Upol Ehsan

Assistant Professor (starting Fall 2025), Senior Research Fellow

Upol Ehsan
  • Explainable AI
  • Human–computer interaction
  • Responsible AI
  • Computing in the Global South
  • AI in health care
  • PhD in Computer Science, Georgia Institute of Technology
  • MS in Computer Science, Georgia Institute of Technology
  • BA (Hons) in Philosophy, Washington & Lee University
  • BS in Physics-Engineering, Washington & Lee University

"Professor Ehsan is recruiting 1–2 PhD students for fall 2025 (more info).

Upol Ehsan makes AI systems explainable and responsible so that people who are not at the table do not end up on the menu. He is an assistant professor (starting fall 2025) and a senior research fellow in the Khoury College of Computer Sciences at Northeastern University, based in Boston. He is also a fellow at Harvard University's Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society and an affiliate at Data & Society.

Dr. Ehsan's work pioneered the field of Human-centered Explainable AI (HCXAI) from coining the term to cultivating a vibrant research community. His work has informed responsible AI policies at the United Nations, Mozilla Foundation, and is incorporated into NIST’s AI Risk Management Framework, a global benchmark for Responsible AI. His work is regularly covered in major media outlets such as MIT Tech Review, Vice, and VentureBeat and has earned awards at top-tier venues like ACM CHI, HCII, and AAAI AIES. Dr. Ehsan led editorial efforts for the inaugural ACM TiiS Journal on HCXAI and has served as the lead organizer for the flagship HCXAI workshops at CHI every year since 2021. His work is generously supported by the NSF, DARPA, A2I, IBM, and the World Bank alongside prestigious fellowships like the Prime Minister’s Innovator Award. Beyond academia, Dr. Ehsan regularly works with Fortune 500 companies as an expert consultant on AI-related projects, law firms as an expert witness, and serves on government-level AI task forces and boards of startups.

Before joining Khoury College, Dr. Ehsan earned his PhD and master's degrees in computer science from Georgia Tech, where he worked with Dr. Mark Riedl at the Entertainment Intelligence and Human-centered AI Lab.  His intellectual foundation is shaped by dual degrees in philosophy (BA) and physics-engineering (BS) from Washington and Lee University. He has researched with Microsoft Research's FATE team, IBM Research, and Google. He brings extensive management and leadership experience from leading high-performing teams during his time in management consulting and startups. He is an advisor for Aalor Asha, an educational institute he started for children subjected to child labor. He is an avid fan of Manchester United and Formula 1.