Faculty Fanfare: Meeko Oishi

UNM Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor Meeko Oishi gave a keynote speech at the 2024 NSF Cyber-Physical Systems Principal Investigators’ Meeting at Vanderbilt University in March.

The speech, which focused on the importance of designing for human heterogeneity in cyber-physical systems, was at a meeting of principal investigators of NSF awards that are part of the Cyber-Physical Systems program.

Oishi is leading a $5.5M CPS grant, a Frontier on Cognitive Autonomy that is funded through the program.

During the talk to about 200 people, Oishi spoke about the importance of designing for human heterogeneity in cyber-physical systems. This type of approach is something that is not typically done; historically, simplistic models and behaviors of generic humans are employed. 

“Human heterogeneity is often overlooked, but can be significant for CPS when a high degree of responsiveness is needed,” Oishi said. “For example, in intelligent tutoring applications, which facilitate human learning, customized feedback requires tailoring control actions to the particular needs of an individual human.  We have found that variability in human response can dramatically change what is needed from controller design,” she said.