Pattie Maes

Pattie Maes is a professor in MIT’s Program in Media Arts and Sciences with over 25 years of research experience in human machine interaction, wearable devices and development of assistive technologies. Coming from a background in artificial intelligence and human computer interaction, she is particularly interested in the topic of cognitive enhancement, or how immersive and wearable systems can actively assist people with issues related to memory, attention, learning, decision making, communication and emotion regulation. Maes has received multiple awards: the World Economic Forum honored her with the title Global Leader for Tomorrow; Ars Electronica awarded her the 1995 World Wide Web category prize; and in 2000 she was recognized with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Massachusetts Interactive Media Council. In addition to her academic endeavors, Maes has been an active entrepreneur as co-founder of several venture-backed companies that spun out of her research at MIT, including Firefly Networks (sold to Microsoft), Open Ratings (sold to Dun & Bradstreet) and Tulip Co (privately held).