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Thushara Gunda is a Principal Member of Technical Staff at Sandia National Labs. Her research portfolio focuses on leveraging data science to inform decision-making in complex systems. Her work spans multiple domains (including water, energy, and security) and focuses on increasing the integration of diverse datasets (e.g., text-based and social factors) into advanced data analytics by incorporating interdisciplinary techniques and insights from complex systems, resilience analysis, system dynamics, and domain-specific practices.

Her work has been published in multiple peer-reviewed journals (including IEEE Access, International Journal of Climatology, Environmental Research Letters, and Water Resources Research) and shared at various conference venues (including AGU Fall Meeting, Solar PV Operations USA, and INFORMS). In addition to advancing research and development capabilities, Dr. Gunda actively mentors multiple students and early career researchers. She also serves as the Technical Working Group lead for the NM Water Data Initiative and is a board member for the Hydrology Diversity & Inclusivity committee at the American Geophysical Union.

Thushara earned a M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering at Vanderbilt University as well as a B.Sc. in Environmental Sciences and B.A. in Environmental Thought & Practice from the University of Virginia.