Deb Roy directs the Media Lab's Cognitive Machines group and chairs MIT's academic program in Media Arts and Sciences. A native of Canada, he received his bachelor of computer engineering from the University of Waterloo in 1992 and his PhD in cognitive science from MIT in 1999. He joined the MIT faculty in 2000 and was named AT&T Career Development Professor of Media Arts and Sciences in 2003.

Roy studies how children learn language, and designs machines that learn to communicate in human-like ways. To enable this work, he has pioneered new data-driven methods for analyzing and modeling human linguistic and social behavior. He has authored numerous scientific papers on artificial intelligence, cognitive modeling, human-machine interaction, data mining, and information visualization, and has lectured extensively for both scientific and general audiences. Roy's research is frequently featured in the media including WIRED, Scientific American, National Geographic, Science, the BBC, and National Public Radio.

View more information