Neeti Pokhriyal, PhD

As inaugural director of this office, Pokhriyal is implementing strategies to connect people and ideas, help guide projects from concept to implementation, and ensure responsible use of AI through best practices aligned with university goals.

Pokhriyal is a computer scientist with expertise in policy-relevant research related to the responsible design of AI in critical contexts of national security and societal well-being. Prior to UB, she led studies and analytical work leveraging AI for national security at the RAND Corporation in Washington, DC. She has received prestigious policy fellowships, including the AAAS Science and Technology Policy fellow (STPF) (2022), and Mirzayan Policy Fellow at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2022). As an AAAS STP fellow, Pokhriyal contributed to the National Science Foundation's National AI Research Institutes program and was in the leadership team of the ExpandAI program. She completed her postdoc at Dartmouth College and her PhD in computer science at UB, where she was awarded the Chih Foundation Research Award.