Carnegie Mellon University
Pragathi Praveena is a postdoctoral fellow at the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. Her research focuses on developing novel intelligent systems that facilitate human-to-human communication and collaboration.
As part of the AI-CARING project, Praveena takes a human-centered approach to exploring how AI assistance can be designed to strengthen social support networks for older adults. In collaboration with Christopher Dishop and Anita Woolley of Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business and Alex London of the Department of Philosophy, the project seeks to understand how conversational AI agents can build rapport with older adults, learn about their values, goals, and interests, and help them maintain a robust social support network.
Praveena leads the co-design of a technical prototype with older adults. This prototype, a voice-based AI agent interface, will be iteratively refined based on user feedback. The AI agent will construct a “data mosaic” of the user’s values, goals, and social relationships through conversational interactions. This data will then be used to suggest social interactions that align with the user's values and preferences.
Before joining Carnegie Mellon and AI-CARING, Praveena earned a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her work was supported by funding from the National Science Foundation and NASA. She received an honorable mention at HRI and was recognized as both an HRI and RSS Pioneer, as well as a 2024 MIT EECS Rising Star. Prior to her doctoral studies, she was a researcher at the Xerox Research Center India and earned a Bachelor of Technology in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras.