Shahrzad Gholami

I am a Senior Applied Research Scientist in AI for Good Research Lab at Microsoft. My research is centered around the development of machine learning models and artificial intelligence algorithms to solve grand societal and environmental challenges (also-known-as AI for Good or AI for Social Impact). From the application perspective, my research interests include addressing environmental sustainability, humanitarian, and healthcare challenges. Before joining Microsoft, I completed my Ph.D. degree in Computer Science at the University of Southern California. As part of my Ph.D. research, I developed an end-to-end pipeline named PAWS (Protection Assistant for Wildlife Security) to predict poachers' behavior and plan strategic patrols against illegal poaching activities using an artificial intelligence framework. The proposed AI-enabled solution help conservation area managers take more informed actions based on real-world poaching data and geospatial information when they conduct patrols to protect endangered wildlife in protected areas around the world. At the top of this page, you can find links to the full portfolio of selected projects I have led in the AI for Good space.