Rate My Professor Maja Matar

Matarić pioneered socially assistive robotics, focusing on personalized human-robot interactions for health, wellness, rehabilitation, education, and support for children on the autism spectrum, stroke and dementia patients, and individuals with anxiety or depression. Her foundational work also advanced multi-robot coordination and learning. Notable publications include "A Formal Analysis and Taxonomy of Task Allocation in Multi-Robot Systems" (with B.P. Gerkey, 2004), "Mobile Sensor Network Deployment Using Potential Fields" (with A. Howard and G.S. Sukhatme, 2002), "Defining Socially Assistive Robotics" (with D. Feil-Seifer, 2005), and the book "The Robotics Primer" (MIT Press, 2007). Her accolades encompass election to the National Academy of Engineering (2025), American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2023), ACM Athena Lecturer Award (2024), ACM Fellow (2021), IEEE Fellow (2010), AAAI Fellow (2017), and U.S. Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring (2011). One of robotics' most highly cited researchers, she advises three major journals, contributes to public outreach, and appears in the documentary "Me & Isaac Newton."