PeopleofSuperintelligence

Lab leader

Carlos Guestrin

Also known as Carlos Ernesto Guestrin

Carlos Guestrin is a computer scientist whose career spans machine-learning research, software systems, and AI lab leadership. He earned a mechatronics engineering degree at the University of São Paulo and a computer science PhD at Stanford before joining Carnegie Mellon and the University of Washington. His work includes GraphLab, a distributed machine-learning framework, and XGBoost, a scalable tree-boosting system; he also co-founded Turi, the machine-learning company Apple acquired in 2016. He later joined Stanford's computer science faculty, was elected to the National Academy of Engineering, and became director of the Stanford AI Lab.

Works
333
Citations
112,837
h-index
77

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 14 October 2026.

Photo of Carlos Guestrin

Timeline

  1. 1990s–2003

    From mechatronics to machine learning

    He earns a Mechatronics Engineer degree at the University of São Paulo and a computer science PhD at Stanford in 2003.

  2. 2003–2004

    A year at Intel Research

    He spends a year as a senior researcher at Intel Research Berkeley before joining Carnegie Mellon's faculty in 2004.

  3. 2004–2012

    A lab, two honors, and GraphLab

    At Carnegie Mellon, he co-directs the Sense, Learn, and Act (Select) Lab with Geoff Gordon. In 2009, he receives the IJCAI Computers and Thought Award and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). In 2011, he and four collaborators describe GraphLab, a framework for distributed machine learning.

  4. 2012

    Joining Washington's faculty

    He joins the University of Washington as Amazon Professor of Machine Learning.

  5. 2016

    A startup and a tree booster

    Apple acquires Turi, the machine-learning spin-off he founded, in 2016. The company developed a platform for developers to build and deploy intelligent applications; after the acquisition, he served as Apple's Senior Director of Machine Learning and AI. With Tianqi Chen, he coauthored XGBoost, a scalable end-to-end tree-boosting system.

  6. 2020–October 2026

    Leading AI research at Stanford

    He joins Stanford's Computer Science faculty in 2020. The National Academy of Engineering elects him in 2024, and he becomes director of the Stanford AI Lab (SAIL) in February 2025. As of October 2026, he is the Fortinet Founders Professor and a Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI.

Sources and credits

Photo: cs.cmu.edu; Carlos Guestrin's Bio; creator not stated. License: Not stated by source. Source: cs.cmu.edu. Cropped to a square and resized. Ask us to remove or replace this photo.

  1. Carnegie Mellon's Carlos Guestrin Wins Presidential Early Career Award cs.cmu.edu. Checked 14 October 2026.
  2. Carlos Guestrin's Bio cs.cmu.edu. Checked 14 October 2026.
  3. GraphLab: A Distributed Framework for Machine Learning in the Cloud arxiv.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  4. IJCAI Awards ijcai.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  5. Carlos Guestrin and Emily Fox join the University of Washington news.cs.washington.edu. Checked 14 October 2026.
  6. GeekWire reports UW CSE machine learning spinoff Turi acquired by Apple news.cs.washington.edu. Checked 14 October 2026.
  7. Carlos Ernesto Guestrin's Profile profiles.stanford.edu. Checked 14 October 2026.
  8. XGBoost: A Scalable Tree Boosting System arxiv.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  9. Stanford School of Engineering welcomes new faculty engineering.stanford.edu. Checked 14 October 2026.
  10. Faculty Awards 2023-24 engineering.stanford.edu. Checked 14 October 2026.
  11. Carlos Guestrin named as new Director of the Stanford AI Lab! ai.stanford.edu. Checked 14 October 2026.