Neil S. Gaikwad

Neil S. Gaikwad is an Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in the School of Data Science and Society and Department of Computer Science. He holds a PhD in Society-Centered AI from MIT and has affiliations with the MIT Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and UNC’s Parr Center for Ethics. His research focuses on Human-AI Alignment, ethical machine learning, and policy design for global equity, particularly in underserved populations. His work integrates ethical principles into AI systems to address societal disparities, climate change, and algorithmic fairness.

Dr. Gaikwad has led projects such as the AI and Policy research program, developed systems like Daemo and EteRNA, and contributed to high-impact publications in AAAI, ACM CSCW, and PNAS. He has mentored over 30 students, many of whom have secured fellowships and advanced AI fairness research. Awards include MIT’s Karl Taylor Compton Prize and Facebook Research Fellowship. His teaching spans courses on AI ethics, policy, and societal impact at MIT, CMU, and UNC, with student evaluations praising his mentorship and course design.

He has advised global institutions like the UN and EU on AI policy, and his work bridges academia, industry, and policy through initiatives like Data-driven Humanitarian Mapping. His art installations, such as Beyond Boundaries, explore environmental and ethical themes, reflecting his interdisciplinary approach to science and society.