Scheutz appointed Karol Family Applied Technology Professor

Professor Matthias Scheutz of the Department of Computer Science was named the inaugural Karol Family Applied Technology Professor. The professorship was established in 2022 by Steven E. Karol, A76, A04P, A13P, and Michelle M. Karol, A04P, A13P, to support faculty members whose research, scholarship, and teaching are in innovative and cutting-edge areas of applied technology.

Scheutz’s research lies at the intersection of cognition and technology, including artificial intelligence, cognitive modeling, machine learning, and human-robot interaction. He is an internationally recognized expert in the ethics of robotics and human-robot interaction. He is the director of the Human-Robot Interaction Laboratory, which works to advance ethical and effective robots that can learn and interact more naturally with humans. He also leads Tufts’ degree programs in human-robot interaction, including MS and joint PhD tracks in the Departments of Computer Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering – one of the first interdisciplinary programs of its kind in the country.

In addition to his significant contributions to academic research at Tufts, Scheutz is the president and CEO of Thinking Robots, a startup that provides software solutions for people to instruct robots using natural language instead of computer programming. His work reduces technical barriers that prevent people from utilizing robots effectively while simultaneously improving robots’ ability to communicate and learn tasks.

Scheutz earned PhDs from the University of Vienna, Austria and Indiana University. Over the course of his prolific career, he has earned numerous best paper awards at top international conferences. He received a grand prize in the inaugural National Science Foundation Idea Machine competition in tandem with Vasanth Sarathy, EG20, for their submission on machine problem solving. Under the new professorship Scheutz will continue to advance human-robot interaction, artificial intelligence, and cognitive science.

Learn more about Karol Family Applied Technology Professor Matthias Scheutz’s work.