Aileen Benedict

Personal Website: https://aileens.space/

Aileen Benedict is a Teaching Assistant Professor in Machine Learning at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where she earned her Ph.D., M.S., and B.S. in Computer Science. Her research interests span human-centered artificial intelligence, recommendation systems, data science and data mining, AI ethics and society, and computer science education.

Her doctoral research focused on developing decision-support and recommendation methods for music therapy in collaboration with a music therapist working with visually impaired children. This work explored how interpretable AI techniques, specifically action rules, can help identify meaningful changes in musical attributes that may support therapeutic goals while keeping the human expert at the center of the decision-making process.

Aileen’s current research increasingly focuses on the role of AI in education. She is particularly interested in how AI systems can support, rather than replace, student thinking through reflection, metacognition, and personalized learning support. Her work explores the design of human-centered AI tools that encourage students to think more deeply about their learning, develop strategies for overcoming challenges, and recognize that they are not alone in their academic experiences.

Alongside her research, Aileen teaches courses across artificial intelligence, data science, data mining, and computer science, with an emphasis on applied learning, reflection, responsible AI use, and helping students discover their interests, develop their own voices, and connect technical skills to the problems and ideas they care about.