PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Malte F. Jung

Malte Jung is an information scientist whose research on human-robot and human-AI interaction examines how machines shape the way people work together in teams. A mechanical engineer by training, he studied at the Technical University of Munich and Stanford, where he also completed a postdoc at the Center for Work, Technology, and Organization. By 2016, he was an assistant professor of information science at Cornell, and in 2018 he coauthored an HRI study showing that a robot's vulnerable statements raised engagement and eased tension in teams. The National Science Foundation gave him a CAREER award in 2020, and in 2026 he coauthored three papers on Major League Baseball's Automated Ball-Strike System. He is an associate professor of information science at Cornell, where he leads the Robots in Groups Lab and directs the Interplay Research Studio.

Timeline

  1. By 2016

    From Stanford to Cornell

    His training includes a diploma in mechanical engineering from the Technical University of Munich, an M.S. and a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Stanford with a minor in psychology, and a postdoc at Stanford's Center for Work, Technology, and Organization. In 2015, he coauthors "Using robots to moderate team conflict: the case of repairing violations" in the proceedings of HRI 2015. In June 2016, as an assistant professor of information science at Cornell, he visits Yale's Social Robotics Lab to discuss experimental designs for human-robot group collaboration.

  2. 2016–2017

    Robots in Groups and Teams workshop

    In 2016, he publishes "Coupling interactions and performance: Predicting team performance from thin slices of conflict" in ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction. In 2017, he organizes the CSCW workshop Robots in Groups and Teams with Selma Sabanovic, Friederike Eyssel and Marlena Fraune, and publishes "Affective Grounding in Human-Robot Interaction" at HRI 2017. In November 2017, he presents "Robots and the Dynamics of Emotions in Teams" at a DUB seminar.

  3. 2018

    Robot vulnerability and team trust

    In 2018, he coauthors "The Ripple Effects of Vulnerability" for the ACM/IEEE HRI '18 conference with Sarah Strohkorb Sebo, Margaret Traeger and Brian Scassellati. In an experiment with 35 teams, groups with a robot making vulnerable statements engage more with it and are more likely to console teammates who made mistakes and to laugh together, which reduces tension in a team.

  4. 2020

    An NSF CAREER award

    In 2020, he receives a National Science Foundation CAREER award and coauthors "Robots in Groups and Teams: A Literature Review" with Sebo, Stoll and Scassellati in the Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction.

  5. 2022

    Associate professor at Cornell

    By August 2022, he is an associate professor of information science and the Nancy H. ’62 and Philip M. ’62 Young Sesquicentennial Faculty Fellow. His primary research aim is to learn whether robots can be used strategically to help groups function better.

  6. 2026

    Studying baseball's robot umpire

    In 2026, he coauthors three papers on Major League Baseball's Automated Ball-Strike System, which uses Hawk-Eye cameras and computer vision to challenge an umpire's ball or strike call. The papers appear at the HICSS conference, at the Human-Robot Interaction conference in Edinburgh in March 2026, and at the ACM FAccT conference in Montreal in June 2026.

  7. As of October 2026

    Directing the Interplay Research Studio

    He is an associate professor of information science at Cornell. He leads the Robots in Groups Lab and directs the Interplay Research Studio, which explores the interplay between people and automation. In June 2026, his doctoral student Nanyi Jiang presents NomadicPerch, a wearable perch co-designed with a ring-necked parakeet, at the ACM Designing Interactive Systems conference in Singapore.

Career

  1. Since 2016Cornell UniversityAssistant Professor of Information Science
  2. Stanford UniversityPostdoc

Education

  1. Technical University of MunichDiploma in mechanical engineering
  2. Stanford UniversityM.S. and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering

From the biography.

  1. 11% of AI doctorate holders from 2010 to 2016 founded or led a company or lab by 10 years after graduationIncludes Cornell University. We estimate how often AI doctorate holders founded or led a company or lab by 10 years after graduation, how waiting times compare between founders and top jobs, and which universities trained the most.
  2. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Cornell University. 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.
  3. 84% of people shaping AI with recorded undergraduate and doctoral schools changed institutions for their doctorateIncludes Cornell University. 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.
  4. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes Cornell 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 Malte F. Jung yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Malte F. Jung | Department of Computer Science | Cornell Bowers cs.cornell.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. DUB - Robots and the Dynamics of Emotions in Teams dub.washington.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Malte Jung mjung.infosci.cornell.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. Malte Jung visits Scazlab | Social Robotics Lab scazlab.yale.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Robots in Groups – HRI@CU hri.cornell.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Jung — NSF Institute for Trustworthy AI in Law & Society (TRAILS) trails.umd.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. Malte F. Jung | Department of Information Science | Cornell Bowers infosci.cornell.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  8. Cornell research: Malte Jung on building better teams with robots | Cornell Bowers bowers.cornell.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  9. AI on deck: assessing impact of MLB’s new ball-strike system | Cornell Chronicle news.cornell.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  10. Inside baseball: AI-enabled enforcement tech takes time, testing | Cornell Chronicle news.cornell.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  11. For the birds: Parakeet co-designs its own perch | Cornell Chronicle news.cornell.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.