The following Oregon State University faculty members, many of them part of OSU's Collaborative Robotics and Intelligent Systems Institute, have expertise related to robotics and artificial intelligence and are willing to speak with journalists. Their specific expertise, and contact information, is listed below. For help with other OSU faculty experts, contact Sean Nealon, 541-737-0787, [email protected].
Houssam Abbas, 541-737-3617, [email protected]
Abbas’ research spans the design, control and verification of cyber-physical systems – in particular, he is interested in the development of lightweight verification and control techniques that can run onboard autonomous systems. He is also investigating distributed control algorithms for complex aerial missions. Among the topics he can talk about:
- Security and safety of autonomous systems such as self-driving cars and drones, including F1/10 (miniature car) racing
- Ethics of AI and robotics
Joe Davidson, 541-737-9193, [email protected]
Davidson works in the areas of robotic grasping, tactile sensing and manipulation. His group performs fundamental and applied research at the intersection of design, mechanics, machine learning and controls. He is particularly interested in applications from field robotics, such as agriculture and machine robotics. He can answer questions about:
- Robotics for agriculture and food production
- Underwater robotics
Thomas Dietterich, 541-737-1300, [email protected]
Dietterich is one of the founders of the field of machine learning. He frequently speaks about the potential dangers of AI and ways of making AI safe and robust. His research is motivated by challenges ranging from weather station networks to computer security. The three main branches of his research are: How machine learning can provide the basis for building integrated intelligent systems; how people and computers can collaborate to solve challenging problems; and how machine learning can assist in ecosystem management and other aspects of the ecological sciences. Among the areas that Dietterich can discuss:
- Managing uncertainty and detecting novelty in machine learning applications
- Automated data cleaning for sensor networks
- Reinforcement learning in risk-sensitive applications
Alan Fern, 541-737-9202, [email protected]
Fern conducts research in various areas of artificial intelligence and robotics. His work is centered around learning-based approaches to making machines better at decision making in virtual and physical environments. Possible interview topics:
- AI for applications in agriculture
- AI techniques for humanoid and legged robots
- Techniques for integrating planning and machine learning
Cindy Grimm, 541-737-4914, [email protected]
Grimm works in the area of robotic grasping and manipulation for both industry and agriculture, as well as ethics, law and policy related to robotics. Her previous projects include modeling the developing heart, understanding how the shape of bat ears influences their sonar patterns, 3D sketching, and interfaces for 3D medical image segmentation. Other areas of expertise include:
- Computer graphics and human-computer interaction
- The relationship between shape and biological function
- Artistic-based modeling and visualization
Regan Gurung, [email protected]
Gurung's research examines the psychological aspects of AI interactions. He has served as a faculty mentor for the Association of American and Colleges and Universities' AI Institute and is a member of the OSU provost's AI committee. His areas of expertise include:
- How using generative AI influences learning, especially writing and quiz taking
- The efficacy of AI tutors, including text-based, audio and avatars
- The extent to which AI tutors can replicate the teacher-student interaction and built rapport and engagement
Ross Hatton, [email protected]
Hatton's research is at the interface of robotics and applied mechanics, with focuses on geometric mechanics, snake robot locomotion and intuitive representations of system dynamics. He can answer questions about:
- Robot physical movement, including walking, swimming, crawling and slithering
- Bioinspiration and biomimetics
Geoff Hollinger, 541-737-5906, [email protected]
Hollinger's research is focused on developing planning, coordination and learning techniques to improve robotic sensing and manipulation in marine, aerial and subterranean applications. His lab works to develop scalable autonomous systems grounded in principled theoretical analysis capable of acting in changing, unstructured environments with imperfect information. He can discuss:
- Autonomous marine robotics, including underwater vehicles and ocean surface vehicles
- Motion planning and coordinating for unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs
Dave Kaber, 541-737-3764, [email protected]
Kaber's primary area of research is human-systems engineering with a focus on human-automation interaction, including design for levels of automation and adaptive automation in complex human-in-the-loop systems. Domains of study for his research have included physical work systems, industrial safety systems, robotic systems, transportation systems and health care. He can answer questions about:
- How automation impacts human behavior and performance in time- and safety-critical operations
- How we can formally describe or model human and machine system interaction and task performance
- How to effectively design automation and/or autonomous agents for interaction with humans as decision support tools or partners in cognitive task performance
Stephen Ramsey, 541-737-5609, [email protected]
Ramsey works in the areas of bioinformatics, machine learning and artificial intelligence for biomedical applications. Projects include developing an at-home device that can measure the level of epilepsy antiseizure medication in a patient's saliva sample; a large-scale, distributed software system, based on AI and knowledge graphs, that researchers can use to explore knowledge and information about biomedicine; and an AI-powered chat agent for providing information about rare genetic diseases. Among the specific topics that Ramsey can discuss are:
- Bioinformatics and computational biology
- The opportunities and risks of AI in biomedicine
- Knowledge graphs and how they complement large language models
Devin Roach, 541-737-3638, [email protected]
Roach's research focuses on soft robotics, which, unlike traditional robotics, uses materials more like human bodies and are able to conform to surface shapes, generate complex motion and perform intricate tasks. His work advances the manufacturing of smart and active materials, leveraging AI to optimize material design for target applications and ensuring safe and adaptive robotic systems for human interaction and biomedical applications. Roach can discuss:
- Most aspects of soft robotics
- AI for manufacturing and design optimization
- Smart and/or active materials
- 3D and 4D printing
Sandhya Saisubramanian, 541-737-8109, [email protected]
Saisubramanian's research focuses on the development of planning and learning approaches that enable AI systems to make safe and reliable decisions. Her work explores how robots can assess different choices and tradeoffs, make context-aware decisions and adapt based on human feedback to operate effectively and reliably. She can talk about:
- Adaptability and reliability of autonomous systems such as robots and self-driving cars
- Robot learning through interactions with humans
- Applications of reinforcement learning in agriculture
Inara Scott, 541-737-4102, [email protected]
Scott has led the integration of AI across pedagogy, curriculum and integrative processes, including developing policies for faculty, staff and students to promote the ethical and safe use of AI. She speaks frequently about the implications of AI for teaching and learning, the potential for bias and scaling of bias through the use of AI systems, and the need for innovation in the higher education landscape. Possible interview topics include:
- The integration of AI in higher education classrooms and processes
- Effective strategies and ethical considerations for integrating AI into pedagogy and curriculum
- The need for innovation in higher education models to respond to the evolving nature of work and business
Bill Smart, 541-737-0670, [email protected]
Smart’s work centers around how robots and people interact, how we can integrate robots and automation into our daily lives, and how we can get robots to do useful work for long periods of time. He can answer questions about:
- Privacy issues related to robotics and AI
- Robots in the home and other assistive robots
- Robots related to health, including robots to combat infectious diseases
Kagan Tumer, 541-737-9899, [email protected]
Tumer is the director of OSU’s Collaborative Robotics and Intelligent Systems Institute, which advances the theory, design, development and deployment of robots and intelligent systems. The institute also explores public policy and ethical questions surrounding the deployment of robots and intelligent systems. Tumer’s research focuses on AI; learning with multiple rewards, coordination in multiagent systems, and evolutionary algorithms for control and optimization. Among his potential interview areas:
- Multirobot coordination
- Intelligent robots
- AI ethics
- AI/robots in society
Cristina Wilson, 541-737-9169, [email protected]
Wilson's research is focused on how robots can support human expert cognition and behavior in field applications like planetary and ocean science. Her background is in human psychology, so her work tends to emphasize the role of the human mind in human-robot teaming. Wilson is also passionate about improving the reproducibility of research in robotics and human-robot teaming. She can answer questions about:
- Robots used to aid expert human decision makers in scientific, military and agricultural professions
- Field robots, including robots used to explore underwater, terrestrial and planetary environments
- Replication science, including "replication crises" in human behavioral sciences and the lessons we can apply to the science of human-robot interaction