PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Mark Ho

Also known as Mark K. Ho

Mark Ho is a cognitive scientist who studies human problem solving and social interaction, and how those findings can inform intelligent machines that interact with people. A PhD in cognitive science and an MS in computer science at Brown University led to a postdoc at Princeton University. In 2021, Ho coauthored On the Expressivity of Markov Reward, which received a NeurIPS Outstanding Paper Award, and in 2022 they published a Nature paper on how people build simplified mental representations to plan. Stevens Institute of Technology welcomed them as an assistant professor of computer science for the 2023–24 academic year, and a 2026 Nature Human Behaviour paper with Sevan Harootonian, Thomas Griffiths and Yael Niv examines human teaching. They are an assistant professor of psychology at New York University, where they lead the Computation and Decision-Making Lab.

Timeline

  1. By 2021

    Brown degrees and Princeton postdoc

    They earn a PhD in cognitive science and an MS in computer science at Brown University, and work as a postdoc at Princeton University. By 2021, they are a Brown computer science alum now at Princeton.

  2. 2021

    A NeurIPS Outstanding Paper Award

    In 2021, they coauthor On the Expressivity of Markov Reward with David Abel, Will Dabney, Anna Harutyunyan, Michael Littman, Doina Precup and Satinder Singh, and the paper receives a NeurIPS Outstanding Paper Award. It shows that some tasks cannot be captured by any Markov reward function, and it gives polynomial-time methods to decide whether a compatible Markov reward exists and to construct it.

  3. 2022

    Value-guided construals in Nature

    In 2022, they are first author of People construct simplified mental representations to plan in Nature, written with David Abel, Carlos G. Correa, Michael L. Littman, Jonathan D. Cohen and Thomas L. Griffiths. In preregistered experiments, the paper shows that people balance the complexity of a task representation and its utility for planning and acting. They also publish Planning with Theory of Mind in Trends in Cognitive Sciences in 2022, with Rebecca Saxe and Fiery Cushman.

  4. 2023

    Assistant professor at Stevens

    Stevens Institute of Technology welcomes them as an assistant professor of computer science for the 2023–24 academic year, arriving from Princeton University with a Brown PhD. Their specializations are human-computer interaction, reinforcement learning and cognitive science.

  5. 2026

    Human teaching in Nature Human Behaviour

    In 2026, they coauthor Mentalizing and heuristics as distinct cognitive strategies in human teaching, in Nature Human Behaviour, with Sevan K. Harootonian, Thomas L. Griffiths and Yael Niv. The paper examines how people weigh mental effort and effectiveness in social interactions such as teaching.

  6. As of October 2026

    Psychology professor at NYU

    They are an assistant professor of psychology at New York University, where they lead the Computation and Decision-Making Lab. The lab studies the computational principles behind cognition, decision-making and social interaction in humans and intelligent machines, drawing on cognitive science, social psychology, neuroscience and artificial intelligence.

Career

  1. NowNew York UniversityAssistant Professor of Psychology
  2. From 2023Stevens Institute of TechnologyAssistant Professor of Computer Science
  3. Princeton UniversityPostdoc

Education

  1. Brown UniversityPhD and MS

From the biography.

  1. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Mark Ho. 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 New York 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.
  3. Companies supply the most prior-work hires at 7 of the 9 frontier AI labsIncludes New York University. Our estimates of the organizations where 550 people worked directly before joining 9 frontier AI labs across 620 career transitions, comparing the main feeder organizations per lab.
  4. 20% of people at companies who shape AI also hold a university role, led by Google and Stanford UniversityIncludes New York University. We estimate that 539 of the 6,766 people with a known current organization (8%) hold both a university role and a company role, including 20% of people at companies and 13% of people at universities.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Mark Ho yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Mark K Ho Ph.D. | Psychology Today psychologytoday.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Brown CS Alums David Abel And Mark K. Ho, Professor Michael Littman, And Collaborators Win A NeurIPS Outstanding Paper Award cs.brown.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Announcing the NeurIPS 2021 Award Recipients blog.neurips.cc. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. People construct simplified mental representations to plan | Nature nature.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. codec lab: Computation and Decision-Making Lab codec-lab.github.io. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. The Schaefer School of Engineering & Science Welcomes 21 New Faculty and Lecturers for the 2023-24 Academic Year | Stevens Institute of Technology stevens.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. Mark Ho markkho.github.io. Checked 21 October 2026.