Marjorie McShane

Marjorie McShane is a Professor of Cognitive Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). She specializes in developing cognitive models for intelligent agents that collaborate with humans in task-oriented dialog systems. Her work integrates physiological simulation, emotion modeling, and cognition, with a focus on natural language processing (NLP) and cross-linguistic perspectives. She leads the Language-Endowed Intelligent Agents (LEIA) Lab and has authored influential books like Agents in the Long Game of AI and Linguistics for the Age of AI.

Education: PhD in Slavic Languages and Literatures (Princeton University), MA (Princeton), Advanced Translation Certificate (SUNY Albany), and prior degrees from SUNY Albany and Grinnell College.

Research Interests: Her work bridges cognitive science and AI, focusing on: 1) NLP and semantic analysis for conversational agents, 2) cognitive modeling in medical training (e.g., Maryland Virtual Patient system), and 3) hybrid AI systems combining knowledge bases with machine learning. She emphasizes explainable AI, lifelong learning, and trustworthiness in hybrid systems.

Key Contributions: Pioneered frameworks like HARMONIC for cognitive robotics and LEIA agents. Her recent work addresses metacognition in AI, neurosymbolic approaches, and overcoming knowledge bottlenecks. She advocates for linguistics-informed AI development, integrating multi-stage language understanding with actionable decision-making.

Labs/Teams: Directs the LEIA Lab, advancing research in embodied cognitive agents and language-enabled systems. Collaborates on medical simulation systems and AI ethics frameworks.