Rosalind Picard

Rosalind Picard is founder and director of the Affective Computing Research Group at the MIT Media Laboratory, co-founder and chief scientist of Empatica, providing FDA-cleared biomarkers including the first smartwatch to detect seizures, and co-founder of Affectiva, providing software for technology with emotional intelligence.  Author of over 350 peer-reviewed articles in AI and digital health, affective computing, machine learning and human-computer interaction, she is best-known for her book, Affective Computing, which helped launch the field by that name.  She is a popular speaker and story-teller, with a TED talk of more than 2 million views.  Picard has received many honors including membership within the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Inventors, and election to the status of fellow for the IEEE, ACM, AAAC, and APA.  In 2022, she received the International Lombardy Prize for Computer Science Research, which Italy calls their “Nobel” prize. Picard holds a Bachelors in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech and Masters and Doctorate degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT.