In only 5 years at Sandia National Laboratories, Dr. Thushara Gunda has become valued leader, contributing to multiple missions including water security, energy resilience, and anticipatory science. She has pioneered the use of interdisciplinary approaches to advance integration and analysis of diverse datasets by incorporating insights from complex systems, resilience analysis, and data science to develop solutions supporting our nation’s most challenging problems. Combining social science insights with physical sciences and engineering activities, she discovers patterns, new knowledge, and builds tools that would never have been possible with conventional methods (e.g., characterizing field failures for climate hazards through text analysis of field maintenance logs). Her work is valued by diverse customers, including Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and multiple Department of Energy offices (including Science, Water Power Technology, Solar Energy Technology, Nuclear Energy, and Grid Deployment).
In addition to building across these programs ($7M+), Dr. Gunda leads 30 staff members, who range from early career (<2 years) to 30+ years of experience. She also actively collaborates with multiple national labs, industry partners, and universities. In addition, Dr. Gunda led the establishment of a Sandia community of practice (CoP) focused on analytics for climate and earth sciences (ACES) and co-leads a multi-lab effort focused on water-energy information exchanges. She serves as the New Mexico Water Data Initiative’s Technical Working Group Lead, is an External Advisory Board Member for the Hantush-Deju National Center for Hydrological Innovation at New Mexico Tech and is an American Geophysical Union (AGU) committee member for diversity and inclusivity initiatives.
Dr. Gunda has published 34 peer-reviewed papers (h-index 11) that span multiple disciplines (e.g., IEEE Access, Intl Jour. of Climatology, PloS One, and Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews) and has served as a guest editor for a special issue of Energies. She has also co-authored 20 technical reports, one open-source software publication, and given 100+ presentations (20 of these invited) at conferences, workshops, and seminars. Her invited talks highlight how systems approaches can advance robust integration of domain needs and artificial intelligence capabilities for R&D. Her work has garnered attention from the media as well as accolades from colleagues (e.g., best presentation/paper awards at a DARPA Workshop and at the Photovoltaics Reliability Workshop).
Her innovative use of multi-disciplinary systems methods exemplifies Dr. Gunda’s forward-thinking approaches to complex issues, from improved representations of humans in earth systems models to organizational resilience to disinformation. She also uses a systems approach in her project management activities, working to create an inclusive and collaborative environment for her team and others at Sandia (e.g., through ACES CoP) as well as other institutions (e.g., through AGU). Sandia leadership recognizes her potential for advancement through promotions and her nomination to leadership trainings, such as the Future Leadership Pathways Program and the Connected Leaders Academy.
Dr. Gunda also engages in multiple community service efforts, supporting educational efforts for underserved individuals. She volunteers at the NM Future City Competition, a national STEM competition for middle school students with 200+ participants. She is also a leader in the Asian employee resource group, working to help build a more inclusive culture at Sandia (through diversity talks and discussions around food and culture). Dr. Gunda has also supported the growth and development of multiple early career individuals (2 high school, 8 undergraduate, and 8 graduate interns; 3 postdocs; and 3 senior staff members), mentoring them through job transitions to full-time employment, at Microsoft, NCAR, and Sandia.