Thank you for your interest in joining our group. We are looking for motivated researchers passionate about Trustworthy AI, Explainability, and Safety of frontier models.
Thank you for your interest in Aikyam Lab. We will not be taking new Ph.D. students this admissions cycle, so please do not fill out the interest form or email about Ph.D. positions. Our undergraduate, Master's, and collaboration opportunities below remain open.
We are actively recruiting undergraduate and Master's students affiliated with UVA who are excited about thesis research in trustworthy machine learning.
Undergraduate thesis students: email Prof. Agarwal with the subject line "Undergraduate Thesis Student at UVA", including a description of the topics you wish to pursue and your CV.
Master's thesis students: email Prof. Agarwal with the subject line "Master's Thesis Student at UVA", including a brief description of the topics you're interested in and your CV.
We are open to collaborating with students and researchers already thinking about problems related to Trustworthy Machine Learning — including research at the training, inference, and evaluation pipeline of large-scale models. See the Research page for focus areas.
Please send an email to Prof. Agarwal with the subject line "Interested in Collaboration", along with your CV and a brief description of your research interests.
We expect collaborating students and researchers to work with the group for at least 5 months and have some basic experience in ML/AI (e.g. coursework, demo projects, or online courses). Prior experience in trustworthy ML is not required — Prof. Agarwal believes in ground-up mentoring.
Students typically excel in some unique research skills. As a PI, Prof. Agarwal provides ample opportunities to flourish in those areas while encouraging and helping bridge the gaps where needed.
He follows a hands-on approach to advising that helps students overcome the initial barrier to entering new research areas and form a solid advisor-advisee relationship.
Regular project meetings structure one-on-one and group feedback sessions to track progress and provide clarity on short- and long-term research goals. Group brainstorming and open discussion build a culture of shared learning and innovation.
Lab members have opportunities to mentor juniors, lead sub-projects, and participate in decision-making — cultivating ownership and leadership.