Sheila Tejada: Director
Dr. Sheila Tejada is currently a professor in the Computer Science Department at the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles, where she teaches courses and performs research applying artificial intelligence, machine learning and robotics in education. As the academic community leader for Anita Borg Institute.LOCAL, she is passionate about empowering a diverse tech community in Los Angeles. In 1993 Dr. Tejada received her Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of California, Los Angeles. She was awarded her Masters and Doctoral degrees in Computer Science from the University of Southern California in 1998 and 2002, respectively. Prof. Tejada has developed awarding-winning robots, such as the robot soccer team DreamTeam, that was the first world champions at the RoboCup International Robot Soccer Competion in Nagoya, Japan. She also chaired the RoboCup US Open 2004 in New Orleans, and is a speaker for the US State Department Speaker Program, delivering interactive presentations on artificial intelligence and robotics for young audiences around the world.
My main research focus is on human-agent collaboration, where an agent can be virtual, like a character in a video game or an information agent searching the Internet, as well as physical agents, such as robots or mobile phones. To address the issues involved in human-agent collaboration I have developed machine learning and Artificial Intelligence techniques, and applied them to several application areas: information integration, urban search and rescue, robotic artwork, and intelligent tutoring.