Research

Impact Areas

Big Data

Lead

Aleksander Madry

Community of Research

Cognitive AI Community of Research

This CoR aims to develop AI technology that synthesizes symbolic reasoning, probabilistic reasoning for dealing with uncertainty in the world, and statistical methods for extracting and exploiting regularities in the world, into an integrated picture of intelligence that is informed by computational insights and by cognitive science.

Howard Shrobe

Leads

Howard Shrobe

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Lead

Howard Shrobe

Research Group

Computation Structures Group

Our mission is fostering the creation and development of high-performance, reliable and secure computing systems that are easy to interact with.

+21

Leads

Srini Devadas

Daniel Sanchez

Armando Solar-Lezama

Arvind

Research Areas

Computer Architecture

Impact Areas

Wireless

Lead

Srini Devadas

Daniel Sanchez

Armando Solar-Lezama

Arvind

+21

Research Group

Computational Design and Fabrication Group

Our research centers on digital manufacturing, 3D printing and computer graphics, as well as computational photography and displays, and virtual humans and robotics.

Wojciech Matusik

Leads

Wojciech Matusik

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Lead

Wojciech Matusik

Community of Research

Computing & Society Community of Research

This community is interested in understanding and affecting the interaction between computing systems and society through engineering, computer science and public policy research, education, and public engagement.

Daniel Weitzner

Leads

Daniel Weitzner

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Lead

Daniel Weitzner

Research Group

Data Systems Group

We conduct research on all areas of database systems and information management.

+15

Leads

Sam Madden

Michael Stonebraker

Tim Kraska

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Wireless

Lead

Sam Madden

Michael Stonebraker

Tim Kraska

+15

Research Group

Decentralized Information Group

We are investigating decentralized technologies that affect social change.

Lalana Kagal

Tim Berners-Lee

Leads

Lalana Kagal

Tim Berners-Lee

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Lead

Lalana Kagal

Tim Berners-Lee

Lalana Kagal

Tim Berners-Lee

Research Group

Distributed Robotics Laboratory

We aim to develop the science of autonomy toward a future with robots and AI systems integrated into everyday life, supporting people with cognitive and physical tasks.

+12

Daniela Rus

Leads

Daniela Rus

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Lead

Daniela Rus

+12

Daniela Rus

Research Group

HCI Engineering Group

We work at the intersection of human computer interaction and personal fabrication tools.

Stefanie Mueller

Leads

Stefanie Mueller

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Lead

Stefanie Mueller

Community of Research

Human-Computer Interaction Community of Research

The focus of the HCI CoR is inventing new systems and technology that lie at the interface between people and computation, and understanding their design, implementation, and societal impact.

Stefanie Mueller

Leads

Stefanie Mueller

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Entertainment

Lead

Stefanie Mueller

Research Group

Imagination, Computation, and Expression Laboratory (ICE Lab)

We develop computing systems for creative expression, cultural analysis, and social change.

Peter Mawhorter

D. Fox Harrell

Leads

D. Fox Harrell

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Entertainment

Lead

D. Fox Harrell

Peter Mawhorter

D. Fox Harrell

Research Group

Interactive Robotics Group

The Interactive Robotics Group aims to imagine the future of work by designing collaborative robot teammates that enhance human capability.

Julie Shah

Leads

Julie Shah

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Lead

Julie Shah

Research Center

Internet Policy Research Initiative

Our mission is to work with policy makers and cybersecurity technologists to increase the trustworthiness and effectiveness of interconnected digital systems.

Leads

Daniel Weitzner

Hal Abelson

David Clark

Lalana Kagal

Karen Sollins

Gerald Sussman

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Lead

Daniel Weitzner

Hal Abelson

David Clark

Lalana Kagal

Karen Sollins

Gerald Sussman

Research Group

Learning and Intelligent Systems

We conduct interdisciplinary research aimed at discovering the principles underlying the design of artificially intelligent robots.

Leslie Kaelbling

Tomas Lozano-Perez

Leads

Leslie Kaelbling

Tomas Lozano-Perez

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Lead

Leslie Kaelbling

Tomas Lozano-Perez

Leslie Kaelbling

Tomas Lozano-Perez

Research Group

Lecturers

Lecturers in CSAIL

Leads

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Research Group

Model-Based Embedded and Robotics Systems Group

We are working to elevate robots from mechanical creations controlled by low-level scripts with a considerable amount of human guidance to truly cognitive robots.

Brian Williams

Leads

Brian Williams

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Lead

Brian Williams

Research Group

Multicore Algorithmics

We develop techniques for designing, implementing, and reasoning about multiprocessor algorithms, in particular concurrent data structures for multicore machines and the mathematical foundations of the computation models that govern their behavior.

Nir Shavit

Leads

Nir Shavit

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Energy

Lead

Nir Shavit

Research Group

Networks and Mobile Systems

We conduct research in many areas of networking: wireless networks, Internet architecture and protocols, overlay and peer-to-peer networks, sensor networks, network security, and networked systems.

Mohammad Alizadeh

Hari Balakrishnan

Leads

Mohammad Alizadeh

Hari Balakrishnan

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Wireless

Lead

Mohammad Alizadeh

Hari Balakrishnan

Mohammad Alizadeh

Hari Balakrishnan

Research Group

Parallel and Distributed Operating Systems

We at PDOS build and investigate software systems for parallel and distributed environments.

Leads

Frans Kaashoek

Robert Morris

Nickolai Zeldovich

Adam Belay

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Lead

Frans Kaashoek

Robert Morris

Nickolai Zeldovich

Adam Belay

Research Group

Robot Locomotion Group

We research building machines which exploit their natural dynamics to achieve extraordinary agility and efficiency.

Russ Tedrake

Leads

Russ Tedrake

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Lead

Russ Tedrake

Research Group

Robust Robotics Group

We build unmanned vehicles that can fly and drive without maps or GPS.

Nicholas Roy

Leads

Nicholas Roy

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Lead

Nicholas Roy

Research Group

Software Design Group

Our goal is to find better ways to make software, and ways to make software better.

Daniel Jackson

Leads

Daniel Jackson

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Big Data

Lead

Daniel Jackson

Research Group

Sussman Lab

We focus on understanding the problem-solving strategies used by scientists and engineers, with the goals of automating parts of the process and formalizing educational methods.

Gerald Sussman

Leads

Gerald Sussman

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Lead

Gerald Sussman

Community of Research

Systems Community of Research

The Systems CoR is focused on building and investigating large-scale software systems that power modern computers, phones, data centers, and networks, including operating systems, the Internet, wireless networks, databases, and other software infrastructure.

+21

Sam Madden

Leads

Sam Madden

Research Areas

Computer Architecture

Computational Design and Fabrication Group

Impact Areas

Lead

Sam Madden

+21

Sam Madden

31 Project Results

Project

3D-Printed Organic Solar Cells

Using our inkjet printer system, the goal of this project is to produce a light sensor / solar cell that is composed entirely of 3D printed materials.

Leads

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Project

Alloy

Software Design Group

Alloy is a language for describing structures and a tool for exploring them. It has been used in a wide range of applications from finding holes in security mechanisms to designing telephone switching networks. Hundreds of projects have used Alloy for design analysis, for verification, for simulation, and as a backend for many other kinds of analysis and synthesis tools, and Alloy is currently being taught in courses worldwide.

Daniel Jackson

Leads

Daniel Jackson

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Daniel Jackson

Project

Apprenticeship Scheduling: Learning to Schedule From Human Experts

Robot scheduling via learning from demonstration for tasks in medicine and more

Leads

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Decentralized Information Group

Project

The Car Can Explain!

Developing techniques to allow self-driving cars and other AI-driven systems to explain behaviors and failures.

Gerald Sussman

Lalana Kagal

Leads

Gerald Sussman

Lalana Kagal

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Computational Design and Fabrication Group

Gerald Sussman

Lalana Kagal

Project

Computational Knitting: Patterning and Shaping for Everyone

Knitting is the new 3d printing. It has become popular again with the widespread availability of patterns and templates, together with the maker movements. Lower-cost industrial knitting machines are starting to emerge, but we are still missing the corresponding design tools. Our goal is to fill this gap.

Alexandre Kaspar

Leads

Alexandre Kaspar

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Entertainment

Alexandre Kaspar

Project

Computational Multicopter Design

Computer Graphics Group

A system that can help you to design our own drone!

Tao Du

Leads

Tao Du

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Energy

Tao Du

Project

Data Civilizer

Data Systems Group

Data scientists universally report that they spend at least 80% of their time finding data sets of interest, accessing them, cleaning them and assembling them into a unified whole.

Michael Stonebraker

Sam Madden

Leads

Michael Stonebraker

Sam Madden

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Big Data

Advanced Network Architecture Group

Michael Stonebraker

Sam Madden

Project

Denial of Service Mitigation through Protocol Design

We aim to better understand the features of network protocols that facilitate denial of service attacks, in order to design more robust protocols and architectures in the future and evaluate existing designs more accurately.

Karen Sollins

Leads

Karen Sollins

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Karen Sollins

Project

Deterministic Algorithms for Robotic Task and Motion Planning

Our goal is to investigate deterministic algorithms for robotic task and motion planning.

Leads

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Project

Efficient Communication for Human-Machine Teams

Our goal is to develop collaborative agents (software or robots) that can efficiently communicate with their human teammates. Key threads involve designing algorithms for inferring human behavior and for decision-making under uncertainty.

X. Jessie Yang

Julie Shah

Leads

Julie Shah

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Distributed Robotics Laboratory

X. Jessie Yang

Julie Shah

Project

Helping robots learn using demonstrations

Help robots learn faster by providing demonstrations when they need help

Joseph DelPreto

Leads

Joseph DelPreto

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Joseph DelPreto

Project

Human-Guided Transfer for Robot Learning

Our goal is to develop computational learning models for agents that intelligently use various types of human feedback to help an agent adapt and transfer knowledge to new situations.

Julie Shah

Leads

Julie Shah

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Julie Shah

Project

Human-Robot Collaboration in Shared Workspace

Models and algorithms to predict in real time the next actions of a human working together with a robot

Leads

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Project

Inferring 3D Shape Distributions for Robot Perception and Planning

Robust Robotics Group

Our goal is to develop methods for a mobile robot to reason about volumetric spatial uncertainty of objects in its environment.

Nicholas Roy

Leads

Nicholas Roy

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Nicholas Roy

Project

InstantCAD: Interactive Design Exploration/Optimization for CAD Models

Almost every object we use is developed with computer-aided design (CAD). While CAD programs are good for creating designs, using them to actually improve existing designs can be difficult and time-consuming.

Leads

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Project

Learning complex task structures from demonstrations

Our goal is to learn the structure of complex multi-step tasks from demonstration of human experts.

Ankit Shah

Leads

Ankit Shah

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Ankit Shah

Project

New Interaction Models for Personal Fabrication Interfaces

Inspired by the history of the user interface for personal computing, we are developing new interaction models for personal fabrication.

Stefanie Mueller

Leads

Stefanie Mueller

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Distributed Robotics Laboratory

Stefanie Mueller

Project

Printable Hydraulics

Printable Hydraulics allows fluid-actuated robots to be automatically fabricated using 3D printers.

Youbin Kim

Leads

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Energy

Youbin Kim

Project

Robotic Planning and Manipulation with Force Information

Our goal is to allow planners to exploit the forces and contacts between objects so as to carry out complex manipulation tasks in the presence of uncertainty.

Leads

Gustavo N. Goretkin

Leslie Kaelbling

Tomas Lozano-Perez

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Model-Based Embedded and Robotics Systems Group

Project

Robots Adapting to Human Intent

Our goal is to develop algorithms for allowing robots to adapt intelligently to humans when they are working together as a team.

Brian Williams

Leads

Brian Williams

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Brian Williams

Project

Robots that collaborate with humans to form team plans

People, including doctors, nurses, and military personnel, often learn their roles in complex organizations through a training and apprenticeship process.

Julie Shah

Leads

Julie Shah

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Julie Shah

Project

Robots that Quickly Adjust Team Plans to Disturbance

Once a human-machine team has formed a high-quality, flexible plan for working together, the robot must execute its part of the plan and work with its teammate.

Julie Shah

Leads

Julie Shah

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Julie Shah

Project

Robust Intelligent Robots

How can a mobile-manipulation robot operate robustly and flexibly in complicated uncertain environments, such as households and disaster zones.

Leslie Kaelbling

Tomas Lozano-Perez

Leads

Leslie Kaelbling

Tomas Lozano-Perez

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Leslie Kaelbling

Tomas Lozano-Perez

Project

Secure Public-Key Distribution

Our work aims to ensure nobody's listening in on your online activities, whether you are doing online banking or texting your friends via WhatsApp.

Leads

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Noria: a new data-flow system for web applications

36 People Results

Jonathan Behrens

Graduate Student

E behrensj@mit.edu

RM 32-G978B

Member

Parallel and Distributed Operating Systems

Richard Camilli

Research Affiliate

E romeo@mit.edu

Member

Model-Based Embedded and Robotics Systems Group

Tej Chajed

Graduate Student

PhD student in systems

E tchajed@csail.mit.edu

RM 32-G978B

Lead

FSCQ: File-system verification

Perennial

Member

Parallel and Distributed Operating Systems

PhD student in systems

Lillian Chin

Graduate Student

E ltchin@mit.edu

Lead

Sensorized Soft Electric Hands with Handed Shearing Auxetics

Member

Distributed Robotics Laboratory

PI
Core/Dual

Adam Chlipala

Associate Professor

Programming languages, formal methods, security & privacy, systems

E adamc@csail.mit.edu

T 324-8439

Lead

Kami: A Modular Deductive Hardware Verification Platform

Compilation Using Correct-by-Construction Program Synthesis

Programming Languages & Verification

Hemiola: Structural Design and Proof of Cache-Coherence Protocols

Member

Compilation Using Correct-by-Construction Program Synthesis

Programming with spaces

FSCQ: File-system verification

Advanced Network Architecture Group

Programming languages, formal methods, security & privacy, systems

PI
Core/Dual

David Clark

Senior Research Scientist

Internet architectures, communications policy, security

E ddc@csail.mit.edu

T 253-6003

Lead

Internet Policy Research Initiative

Member

Internet architectures, communications policy, security

PI
Core/Dual

Randall Davis

Professor

Human-computer interaction, systems, classic AI

E davis@csail.mit.edu

T 253-5879

Lead

Multimodal Understanding Group

Member

Computational Multicopter Design

Human-computer interaction, systems, classic AI

Mustafa Doga Dogan

Graduate Student

E doga@mit.edu

Member

HCI Engineering Group

Tao Du

Graduate Student

CS PhD student

E taodu@csail.mit.edu

Lead

CS PhD student

R. David Edelman

Director, Project on Technology, Economy & National Security

Machine learning, cybersecurity, governance

E rde@mit.edu

T 258-6389

Machine learning, cybersecurity, governance

Gregory Falco

Research Affiliate

Dr. Falco is a hacker and expert in IoT and IIoT cybersecurity.

E gfalco@mit.edu

Dr. Falco is a hacker and expert in IoT and IIoT cybersecurity.

Michael Foshey

Mechanical Engineer/Project Manager

Additive Manufacturing, Robotics, Digital Fabrication

E mfoshey@mit.edu

Additive Manufacturing, Robotics, Digital Fabrication

PI
Core/Dual

Shafi Goldwasser

Professor

Theory, cryptography, cybersecurity, complexity

E shafi@csail.mit.edu

T 253-5914

Lead

Cryptography and Information Security Group

Complexity Theory Group

Member

Computational Connectomics Group

Theory of Computation Community of Research

Theory, cryptography, cybersecurity, complexity

Ramin Hasani

Postdoctoral Associate

Machine learning Scientist

E rhasani@csail.mit.edu

Machine learning Scientist

PI
Core/Dual

Daniel Jackson

Professor

Software design, programming, systems

E dnj@csail.mit.edu

T 258-8471

Lead

Rethinking Software Design

Software Design Group

Gitless: a simple version control system built on top of Git

Déjà Vu: Constructing Apps from Concepts

Security by Design for Cyberphysical Systems

Poirot: Secure Protocol Implementation by Design

An Interlock for Self Driving Cars

Alloy

Wildcard

Member

Espalier

Parallel and Distributed Operating Systems

Wildcard

Software design, programming, systems

PI
Core/Dual

Frans Kaashoek

Professor

Systems, networks, architectures

E kaashoek@csail.mit.edu

T 253-7149

Lead

Scaling Filesystems To Many Cores

Perennial

Member

Noria: a new data-flow system for web applications

FSCQ: File-system verification

Systems, networks, architectures

PI
Core/Dual

Leslie Kaelbling

Professor

Robotics, machine learning, motion planning

E lpk@csail.mit.edu

T 258-9695

Lead

Learning and Optimization

Machine Learning

Robotic Planning and Manipulation with Force Information

Reliable Robotic Construction of Multi-object Arrangements

Learning and Planning with Compressed Linear Expectation Models

Active Learning of Models for Planning

Task and Motion Planning for Autonomous Robots

Member

Embodied Intelligence Community of Research

Robotics, machine learning, motion planning

PI
Core/Dual

Lalana Kagal

Principal Research Scientist

Privacy, web decentralization, distributed data

E lkagal@csail.mit.edu

T 253-5845

Lead

Decentralized Information Group

The Car Can Explain!

Internet Policy Research Initiative

Solid: Social Linked Data

PrivacyML - A Privacy Preserving Framework for Machine Learning

Member

Crowdsourcing in Graphics and Vision

Privacy, web decentralization, distributed data

Alexandre Kaspar

Graduate Student

Graphics, crowdsourcing and hybrid fabrication.

E akaspar@mit.edu

Lead

Computational Knitting: Patterning and Shaping for Everyone

Graphics, crowdsourcing and hybrid fabrication.

PI
Core/Dual

Tomas Lozano-Perez

Professor

Robotics, artificial intelligence

E tlp@csail.mit.edu

T 253-7889

Lead

Learning and Optimization

Robotic Planning and Manipulation with Force Information

Reliable Robotic Construction of Multi-object Arrangements

Learning and Planning with Compressed Linear Expectation Models

Active Learning of Models for Planning

Task and Motion Planning for Autonomous Robots

Member

Embodied Intelligence Community of Research

Robotics, artificial intelligence

PI
Core/Dual

Wojciech Matusik

Professor

Graphics, vision, fabrication, robotics, hci

E wojciech@csail.mit.edu

T 324-8432

Lead

Computational Design and Fabrication Group

Computer Graphics Group

Member

Computational Multicopter Design

Simit: A Language for Computing on Sparse Systems

InstantCAD: Interactive Design Exploration/Optimization for CAD Models

Visual Computing Community of Research

Embodied Intelligence Community of Research

Graphics, vision, fabrication, robotics, hci

PI
Core/Dual

Stefanie Mueller

Assistant Professor

Human-computer interaction, fabrication, hardware, robotics.

E stefanie.mueller@mit.edu

T 715-5831

Lead

HCI Engineering Group

New Interaction Models for Personal Fabrication Interfaces

Vertical AI Community of Research

Human-computer interaction, fabrication, hardware, robotics.

Radhen Patel

Postdoctoral Associate

Robotics | Haptics | Vision | Machine Learning

E radhen@csail.mit.edu

Robotics | Haptics | Vision | Machine Learning

PI
Core/Dual

Martin Rinard

Professor

Systems, programming languages and verification

E rinard@csail.mit.edu

T 258-6922

Lead

Member

Center for Deployable Machine Learning (CDML)