Time Series Supplier Allocation via Deep Black-Litterman Model
Xinke Jiang, Wentao Zhang, Yuchen Fang, Xiaowei Gao, Hao Chen, Haoyu Zhang, Dingyi Zhuang, Jiayuan Luo
AAAI, 2025
Conference
2025
AAAI
From Street Views to Urban Science: Discovering Road Safety Factors with Multimodal Large Language Models
Yihong Tang, Ao Qu, Xujing Yu, Weipeng Deng, Jun Ma, Jinhua Zhao, Lijun Sun
KDD UrbComp Workshop, 2025
Conference
2025
KDD UrbComp Workshop
Reliable imputation of incomplete crash data for predicting driver injury severity
Xiaowei Gao, Xinke Jiang, Dingyi Zhuang, James Haworth, Shenhao Wang, Ilya Ilyankou, Huanfa Chen
Journal
2025
ScienceDirect
Impacts of the built environment on remote work choices and preferences
Meilin Yang, Yunhan Zheng, Shenhao Wang, Xiaotong Guo, Jinhua Zhao
Journal
2025
ScienceDirect
Robust Binary and Multinomial Logit Models for Classification with Data Uncertainties
Baichuan Mo, Yunhan Zheng, Xiaotong Guo, Ruoyun Ma, Jinhua Zhao
European Journal of Operational Research, 2025
Journal
2025
European Journal of Operational Research, 2025
MEM1: Learning to Synergize Memory and Reasoning for Efficient Long-Horizon Agents
Zijian Zhou, Ao Qu, Zhaoxuan Wu, Sunghwan Kim, Alok Prakash, Daniela Rus, Jinhua Zhao, Bryan Kian Hsiang Low, Paul Pu Liang
RAM 2: Reasoning, Attention & Memory Workshop at Second Conference on Language Modeling (COLM)
Conference
2025
COLM
ReasonIR: Training Retrievers for Reasoning Tasks
Rulin Shao (UW & Meta), Rui Qiao (SMART & NUS), Varsha Kishore (Allen Institute of AI), Niklas Muennighoff (Stanford), Xi Victoria Lin (Meta), Daniela Rus (MIT), Bryan Kian Hsiang Low (NUS), Sewon Min (Berkley), Wen-tau Yih (Meta), Pang Wei Koh (UW), Luke Zettlemoyer (UW & Meta).
The 2nd Conference on Language Modeling (COLM), Montreal, Canada, 7th October, 2025
Conference
2025
COLM
TETRIS: Optimal Draft Token Selection for Batch Speculative Decoding
Zhaoxuan Wu (SMART), Zijian Zhou (SMART & NUS), Arun Verma (SMART), Alok Prakash (SMART), Daniela Rus (SMART & MIT), and Bryan Kian Hsiang Low (SMART & NUS)
The 63rd Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL), Vienna, Austria, 27th July, 2025
Conference
2025
ACL
RoboMT: Human-Like Compliance Control for Assembly via a Bilateral Robotic Teleoperation and Hybrid Mamba-Transformer Framework
Wang Rundong; Cheng Yanchun; Yuan Qilong; Prakash Alok; Francis EH Tay; Marcelo H. Ang
IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 2025
Journal
2025
IEEE
PIE: Perception and Interaction Enhanced End-to-End Motion Planning for Autonomous Driving
Chengran Yuan, Zijian Lu, Zhanqi Zhang, Yimin Zhao, Zefan Huang, Shuo Sun, Jiawei Sun, Jiahui Li, Christina Dao Wen Lee, Dongen Li, Marcelo H. Ang Jr
IROS 2025
Conference
2025
IROS
DriveSceneGen: Generating Diverse and Realistic Driving Scenarios From Scratch
Shuo Sun; Zekai Gu; Tianchen Sun; Jiawei Sun; Chengran Yuan; Yuhang Han, Dongen Li & Marcelo Ang
ICRA 2025
Conference
2024
IEEE
RMP-YOLO: A Robust Motion Predictor for Partially Observable Scenarios even if You Only Look Once
Jiawei Sun, Jiahui Li, Tingchen Liu, Chengran Yuan, Shuo Sun, Zefan Huang, Anthony Wong, Keng Peng Tee, Marcelo H. Ang Jr
ICRA 2025
Conference
2025
IEEE
DRAMA: An Efficient End-to-end Motion Planner for Autonomous Driving with Mamba
Chengran Yuan, Zhanqi Zhang, Jiawei Sun, Shuo Sun, Zefan Huang, Christina Dao Wen Lee, Dongen Li, Yuhang Han, Anthony Wong, Keng Peng Tee, Marcelo H. Ang Jr
Long Beach, USA
Conference
2024
Origami-Inspired Soft Gripper with Tunable Constant Force Output
Zhenwei Ni (NUS), Chang Xu, Zhihang Qin, Ceng Zhang, Zhiqiang Tang (SMART), Peiyi Wang (SMART), Cecilia Laschi (NUS)
IROS 2025
Conference
2025
IROS
BILBO: BILevel Bayesian Optimization
Ruth Wan Theng Chew (NUS), Quoc Phong Nguyen, Bryan Low (NUS)
The 42nd
International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML), Vancouver, Canada
Conference
2025
ICML
NICE Data Selection for Instruction Tuning in LLMs with Non-differentiable Evaluation Metric
The 42nd
International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML), Vancouver, Canada
Conference
2025
ICML
URPlanner: A Universal Paradigm for Collision-Free Robotic Motion Planning Based on Deep Reinforcement Learning
Fengkang ying (NUS), Hanwen Zhang (NUS), Haozhe Wang (SMART), Huishi Huang (NUS), Marcelo Ang (NUS)
IEEE Transactions on Robotics
Journal
2025
IEEE
Housing Exchange Framework to Reduce Carbon Emissions from Commuting
Juanjuan Zhao, Baichuan Mo, Nicholas S. Caros, and Jinhua Zhao (MIT)
Nature Sustainability 2025
Journal
2025
Nature Sustainability
The Future of Education Series: How to Think of AI in Education
Andrés Salazar-Gomez (MIT), Sanjay Sarma (MIT)
Position Paper
2025
Togedule: Scheduling Meetings with Large Language Models and Adaptive Representations of Group Availability
Jaeyoon Song (MIT), Zahra Ashktorab (IBM), Thomas Malone (MIT)
Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, CSCW ’25, October 18–22, 2025, Bergen, Norway
Conference
2025
ACM
Interaction Configurations and Prompt Guidance in Conversational AI for Question Answering in Human-AI Teams
Jaeyoon Song (MIT), Zahra Ashktorab (IBM), Qian Pan (IBM), Casey Dugan (IBM), Werner Geyer (IBM), Thomas Malone (MIT)
Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, CSCW ’25, October 18–22, 2025, Bergen, Norway.
Conference
2025
ACM
How far afield should you go when being creative?
Semantic area as a metric of AI’s effects on creative ideation
Steven Rick (MIT), Jennifer Heyman (MIT), Pablo Paredes, Matthew Hong, Thomas Malone (MIT)
International Conference on Computational Creativity (ICCC), June 23 – 27, 2025, Campinas, Brazil
Conference
2025
ICCC
Supermind Ideator: How Scaffolding Human-AI Collaboration Can Increase Creativity
Jennifer Heyman (MIT), Steven Rick (MIT), Glanni Glacomelli (MIT), Haoren Wen (MIT), Robert Laubacher (MIT), Nancy Taubenslag (MIT), Max Knicker (Ecole Polytechnique), Younes Jeddi (Mohammed VI Polytechnic University), Pranav Ragupathy (MIT), Jared Curhan (MIT), Thomas Malone (MIT)
Venue: CI '24: Proceedings of the ACM Collective Intelligence Conference
Conference
2024
ACM
When combinations of humans and AI are useful: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Michelle Vaccaro (MIT), Abdullah Almaatouq (MIT), Thomas Malone (MIT)
Journal
2024
Springer Nature
System and method for visual content generation and iteration.
Alice Cai, Thomas Malone (MIT), Yanxia Zhang, Alexandre Filipowicz, Matthew Hong, Steven Rick (MIT), Heishiro Toyoda
Patents
2024
Minimum Multi-Service Fleet Size Problem: Shareability Graph and Network Flow Approach
Dingtong Yang (SMART), Yubin Liu (SMART), Hai Wang (SMU), Jinhua Zhao (MIT), Hamsa Balakrishnan (MIT)
Conference
2025
12th Triennial Symposium on Transportation Analysis, Okinawa Japan
Grasping by spiraling: reproducing elephant movements with rigid-soft robot synergy
Huishi Huang (co-first authors) (NUS), Haozhe Wang (co-first authors) (SMART), Chongyu Fang (NUS), Mingge Yan (NUS), Ruochen Xu (NUS), Yiyuan Zhang (NUS), Zhanchi Wang (USTC), Fenkang Ying (NUS), Jun Liu (A*STAR), Cecilia Laschi (NUS) & Marcelo H. Ang Jr (NUS)
npj Robotics
Journal
2025
Springer Nature
Dynamic Autoregressive Tensor Factorization for Pattern Discovery of Spatiotemporal Systems
Arun Verma (SMART, co-first author), Zhongxiang Dai (CUHK-Shenzhen, co-first author), Xiaoqiang Lin (NUS), Patrick Jaillet (MIT), Bryan Kian Hsiang Low (SMART & NUS)
IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence
Journal
2025
IEEE
Correlating Time Series With Interpretable Convolutional Kernels
Xinyu Chen (MIT), HanQin Cai (University of Central Florida), Fuqiang Liu (McGill University), Jinhua Zhao (MIT)
IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering
Journal
2025
IEEE
Understanding the Relationship between Prompts and Response Uncertainty in Large Language Models
Ze Yu Zhang (NUS, co-first author), Arun Verma (SMART, co-first author), Finale Doshi-Velez (Harvard University), Bryan Kian Hsiang Low (SMART & NUS)
ICLR 2025 Workshop on Quantify Uncertainty and Hallucination in Foundation Models: The Next Frontier in Reliable AI
Conference
2025
ICLR
Active Human Feedback Collection via Neural Contextual Dueling Bandits
Arun Verma (SMART), Xiaoqiang Lin (NUS), Dai Zhongxiang (CUHK-Shenzhen), Daniela Rus (SMART & MIT), Bryan Kian Hsiang Low (SMART & NUS)
ICLR 2025 Workshop on Bidirectional Human-AI Alignment
Conference
2025
ICLR
GETS: Ensemble Temperature Scaling for Calibration in Graph Neural Networks
Dingyi Zhuang (MIT), Chonghe Jiang (MIT), Yunhan Zheng (SMART), Shenhao Wang (UF), Jinhua Zhao (MIT)
13th International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR-25)
Conference
2025
ICLR
WIP: Making Implicit Knowledge Explicit - A Data-Driven Approach to Improve Knowledge Transfer in a Glassblowing Beginners Class
Alex Armengol-Urpi (MIT), Andres Salazar-Gomez (MIT), Sanjay Emani Sarma (MIT)
Proceedings of the IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE)
Conference
2024
IEEE
RA-MOSAIC: Resource Adaptive Edge AI Optimization over Spatially Multiplexed Video Streams
Ila Gokarn (SMART), Yigong Hu (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Tarek Abdelzaher (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Archan Misra (SMU)
ACM Transactions on Multimedia Computing Communications and Applications
Journal
2025
ACM
D2SR: Decentralized Detection, De-Synchronization, and Recovery of LiDAR Interference
Darshana Rathnayake (SMU), Hemanth Sabella (SMU), Meera Radhakrishnan (University of Technology Sydney), Archan Misra (SMU)
2024 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)
Conference
2024
IEEE
DeLiDAR: Decoupling LiDARs for Pervasive Spatial Computing
Darshana Rathnayake (SMU), Razat Sutradhar (Georgia State University), Abbaas Alif Mohamed Nishar (Georgia State University), Dulaj Weerakoon (SMART), Ashwin Ashok (Georgia State University), Archan Misra (SMU)
mRose 2024 Workshop, in conjunction with EWSN 2024
Conference
2024
IEEE
Neural Dueling Bandits: Preference-Based Optimization with Human Feedback
Arun Verma (SMART, co-first author), Zhongxiang Dai (CUHK-Shenzhen, co-first author), Xiaoqiang Lin (NUS), Patrick Jaillet (MIT), Bryan Kian Hsiang Low (SMART & NUS)
13th International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR-25)
Conference
2025
ICLR
Group-robust Sample Reweighting for Subpopulation Shifts via Influence Functions
Rui Qiao (SMART), Zhaoxuan Wu (SMART), Jingtan Wang (NUS & A*STAR), Pang Wei Koh (University of Washington), Bryan Kian Hsiang Low (NUS & SMART)
13th International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR-25)
Conference
2025
ICLR
Ges3ViG : Incorporating Pointing Gestures into Language-Based 3D Visual Grounding for Embodied Reference Understanding
Atharv Mahesh Mane (Stony Brook University), Dulanga Weerakoon (SMART), Vigneshwaran Subbaraju (A*STAR), Sougata Sen (BITS Pilani Goa Campus), Sanjay Sarma (MIT), Archan Misra (SMU)
IEEE / CVF Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Conference (CVPR 2025)
Conference
2025
IEEE
Prompt Optimization with EASE? Efficient Ordering-aware Automated Selection of Exemplars
Zhaoxuan Wu (SMART), Xiaoqiang Lin (NUS), Zhongxiang Dai (CUHK-Shenzhen), Wenyang Hu (NUS), Yao Shu (Guangdong Lab of AI), See-Kiong Ng (NUS), Patrick Jaillet (MIT), Bryan Low (SMART & NUS)
Annual Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS), Vancouver, Canada
Conference
2024
Vancouver, Canada
DETAIL: Task DEmonsTration Attribution for Interpretable In-context Learning
Zijian Zhou (SMART), Xiaoqiang Lin (NUS), Xinyi Xu (NUS), Alok Prakash (SMART), Daniela Rus (SMART & MIT), Bryan Low (SMART & NUS)
Annual Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS)
Conference
2024
Vancouver, Canada
Meta-VBO: Utilizing Prior Tasks in Optimizing Risk Measures with Gaussian Processes
Quoc Phong Nguyen (Deakin University), Bryan Low (SMART & NUS), Patrick Jaillet (MIT)
The 12th International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR)
Conference
2024
Vienna, Austria
Robustifying and Boosting Training-Free Neural Architecture Search
Zhenfeng He (NUS), Yao Shu (Guangdong Lab of AI), Zhongxiang Dai (MIT), Bryan Low (SMART & NUS)
The 12th International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR)
Conference
2024
Vienna, Austria
Towards AutoAI: Optimizing a Machine Learning System with Black-box and Differentiable Components
Zhiliang Chen (NUS), Chuan Sheng Foo (A*STAR), Bryan Low (SMART & NUS)
The 41st International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML), Vienna, Austria
Conference
2024
Vienna, Austria
Use Your INSTINCT: INSTruction optimization for LLMs usIng Neural bandits Coupled with Transformers.
Xiaoqiang Lin (NUS, co-first author), Zhaoxuan Wu (SMART, co-first author), Zhongxiang Dai (MIT), Wenyang Hu (NUS), Yao Shu (Guangdong Lab of AI), See-Kiong Ng (NUS), Patrick Jaillet (MIT), Bryan Low (SMART & NUS)
The 41st International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML)
Conference
2024
Vienna, Austria
CAS: Fusing DNN Optimization & Adaptive Sensing for Energy-Efficient Multi-Modal Inference
Dulanga Weerakoon (SMART), Vigneshwaran Subbaraju (A*STAR), Joo Hwee Lim (A*STAR), Archan Misra (SMU)
IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters
Journal
2024
IEEE
Poster: Towards Efficient Spatio-Temporal Video Grounding in Pervasive Mobile Devices
Dulanga Weerakoon (SMART), Vigneshwaran Subbaraju (A*STAR), Joo Hwee Lim (A*STAR), Archan Misra (SMU)
MOBISYS '24: Proceedings of the 22nd Annual International Conference on Mobile Systems, Applications and Services
Conference
2024
ACM
LILOC: Leveraging LiDARs for Accurate 3D Localization in Dynamic Indoor Environments
Darshana Rathnayake (SMU), Meera Radhakrishnan (University of Technology Sydney), Inseok Hwang (POSTECH), and Archan Misra (SMU)
ACM Transactions on Internet of Things
Journal
2024
ACM
NeuroViG - Integrating Event Cameras for Resource- Efficient Video Grounding
Dulanga Weerakoon (SMART), Vigneshwaran Subbaraju (A*STAR), Joo Hwee Lim (A*STAR), Archan Misra (SMU)
IEEE/CVF Winter Conference on Applications of Computer Vision (WACV 2025)
Conference
2025
IEEE
Impacts of remote work on vehicle miles traveled and transit ridership in the USA
Yunhan Zheng (SMART), Shenhao Wang (UF), Lun Liu (PKU), Jim Aloisi (MIT), and Jinhua Zhao (MIT)
Nature Cities
Journal
2024
Springer Nature
Comparing hundreds of machine learning classifiers and discrete choice models in predicting travel behavior: an empirical benchmark
Shenhao Wang (UF), Baichuan Mo (MIT), Yunhan Zheng (SMART), Stephane Hess (Leeds), Jinhua Zhao (MIT)
Transportation Research Part B: Methodological
Journal
2024
Elsevier
Effects of electric vehicle charging stations on the economic vitality of local businesses
Yunhan Zheng (SMART), David Keith(University of Melbourne) Shenhao Wang (UF), Mi Diao (Tongji), and Jinhua Zhao (MIT)
Nature Communications
Journal
2024
Springer Nature
Infrequent activities predict economic outcomes in major American cities
Shenhao Wang (UF), Yunhan Zheng (SMART), Guang Wang (MIT), Takahiro Yabe (MIT), Esteban Moro (MIT), Alex "Sandy" Pentland (MIT)
Nature Cities
Journal
2024
Springer Nature
A Taxonomy for Human-LLM Interaction Modes: An Initial Exploration
Jie Gao (SMART), Simret Araya Gebreegziabher (University of Notre Dame), Kenny Tsu Wei Choo (SUTD), Toby Jia-Jun Li (University of Notre Dame), Simon Tangi Perrault (SUTD), Thomas W Malone (MIT)