Venkat Margapuri, PhD
Assistant Professor, Computing Sciences
- Villanova PA UNITED STATES
Dr. Margapuri researches in the fields of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for applications in agriculture and healthcare.
Areas of Expertise
Biography
Affiliations
- Villanova’s Center of Excellence in Enterprise Technology (CEET)
Select Media Appearances
AI Model Submitted False Tip About Unsolved Murder, Philadelphia Police Say
6 ABC tv
2026-10-09
Police say Anthropic discovered the incident on Sept. 28 and notified the department on Oct. 7. A meeting between Anthropic and police officials happened the next day.
"It should have been detected earlier," said Venkat Margapuri, a computing sciences assistant professor at Villanova University. Anthropic says it testing how its model interacts with randomly selected websites.
"We don't know exactly what the goal is because just interacting with different websites isn't malicious," said Margapuri. However, Margapuri says this poses a problem. "The AI was actively submitting information to a different website on behalf of a user, so that is what I would classify as a high-risk action," said Margapuri.
'It Sounded Legit': Eagles Fan Falls Victim to Scam Trying to Buy Tickets to Home Opener
6 ABC tv
2025-09-08
On Monday night, Action News spoke with Venkat Margapuri, an assistant professor of computing sciences at Villanova University, about online ticket scams.
Speaking about some online sellers, Margapuri said, "They make it look like they're legitimate sellers, but then they have essentially built their reputation over time to essentially fool people."
Margapuri said if you're looking for tickets online, there are several red flags to keep in mind. First, he said, be aware of a seller who tries to pressure you into making a quick decision.
Brushing Scams with Venkat Margapuri
Easy Prey Podcast online
2025-02-26
Scams come in many forms but receiving a freebie from a scammer doesn’t make sense. If something shows up at your door that you didn’t order, should you be worried? Brushing scams are becoming more common and while they may seem harmless at first they can be a gateway to fraud, identity theft and financial loss.
Today we’re diving into how these scams work, why they exist and the real dangers behind them. Our guest is Dr. Venkat Margapuri, an assistant professor of computer science at Villanova University.
Authorities Warn About 'Brushing Scams' - Here's how it Works
6 ABC tv
2024-12-20
Experts like Venkat Margapuri, who is an assistant professor of computing sciences at Villanova University, say once a fraudulent seller sends a package, even though you didn't order it, they can write a verified review for their product online.
"Once these packages have been delivered, these fraudulent sellers go online and write a glowing review for their product in an attempt to boost sales," said Margapuri.
Reimagining Data Management for the Real-Time, AI-Powered Future
Database Trends and Applications online
2024-04-11
This means rethinking the roles of databases and data environments as something more than simply a means to store and retrieve data. “AI applications such as large language models rely extensively on the idea of semantic pattern matching—finding similarity between different data points to make decisions,” said Venkat Margapuri, assistant professor of computer science at Villanova University. “Traditional databases don’t provide the ability to perform pattern matching.”
The Pa. Online Court System was Partially Shut Down in the Latest Cyberattack to Affect our Region
NBC 10 tv
2024-02-06
Yesterday, a cyberattack left the PA online court system partially shut down. It was the latest of several recent high-profile attacks in the region. Villanova University's Venkat Margapuri offered his analysis on the attackers’ methods and goals.
Research Grants
Monitoring Bombus, floral abundance and diversity using computer vision and autonomous aerial vehicles
United States Department of Agriculture
05/01/2024
Select Academic Articles
Detection of unknown galaxy types in large databases of galaxy images
EPiC Series in Computing2021
Learning Parallelism through an Unplugged Class Activity
Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges2024