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Maja Matarić is an American
computer scientist A computer scientist is a scientist who specializes in the academic study of computer science. Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation. Although computer scientists can also focus their work and research on ...
, roboticist and AI researcher, and the Chan Soon-Shiong Distinguished Professor of Computer Science, Neuroscience, and Pediatrics at the
University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...
. She is known for her work in human-robot interaction for socially assistive robotics, a new field she pioneered,Robots that Care
, Jerome Groopman, ''New Yorker'', November 2, 2009.
which focuses on creating robots capable of providing personalized therapy and care that helps people help themselves, through social rather than physical interaction. Her work has focused on aiding special needs populations including the elderly, stroke patients, and children with autism, and has been deployed and evaluated in hospitals, therapy centers, schools, and homes. She is also known for her earlier work on
robot learning Robot learning is a research field at the intersection of machine learning and robotics. It studies techniques allowing a robot to acquire novel skills or adapt to its environment through learning algorithms. The embodiment of the robot, situated i ...
from demonstration,
swarm robotics Swarm robotics is the study of how to design independent systems of robots without centralized control. The emerging swarming behavior of robotic swarms is created through the interactions between individual robots and the environment.H. Pan; ...
, robot teams, and
robot navigation Robot localization denotes the robot's ability to establish its own position and orientation within the frame of reference. Path planning is effectively an extension of localization, in that it requires the determination of the robot's current pos ...
. Matarić is also known for her many outreach activities aimed at engaging children, youth, educators, women, and other groups that are under-represented in computing, engineering, and science.


Biography

Matarić was born in
Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
, then the capital of the
Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...
(and now the capital of
Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...
). She did her undergraduate studies at the
University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...
. She then moved to the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...
(MIT), where she earned her MSc in 1990 and her Ph.D. in 1994, both under the supervision of Rodney A. Brooks. She joined the faculty at
Brandeis University Brandeis University () is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located within the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational university, Bra ...
as an assistant professor of Computer Science in January 1995, then moved to the
University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...
in 1997 as an assistant professor of Computer Science with a courtesy appointment in the Neuroscience Program. There she was promoted to associate professor, received a courtesy appointment in the Department of Pediatrics, and was then promoted to Professor. She served as the Chair of the Women in Science and Engineering Committee of the
Viterbi School of Engineering The USC Viterbi School of Engineering (formerly the USC School of Engineering) is the engineering school of the University of Southern California. It was renamed following a $52 million donation by Andrew J. Viterbi, co-founder of Qualcomm. ...
(2005), as the elected President of the USC Faculty and the Academic Senate (2006-2007), Senior Associate Dean for Research in the Viterbi School of Engineering (2006–2011), Vice Dean for Research in the Viterbi School of Engineering (2011–2019), and interim Vice President of Research (2020–2021).


Awards and honors

Matarić received the
Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring The Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM) is a Presidential award established by the United States White House in 1995. The program is administered by the National Science Foundation (NSF) on ...
from President Barack Obama (2009). She was elected to the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...
in 2023. She was also elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2025. She is a Fellow of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...
(AAAS) (2007), Fellow of the
IEEE The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an American 501(c)(3) organization, 501(c)(3) public charity professional organization for electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and other related disciplines. The IEEE ...
(2011), Fellow of
Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence The Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) is an international Learned society, scientific society devoted to promote research in, and responsible use of, artificial intelligence. AAAI also aims to increase public under ...
(AAAI) (2016) , and Fellow of the Association of Computing Machinery ( ACM) (2020). She was the winner of the 2013 ABIE Award for Innovation from the
Anita Borg Institute AnitaB.org (formerly Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology, and Institute for Women in Technology) is a global nonprofit organization based in Belmont, California. Founded by computer scientists Anita Borg and Telle Whitney, the institut ...
, a recipient of the Okawa Foundation Award, the
National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...
Career Award, the ''MIT Technology Review'' TR35 Award, and the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Early Career Award. She was named 2024-2025 ACM Athena Lecturer for her "groundbreaking contributions in the Areas of Distributed Robotics, Multi-Robot Coordination, and Socially Assistive Robotics" . She is a member of the
Phi Kappa Phi The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi (or simply Phi Kappa Phi or ) is an honor society established in 1897 to recognize and encourage superior scholarship without restriction as to the area of study, and to promote the "unity and democracy of educa ...
, is one of five ''LA Times Magazine'' 2010 Visionaries. She is featured in the Emmy Award-nominated documentary '' Me & Isaac Newton'' and in the ''New Yorker'' article "Robots that Care", ''Popular Science'' article "The New Face of Autism Therapy", the ''IEEE Spectrum'' article "Caregiver Robots", ''The Wall Street Journal'' article "How to Build Robots People Can Relate To",Matarić, Maja. How to Build Robots People Can Relate To. ''The Wall Street Journal''. Oct. 11, 2019.
/ref> the ''BBC News'', among many others.


References


External links


Professional website
*
Maja Matarić interview
with
impactmania
' *
Socially Assistive Robots and the Growing Healthcare Problem
, TEDx talk, Sep 15, 2010.
Complete listing of media coverage with links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mataric, Maja Living people American women computer scientists 20th-century American women scientists 21st-century American women scientists Year of birth missing (living people) Yugoslav emigrants to the United States Scientists from Belgrade University of Southern California faculty University of Kansas alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Brandeis University faculty American roboticists Women roboticists Fellows of the IEEE Fellows of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Serbian women engineers 2020 fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery