Bloomington Leader

Addressing pressing societal challenges often requires collaboration across disciplines, a principle that Indiana University's Sagar Samtani has integrated into his research efforts. At the IU Bloomington campus, Samtani works with students and faculty to develop AI techniques focused on cybersecurity, mental health analytics, and business intelligence.

Samtani serves as an associate professor and Weimer Faculty Fellow at the IU Kelley School of Business. He leads the school's Data Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab, where interdisciplinary research is conducted to create practical data science methods for applications relevant to society.

In discussing his research focus, Samtani explained: "My lab collects data around three specific problem areas — cybersecurity, mental health and business intelligence — and then we adapt or develop new AI techniques to process that data to solve a particular task."

His work assists organizations worldwide in identifying strategies for cybersecurity technology implementations and business intelligence contexts. The goal is to help firms process external data related to customers and competitors effectively, enabling sound investment decisions and strategic priorities.

At an individual level, Samtani's team is developing methods to analyze smartphone-generated sensor signal data to identify depressive or anxious behaviors. They aim to offer AI-enabled solutions for these concerns.

Reflecting on his journey into this field, Samtani shared: "My original research stream...was in the context of AI for cybersecurity applications." His focus expanded when he noticed mental health concerns among cybersecurity professionals due to job-related stressors. Collaborating with Bernice Pescosolido and Edlin Garcia Colato helped him explore this area further.

Students play a vital role in Samtani's lab. "Working with students is my favorite part of the job," he stated. His lab comprises doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students from diverse disciplines who engage in advanced research or gain hands-on experience in developing systems and AI models.

Indiana University stands out as a leader in both cybersecurity and mental health research. According to Samtani: "IU is a leader in both cybersecurity and mental health research." He credits entities like OmniSOC, the Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research, and the Irsay Institute for enhancing collaborative opportunities.

For those entering the field of cybersecurity, Samtani advises gaining practical experience alongside academic learning: "It is important to get hands-on with cybersecurity."