Tanvi Aggarwal
Undergraduate Research Ambassador Computer EngineeringMajor: Computer Engineering
Minor: Mathematics
Class Year: 2026
High School: DAV Public School Amritsar
Advisors: Dr. Aakash Tyagi and Dr. Kevin Nowka
Research Focus: Edge AI, Hardware Verification, AI for Silicon
Other Projects and Publications: A. Chiu, T. Aggarwal, Q. Lian, S. Gupta, K. Nowka, "Edge-Efficient Vision-Language Models for Autonomous Driving Using Distillation and RAG-Based Connectors," Workshop on Autonomous Driving (WAD), CVPR 2026 — Accepted. [https://openaccess.thecvf.com/content/CVPR2026W/WAD/html/Chiu_Edge-Efficient_Vision-Language_Models_for_Autonomous_Driving_Using_Distillation_and_RAG-Based_CVPRW_2026_paper.html]
Organizations and Programs: Undergraduate Research Scholars, Junior Research Scholar Program, Phi Kappa Phi, Engineering Honors Program
Awards and Distinctions: Phi Kappa Phi Gathright Outstanding Junior Award, Mike Compton Memorial Scholarship, Junior Research Scholar Award, Dean's Honor Roll
Experience: Internships: Microsoft, Industry.AI/BLP Group, Research: Junior Research Scholar, CERN CMS Data Analytics, Publications, Presentations, Competitions, Mentorship/Outreach
Years Experience: 1.5
Other: Tanvi Aggarwal is a rising senior at Texas A&M University pursuing a degree in Computer Engineering with a minor in Mathematics. Originally from India, Tanvi transitioned into Computer Engineering with no prior programming experience and learned to navigate the challenges of a new field while building her technical skills from the ground up. This experience shaped her belief that that the room you feel most unready for is usually exactly the one worth walking into.
As a Junior Research Scholar, Tanvi conducted research with Dr. Nowka focused on making artificial intelligence practical for autonomous vehicles by compressing large vision-language models to run entirely on-device without relying on cloud computing. This work resulted in a paper accepted to the CVPR 2026 Workshop on Autonomous Driving, on which she was one of three primary authors who contributed equally. She has also contributed to hardware verification research at Texas A&M and currently applies her research experience through an internship with Microsoft's AI for Silicon team, working on real-world chip verification processes.
As an Undergraduate Research Ambassador, Tanvi is passionate about helping students recognize that they belong in research environments, even when they may feel uncertain about getting started. Through her experiences as a Calculus and Precalculus tutor and as a mentor for incoming Electrical and Computer Engineering students, she enjoys supporting others as they navigate new academic challenges. Tanvi hopes to build a career at the intersection of artificial intelligence and hardware while helping other students discover their own paths into research.