I am Varun, a Research Associate at Adobe’s Media and Data Science Research lab, where I develop machine learning models that understand and shape human responses to content. My work bridges computer vision, natural language processing and behavioral science.

My research focuses on three interconnected areas:

• Predict: Synthesizing gaze patterns over text to model reading behavior and predicting audience engagement with promotional images on social media
• Optimize: Steering generative models toward behavioral objectives such as viewer engagement and brand-specific visual styles
• Explain: Extracting interpretable, actionable insights from complex behavioral data

I am particularly interested in building models that capture the dynamic nature of human preferences, evolve with experience and remain controllable for practitioners. To know more about my research background and vision, please visit my website.

I am always happy to discuss research ideas at the intersection of machine learning and behavioral science. Please reach out to connect.