Shikshya Shiwakoti

Hi, I'm Shikshya!

About Me

I'm a second-semester graduate student in Artificial Intelligence at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), Worcester, MA. Passionate about machine learning, I aim to develop ethical, transparent, and human-centered AI systems. My current interests include fairness in AI, adversarial robustness, and explainable models.

Worcester Polytechnic Institute

M.S. in Artificial Intelligence

Jan 2025 – Dec 2026 (Expected) | GPA: 4.0/4.0 (Spring 2025)

Worcester, MA

Courses of Spring 2025:

  • Responsible Artificial Intelligence, Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining, Introduction to Artificial Intelligence

Thapathali Campus, Tribhuvan University, Nepal

B.E. in Computer Engineering

Nov 2018 – Apr 2023 | 77.58%

Kathmandu, Nepal

  • Three-time semester topper and overall program topper

Projects

Adversarial Attack via Knowledge Distillation

Jan 2025 - May 2025 | Supervisor: Prof. Raha Moraffah

Trained student model via multi-teacher knowledge distillation

Achieved 95% PGD blackbox attack success on CIFAR-10

6× faster generation than ensemble baselines

Python PyTorch Adversarial ML

Nepali Text To Speech Synthesis

Jan 2025 - May 2025 | Supervisor: Suramya Sharma

Developed Nepali Text-to-Speech system by adapting pre-trained English Tacotron2 and WaveGlow models

Achieved 3.09 average MOS under low-resource conditions

Python PyTorch NLP

Nepali Currency Recognition

Jan 2022 - July 2022

Built a CNN-based image classification model to identify seven Nepali currency notes (Rs. 5–1000) using over 14,000 labeled images

Designed specifically to aid low-vision individuals, addressing the lack of braille in Nepali currency

CNN PyTorch

Binary Search Tree Simulation

Aug 2021

Developed an interactive binary tree simulation in C++ using OpenGL/GLUT for graphical visualization.

Enabled real-time insertion, deletion, and traversal operations with visual feedback for educational use.

Demonstrated foundational data structures and recursion concepts through dynamic tree rendering.

C++ OpenGL Binary Tree

Publications

Teach Me to Trick: Exploring Adversarial Transferability via Knowledge Distillation

Siddhartha Pradhan, Shikshya Shiwakoti, Neha Bathuria

arXiv:2507.21992 | July 2025

View on arXiv

Nepali Text-to-Speech Synthesis Using Tacotron2 and WaveGlow

Shikshya Shiwakoti, Ashma Rai, Swostika Basukala

Kathmandu Journal of Science and Engineering | Sep 2024

View Publication