Martha Elizabeth Pollack (born August 27, 1958) is an American

computer scientist A computer scientist is a scientist who specializes in the academic study of computer science. Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation. Although computer scientists can also focus their work and research on ...

who served as the 14th president of

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

from April 2017 to June 2024. From 2013 to 2017, she was the 14th provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

. Pollack's research specialty is

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

, where her contributions include works in

planning Planning is the process of thinking regarding the activities required to achieve a desired goal. Planning is based on foresight, the fundamental capacity for mental time travel. Some researchers regard the evolution of forethought - the cap ...

natural language processing Natural language processing (NLP) is a subfield of computer science and especially artificial intelligence. It is primarily concerned with providing computers with the ability to process data encoded in natural language and is thus closely related ...

, and

activity recognition Activity recognition aims to recognize the actions and goals of one or more agents from a series of observations on the agents' actions and the environmental conditions. Since the 1980s, this research field has captured the attention of several co ...

for cognitive assistance.Martha E. Pollack
, Office of the Provost, University of Michigan, an
Curriculum vitae
, both retrieved 2015-06-14. She also serves on the board of directors of

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

Early life and education

Pollack was born in

Stamford, Connecticut Stamford () is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, outside of New York City. It is the sixth-most populous city in New England. Stamford is also the largest city in the Western Connecticut Planning Region, Connecticut, Weste ...

, on August 27, 1958. In 1979, she completed her undergraduate studies in

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

. She earned master's and doctoral degrees in computer science from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

, completing her Ph.D. in 1986 under joint supervision of

Bonnie Webber Bonnie Lynn Nash-Webber (born August 30, 1946) is a computational linguist. She is an honorary professor of intelligent systems in the Institute for Language, Cognition and Computation (ILCC) at the University of Edinburgh. Education and caree ...

and Barbara J. Grosz. Pollack is

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

Career

Pollack worked at

SRI International SRI International (SRI) is a nonprofit organization, nonprofit scientific research, scientific research institute and organization headquartered in Menlo Park, California, United States. It was established in 1946 by trustees of Stanford Univer ...

from 1985 to 1992. In 1991, she was a

IJCAI Computers and Thought Award The IJCAI Computers and Thought Award is presented every two years by the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI), recognizing outstanding young scientists in artificial intelligence. It was originally funded with royal ...

recipient. Since 1996, she has been a fellow of the

Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence The Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) is an international Learned society, scientific society devoted to promote research in, and responsible use of, artificial intelligence. AAAI also aims to increase public under ...

. Since 2012, she was a fellow at the

Association for Computing Machinery The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is a US-based international learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 and is the world's largest scientific and educational computing society. The ACM is a non-profit professional membe ...

and

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

. From 1991 to 2000, she was on the faculty of the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

. In 1997, she became program chair of the International Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence.

University of Michigan

In 2000, Pollack joined the faculty of the

. She became dean of the School of Information at the University of Michigan in 2007, Vice Provost of the university in 2010, and Provost in 2013. From 2001 to 2005, she was editor-in-chief of the '' Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research'' and president of the

from 2009 to 2010.

Cornell University

On November 14, 2016, the Board of Trustees of

announced that they had unanimously elected Pollack as Cornell University’s 14th president. Her presidency began April 17, 2017, and she was inaugurated on August 25, 2017. In 2022, Pollack was elected to the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

. As Cornell president, Pollack made changes to Greek Life on campus, banning hard alcohol at fraternity and sorority events, suspending chapters suspected of hazing, and requiring a full-time live-in advisor for each fraternity and sorority house. Following widespread criticism of Cornell's culture and lack of support for students with mental health needs, she introduced plans to improve mental health services on campus. She rejected calls from the

Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) is a nonviolent Palestinian-led movement promoting boycotts, divestments, and economic sanctions against Israel. Its objective is to pressure Israel to meet what the BDS movement describes as Israel's ...

movement for Cornell to boycott investments in Israel. In January 2024, Pollack came under scrutiny by Jason Smith, chairman of the

U.S. House Ways and Means Committee The Committee on Ways and Means is the chief tax-writing committee of the United States House of Representatives. The committee has jurisdiction over all taxation, tariffs, and other revenue-raising measures, as well as a number of other program ...

for the university's response to anti-semitism. On May 9, 2024, she announced her decision to retire as Cornell University president, effective June 30, 2024.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pollack, Martha Elizabeth American Jews Jewish American academics 1958 births Living people American computer scientists American women computer scientists Dartmouth College alumni University of Pittsburgh faculty University of Michigan faculty Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence 2011 fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery Presidents of Cornell University University of Pennsylvania alumni People from Stamford, Connecticut Presidents of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence Women heads of universities and colleges Natural language processing researchers American artificial intelligence researchers American women academics 21st-century American women