I am an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of Chicago. I received my PhD in Computer Science from Yale University in 2020.
My current research explores how robots and artificial agents can positively shape human-to-human interactions. During my PhD, I focused on developing robots that improve the performance of human-robot teams by shaping team dynamics to promote inclusion, trust, and cohesion.
I am currently looking for motivated undergraduate and graduate students interested in human-robot / human-AI interaction. If you are interested in getting involved with my research group, click here.
Featured Work
My work investigating how vulnerablility shapes human-to-human social dynamics in human-robot teams has demonstrated that the vulnerable utterances of a robot increases the likelihood that human team members express trust-related behavior towards one another (HRI 2018) and also positively shapes the conversational dynamics of the human members of the human-robot team (PNAS 2020). This work is among the first to show that in human-robot teams the actions of a robot can influence how humans in the group interact with each other. Check out the following video for more details on this work.
Recent News
5/13/20
I have successfully defended my Ph.D.! The title of my dissertation is Developing Robot Teammates that Enhance Social Dynamics and Performance in Human-Robot Teams.
4/28/20
I have accepted a position as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Chicago starting in the fall of 2020!
4/6/20
Although the 15th Annual ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human Robot Interaction cancelled its in-person meeting, please check out my 10 minute video presentation where I present my full paper titled
"Strategies for the Inclusion of Human Members within Human-Robot Teams"
3/9/20
My paper titled Vulnerable Robots Positively Shape Human Conversational Dynamics in a Human-Robot Team was accepted to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) and featured on the cover!
