Anantaa Kotal, Ph.D. ’24, computer science and current assistant professor of computer science at the University of Texas at El Paso, has been selected as a Computing Research Association (CRA) Trustworthy AI Research Fellow. The fellowship, funded by Microsoft, supports early-career computing researchers who advance trustworthy artificial intelligence (AI) through interdisciplinary collaboration with humanistic social sciences.

“Being named a CRA Trustworthy AI Research Fellow affirms that the questions we've been asking—what does trust mean, and how do you build it into a model—matter to the broader research community,” says Kotal, who works to make AI systems more transparent, fair, and secure. “I'm grateful for the foundation UMBC gave me as I built toward this recognition.”

Over the next year, fellows participate in intensive interdisciplinary training and sustained peer collaboration. The fellowship includes a four-day, in-person AI Field School in which they engage in Trustworthy AI initiatives with CRA partner institutions and receive mentorship from established scholars. Selected fellows receive a $17,000 stipend, along with support for travel, lodging, and meals associated with in-person fellowship activities. Through the fellowship, participants advance their own research at the intersection of computing and the social sciences, while helping shape scalable models for interdisciplinary training in responsible computing.

This is the second year in a row that a UMBC-affiliated researcher has been selected for the fellowship. In 2025, the CRA selected Yasmine Kotturi, assistant professor of information systems, for its inaugural cohort of Trustworthy AI Research Fellows.