Maja Matarić

Maja J. Matarić is an American computer scientist and roboticist, and the Chan Soon-Shiong Chaired Professor of Computer Science, Neuroscience, and Pediatrics at the University of Southern California. She is known for her work in human-robot interaction for socially assistive robotics, a new field she pioneered, which focuses on creating robots capable of providing personalized therapy and care through social rather than physical interaction, through technologies aimed at aiding special needs populations including the elderly, stroke patients, children with autism, and others. She is also known for her earlier work on coordination of robot teams and robot navigation.

Matarić was born in Belgrade, the capital of the former Yugoslavia. She did her undergraduate studies at the University of Kansas. She then moved to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (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 as an Assistant Professor of Computer Science in January 1995, then moved to the University of Southern California 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 (2005), the President of the USC Faculty and Academic Senate (2006), as the Senior Associate Dean for Research in the Viterbi School of Engineering (2006-2011) and then as Vice Dean for Research (2011–present).

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