Justine Cassell
Justine Cassell is an artificial intelligence and human-computer interaction researcher whose work brought conversational agents into social interaction. She studied literature, linguistics and psychology, then developed embodied agents that combine speech, gesture and facial expression. Her career took her through MIT and Northwestern to Carnegie Mellon, where she led the Human-Computer Interaction Institute. As of October 2026, she is a senior researcher at Inria, holds the PRAIRIE international chair, and retains a professorship at Carnegie Mellon.
- Now at
- Carnegie Mellon University, French National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology and Paris Artificial Intelligence Research Institute
- Works
- 294
- Citations
- 13,106
- h-index
- 56
Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 15 October 2026.
Timeline
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1981–1986
Literature and linguistics degrees
She earns a DEUG in literature at Besançon in 1981, a BA in comparative literature and linguistics at Dartmouth in 1982, and an M.Litt. in linguistics at Edinburgh in 1986.
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1991–1999
Embodied conversational agents
In 1991, she completes a dual PhD in linguistics and developmental/cognitive psychology at the University of Chicago. After graduate school, she takes a faculty post at Penn State and a visiting year at the University of Pennsylvania before moving to the MIT Media Lab, where she directs the Gesture and Narrative Language Research Group. Her agents combine speech, gesture, and facial expression; in 1999, she coauthors “Embodiment in Conversational Interfaces: Rea.”
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By 2009
Virtual peers and a language challenge
By 2008, she directs Northwestern’s Center for Technology and Social Behavior and founds its joint PhD program in communication and computer science. Her team develops virtual peers such as Sam to help children with autism practise conversation and social interaction. In 2009, she coauthors a software-architecture paper for the first challenge on generating instructions in virtual environments.
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Since 2010
Leading Carnegie Mellon’s HCI Institute
She joins Carnegie Mellon in 2010 to lead the Human-Computer Interaction Institute. Her SCS leadership includes the Associate Dean for Technology Strategy and Impact appointment and Director Emerita status at the institute.
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2012–2018
Fellowships and a policy prize
She becomes an AAAS Fellow in 2012. In 2016, the ACM and Royal Society of Edinburgh name her a Fellow. She receives the Henry and Bryna David Prize for social science applicable to public policy in 2018.
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2023
An honorary doctorate
In 2023, the University of Edinburgh awards her an honorary doctorate for her contributions to artificial intelligence.
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As of October 2026
Research roles at Inria and CMU
As of October 2026, she is a senior researcher in Inria’s ALMAnaCH NLP group, holds the founding international chair at PRAIRIE, and retains a Dean’s Professor role in Carnegie Mellon’s School of Computer Science. In September 2026, she coauthors a study on how multimodal LLMs judge rapport between people.
Sources and credits
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