Pattie Maes, Germeshausen Professor of Media Arts and Sciences and head of the Fluid Interfaces research group, has been awarded the 2025 ACM SIGCHI Lifetime Research Award. She will accept the award at CHI 2025 in Yokohama, Japan this April.

The Lifetime Research Award is given to individuals whose research in human-computer interaction is considered both fundamental and influential to the field. Recipients are selected based on their cumulative contributions, influence on the work of others, new research developments, and being an active participant ACM SIGCHI community.

Her nomination recognizes her advocacy to place human agency at the center of HCI and AI research. Rather than AI replacing human capabilities, Maes has advocated for ways in which human capabilities can be supported or enhanced by the integration of AI.

Pioneering the concept of Software Agents in the 90s, Maes's work has always been situated at the intersection of human-computer interaction and artificial intelligence and has helped lay the foundations for today's online experience. Her article "Social information filtering: algorithms for automating 'word of mouth" from CHI '95, co-authored with graduate student Upendra Shardanand, is the second most cited paper from ACM SIGCHI.  

Beyond her contributions in desktop-based interaction, she has an extensive body of work in the area of  novel wearable devices that  enhance the human experience, for example by supporting memory, learning, decision making, or health. Through an interdisciplinary approach, Maes has explored accessible and ethical designs while stressing the need for a human-centered approach. 

"I am honored to be recognized by the ACM community, especially given that  it can be difficult sometimes for researchers doing highly interdisciplinary research to be appreciated, even though some of the most impactful innovations often emerge from that style of research," Maes commented.

Maes is the second MIT professor to receive this honor, joining her Media Lab  colleague Hiroshi Ishii, the Jerome B. Wiesner Professor of Media Arts and Sciences at MIT and head of the Tangible Media research group.