Joint-Degree Spotlight: Building Human-Centered Technology

Hometown: New Delhi, India
Employer: Snap Inc. (the company behind Snapchat)

Why did you decide to pursue a joint degree at Yale SOM?

When I first applied to Yale SOM, the joint MBA/MS in Computer Science didn’t exist. I came to business school with a very specific question in mind: how do we build and evaluate technologies responsibly when real-world data is limited, sensitive, or ethically constrained? To explore this, I began research at Professor Rex Ying’s Graph and Geometric Learning Lab shortly after arriving on campus.

Our research focused on generating synthetic, agent-based populations, which could simulate user behavior and preferences in a controlled environment when actual data ran out or was too difficult to collect. That work opened up a deeper set of questions for me: if the next generation of consumer products will be trained, tested, and iterated inside simulations before reaching the real world, what kind of a leader is needed to guide that transition responsibly? And what kind of training prepares someone for that intersection of technology, human behavior, and decision-making?

Initially, I thought I would supplement my MBA with informal technical research. But the more time I spent on research, the more I realized that the technical side wasn’t simply a complement but was central to the questions I cared about. When Yale launched the MS in Computer Science during my first year at SOM, it felt like an inflection point. I applied immediately, recognizing that this program would give me the formal grounding to push my curiosity further and understand not just how systems behave, but why and how we should design them. Yale, with its tradition of cross-functional and liberal education, offered a rare intellectual home for this work.

Describe some favorite classes or campus groups you’ve participated in.

State and Society, a core course taught by Professor Mushfiq Mobarak, was one of the first courses that truly reshaped how I think. It examines how institutions, governments, and social systems interact; for me, it became a framework for understanding technology in emerging markets. It helped me see why certain products scale differently across regions, how relationships between states and online platforms shape user behavior, and how trust and governance influence technological adoption. Since I came from consumer-internet growth and product roles, the class gave me a more structural way to interpret the environments in which these technologies operate.

Another important course for me, Professor Nicole Immorlica’s Foundations of Data Economics, sits squarely at the intersection of algorithms and human behavior. We worked through real-world reinforcement learning systems, bandit algorithms, and the kinds of decision-making dynamics used inside ranking systems that influence billions of people every day. It was both technical and philosophical—a reminder that these mathematical tools have enormous downstream effects, and that designing them responsibly requires understanding their economic and behavioral implications, not just the code that powers them.

Outside the classroom, some of my favorite moments at SOM have come from its community traditions. I’ve loved the cohort culture (go Red!) and the small but meaningful community rituals like Friendsgiving dinners, mixers, and late-night study sessions that turn classmates into close friends. These experiences have been as defining as the academics and a reminder that Yale is ultimately a place built around people.

Have there been unexpected benefits from your joint-degree program?

One of the biggest surprises has been how mutually reinforcing the two academic environments are. I had expected the MBA and the MS to feel like parallel tracks—one grounded in markets and organizations, the other in algorithms and systems. Instead, each has made me better at the other. The cross-pollination has been constant and far more natural than I anticipated.

Being the first student to complete the MBA/MS program has been an unexpected benefit in itself. It was daunting at first: there’s no blueprint, no second-years who have done it before, no precedent to follow. But that also gave me the freedom to shape the experience intentionally. I got to work with faculty, administrators, and peers to define what the joint path could look like, and that sense of ownership made the journey feel uniquely meaningful. In hindsight, what initially felt like uncertainty became an opportunity to design a version of the program that aligned deeply with my interests in simulation, responsible technology, and cross-disciplinary thinking.

What professional opportunities have you pursued as a result of your joint degree?

The joint degree has clarified that I want to build at the intersection of deep-tech and consumer products: spaces where rigorous technical modeling and human-centered design matter equally. Being a full-time product manager on the Snap Map—one of the most used consumer maps globally—while enrolled in the joint degree has provided the perfect opportunity to do just that. I hope to continue working on products that touch large populations, ideally where simulation, reinforcement learning, and responsible deployment frameworks can meaningfully shape how technologies evolve before they reach the real world. The combination of the MBA and MS gives me the range to move fluidly between technical research, product strategy, and leadership roles in these environments.

How has your MBA enriched your understanding of science and technology?

The MBA has fundamentally changed how I approach engineering, teaching me to ground technical decisions in questions of incentives, institutions, and human behavior. It pushed me to see algorithms not just as systems to optimize, but as choices embedded in markets, governance structures, and social impact. At the same time, it strengthened my management toolkit, giving me clearer intuition for how to align cross-functional teams, navigate ambiguity, and design products that are not only technically sound but organizationally viable.