Rai was a classmate of President Obama's at Harvard Law School and she served as a member of the agency review team on science, technology, space, arts and humanities as part of administration's transition project. Her current research on innovation policy in areas such as green technology, drug development, and software is funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Kauffman Foundation, and Chatham House, according to her Duke bio. Rai has testified in the Senate on innovation policy and, before entering academia, clerked for U.S. District Court Judge Marilyn Hall Patel of California and was a litigation associate at Jenner & Block.