\n<\/p>\n
When the robotics engineering field that Maja Matari\u0107 wanted to work in didn\u2019t exist, she helped create it. In 2005 she helped define the new area of socially assistive robotics.<\/p>\n
As an associate professor of computer science, neuroscience, and pediatrics at the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles, she developed robots to provide personalized therapy and care through social interactions.<\/p>\n
Maja Matari\u0107<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
Employer <\/strong><\/p>\n Job Title <\/strong><\/p>\n Member grade<\/strong><\/p>\n Fellow<\/p>\n Alma maters <\/strong><\/p>\n The robots could have conversations, play games, and respond to emotions.<\/p>\n Today the IEEE Fellow is a professor at USC. She studies how robots can help students with anxiety and depression undergo cognitive behavioral therapy. CBT focuses on changing a person\u2019s negative thought patterns, behaviors, and emotional responses.<\/p>\n For her work, she received a 2025 Robotics Medal from MassRobotics, which recognizes female researchers advancing robotics. The Boston-based nonprofit provides robotics startups with a workspace, prototyping facilities, mentorship, and networking opportunities.<\/p>\n When receiving the award at the ceremony in Boston, Matari\u0107 was overcome with joy, she says.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been very fortunate to be honored with several awards, which I am grateful for. But there was something very special about getting the MassRobotics medal, because I knew at least half the people in the room,\u201d she says. \u201cEveryone was just smiling, and there was a great sense of love.\u201d<\/p>\n Matari\u0107 grew up in Belgrade, Serbia. Her father was an engineer, and her mother was a writer. After her father died when she was 16, Matari\u0107 and her mother moved to the United States.<\/p>\n She credits her father for igniting her interest in engineering, and her uncle who worked as an aerospace engineer for introducing her to computer science.<\/p>\n Matari\u0107 says she didn\u2019t consider herself an engineer until she joined USC\u2019s faculty, since she always had worked in computer science.<\/p>\n \u201cIn retrospect, I\u2019ve always been an engineer,\u201d Matari\u0107 says. \u201cBut I didn\u2019t set out specifically thinking of myself as one\u2014which is just one of the many things I like to convey to young people: You don\u2019t always have to know exactly everything in advance.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\nSeeing herself as an engineer<\/h2>\n