Six Indian-origin scholars have been named to the 2026 Microsoft Research Fellowship cohort, marking a significant milestone for the diaspora in the United States and abroad.
These researchers, ranging from PhD candidates at MIT to faculty at Cornell, are tackling the most urgent challenges in modern computing from localizing AI for “global majority” languages to using machine learning to map the human genome.
The fellowship, which provides a $47,000 annual stipend for U.S.-based recipients, serves as a bridge between the scholars’ heritage and the peak of American innovation. For many of the awardees, the journey to the top of the tech sector was forged in the competitive classrooms of India before being refined in premier global research programs.
These six Indian-origin scholars have been recognized for their transformative research:
Namrata Kala (Massachusetts Institute of Technology): An associate professor at MIT Sloan with roots at the University of Delhi, Kala’s research examines the intersection of environmental economics and technology. Her work investigates how AI adoption impacts hiring outcomes and labor markets across the globe.
Aditya Vashistha (Cornell University): An assistant professor who earned his B.Tech in India, Vashistha focuses on “Globally Equitable AI.” He is working to ensure AI models are culturally and linguistically relevant for the billions of people speaking languages that are often overlooked by mainstream tech.
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Ravisri Valluri (University of California, Los Angeles): A PhD student and alumna of IIT Madras, Valluri is specializing in optimizing retrieval models. Her work is essential for making large-scale generative AI more accurate by improving how models fetch and verify information during live tasks.
Saujas Vaduguru (Carnegie Mellon University): Vaduguru, who completed his Master’s at IIIT Hyderabad, is researching human-AI collaboration. He explores how AI can function not just as a tool, but as a teammate that aligns with human reasoning and logic.
Chanakya Ekbote (Massachusetts Institute of Technology): A PhD student with a background from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru, Ekbote is developing foundational approaches for multimodal models. His research enables AI to process complex, interleaved data like text and images simultaneously.
Saiman Dahal (Washington State University): Dahal applies machine learning to regulatory genomics. His work aims to decode the “spatial grammar” within DNA, helping scientists understand how gene regulation influences health and the treatment of diseases.
For these scholars, the fellowship is more than an award; it is a platform to ensure the next wave of technology is both technically superior and socially responsible. By pairing their Indian-born discipline with the resources of Microsoft’s global labs, these six individuals are ensuring that as AI and genomic systems scale, they remain secure, fair, and profoundly human.