Yash Gadhiya

Yash Gadhiya is an alumnus of the Xylem Lab, where he served as a Research Assistant from June 2024 to October 2025. He holds an M.S. in Information Systems from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland and a B.S. in Civil Engineering, with over two years of professional experience as a Data Analyst in India. Currently, he works as a Snr. Data Analyst at Capital One Bank.

At the Xylem Lab, Yash contributed to several research initiatives spanning data science, machine learning, and Earth observation for food security. He supported researchers integrating climate and environmental datasets with dietary and food consumption data to assess nutrient adequacy and food security outcomes across Tanzania; work that deepened understanding of how climate variability affects nutrition and agricultural livelihoods. He also assisted Ph.D. researchers working on crop monitoring and classification in Uganda, through data labeling and contributing to deep learning models for agricultural land-use analysis.

His most distinctive contribution was designing and developing a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)-based monthly crop reporting pipeline that automated the production of agricultural intelligence reports for six African countries, including Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, and Rwanda. The system integrated machine learning outputs, large language models, interactive visualizations, and geospatial maps to generate stakeholder-ready reports, significantly reducing the manual effort previously required.

Prior to joining the Xylem Lab, Yash worked as a Research Assistant at UMD's ARILS lab. He is passionate about applying satellite imagery, Earth observation, AI, and advanced analytics to improve food security, agricultural resilience, and nutritional adequacy in vulnerable regions.