March 27, 2015

Colloquium Topic: Man vs. Machine or Man + Machine?

This presentation will examine where we are in terms of the state of autonomy in our everyday lives, what the future holds, how to conceptualize the balance between humans and robots, and a brief overview of some of the research currently underway in the Humans and Autonomy Laboratory at Duke University.

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Colloquium Speaker: Mary Cummings

Mary (Missy) Cummings received her B.S. in Mathematics from the US Naval Academy in 1988, her M.S. in Space Systems Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in 1994, and her Ph.D. in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia in 2004.  A naval officer and military pilot from 1988-1999, she was one of the Navy's first female fighter pilots. She is currently an associate professor in the Duke University Pratt School of Engineering, the Duke Institute of Brain Sciences, and is the director of the Humans and Autonomy Laboratory.  Her research interests include human-unmanned vehicle interaction, human-autonomous system collaboration, human-systems engineering, public policy implications of unmanned vehicles, and the ethical and social impact of technology.