Kuheli Sai

Welcome to my website!

Incoming Tenure-Track Assistant Professor at Miami University

Research Interest:

Data Science for Societal Good
Cybersecurity and Cyber Safety

I make digital systems more equitable, sustainable, and secure while advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Research Profile: ResearchGate Google Scholar DBLP IEEE Semantic Scholar

Bio:

My name is Kuheli Sai. I am an incoming Tenure-Track Assistant Professor at Miami University, one of the original public ivy institutions in the U.S., joining in August 2026. I completed my Ph.D. in Information Science at the University of Pittsburgh in December 2025, with a dissertation titled "Data Science for Societal Good: Context-aware Placement of Sustainable NextG Network". I am an interdisciplinary and problem-driven researcher. I start from consequential real-world problems across society, the environment, the public sector, security, health, and policy. The problems that motivate me share a common thread: they concern equity, sustainability, safety, and the public good, and many map directly onto the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). What I ultimately care about is helping produce decisions and systems that are secure, sustainable, human-centric, and accessible to everyone, thereby contributing to the broader discourse on Trustworthy, Resilient, and Responsible Systems.
My expertise is grounded in experience spanning a national laboratory, industry, and academia. During my doctoral studies I have worked twice as a Computational Science Intern at Fermilab, a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory, where I conducted machine-learning based research for cybersecurity, including network-traffic anomaly detection to help secure critical infrastructure. Earlier, I worked full time as a programmer analyst trainee (software engineering role) at a multinational corporation, Cognizant Technology Solutions, where I performed quality assurance and testing for new banking infrastructure, work that informs my ongoing interest in FinTech. In my role as an Assistant Course Coordinator for the University of Pittsburgh's online Master of Data Science program (offered via Coursera), I have conducted research related to educational data mining with the goal of understanding and improving student learning and satisfaction in online setting, and I have also contributed as a health data analyst on a short-term project at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
My scholarly identity has earned me collaboration opportunities in multidisciplinary teams across research, policy, and service. I am a contributing researcher on the large-scale global academic collaboration "The Global Social Media Experiment", initiated at New York University and led by Professor Jay Van Bavel and Dr. Steve Rathje. This project is a global field experiment testing the causal effects of social media on polarization, intergroup attitudes, and well-being. The project's pilot (Stage 1 registered report) has received official in-principle acceptance at Nature, and the study now involves more than 200 authors across 23 countries.
My work has been recognized with numerous honors, including the Catherine Ofiesh and Gerald Orner Award for academic excellence in the Ph.D. program, selection as a student honoree at the University of Pittsburgh's (university-wide) 2025 Graduate and Professional Student Honors Convocation, (university-wide) the Provost's Dissertation Completion Fellowship, and a Top 10% Reviewer recognition at one of the leading conferences in the domain of AI/ML, NeurIPS. I am deeply committed to service and to broadening participation in computing and have served as a board member and Advocate Co-Chair of N2Women, a founding member and Vice-Chair of the Data Science Committee at AnitaB.org, a reviewer for NCWIT awards, and an invited expert contributor to the United Nations' United for Smart Sustainable Cities (U4SSC) initiative.
I have delivered numerous invited talks, and guest lectures at universities and colleges across the United States and internationally.
**International:**

Ashoka University — The Vachani School of Advanced Computing (India)
Carnegie Mellon University Africa, Kigali (Rwanda)

**United States:**

The Pennsylvania State University
Miami University
University of Louisville
West Virginia University (Lane Department of Computer Science & Electrical Engineering)
West Virginia University (School of Public Health)
City University of New York (CUNY)
Harrisburg University of Science and Technology
University of Central Oklahoma
Utah Tech University
Valdosta State University
Grambling State University
Blinn College
Northern New Mexico College
East Central University
Southern Utah University
Fairmont State University

I care deeply about mentoring and about building an inclusive, collaborative research community, and I welcome conversations with prospective students, potential collaborators, and colleagues who share these interests. If you are looking for an advisor, exploring a joint project, or searching for expertise in data science for societal good, cybersecurity and cyber safety, or related areas, I would be glad to hear from you. Please feel free to reach out at kuheli.sai@pitt.edu, and explore the Research and Publications sections of this website to learn more.

Last updated on August 6, 2026.

This site is currently undergoing revisions and will be fully updated by the end of the Summer/Fall 2026 term.

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