Dr. Krzysztof Konrad Gajos stands as a distinguished leader in the field of human-computer interaction and intelligent systems research. He currently serves as the Yahn W. Bernier and N. Elizabeth McCaw Professor of Computer Science at Harvard University's Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, holding a prestigious named chair position. Prior to his academic appointment at Harvard, Dr. Gajos completed a formative postdoctoral fellowship at Microsoft Research, which provided crucial industry perspective for his scholarly work. He earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Washington, where his groundbreaking research on adaptive interfaces began to emerge, building upon foundational technical expertise established through his undergraduate and master's degrees from MIT. His career path reflects a consistent trajectory of excellence bridging theoretical computer science with practical human-centered applications.
Dr. Gajos' pioneering research on intelligent interactive systems has fundamentally transformed how we conceptualize the symbiotic relationship between artificial intelligence and human decision-making capabilities. His innovative work developing personalized adaptive user interfaces has demonstrated how computational systems can dynamically adjust to individual user characteristics, significantly enhancing accessibility and operational efficiency across diverse demographic groups. His 2019 research breakthrough on automatic engineering of personalized systems earned him the Most Impactful Paper Award at the Intelligent User Interfaces conference, recognizing contributions that have profoundly influenced both academic scholarship and industry implementation practices. Dr. Gajos has also made seminal contributions to understanding human cognitive engagement during AI-assisted decision processes, uncovering critical insights about the conditions under which users disengage from algorithmic recommendations, a discovery with far-reaching implications for trustworthy AI system design.
Beyond his technical innovations, Dr. Gajos has profoundly shaped the human-computer interaction discipline through his leadership roles and principled advocacy for equitable design principles. His influential 2016 lecture on Design and Discrimination exposed how conventional one-size-fits-all digital interfaces inadvertently create systemic barriers for users with diverse physical and perceptual abilities. As former coeditor-in-chief of the ACM Transactions on Interactive Intelligent Systems and chair of the ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology, he has provided essential stewardship for the field's scholarly discourse and methodological advancement. Currently, Dr. Gajos continues to lead cutting-edge research exploring how intelligent systems can better serve heterogeneous human populations while rigorously addressing ethical considerations in algorithmic decision support, maintaining his position at the vanguard of human-centered computing innovation.
