Dr. Brian Williams

Professor

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Biography

Professor Williams received his S.B., S.M., and Ph.D. in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He has worked at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center and NASA Ames Research Center prior to joining the faculty at MIT. He received the NASA Space Act Award for Remote Agent, a fully autonomous, self-repairing space explorer, which was demonstrated onboard a NASA Deep Space probe in 1999. Williams was a member of the Tom Young Blue Ribbon Team in 2000, which assessed future Mars missions following the Mars Climate Orbiter and Polar Lander incidents. He is currently a member of the Advisory Council of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory at Caltech. Throughout his career, he has received numerous awards including four paper prizes in research diagnosis, qualitative algebras, and soft constraints. He is a fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) and has served as a guest editor for the Artificial Intelligence Journal and on the editorial boards of the Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research and MIT Press. His research primarily focuses on model-based programming and cooperative robotics, with applications in model-based autonomy and robotic networks.

Research Interests

Experience

Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics

— Present

Massachusetts Institute of Technology • Cambridge, MA

Leading research and teaching in the areas of model-based autonomy and robotics.

Associate Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics

— Present

Massachusetts Institute of Technology • Cambridge, MA

Conducted research in robotics and machine learning.

Finmeccanica Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics

— Present

Massachusetts Institute of Technology • Cambridge, MA

Oversaw research initiatives in aerospace systems.

Boeing Associate Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics

— Present

Massachusetts Institute of Technology • Cambridge, MA

Focused on advancements in aeronautical engineering and robotics.

Awards

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NASA Group Achievement Award

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Finalist

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Distinguished Paper Award

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NASA Group Achievement Award

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NASA Group Achievement Award