Samarth Somani

Biography: Samarth grew up in Troy, MI, and attended International Academy East, where he earned the International Baccalaureate Diploma. After working in industry, he experienced both the exciting opportunities and the challenges of applying AI research in practice. This motivated him to pursue a Ph.D. in Data Science at UNC Charlotte, with the goal of bridging the gap between academic research and industry by developing methods that are rigorous, explainable, and applicable to real-world settings. Outside of academics, Samarth enjoys watching sports, playing tennis, and hiking.

Degree & Credentials: Samarth Somani is a Data Scientist at Ally Financial. He holds a Master of Applied Data Science from the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor and a Bachelor of Science in Information Systems & Business Analytics from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business.

Research Interests: Natural Language Processing, Generative AI, Evaluation of Generative Models, Explainable AI, and AI Ethics

Dissertation Topic: TBA

Starting Year: Fall 2025

Year of Expected PhD: 2029