About me

Hi there! I’m Roli, and I’m a (ML engineer turned) UX Researcher at Microsoft.

I am passionate about making AI accessible, understanding users and creating enriching experiences for them. I have hands-on qualitative and quantitative research experience, in addition to building AI models, explaining why they behaved the way they did, and evaluating them to fit the needs of target users. Before joining Microsoft, I researched eXplainable AI systems under the DARPA-XAI program for two years.

What do I do?

I make AI systems explainable. I conduct research across product and design teams to improve and incorporate AI experiences seamlessly and responsibly, drive clarity and focus on ease of use for primary enterprise users of AI features and capabilities.

Anything that involves deep research and analysis of the “whats” and “whys” and the “how might we fix this” gets me up and running. I love solving problems, and I love it even more when people benefit from it. On a regular day, I like sketching out daily life in comics. On a not-so-regular-day, I like to curl around with a cup of steaming chai and read Harry Potter. Also, extra points for rain!

How did I get here?

TLDR; Learnt Artificial intelligence in my undergrad, and loved it – Started working as a machine learning engineer in a video analytics startup – Applied to graduate school because knowledge gap – Started graduate school at Oregon State University – Learnt Inclusive Design and Human Computer Interaction, and loved it more – Started working as Graduate Research Assistant doing what I love under the DARPA-XAI program for 2 years – Graduated with a Master’s degree in 2021 – Transitioned into a UX Researcher role at Microsoft (Cloud + AI) for the AI Experiences team!