Bhararti B. Belwalkar

Bharati B. Belwalkar is a senior industrial-organizational researcher at American Institutes for Research (AIR). Dr. Belwalkar’s career highlights consist of leading several pivotal projects at AIR, including competency-based assessment development, large-scale practice analyses, and a multi-phase automatic item generation project. Previously, during her tenure with the City of New Orleans, Dr. Belwalkar managed functions related to test development and validation, and employee growth and development, and played a key role in developing a citywide performance management system.

Dr. Belwalkar has successfully integrated her deep interest in artificial intelligence and data science with her projects, leveraging these technologies to augment and scale assessment-and-selection practices. Her research interests revolve around the intersection of assessment and technology. She has contributed to over 30 publications and conference proceedings in these areas, notable among those are in peer-reviewed journals such as Journal of Personality Assessment, Personnel Psychology, The Industrial and Organizational Psychologist, and The Cambridge Handbook of Technology and Employee Behavior. For the work in the field of I-O psychology and assessment, she and her team received the 2024 Innovations in Assessment Award given by the International Personnel Assessment Council.

Dr. Belwalkar is a certified project manager and a What Works Clearinghouse Group Design reviewer. She is an active member of several professional organizations including the Society for Industrial and Organizational (I/O) Psychology, the International Personnel Assessment Council, and the International Test Commission. She continues to actively contribute to the I/O Psychology community through various leadership and service roles.

Through her work in the I/O Psychology space, Dr. Belwalkar aims to ensure that workplace assessments and evaluations are both technologically advanced and accurately measure workforce capabilities. She strives to create effective evaluation tools that support fair and meaningful professional opportunities for all individuals.