Mayank Kejriwal, PhD, MSc

Affiliation: University of Southern California's Viterbi School of Engineering

Dr. Mayank Kejriwal is a research associate professor and principal scientist at the University of Southern California's Viterbi School of Engineering. At USC, he directs the Artificial Intelligence and Complex Systems (AICS) group, which has a focus on building AI systems for social good. He has extensive experience in using AI for fighting human trafficking, funded through both DARPA and philanthropic foundations. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles and four books, including an MIT Press textbook on knowledge graphs. He also co-leads the Global Trafficking Initiative, which is a hub for collecting research and reports on trafficking across the globe. Dr. Kejriwal’s research has garnered significant press coverage – including outlets like Popular Science, CNN Indonesia, and Big Think - and several awards, including the IET Mike Sargeant Early Career Medal in the UK, and an Intellectual Achievement award from the MENSA foundation, among several. His invited essay on investigating sex trafficking with AI appeared in Science in early 2026. 

Research Interests:

• Artificial intelligence

• Computational social science

• Network science

• Human trafficking indicators