PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Ricky J Sethi

Also known as Ricky J. Sethi

Ricky J Sethi is a computer scientist at Fitchburg State University whose work spans computer vision, fact-checking misinformation and artificial metacognition in large language models. He studied neurobiology and physics at UC Berkeley, earned a master's at the University of Southern California in 2001, and completed a PhD in computer science at UC Riverside in 2009, with a concentration in artificial intelligence and computer vision. After a 2014 offer of a research scientist post at UMass, he moved to Massachusetts and joined Fitchburg State University, where he won a 2016 National Endowment for the Humanities grant with colleagues, created the WAIVS visual stylometry tool with his team, and wrote the textbook Essential Computational Thinking in 2020. In 2025, he and collaborators published the foundational theory of a five-dimensional metacognitive state vector that helps ensembles of large language models recognize uncertainty and decide when to deliberate. He is a professor of computer science at Fitchburg State, Director of Research for the Madsci Network and an adjunct professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Now at
Fitchburg State University, Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Madsci Network
Works
57
Citations
792
h-index
14
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 1996–2009

    Berkeley, USC and a Riverside PhD

    He studies neurobiology and physics at UC Berkeley, finishing a BA in 1996, and earns an MS at the University of Southern California in 2001. In 2009, he completes a PhD in computer science at UC Riverside, with a concentration in artificial intelligence and computer vision.

  2. By 2014

    Postdoc and Computing Innovation Fellow

    After a postdoc at UC Riverside, where he is lead integration scientist for the WASA project, he is selected as a Computing Innovation Fellow by the National Science Foundation and the Computing Research Association and works at UCLA and the USC Information Sciences Institute. In 2010, he is principal investigator on an NSF-funded project, Machine Learning Framework for Social Computing and Collective Intelligence.

  3. 2014

    A move to Fitchburg State

    In 2014, he is offered a research scientist position at UMass Medical Center and UMass Amherst. After moving to Massachusetts, he accepts a position at Fitchburg State University, which lets him combine teaching and research.

  4. 2016

    NEH grant and the WAIVS tool

    In 2016, he, Catherine Buell and William Seeley are awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities Digital Humanities grant to study scientific workflows and visual stylometry. The team creates WAIVS (Workflows for Analysis of Images and Visual Stylometry), which builds on a workflow platform that Sethi worked on at ISI and ISI principal scientist Yolanda Gil developed.

  5. 2017

    Crowdsourced fact-checking of fake news

    In 2017, The Conversation publishes his account of a prototype for crowdsourced fact-checking. His team has developed a way for groups of people to reason together about a claim, breaking it into stances, claims, evidence and sources, and letting users rate how they feel about each claim.

  6. 2020–2022

    A textbook and a professorship

    His textbook Essential Computational Thinking: Computer Science from Scratch appears in 2020, with a CS0 breadth-first approach for highly motivated undergraduates and non-CS graduate students and professionals. In 2022, he becomes a professor at Fitchburg State University and an adjunct professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

  7. 2025–2026

    A metacognitive state vector for LLMs

    In 2025, he and collaborators Hefei Qiu, Charles Courchaine and Joshua Iacoboni publish the foundational theory of a five-dimensional metacognitive state vector at the ACM Conference on Information and Knowledge Management, a framework that helps ensembles of large language models recognize uncertainty and decide when to deliberate. In January 2026, The Conversation publishes his article on artificial metacognition, and a paper implementing the framework is accepted to The Web Conference 2026.

  8. As of October 2026

    Professor at Fitchburg State

    He is a professor of computer science at Fitchburg State University, Director of Research for the Madsci Network and an adjunct professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. In March 2026, he discusses artificial metacognition in a two-part interview on the AI and You podcast. In September 2026, a paper is accepted to "Who Verifies the Agents?" at NeurIPS 2026, and in October 2026 his project opens a new thrust on principled role assignment in LLM ensembles.

Career

  1. Since 2022Worcester Polytechnic InstituteAdjunct Professor
  2. Since 2014Fitchburg State UniversityProfessor of computer science
  3. NowMadsci NetworkDirector of Research
  4. 2011–2013University of Southern CaliforniaComputing Innovation Fellow
  5. 2010–2011University of California, Los AngelesComputing Innovation Fellow
  6. 2006–2011University of California, RiversidePostdoctoral Researcher

Education

  1. 2009University of California, RiversidePhD in computer science
  2. 2001University of Southern CaliforniaMS
  3. 1996University of California, BerkeleyBA in neurobiology and physics

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

Most-cited works

  1. Curriculum Guidelines for Undergraduate Programs in Data Science2017 · Annual Review of Statistics and Its Application · 261 citations
  2. Using questions sent to an Ask-A-Scientist site to identify children's interests in science2006 · Science Education · 97 citations
  3. Asking scientists: A decade of questions analyzed by age, gender, and country2008 · Science Education · 52 citations
  4. Crowdsourcing the Verification of Fake News and Alternative Facts2017 · ACM Conference on Hypertext and Social Media (HT) · 51 citations
  5. Identifying Students' Interests in Biology Using a Decade of Self-Generated Questions2010 · Eurasia Journal of Mathematics Science and Technology Education · 28 citations

From OpenAlex, as of 21 October 2026.

  1. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes Worcester Polytechnic Institute. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  2. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes Worcester Polytechnic Institute. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, recent citations, dual appointments and job moves across 2,420 university researchers and 308 frontier-lab researchers.
  3. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes University of California, Los Angeles. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  4. Universities had a net outflow of 2,068 moves in AI careersIncludes University of Southern California. Our estimates of career flows and median h-index across universities and companies in AI, including the role of joint appointments and earlier academic jobs.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Ricky J Sethi yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Ricky J. Sethi – The Conversation theconversation.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  2. Faculty Spotlight: Ricky Sethi | Fitchburg State University fitchburgstate.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  3. 8 Things You Didn't Know Computer Scientists Did - USC Viterbi | School of Engineering viterbischool.usc.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  4. How citizen investigators can collaborate on crowdsourced fact-checking theconversation.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  5. Ricky J. Sethi, Ph.D. — Home research.sethi.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  6. Professor Ricky Sethi Discusses Artificial Metacognition and AI Safety on Podcast | Worcester Polytechnic Institute wpi.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  7. Home - Metacognition Research research.sethi.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  8. Scientists Want to Give ChatGPT an Inner Monologue to Improve Its ‘Thinking’ singularityhub.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  9. 301 - Guest: Ricky Sethi, Artificial Metacognition Researcher… | Artificial Intelligence and You | CastFox castfox.net. Checked 20 October 2026.