Azra Ismail, PhD
(she, her, hers)
Assistant Professor, Emory University
Co-founder, MakerGhat

Email: azra.ismail AT emory.edu or azra AT makerghat.org

I am an AI.Humanity Assistant Professor at Emory University, focusing on the human-centered design and evaluation of AI-based systems, with a special interest in culturally-situated care. My work aims to bridge the gap between AI research and implementation, ensuring that systems developed in the lab work in messy real-world contexts, and for diverse individuals and care workers. I am Co-Director of the Center for AI in Reproductive health at Emory, and serve on the WHO/Europe Technical Advisory Group on AI for Health. I have a Ph.D. in human-centered computing and an undergraduate degree in computer engineering from Georgia Tech.

Beyond research, I care deeply about community-building and policy-oriented work. As a passionate advocate for equitable education, I co-founded MakerGhat, a nonprofit in India that aims to mainstream a culture of hands-on making and AI fluency among underserved youth. Our goal is to prepare youth to lead the charge in shaping (not just passively engaging) in increasingly technological futures.

As an interdisciplinary scholar, I engage in participatory design, UI/UX research, fieldwork, system development, and mixed-methods evaluation. My research has entailed developing long-term relationships with communities, non-profit organizations, and industry actors. I have been fortunate to receive several honors for my work, including from Google Research, the ACM SIGCHI Dissertation Award, MIT Solve, and Forbes 30 under 30 Asia. I was also named to the list of 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics, and 75 Women in STEAM by the Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India.

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Academia can be a wonderful environment for those passionate about research, but has many unwritten norms. To make this hidden curriculum accessible, I have compiled some advice for prospective PhD applicants and made my faculty job market materials openly available.