Benhur Ankit Chandra Ravuri has joined the School of Information Studies as Teaching Faculty II.
Ravuri completed his doctorate in information this summer at Florida State University.
His areas of research and teaching focus on Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), AI Literacy, Information-seeking behavior, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), and AI in Education (AIED).
His interest in Computer science was sparked when he was a child growing up in India, Ravuri said.
“I liked to watch sports on TV growing up,” he said. He was especially fascinated by the predictions and how the scores showed up on the screen. “I’m like, man this so cool.”
That interest drew him to technology, leading him to pursue an undergraduate degree in computer science at Karunya Institute of Technology.
He moved to the U.S. to earn a master’s degree in information technology and his doctorate in information science at Florida State University (FSU). In one of his classes, he worked on a project to build a model to predict mortality rates among patients with cardiovascular disease. That spurred his interest in how people find and use information, he said.
As he continued his studies, Ravuri began to look at theoretical frameworks of information seeking and how innovative technologies like AI and ChatGPT are impacting searches.
Ravuri has already co-authored a number of papers on these topics. He received the Outstanding Doctoral Student award from FSU in 2025, and was one of four doctoral students FSU nominated for a Google PhD fellowship.
Ravuri chose UWM because he was impressed by the faculty he met and the conversations they had with him during his interview. “It felt very genuine.” UWM’s R1 status and the university’s focus on AI also attracted him. Meeting an FSU alum here gave him an immediate sense of connection, he added.
In addition to teaching and research, Ravuri finds time to play tennis and beach volleyball. He’s also an avid long-distance runner, completing his first half marathon earlier this year and looking forward to running a full marathon. He also enjoys classic novels and is currently reading Dostoevsky’s works.
He’s prepared for Wisconsin weather. “This is my first time being in real winter so I’m kind of excited and looking forward to it.”