She specializes in interactive computer graphics, leading several research projects in scalable rendering, interactive global illumination, feature-based graphics, and image-based modeling and texturing. Bala has received the Cornell College of Engineering James and Mary Tien Excellence in Teaching Award, and the Affinito-Stewart award. She has co-authored the graduate-level textbook "Advanced Global Illumination" (A K Peters publisher, currently in its second edition). In 2005, Bala co-chaired the Eurographics Symposium on Rendering (EGSR). Bala received her B.Tech. from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT, Bombay), and her S.M. and Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).