Rate My Professor Ashok Goel

Ashok K. Goel is a Professor of Computer Science and Human-Centered Computing in the School of Interactive Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology, a position he has held since joining the faculty in 1989. He earned his Ph.D. in Computer and Information Science from The Ohio State University in 1989, with a dissertation titled Integrating Case-Based and Model-Based Reasoning for Adaptive Design Problem Solving. Currently, Goel serves as chief scientist at Georgia Tech’s Center for 21st Century Universities and Executive Director of the National AI Institute for Adult Learning and Online Education, sponsored by the U.S. National Science Foundation and headquartered at Georgia Tech. He directs the Design Intelligence Laboratory, previously directed the Ph.D. program in Human-Centered Computing from 2012 to 2019, and co-directed the Center for Biologically Inspired Design from 2008 to 2018. Additionally, he founded Beyond Question LLC, an AI-based educational technology startup, in 2020, and served on the Board of Directors of The Biomimicry Institute from 2012 to 2017, including as President from 2015 to 2017.

Goel’s research over more than 35 years focuses on cognitive systems at the intersection of artificial intelligence and cognitive science, with emphasis on computational design, creativity, biologically inspired design, and lately AI in education and education in AI for adult learning and online education. He developed Jill Watson, a virtual teaching assistant for online courses, in 2016, and teaches popular courses on Knowledge-Based Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science in Georgia Tech's Online Master of Science in Computer Science program, reaching over 15,000 learners. His contributions include co-edited books Biologically Inspired Design: Computational Methods and Tools (Springer-Verlag, 2014) and Blended Learning in Practice: A Guide for Researchers and Practitioners (MIT Press, 2018), and highly cited papers such as "Biologically inspired design: process and products" (2009), "Jill Watson: A virtual teaching assistant for online education" (2018), and "Design, analogy, and creativity" (2002). Goel is a Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (2021) and the Cognitive Science Society, recipient of AAAI’s Outstanding AI Educator Award (2019) and the University System of Georgia Regent’s Award for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (2020). He was Editor-in-Chief of AAAI’s AI Magazine from 2016 to 2021 and co-chaired the 41st Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society in 2019.