Thriving Amid Constant Change 

Neelanshi Varia (MSAI '20) joked there is probably such a thing as an average day as a senior artificial intelligence (AI) consultant at Deloitte. 

She just rarely experiences it. 

Varia's "average" is a constant state of change, and after spending the past two years at the company, she wouldn't have it any other way. She credits Northwestern Engineering's Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence (MSAI) program with preparing her to thrive in an environment of constant change.  

“I am really grateful for all the practical as well as theoretical concepts I learned during my time at MSAI,” Varia said. “It definitely gives me an edge and a great overview to handle problems.” 

Those problems change depending on where a project is in the development process. The one constant, she said, is data science. But after that?  

The opportunities vary. 

Varia has helped with data engineering, project management, and machine learning for a top grocery store chain and an ethical AI organization. She's also served as a subject matter expert for Deloitte's Trustworthy AI projects. 

That last subject, ethical AI, is of particular importance not just to Varia but to a growing number of technology leaders.  

In late May, a group of AI experts and scientists issued a succinct statement arguing that rapid AI development is putting the survival of the human species at risk. The statement urged policy leaders to elevate the mitigation of those risks to “a global priority, alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war.” 

Varia said she takes her role in the responsible development of AI seriously. She's worked on multiple ethical AI projects, and that's allowed her to stay current on the latest news regarding AI governance. 

Varia’s interest in AI was sparked during her undergraduate studies. When she thought about furthering her education, she sought a program dedicated to AI.  

At that time, MSAI was one of the few – and, she said, certainly the best.  

“The fact that it was a short industry-focused program was what made it my target program,” she said. “It was a great mix of necessary theoretical and practical subjects with practicum and capstone.”   

Varia put her education to immediate use when she started at Deloitte as an applied AI consultant. She was promoted to her current role in May.  

“I really like that I can talk with stakeholders and suggest ways in which AI can help the clients get better results,” she said. “Conceptualizing an idea that has never been implemented before to developing it to deploying it at scale and seeing it being used by thousands of users is great.”  

With MSAI behind her, Varia looks back at the experience and appreciates what she and her classmates faced. Her time in the MSAI program straddled the emergence of the COVID pandemic.  

“You meet people who are interested in a niche similar to yours, and the synergy that it creates is something you cannot gain out of online videos or projects,” she said. “I am still in touch with most of the friends I made there and survived the pandemic with. That’s the best gift I got from my time at MSAI.”