Rayid Ghani is a Distinguished Career Professor in the Machine Learning Department and the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University. His work spans AI, machine learning, data science, and their applications in public policy and social impact. Rayid collaborates with governments and non-profits on policy challenges in areas such as health, human services, criminal justice, education, public safety, economic development, and urban infrastructure. He develops AI systems to address complex policy problems as well as focuses on AI  evaluation, governance, and regulation. His research centers on creating human-AI collaborative systems for societal issues, with an emphasis on bias, fairness, equity, and explainability/interpretability and robust evaluation of those systems.

Rayid is also passionate about practical data science education. He founded the Data Science for Social Good Fellowship, which trains computer scientists, statisticians, and social scientists from around the world to tackle data science challenges with social impact.

Before joining Carnegie Mellon, Rayid was the Founding Director of the Center for Data Science & Public Policy, a Research Associate Professor in Computer Science, and a Senior Fellow at the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago. He also served as Chief Scientist for the Obama 2012 Election Campaign, where he led efforts in data, analytics, and technology to target and engage voters, donors, and volunteers. In his ample free time, Rayid obsesses over everything related to coffee and works with non-profits on data, analytics, and digital strategy.