Current research
Ongoing projects examine fairness in consumer communication, generative AI and literature reviews, persuasion, brand sentiment, and social behavior.
Associate Professor at the University of Virginia
AI, applied science, and digital platforms
I study how AI works, how people engage with AI-generated content, and how those interactions influence individual behavior and society at large. Alongside my research, I develop AI-based applications, including luukai.io, an AI engine optimization platform for small businesses, and peerpen.app, an AI tool for academic peer review.
Published in
ISR, JMIS, JAIS, Journal of Marketing, and Political Research Quarterly
Current role
Associate Professor, University of Virginia
Previous role
Lead Data Scientist at State Farm Insurance
About
Researcher, educator, and applied AI practitioner.
My work focuses on how AI operates, how people consume and respond to AI-generated content, and how those interactions influence individual behavior and society at large. In parallel with my research, I develop AI-based applications, including luukai.io, an AI engine optimization platform for small businesses, and peerpen.app, an AI tool for academic peer review.
At UVA, I teach undergraduate and graduate students about the inner workings of AI and how it can be used to address practical and consequential problems.
Expertise
AI and analytics, NLP, LLMs, generative AI, digital platforms, healthcare information systems
Education
Ph.D. Arizona State University, MBA University of Tehran, B.Sc. Sharif University of Technology
Contact
Selected Research
Representative work across AI, behavior, and digital platforms.
From Lexicons to Large Language Models: A Holistic Evaluation of Psychometric Text Analysis in Social Science Research
Psychometric NLP, LLM evaluation, and measurement in social science text analysis.
Healthy Relationships and Healthy Eating: How Stressful Events and Social Support Affect Indulgence
Behavioral modeling and computational analysis of stress, support, and consumer response.
Generative Artificial Intelligence for Literature Reviews
Generative AI and LLM-enabled workflows for literature review and scientific synthesis.
Resilience Messaging: The Effect of Governors’ Social Media Communications on Community Compliance During a Public Health Crisis
NLP-driven analysis of social media messaging, public communication, and behavioral response.
A Knowledge Management Perspective of Generative Artificial Intelligence
Generative AI and LLMs through an organizational and knowledge-management lens.
Harnessing Artificial Intelligence to Improve the Quality of Answers in Online Question-answering Health Forums
AI-assisted quality assessment for health forums using language and answer-level signals.
The Voice of the Customer: Managing Customer Care in Twitter
Social media language, customer care, and digital service outcomes at scale.
The Impact of Twitter Adoption on Lawmakers’ Voting Orientations
Digital platform adoption, political behavior, and large-scale social media data analysis.
Work
Current focus, teaching, and applied work.
Teaching
Courses include advanced AI and business analytics, research methods, programming, and project management across undergraduate, masters, and doctoral programs.
Applied AI
I develop AI-based applications, including luukai.io, an AI engine optimization platform for small businesses, and peerpen.app, an AI tool for academic peer review.
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