Data-Driven Decisions Lab

Anuradha and Vikas Sinha Department of Data Science
University of North Texas

We advance causal machine learning and spatiotemporal data science to turn complex Earth and environmental data, from Arctic sea ice to regional air quality; into decisions that matter.

Our Research Join the Lab

About the Lab

The Data-Driven Decisions Lab (D3 Lab) is an interdisciplinary research group in the Anuradha and Vikas Sinha Department of Data Science at the University of North Texas, directed by Dr. Sahara Ali. Our work sits at the intersection of causal inference, deep learning, and spatiotemporal data mining, applied to some of the hardest measurement problems in earth science including Arctic sea ice forecasting and air quality modeling with the goal of producing methods that are both predictive and causally sound enough to inform real decisions.

Explore our research areas

Dr. Sahara Ali

Lab Director
Assistant Professor
Department of Data Science, UNT

Dr. Ali directs the D3 Lab and researches causal machine learning, spatiotemporal data mining, and Earth informatics, with a focus on Arctic sea ice forecasting and climate systems. She holds a PhD and MS in Information Systems from the University of Maryland.

Full profile

Research Areas

Causal Inference & ML

Causal discovery and inference methods for complex, high-dimensional systems.

Spatiotemporal Data Mining

Modeling and forecasting complex patterns across space and time in Earth data.

Arctic & Polar Climate

Deep learning models for Arctic sea ice forecasting and polar climate dynamics.

Earth & Environmental ML

Scientific machine learning for air quality and environmental monitoring in North Texas.

Stay Updated

Latest News

View all

August 2026

D3 Lab website launched

The Data-Driven Decisions Lab launches its new home on the web, showcasing our research, team, and publications.

Ongoing

Recruiting graduate researchers

We are looking for motivated PhD and MS students interested in causal ML and spatiotemporal data science. Learn more →