Forging New Frontiers in Computer Science

When Siddhant Bhandari (M.S. ’23) went to his friend’s home for dinner in spring 2023, shortly before he finished his master’s at New York Tech, he had no idea it would inspire him to apply his cybersecurity training to understand ancient practices.

Bhandari was sitting next to the 6-year-old daughter of his friend, Surbhi Hirawat (M.S. ’23), who was completing her master’s in data science. They were enjoying their meal on the floor, as is the custom in India, where Bhandari and Hirawat grew up. But Hirawat’s daughter was not eating in the customary way, cross-legged to help digest food and not overeat. Bhandari gently tried to correct her, but the girl, who had not lived in India for several years, said she didn’t know about these practices.

“That moment hit home for both of us,” recalls Bhandari, who received his master’s in cybersecurity. “Surbhi and I realized how easily cultural knowledge can fade across generations. We decided to use our tech backgrounds to do research to help preserve these traditions that have so much wisdom behind them.”

The result is three articles that the classmates-turned-collaborators published in academic journals in 2024.

This article originally appeared in the spring/summer 2025 issue of New York Institute of Technology Magazine.

By Carina Storrs, Ph.D.