Ajita Rattani

Ajita Rattani is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of North Texas, affiliated with Discovery Park. Her research focuses on biometrics, AI fairness, deepfake detection, and machine learning applications in health and security. She holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering, with expertise in facial recognition, ocular biometrics, and multimodal authentication systems.

Research Interests: Her work addresses algorithmic fairness in facial attribute classification, robustness of biometric systems against adversarial attacks, and developing lightweight models for on-device authentication. She also explores applications of machine learning in health informatics, such as BMI prediction from facial images and analyzing social determinants of health.

Publications Trends: Recent work emphasizes bias mitigation in AI systems (e.g., gender/racial fairness), deepfake detection through fusion of audio-visual cues, and advancing ocular biometric recognition under challenging conditions. Notable contributions include frameworks like CodeIT for data-efficient deepfake detection and PatchBMI-Net for lightweight BMI prediction.

Advising & Grants: Leads research projects funded by NSF SaTC grants (e.g., probing fairness in ocular biometrics). Active in organizing competitions like VISOB 2.0 for mobile ocular biometrics evaluation. Her lab develops practical solutions for real-world challenges in biometrics and AI ethics.

Labs/Teams: Involved in interdisciplinary teams addressing transdisciplinary collaboration challenges and applying AI to disaster detection (wildfires, droughts) using satellite and sensor data fusion.