[Documentation:Developer] Garvit Khandelwal GSoC report

_docs/developer/google_summer_of_code/2026_Garvit_Khandelwal.md

@@ -3,4 +3,90 @@ title: Garvit Khandelwal
 category: Developer > Google Summer of Code 2026
 ---
 
-coming soon
+# [AI/ML to Enhance and Streamline Manual/TA Grading](https://summerofcode.withgoogle.com/programs/2026/projects/e3YU9deG)
+
+## Overview
+
+The primary objective of my GSoC 2026 project was to enhance the manual TA grading experience by integrating AI/ML clustering algorithms. By intelligently clustering students with similar submissions together, TAs can now evaluate entire groups simultaneously, drastically reducing the time spent on manual grading.
+
+While this might initially sound like a purely AI/ML-focused project, the reality was much broader. Because this was a completely novel feature for Submitty, the majority of my time was spent designing and implementing the full-stack architecture from the ground up.
+
+Throughout the project, several significant architectural and design hurdles had to be overcome:
+- **Fairness and Transparency:** We had to strike a delicate balance between providing the efficiency of AI clustering while guaranteeing that TAs retain complete, final control over the grading process.
+- **Global vs. Per-TA Clustering:** We had to decide whether clustering should be global (one method per gradeable) or per-TA (each TA creates their own clusters). Per-TA clustering introduced severe implementation challenges, so we strategically opted for a global clustering approach.
+- **Submission Version Conflicts:** We had to account for edge cases where a student changes their active submission version after a cluster has already been created. This voids the basis on which the student was originally clustered and presented a highly specific edge case new to Submitty.
+
+## About Me
+Hello! I am a computer science undergraduate student at the Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi. Before GSoC, I honestly did not have any prior open-source contributions, so this program was my true starting point. The main reason I chose to work with Submitty was because I really liked the project, and the community was highly active and rewarding.
+
+## Primary Contributions & Features
+
+- **[Backend for submission clustering](https://github.com/Submitty/Submitty/pull/12886)**
+  - **Description:** The foundation of the project involved setting up the essential database architecture. This PR establishes a normalized database schema and introduces the necessary backend API endpoints to support clustering.
+  - **Technical Highlights:** PHP, Doctrine ORM, PostgreSQL
+
+- **[Add submission clustering daemon](https://github.com/Submitty/Submitty/pull/13004)**
+  - **Description:** Running complex Python machine learning algorithms synchronously would block the UI and severely degrade the user experience. To solve this, this PR sets up a background daemon infrastructure.
+  - **Technical Highlights:** Python, Daemon Infrastructure
+
+- **[UI for clustering & table grouping](https://github.com/Submitty/Submitty/pull/12966)**
+  - **Description:** With the backend infrastructure in place, the next step was visualizing the clustered students. This PR introduces a "Create Cluster" modal where users can select their desired clustering algorithm. It also implements a "Group by Clusters" filter, displaying students in a tabular format native to Submitty's design. Notably, as Submitty is migrating to Vue.js, this was the very first feature built entirely using Vue.
+  - **Technical Highlights:** Vue.js, PHP, Twig, Cypress
+
+- **[Single Cluster](https://github.com/Submitty/Submitty/pull/13161)**
+  - **Description:** This PR introduces a new algorithm which returns only a single cluster containing all valid submitters. This was built for cases like to assign bonus marks to all the active submitters.
+  - **Technical Highlights:** Python
+
+- **[Cluster Grading](https://github.com/Submitty/Submitty/pull/13103)**
+  - **Description:** This PR bridges the gap between clustering students and actually helping TAs grade faster. It integrates the core functionality into the TA Grading (Rubric) page. I added intuitive UI toggle icons allowing TAs to seamlessly switch in and out of "Clustering Mode". When active, grading one student automatically applies that grade to the entire cluster. A major UI/UX challenge here was designing clear visual cues so TAs remain fully aware of the sweeping impact of their actions.
+  - **Technical Highlights:** Vue.js, PHP, Twig, Cypress
+
+- **[Adding container for running custom algorithm](https://github.com/Submitty/DockerImages/pull/76)**
+  - **Description:** To support advanced customization, this PR introduces a dedicated Docker container pre-installed with popular machine learning libraries.
+  - **Technical Highlights:** Docker
+
+- **[Custom Algorithm](https://github.com/Submitty/Submitty/pull/13176)**
+  - **Description:** While predefined clustering algorithms are useful, every gradeable is unique, making it impossible to predict every grading scenario. This feature empowers instructors/TAs to upload custom Python scripts to define their own clustering logic.
+  - **Technical Highlights:** Vue.js, PHP, Docker
+
+## Other PRs
+
+Throughout the summer, I contributed to various other areas of the codebase, handling critical infrastructure issues, bug fixes, and performance optimizations. While a few major ones are highlighted below, a [complete list of my Pull Requests can be found here](https://github.com/Submitty/Submitty/pulls?q=is%3Apr+author%3AGarvitKhandelwal31+is%3Aclosed).
+
+- [[Refactor:Autograding] Optimize PDF Redaction](https://github.com/Submitty/Submitty/pull/12471): Refactored the time required for PDF redactions by up to 2x.
+- [[Bugfix:TAGrading] Fix PDF Header Overlap](https://github.com/Submitty/Submitty/pull/12793): Fixed a UI issue where the grading page header obscured the title of student-uploaded PDF files, significantly improving TA visibility and usability during grading.
+- [[Bugfix:TAGrading] Fix Grade Override Logic](https://github.com/Submitty/Submitty/pull/12651): Resolved underlying logic bugs within the manual grade override system.
+- [[Feature:RainbowGrades] Manual Upload Warning Banner](https://github.com/Submitty/Submitty/pull/12645): Added a warning banner that displays when users manually upload rainbow grades to prevent accidental data overrides.
+- [[UI/UX:Forum] Forum UI Enhancements](https://github.com/Submitty/Submitty/pull/12622): Implemented several major UI improvements to enhance the user experience on the Submitty discussion forums page.
+
+## Code Reviews & Community Impact
+
+Beyond authoring code, I actively dedicated a significant portion of my time to reviewing Pull Requests from across the entire codebase. Reviewing others' code was an invaluable experience; it rapidly accelerated my understanding of Submitty's massive architecture and allowed me to help shape the quality of the project.
+
+Thanks to Submitty's highly collaborative culture, I successfully reviewed a total of **[54 Pull Requests](https://github.com/Submitty/Submitty/pulls?q=is%3Apr+commenter%3AGarvitKhandelwal31+-author%3AGarvitKhandelwal31+is%3Aclosed)** throughout my GSoC journey, actively participating in architectural discussions and ensuring high coding standards.
+
+## Work In Progress / Future Scope
+
+There are still exciting enhancements left to build on top of this foundation. I have listed several tracking issues for the remaining features:
+
+- [Delete Clusters](https://github.com/Submitty/Submitty/issues/13148)
+- [Rename Clusters](https://github.com/Submitty/Submitty/issues/13147)
+- [Visualize Clustering Data](https://github.com/Submitty/Submitty/issues/13116)
+- [UI error/message for cluster-grading conflicts](https://github.com/Submitty/Submitty/issues/13184)
+- [Add "Prev/Next Cluster" option to TA Grading navigation settings](https://github.com/Submitty/Submitty/issues/13185)
+
+## Reflection
+
+Working on such a massive codebase and implementing a feature of this scale from scratch was an extraordinary experience. Throughout this journey, I upskilled significantly, mastering new technologies and learning how to architect complex, full-stack systems. As I mark the end of my GSoC project, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my mentors:
+
+- **[William J Allen](https://github.com/williamjallen):** Beyond all the technical help, I am incredibly grateful for the deep architectural insights and software engineering best practices I learned from him along the way. His brilliant code reviews, extraordinary ideas, and structural guidance on how to build a feature of this scale were truly invaluable.
+- **[Professor Barbara Cutler](https://github.com/bmcutler):** Barb held daily meetings, which made iterating on ideas incredibly fast. Her suggestions and perspectives fundamentally improved this feature. The most essential lesson I learned from her was how to truly think from the perspective of the end user.
+
+I would also like to thank the fellow GSoC & RPI contributors. It was a great experience collaborating with you all!
+Finally, I am deeply grateful for this incredible opportunity. Thank you!
+
+## Contact Me
+
+If you have any questions or want to discuss this project further, feel free to reach out to me!
+- **Email:** [garvitkk2006@gmail.com](mailto:garvitkk2006@gmail.com)
+- **LinkedIn:** [Garvit Khandelwal](https://www.linkedin.com/in/garvit-khandelwal-894a81350/)