PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Aaron Steinfeld

Aaron Steinfeld is a research professor at Carnegie Mellon who studies human–robot interaction and evaluates AI systems. After an engineering doctorate at Michigan in 1999 and postdoctoral work at Berkeley in 2000, he joined Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute in 2001. He helped lead the Tiramisu transit app in 2011 and coauthored SocNavBench, a framework for testing robot navigation around people, in 2021. In 2026, he helped create iTagPDF to make research PDFs more accessible; the paper received a Best Paper Award at CHI 2026.

Works
221
Citations
6,369
h-index
36
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 27 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 1993–1999

    Engineering degrees at Michigan

    At the University of Michigan's Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering, he earns a BSE in 1993, an MSE in 1994 and a PhD in 1999.

  2. 2000

    Postdoctoral work at Berkeley

    In 2000, he is a postdoctoral researcher in transportation human factors at California PATH, University of California, Berkeley.

  3. August 2001

    Joining the Robotics Institute

    He joins Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute in August 2001.

  4. May 2006

    Testing the RADAR assistant

    In May 2006, he coauthors a report on the RADAR Test Methodology. RADAR combines machine learning systems into a personal assistant, and the test uses human participants to measure the effects of learning.

  5. July 2011

    Tiramisu for transit riders

    In July 2011, he co-directs the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Accessible Public Transportation, a collaboration between Carnegie Mellon and the University at Buffalo. With Anthony Tomasic and John Zimmerman, he helps lead development of Tiramisu, an iPhone app that uses riders' reports to share vehicle locations and occupancy and estimate arrival times. Its occupancy information helps wheelchair users check for space on a bus.

  6. 2021

    Testing robots with SocNavBench

    In 2021, he coauthors SocNavBench with Abhijat Biswas, Allan Wang, Gustavo Silvera and Henny Admoni. The open-source simulation framework tests social navigation algorithms using scenarios based on real pedestrian data and a shared set of performance measures.

  7. 2026

    iTagPDF wins at CHI

    In 2026, he helps create iTagPDF with Peya Mowar and Jeffrey Bigham to add accessibility metadata to LaTeX-based PDFs. The system combines document layout with information from source files, and its paper wins a Best Paper Award at CHI 2026.

  8. As of October 2026

    Research professor at Carnegie Mellon

    As of October 2026, he is a research professor at Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute. He leads the Transportation, Bots, & Disability Lab and holds a courtesy appointment in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute. His research covers human–robot interaction and advanced transportation.

Career

  1. Since 2001Carnegie Mellon UniversityResearch Professor
  2. 2000University of California, BerkeleyPostdoctoral Researcher

Education

  1. 1999University of MichiganPhD
  2. 1994University of MichiganMSE
  3. 1993University of MichiganBSE

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Aaron Steinfeld yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Aaron Steinfeld - Human Factors steinsquared.com. Checked 27 October 2026.
  2. Aaron Steinfeld cs.cmu.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  3. The RADAR Test Methodology: Evaluating a Multi-Task Machine Learning System with Humans in the Loop - Robotics Institute Carnegie Mellon University publications.ri.cmu.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  4. Carnegie Mellon Develops iPhone AppThat Predicts When Bus Will Arrive cs.cmu.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  5. [2103.00047] SocNavBench: A Grounded Simulation Testing Framework for Evaluating Social Navigation arxiv.org. Checked 27 October 2026.
  6. Rethinking PDF Accessibility From the Ground Up | Human-Computer Interaction Institute hcii.cmu.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.