Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI)


Showing 31-40 of 52 Results

  • Megan J. Palmer

    Megan J. Palmer

    Adjunct Professor, Bioengineering

    BioDr. Megan J. Palmer is the Executive Director of Bio Policy & Leadership Initiatives at Stanford University. In this role, Dr. Palmer leads integrated research, teaching and engagement programs to explore how biological science and engineering is shaping our societies, and to guide innovation to serve public interests. Based in the Department of Bioengineering, where she is also an Adjunct Professor, she works closely both with groups across the university and with stakeholders in academia, government, industry and civil society around the world.

    In addition to fostering broader efforts, Dr. Palmer leads a focus area in biosecurity in partnership with the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) at Stanford. Projects in this area examine how security is conceived and managed as biotechnology becomes increasingly accessible. Her current projects include assessing strategies for governing dual use research, analyzing the diffusion of safety and security norms and practices, and understanding the security implications of alternative technology design decisions.

    Dr. Palmer has created and led many programs aimed at developing and promoting best practices and policies for the responsible development of bioengineering. She currently co-chairs the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Synthetic Biology and in a member of the Council of the Engineering Biology Research Consortium (EBRC). For the last ten years she has led programs in safety, security and social responsibility for the international Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition, which in 2019 involved over 6000 students in 353 teams from 48 countries. She also founded and serves as Executive Director of the Synthetic Biology Leadership Excellence Accelerator Program (LEAP), an international fellowship program in biotechnology leadership. She advises and works with many other organizations on their strategies for the responsible development of bioengineering, including serving on the board of directors of Revive & Restore, a nonprofit organization advancing biotechnologies for conservation.

    Previously, Megan was a Senior Research Scholar and William J. Perry Fellow in International Security at the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC), part of FSI, where she is now an affiliated researcher. She also spent five years as Deputy Director of Policy and Practices for the multi-university NSF Synthetic Biology Engineering Research Center (Synberc). She has previously held positions as a project scientist at the California Center for Quantitative Bioscience at the University of California Berkeley (where she was an affiliate of Lawrence Berkeley National Labs), and a postdoctoral scholar in the Bioengineering Department at Stanford University. Dr. Palmer received her Ph.D. in Biological Engineering from M.I.T. and a B.Sc.E. in Engineering Chemistry from Queen’s University, Canada.

  • Kaci Danae Peel

    Kaci Danae Peel

    Events Planner 1, Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI)

    Current Role at StanfordEvent Planner, Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI (HAI)

  • John Robichaux

    John Robichaux

    Director of Education, Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI)

    BioJohn Robichaux is the inaugural Director of Education at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI).

    John is an award-winning executive and educator, with 25+ years expertise in advising, building, and growing high-impact organizations within the public, corporate, and philanthropic sectors. Prior to his current role, John served in senior leadership positions at Harvard, Stanford, and Columbia Universities, as well as consultant, advisor, or board member for 200+ organizations worldwide in the areas of strategic and executive leadership, organizational and policy design, change leadership, and social impact. John also founded and co-directed a large international NGO and nonprofit.

    Within higher education leadership, John is widely recognized as the only active administrator to have held leadership positions at three "Ivy Plus" universities in six key areas of university teaching, research, and administration. In 2017, NAASS recognized John's innovation and impact on higher education leadership, describing "The Robichaux Method" as "15 ideas that changed everything" in these fields. John has also successfully led numerous university-wide initiatives and helped launch dozens of degree programs, research centers, and new schools and campuses. He has taught in areas of Leadership, and helped shape related programs at Harvard, Stanford, and Columbia.

    Academically, John is a Harvard-educated, award-winning scholar of human rights, democracy, and critical issues in international relations. He has taught at Harvard and Stanford in the areas of International Relations, Political Science, Religious Studies, Ethics, and Anthropology before making the move to university administration full-time. John's research, teaching, and policy work has touched on some of the most prominent issues facing global leaders: the impacts of emerging technologies, sustainability leadership and resource conflicts, ethics of war and conflict, minority rights, immigration, religion in the post-9/11 era, health care, democracy, and global leadership (as viewed by government, industry, and civil society organizations). He has conducted research or taught in eight countries on four continents.




    Some example partners John has worked with (public list): The United Nations, The White House, US State Department, US Congress, European Parliament, European Commission, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, IBM, Facebook, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Nike, LinkedIn, Kaiser Permanente, Dignity Health, the NFL, Johnson & Johnson, Salesforce, PBS, NPR, NASA, National Geographic, The Brookings Institution, Hoover Institution, UNICEF, NYPD, the Miami Dolphins, NASCAR, Brooks Brothers, GoPro, United Way, YMCA, Harvard University, Stanford University, Columbia University, M.I.T., UC-Berkeley, Hong Kong University, University College London, Singapore University of Technology & Design, The University of California, California State University, European University Institute, Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs), New York City Public Schools, San Francisco Public Schools, Washington, DC Public Schools, Miami-Dade Public Schools, Office of the State Superintendent of Education (Washington, DC), Boys and Girls Club of America, Harlem Children’s Zone, American Friends Service Committee, US Conference of Bishops, Lutheran Refugee Services, National Conference for Community & Justice, Rotary International, the KIPP Foundation, the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, and the Malone Foundation, among others.


    John and his family have more than 90 years of combined service to Stanford. A native Louisiana Cajun, today he lives on Stanford's campus in Silicon Valley with his wife and daughter.

  • Ahmad Rushdi

    Ahmad Rushdi

    Senior Manager of Research Communities, Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI)

    BioAhmad A. Rushdi is a Sr. Research Manager at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI (HAI). He works with the diverse machine learning, deep learning, and artificial intelligence communities across Stanford and the corporate world, in order to envision, build, and maintain new bridges around cutting-edge research that would create useful and trusted systems for a variety of AI applications.

    Dr. Rushdi's research interests include statistical signal processing and uncertainty quantification methods applied to machine learning models trained on time-series and real/synthetic image datasets. His publications span system design, communications, genomics, meshing, and national security applications.

    Prior to joining Stanford, Ahmad was a research scientist at the Center for Computing Research of Sandia National Laboratories, an R&D manager of data science at Northrop Grumman Corporation, a research fellow at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of UC Davis and the Computational Visualization Center under Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences at UT Austin, and an R&D engineer at Cisco Systems.

    Ahmad holds a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of California, Davis, and MSc/BSc degrees in Electrical Engineering from Cairo University.