PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Mai Lee Chang

Mai Lee Chang is a researcher in AI, robotics and human-AI collaboration, with research on fair human-robot teams and AI support for older adults. After her family settled in Fresno in 1992, she earned engineering degrees at Wisconsin–Madison, researched human-robot interaction at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, and completed a Ph.D. at UT Austin under Andrea Thomaz. At Carnegie Mellon, she worked on AI agents for older adults, then coauthored studies on agent intervention and care coordination. Her 2026 study examines how AI researchers weigh the risks and benefits of their work, and she continues to study how AI behavior can reflect human values.

Timeline

  1. 1992

    A move to Fresno

    Her family settles in Fresno, California, in 1992 as refugees from the Vietnam War, when she is six.

  2. 2006–2012

    NASA human-robot research

    She starts as a NASA co-op student at Johnson Space Center in 2006 and joins the center full time in 2012. Her research covers human-robot and human-automation interaction, and she works with the ISS Flight Crew Integration and Orion Human Engineering teams.

  3. 2012–2022

    A Ph.D. on fair robot teams

    She earns a B.S. in Engineering Mechanics and Astronautics and an M.S. in Industrial and Systems Engineering at Wisconsin–Madison in 2012. In July 2022, she defends her Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering at UT Austin under Andrea Thomaz, with a dissertation titled Optimizing for Task Performance and Fairness for Human-Robot Teamwork.

  4. March 2024

    AI-CARING at Carnegie Mellon

    In March 2024, she is a postdoctoral researcher at Carnegie Mellon’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute, working with Jodi Forlizzi and John Zimmerman on AI-CARING. The project explores AI agents that help older adults remain at home as they experience cognitive decline, and the team seeks views from older adults and caregivers.

  5. May 2025

    Agents for aging in place

    In May 2025, she coauthors Unremarkable to Remarkable AI Agent: Exploring Boundaries of Agent Intervention for Adults With and Without Cognitive Impairment. Healthy older adults want access to agents that know them if cognitive decline develops; adults in early decline want agents to ease caregiver burdens and advocate for their needs.

  6. December 2025

    AI for care coordination

    In December 2025, she coauthors Can You Keep a Secret? Exploring AI for Care Coordination in Cognitive Decline, an interview study with ten pairs of older adults experiencing cognitive decline and their informal caregivers. The study examines how they coordinate care, manage burdens, and sustain autonomy and privacy.

  7. June 2026

    Assessing AI research risks

    In June 2026, she coauthors From Concepts to Practice: Challenges of Risk-Benefit Assessment in AI Research & Applications for ACM FAccT 2026. The study examines how AI researchers understand and apply concepts for weighing benefits and risks, and finds that they struggle to apply them to their own research.

  8. As of October 2026

    Research in human-AI collaboration

    As of October 2026, she is a researcher specializing in AI, robotics and human-AI collaboration. Her work explores effective partnerships between people and intelligent systems and aligns AI behavior with human values.

Career

  1. From 2024Carnegie Mellon UniversityPostdoctoral Researcher
  2. 2006–2012NASACo-op Student

Education

  1. 2022University of Texas at AustinPh.D.
  2. 2012University of Wisconsin–MadisonB.S. and M.S.

From the biography.

  1. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Carnegie Mellon University. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  2. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes Carnegie Mellon University. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  3. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes Carnegie Mellon University. We estimate that Google holds the highest combined h-index at 8,016, while universities account for 73% of the deduplicated total across AI organizations.
  4. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes Carnegie Mellon University. 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.

Colleagues

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

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Mai Lee Chang yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Mai Lee Chang - NASA nasa.gov. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. cv cs.utexas.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Mai Lee Chang (she/her) - Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs - Carnegie Mellon University cmu.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. [2505.14872] Unremarkable to Remarkable AI Agent: Exploring Boundaries of Agent Intervention for Adults With and Without Cognitive Impairment arxiv.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. [2512.12510] Can You Keep a Secret? Exploring AI for Care Coordination in Cognitive Decline arxiv.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. CyLab researchers to present at ACM FAccT 2026 - CyLab Security and Privacy Institute cylab.cmu.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. Fresno State Campus News | Special session with Dr. Mai Lee Chang, AI and Robotics campusnews.fresnostate.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  8. Mai Lee Chang, PhD maileechang.com. Checked 21 October 2026.