Eric Eaton

Eric Eaton is a Research Associate Professor of Computer and Information Science at the University of Pennsylvania, and a core member of the GRASP (General Robotics, Automation, Sensing, and Perception) Laboratory. His expertise centers on lifelong machine learning, transfer learning, and interactive AI, with impactful applications to robotics, precision medicine, and computational sustainability.

Education & Affiliations

• Ph.D. in Computer Science, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) – dissertation on selective knowledge transfer advised by Marie desJardins
• Former Visiting Assistant Professor, Bryn Mawr College
• Former part-time faculty, Swarthmore College and UMBC
• Two years as Senior Research Scientist at Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Laboratories

Research Interests

Eaton’s research advances versatile AI systems that can learn multiple tasks over long lifetimes, transfer knowledge across domains, and interact effectively with humans and other agents. Core themes include:

• Lifelong & continual learning – continual acquisition and refinement of knowledge across tasks
• Knowledge transfer – selective, cross-domain, and zero-shot transfer techniques
• Interactive AI – human-in-the-loop learning and interpretable models
• Applications – autonomous service robotics, precision medicine, sustainability, and search & rescue

Selected Scientific Awards

• IJCAI-16 Distinguished Student Paper Award for zero-shot transfer research
• IJCAI-15 Best Paper Nomination for autonomous cross-domain transfer
• ICML 2020 Workshop Best Paper Award for lifelong policy gradient learning

Grants & Funding

Current and past research is supported by the Office of Naval Research (ONR), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and Lockheed Martin, enabling large-scale projects in lifelong robotics and medical AI.

Students & Postdocs

Eaton has advised a diverse cohort of scholars including current PhD students David Isele, Seungwon Lee, Jorge Mendez, and Mohammad Rostami, as well as postdocs Boyu Wang and numerous alumni now in faculty positions or leading industry research teams.

Labs & Teams

He leads the Autonomous Service Robot Fleet within GRASP, creating low-cost robots that learn lifelong skills in university and office settings. His group also collaborates with clinicians for AI-driven precision medicine, and partners with defense and sustainability initiatives.