معرفی
Jonathan Gratch is a Research Professor at the University of Southern California (USC) with joint appointments in Computer Science, Psychology, and Media Arts and Practice. He serves as Director for Virtual Human Research at USC's Institute for Creative Technologies and leads the USC Affective Computing Group. His work focuses on computational models of human cognitive and social processes, particularly emotions, and their applications to virtual environments.
- Education: Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1995)
Gratch's research spans Affective Computing, Cognitive Modeling, and Human-Computer Interaction, with a focus on creating emotionally intelligent virtual agents. His projects include the development of computational emotion models (e.g., EMA) and virtual human systems for training, healthcare, and social interaction studies. Key applications include the Mission Rehearsal Exercise and Stability and Support Operations prototypes.
Recent publications (2023) highlight his exploration of LLM-based emotion modeling, social influence dynamics in human-agent interactions, and ethical implications of AI assistants. Earlier work (2014-2015) established foundational frameworks for automated negotiation and rapport-building virtual agents. His methodological contributions include parasocial consensus sampling and appraisal theory-based emotion architectures.
Scientific honors include Fellowships from AAAI, AAAC, and the Cognitive Science Society, the SIGART Autonomous Agents Award, and Senior Membership in IEEE. As founding Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing, he has significantly shaped the field's academic discourse.
Gratch's virtual humans leverage immersive audio-visual environments (8'x30' screens, 10.2-channel audio) to study socio-emotional dynamics. His team's work demonstrates that anthropomorphism in machines can enhance interaction but may produce unintended consequences, informing design principles for effective human-machine collaboration.
