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Rohit Valecha

Rohit Valecha, PhD

Associate Professor, Cloud Technology Endowed Fellowship, Information Systems and Cybersecurity

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Bio

Dr. Rohit Valecha is an Associate Professor in the Department of Information Systems and Cybersecurity at The University of Texas at San Antonio. He joined the UT San Antonio faculty in 2016. His PhD is from the University at Buffalo in management science and systems, and his undergraduate in electrical engineering and master’s degree in computer science are also from University at Buffalo.

Dr. Valecha has research interests in artificial intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity. In particular, his research explores the phenomenon of citizen science focusing on the role of information technologies (including social media, microblogging and AI technologies) in collection, processing and sharing of citizen-reported data in the context of large-scale societal disruptions. He combines data-driven computationally intensive research paradigm with experimental design and empirical modeling to extract research insights. He specializes in methodologies using large language models, natural language processing, machine learning, deep learning, text mining and data exploration. Dr. Valecha has teaching interests in network security, information technology, design science, and business intelligence and analytics.

Dr. Valecha has authored or co-authored more than 100 technical papers. He has published in several top journals, including Management Information Systems Quarterly (MISQ), Journal of the Association for Information Systems (JAIS), IEEE Transactions of Dependable and Secure Computing (IEEE TDSC) and other ACM and IEEE outlets, as well as the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) Program.

Valecha's work has received best paper and other awards at the American Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS), Design Science Research on Information Systems and Technology (DESRIST), Conference on Information Systems and Technology (CIST), Workshop on Information Technology and Systems (WITS) and others. He is also the recipient of Dean's Distinguished Research Award, Piccione Endowed Research Award and Provost's Endowed Fellowship.

He has professional experience in design, development, deployment and maintenance of business applications as a programmer, software developer, and architect in government, finance, ecommerce and IT sectors. He is a co-PI on several NSF grants (EAGER, RAPID, SCC and DRMS) and DHS grant, totaling more than $1 million.

He has served on NSF review panels. He is a Special Issue Associate Editor for MISQ Special Issue on Generative AI and Information Assurance, and a part of the Editorial Reviewer Board for ISR Special Issue on Unleashing the Power of Information Technology for Strategic Management of Disasters. He is an Associate Editor for Journal of Strategic Information Systems (JSIS) and Decision Support Systems (DSS), and a Coordinating Editor for Information Systems Frontiers (ISF). He has served as ad hoc reviewer for several IS and IEEE journals.

Research Interests

  • Citizen Science
  • Social media
  • Emergency management
  • Artificial intelligence
  • Cybersecurity

Degrees

  • PhD University at Buffalo
  • MS University at Buffalo
  • BS University at Buffalo

Grants, Patents and Clinical Trials

  • 2021–22: NSF DRMS-DDRIG grant, $29,850, “COVID Vaccine Misinformation Harms: An Investigation of Harm Perceptions and Related Harm Communications on Social Media,” by H. Raghav Rao (PI), Rohit Valecha (Co-PI) and Thi Tran (Co-PI). $29,850.
  • 2021–22: NSF grant #2126504, $150,000, “NSF SCC-PG Grant: Building Resilience During Disasters Through Digital Inclusion of Older Adults: A Smart and Connected Community Research Initiative,” by H. R. Rao (PI), Bijo Mathew (Co-PI), Chris Reddick (Co-PI), David Han (Co-PI) and Rohit Valecha (Co-PI).
  • 2015–20: DHS grant, $895,237, “Analysis and Training in Defense of Biological and Digital Threats,” by Bernard Arulanandam (PI), Nicole Beebe (Co-PI), Rajendra Boppana (Co-PI), Mark Eppinger (Co-PI), Xiaoyin Wang (Co-PI), Palden Lama (Co-PI) and Rohit Valecha (Co-PI).
  • 2016–19: NSF grant #IIS1651475, $199,999, "EAGER: An Investigation of the Propagation of Error-Resistant and Error-Prone Messages Over Large-Scale Information Networks," by H.R. Rao (PI), Manish Agrawal (Co-PI), Varun Chandola (Co-PI) and Rohit Valecha (Co-PI). See Project Details
  • 2016–19: NSF grant #1651060, $100,001, “RAPID: Collaborative Research: Employees' Response to OPM Data Breaches: Decision Making in the Context of Anxiety and Fatigue,” by H. R. Rao (PI), Rui Chen (PI) and Rohit Valecha (Co-PI).

Publications

  • “Enhancing Universal Access to Financial Services: Affordances, Constraints, and Cross-country Cultural Value Influences on Mobile Payment Apps Use,” with O. Akanfe, H. R. Rao, Journal of the Association for Information Systems (JAIS), Forthcoming.
  • “Research Note–Design Principles for Information Categorization in Crowdsourced Crisis Mapping Platforms: An Examination of Requests for Help,” with O. Oh, H. R. Rao, Management Information Systems Quarterly (MISQ), 49, No. 2, 2025.
  • “A Socio-Emotional Perspective of the OPM Data Breach: An Investigation of Public Reaction on Twitter,” with E. Bachura, R. Chen, H. R. Rao, Management Information Systems Quarterly (MISQ), 46, No. 2, 2022.
  • “Influence in Social Media: An Investigation of Tweets Spanning the 2011 Egyptian Social Movement,” with S. Venkatesan, N. Yaraghi, O. Oh and H. R. Rao, Management Information Systems Quarterly (MISQ), 45, No. 4, 2021.
  • “Phishing Email Detection using Persuasion Cues,” with P. Mandaokar and H. R. Rao, IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing (TDSC), 19, No. 2, 2021.
  • “An Activity Theory Approach to Leak Detection and Mitigation in Patient Health Information,” with H. R. Rao and S. Upadhyaya, Journal of the Association for Information Systems (JAIS), 22, No. 4, 2021.
  • “An Activity Theory Approach to Modeling Dispatch-Mediated Emergency Response Communications,” with H. R. Rao, S. Upadhyaya and R. Sharman, Journal of the Association for Information Systems (JAIS), 20, No. 1, 2019.