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University of Florida Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering

Data scientist from India savors his new studies in Gator Nation

April 16, 2025

Meet ADS graduate student Aniket Malpure

Aniket Malpure

Major: Applied Data Science
Department: Engineering Education
Advisor: Idalis Villanueva Alarcón, Ph.D.

Aniket Malpure, a graduate student with short black hair and glasses, smiles while wearing a blue and gray plaid shirt. He is standing indoors with a softly blurred background of windows and trees.
Aniket Malpure, a graduate student in the inaugural Applied Data Science (ADS) master’s program at the University of Florida, brings a strong background in data engineering and machine learning from India to Gator Nation. Photo by Dave Schlenker.

Aniket Malpure knows data. And in this age of machine learning and artificial intelligence, he also knows data can solve some of the world’s most pressing problems.

While studying in electronics and telecommunications at Pune Institute of Computer Technology in India, he used machine learning on projects related to plant disease protection. After graduation, he joined Bajaj Finance as data engineer, where he developed a Fuzzy Name Matching Algorithm.

“The task was to handle name discrepancies between the bank name and customer’s name in the loan application,” he said. “So, I had developed a system which was a combination of data engineering methods – involving fuzzy parameters to match the name string – and machine learning (applied deep LSTM Siamese network, a ML model to get similarity between the names) to tackle this problem.”

Now at UF, Malpure is among the inaugural Applied Data Science (ADS) master’s degree program with the Department of Engineering Education (EEd) in the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering.

Launched in 2024 to meet demand for skilled AI professionals, the ADS degree program trains students and professionals from non-computing engineering backgrounds for data-driven decision-making across a wide range of industries. The program equips students with a comprehensive skill set that merges knowledge from data science, statistics, machine learning, and domain-specific applications, enabling them to extract meaningful insights from complex datasets.

This 30-credit-hour, non-thesis program includes seven core courses, two specialization electives, and a capstone project that provides hands-on experience solving real-world problems. With access to UF’s HiPerGator supercomputer and UF engineering faculty, students gain technical proficiency and applied experience. Graduates are prepared to pursue careers including finance, healthcare, manufacturing and transportation.

“Aniket came to my office last year, interested and excited about putting his ADS skills into use,” recalled his advisor, Idalis Villanueva Alarcón, Ph.D., also the chair of EEd.

“He has worked in projects around speech recognition applied to survey tools and large language models applied to professional development. He is working on an exciting model for student communication training and coaching. Aniket is exactly the type of interdisciplinary professional that can span boundaries and reach innovative heights by applying his skillsets into complex problems impacting the training and workforce development of engineers.”

Here is more information on this ADS student who is following in his father’s footsteps to become an engineer solving real-world problems.

Aniket Malpure, wearing a blue and gray plaid shirt and a wristwatch, smiles while standing on an indoor balcony of the Malachowksy building at UF, with students visible in the background.
With a passion for solving real-world problems, Aniket Malpure explores the intersection of data science and engineering education at UF. His current research focuses on audio-based emotion recognition using speech signals. Photo by Dave Schlenker.

Question: Where did you grow up?

Malpure: Pune, Maharashtra, India.

Q: How does it feel to be in the inaugural ADS class?

Malpure: ADS is a perfect blend of theoretical and practical practices required for research as well as in industry. I feel elated to be a part of the inaugural ADS class. Everyone in this program has diverse technical backgrounds, and the faculty members are giving their best so that we can upskill ourselves.

Q: What is your research field?

Malpure: My research field is audio-based emotion recognition, where I analyze speech signals to detect both categorical emotions (like happy, sad, angry) and emotional dimensions (valence, arousal, dominance) using pre-trained and fine-tuned machine learning models.

Q: How long have you been at UF and what brought you here?

Malpure: I have been at UF since August 2024. I chose UF’s ADS program because I found its course curriculum to be well aligned with my career goals, and I was impressed by its focus on research along with industry practices.

I was fascinated to see the research opportunity of data science and machine learning at UF in various departments.

Q: What are your plans after UF?

Malpure: My aim is to use the skills I have as a data scientist or data engineer in different sectors of industry, like education, material sciences, finance, etc.

Q: What pop culture are you consuming currently?

Malpure: I like to watch web series and anime and read books whenever I get free time.

Story By:

Dave Schlenker

/dschlenker@ufl.edu/352-273-0616