Dr. Jaya Shankar is the Head of the Department and Associate Professor in Computer Science & Engineering (Data Science) at Mahaguru Institute of Technology, having joined the institution in April 2025. With a strong dual background in Computer Science and Management, she holds a Ph.D. in Management from Presidency University, Bengaluru, an M.E. in CSE from Anna University, and an MBA in Human Resources, along with a B.E. in CSE. Her academic interests span business analytics, operations research, AI & ML, HRM, organizational behaviour, leadership, emotional intelligence, cybersecurity awareness, and digital ethics, reflecting an interdisciplinary profile that connects technology with management and human factors.

She has extensive teaching experience across several institutions in Kerala and Karnataka, including Sree Narayana Institute of Technology, Baselios Mathews II College of Engineering, Carmel College, KVVS institutions, and others, dating back to the mid-1990s. Beyond teaching, she has taken up leadership and administrative roles such as HoD, Chairperson of Internal Complaints Committee, President of Women Cell, and member of Staff Grievance and Redressal Committee, showing active involvement in academic governance and campus wellbeing. She regularly organizes and contributes to academic events such as faculty development programs, motivational and stress management trainings, and workshops on research methodology and IPR, and is frequently invited as a resource person for talks on research design, technical paper writing, and related topics.

On the research and publication front, Dr. Jaya Shankar has authored journal papers in areas like women’s entrepreneurial leadership, deep Q-learning for autonomous vehicles, machine learning for disease prediction, teaching effectiveness in online education, business analytics, and the impact of digital media and psychological capital in education and organizations. She has also secured multiple patents related to computing devices for power grid fault detection, work allocation in exam offices, HR management, and ICT-based teacher capacity building. In addition, she has written and co-authored several books on business analytics, brand management, algorithmic thinking with Python, programming in C, operations research, data structures and algorithms, and a chapter in a volume on trends in sociology, psychology, and anthropology, underscoring a strong contribution to both technical and management education resources.