Anca Dragan

Anca Dragan is an Associate Professor in the EECS Department at UC Berkeley, where she leads the InterACT Lab. Her research aims to enable robots to behave in ways that are intuitive, aligned with human goals, and responsive to the social and physical dynamics of human environments. Dragan’s work focuses on developing mathematical and algorithmic frameworks for human-robot interaction, spanning optimal control, game theory, reinforcement learning, Bayesian inference, and cognitive science. Her group studies how robots can coordinate effectively with people, infer human intent, and generate behaviors that support, assist, or collaborate with human partners. Applications range widely, including assistive robotic arms, quadrotors, social navigation, and autonomous driving. Dragan helped found the Berkeley AI Research (BAIR) Lab and serves on its steering committee, and she is a co-PI of the Center for Human-Compatible AI, a major research effort focused on ensuring AI systems remain aligned with human values. Her scholarship has been recognized through numerous honors, including a Sloan Fellowship, MIT TR35, the Okawa Award, an NSF CAREER Award, and the PECASE Award.