Neil S. Gaikwad

Snehalkumar ‘Neil’ S. Gaikwad is an assistant professor at the School of Data Science and Society with an appointment in the Department of Computer Science at UNC-Chapel Hill. He serves on the Faculty Advisory Council of the UNC Parr Center for Ethics and is a fellow at the MIT Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values. He holds a Ph.D. in society-centered AI from MIT and is an alumnus of Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Computer Science.

Neil’s scholarship advances research at the intersection of artificial intelligence and policy through ethically-aligned designs of human-AI collaboration systems. Through his research program Public Interest Computing, he employs novel participatory and computational methodologies to address fundamental challenges in algorithmic fairness and systemic inequities. With applications in critical sustainability domains spanning poverty alleviation, public health and climate action, this work develops both human-centered design principles for equitable AI and evidence-based policy mechanisms to shape how AI is developed, deployed and governed for societal well-being. This research has been featured in leading AI conferences (AAAI, KDD) and HCI venues (CHI, CSCW, UIST), as well as major outlets including The New York Times, Bloomberg, WIRED and presented at the United Nations.

Neil’s work has been recognized with the Facebook Research PhD Fellowship, Schmidt Science Fellowship MIT Nomination, Human Rights and Technology Fellowship, Rising Star recognition from Stanford University and the University of Chicago, MIT Graduate Teaching Award and MIT’s highest student honor, the Karl Taylor Compton Prize. As a dedicated educator and mentor, he has guided more than 30 students to publish influential papers, secure competitive fellowships and shape AI fairness policy, while teaching at Carnegie Mellon, MIT EECS, MIT IDSS and the MIT Media Lab. For more information, visit his webpage and artwork at @neilgaikwad_creations.