Pragati Awasthi

Awasthi specializes in the application of machine learning and artificial intelligence to complex, real-world business problems, with expertise spanning financial services, enterprise analytics and the responsible deployment of AI in industry. She brings hands-on experience building and scaling production AI systems to her work as an educator and practitioner.

Her work focuses on translating advanced machine learning techniques into measurable business outcomes — from detecting financial fraud using natural language processing to forecasting trends in enterprise legal spend management. Awasthi writes regularly for industry publications on the practical challenges of deploying AI at scale, addressing issues such as model operationalization and organizational barriers to effective AI adoption.

Awasthi has presented her research at a top international data science conference, contributes to the peer review process at premier computing and information science conferences and has spoken publicly at various industry events on machine learning operations and the practical deployment of AI in enterprise settings. At the College of Engineering and Computing, she advises the Data Science Club and forges industry partnerships and collaborations that bring real-world data science projects into the classroom.

Prior to joining Drexel, Awasthi worked as a data scientist at Bottomline Technologies, building machine learning-powered fraud detection systems, and later as assistant vice president of Decision Science Analytics at PNC Financial Services, leading machine learning-powered credit risk modeling.

Awasthi can discuss topics related to AI and machine learning education, its use in financial services and fraud detection, financial risk modeling and responsible and ethical deployment of AI by industry.