Matthew Johnson-Roberson

Dr. Johnson-Roberson is the founding dean of the College of Connected Computing. He received his B.S. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University and earned his Ph.D. in Robotics from the University of Sydney.

He has held appointments at several prestigious institutions throughout his academic career. Following his doctorate, he held postdoctoral appointments at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and the Australian Centre for Field Robotics. At the University of Michigan, he served as a faculty member in both Computer Science and Engineering and Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering. During his time at Michigan, he established the Ford Center for Autonomous Vehicles, a transformative partnership that resulted in the construction of a state-of-the-art facility on campus. He also founded and directed the DROP Lab (Deep Robot Optical Perception), focusing on pioneering research in 3D reconstruction, segmentation, data mining and visualization.

In 2021, Johnson-Roberson returned to Carnegie Mellon to lead the Robotics Institute, one of the world’s preeminent centers in the field. As director and department head, he became known for building meaningful collaborations across academic disciplines while integrating global industry and institutional partners. Throughout his career, he has developed strategic partnerships with major corporations, domestic and international government agencies, and other universities.
Beyond his academic roles, Dr. Johnson-Roberson has founded two venture-backed startups: patient.app, a medical AI company that focuses on extracting clinically relevant information for providers to improve care, and Refraction AI, deploying self-driving robotic delivery vehicles.

His professional service includes serving in editorial positions at numerous leading robotics and automation academic publications. His contributions have been recognized with numerous awards, including the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, the Henry Russel Award, and the Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering Department Outstanding Faculty Award.