PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Christopher J. MacLellan

Christopher J. MacLellan is an AI researcher who models how people teach and learn to build AI systems for education and decision support. His 2016 Apprentice Learner Architecture paper earned an Exemplary Paper Award, and he defended a Carnegie Mellon HCII PhD thesis on apprentice learning in 2017. After research roles at Soar Technology and Drexel, he joined Georgia Tech's School of Interactive Computing as an assistant professor in 2022; in 2024, he coauthored a generative-AI study for tutor design and TutorGym in 2025 to evaluate AI agents as tutors and learners. He is a tenured associate professor at Georgia Tech, where he leads the Teachable AI Lab; Georgia Tech promoted him in March 2026, and he coauthored AI Unplugged, an embodied approach to university AI literacy in 2026.

Works
87
Citations
510
h-index
12
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 2016

    The Apprentice Learner Architecture

    In 2016, he coauthors the Apprentice Learner Architecture paper with Erik Harpstead, Rony Patel, and Kenneth R. Koedinger. The work receives the Exemplary Paper Award at the 9th International Conference on Educational Data Mining.

  2. 2017

    A thesis on apprentice learning

    In August 2017, he defends his PhD thesis at Carnegie Mellon University's Human-Computer Interaction Institute. It studies models of apprentice learning that learn interactively from worked examples and feedback to support tutor development.

  3. 2020

    Models for tutor authoring

    In 2020, he coauthors a study that presents the Apprentice Learner Architecture and its Decision Tree and Trestle models for authoring expert models across eight tutor domains.

  4. 2022

    Joining Georgia Tech

    In 2022, he joins Georgia Tech's School of Interactive Computing as an assistant professor. Before joining Georgia Tech, he works two years at Drexel and three years as a research scientist at Soar Technology, where he develops AI and machine-learning tools for decision support and learning. He earns a computer science bachelor's degree at the University of Wyoming, spends two years as a graduate student in computer science at Arizona State University, and earns master's and PhD degrees at Carnegie Mellon's Human-Computer Interaction Institute.

  5. 2024

    Generative AI for tutor design

    In 2024, he coauthors a study that uses generative AI to help educators design intelligent-tutor interfaces from high-level requirements. It can generate a complete interface educators refine or individual components they add.

  6. 2025

    TutorGym tests AI agents

    In 2025, he coauthors TutorGym, a standard interface for evaluating AI agents inside classroom-tested intelligent tutors. It evaluates agents as tutors and learners across 223 tutor domains.

  7. March 2026

    Embodied activities for AI literacy

    In March 2026, he coauthors AI Unplugged, a university-level AI literacy approach that uses embodied, collaborative activities and games to teach search algorithms, Markov decision processes, Q-learning, and hidden Markov models.

  8. Since March 2026

    Associate professor at Georgia Tech

    In March 2026, Georgia Tech awards him tenure and promotes him to associate professor in the School of Interactive Computing. He leads the Teachable AI Lab and develops computational models of learning for AI technologies such as intelligent tutoring systems and medical decision-support systems.

Career

  1. Since 2022Georgia Institute of TechnologyAssistant Professor, Associate Professor
  2. Until 2022Soar TechnologyResearch Scientist
  3. 2020–2022Drexel University

Education

  1. 2017Carnegie Mellon UniversityPhD
  2. University of WyomingBachelor's degree
  3. Arizona State University

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

  1. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Georgia Institute of Technology. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  2. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes Georgia Institute of Technology. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, recent citations, dual appointments and job moves across 2,420 university researchers and 308 frontier-lab researchers.
  3. People shaping AI work at a median of 3 organizations over a career: 3 for university starters and institute and lab starters, versus 2 for company startersIncludes Georgia Institute of Technology. Across 6,853 people shaping AI with a dated work role, we estimate a median of 3 parent organizations over a career (mean 3.6), comparing role groups, starting sectors and starting decades from the 1950s to 2020–2026.
  4. 84% of people shaping AI with recorded undergraduate and doctoral schools changed institutions for their doctorateIncludes Georgia Institute of Technology. 84% of people shaping AI with recorded undergraduate and doctoral schools changed institutions for their doctorate. Across 2,116 people with both an undergraduate degree and a doctorate recorded, we trace which undergraduate schools feed which doctoral programs, how often students stay at the same school, and how paths differ by birth-country region.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. Apprentice Learning | Christopher J. MacLellan chrismaclellan.com. Checked 22 October 2026.
  2. HCII PhD Thesis Defense: Chris MacLellan hcii.cmu.edu. Checked 22 October 2026.
  3. Domain General Tutor Authoring with Apprentice Learner Models | Teachable AI Lab tail.cc.gatech.edu. Checked 22 October 2026.
  4. New Faculty Q&A: Christopher MacLellan cc.gatech.edu. Checked 22 October 2026.
  5. Towards Educator-Driven Tutor Authoring: Generative AI Approaches for Creating Intelligent Tutor Interfaces arxiv.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  6. TutorGym: A Testbed for Evaluating AI Agents as Tutors and Students | Teachable AI Lab tail.cc.gatech.edu. Checked 22 October 2026.
  7. AI Unplugged: Embodied Interactions for AI Literacy in Higher Education | Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence ojs.aaai.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  8. Institute Announcement Recognizes Faculty Achievement and Excellence cc.gatech.edu. Checked 22 October 2026.
  9. Christopher J. MacLellan | School of Interactive Computing ic.gatech.edu. Checked 22 October 2026.
  10. Christopher J. MacLellan | Personal website for Christopher J. MacLellan and blog about HCI, AI, ML, and Educational Technology chrismaclellan.com. Checked 22 October 2026.