Queen’s Engineering is reinventing our understanding of machines; from how they think, to how they move, to how they – and we – feel.

As announced in January 2021, the Mitchell Professors are five engineering researchers, funded by a gift from Bruce Mitchell, Sc’68, DSc'20 to explore the frontiers of how humanity and machines coexist. Professors in various departments at Queen’s Engineering, they are also all members of Ingenuity Labs, the nation’s leading hub of artificial intelligence, robotics, and human-machine interaction research.

Amy Wu

Mitchell Professor in Bio-Inspired Robotics


The future of biorobotics and human motion is being investigated by Dr. Amy Wu, a professor in the Queen’s Engineering Mechanical and Materials Engineering department. Her work will change the way we move – and potentially how we explore hostile environments on earth or beyond.

View Dr. Wu's talk on bio-inspired robotics at the Ingenuity Labs website.


Ali Etemad

Mitchell Professor in AI for Human Sensing and Understanding


If devices could understand how humans feel, their adaptiveness could profoundly change how we interact with technology. A professor in our Electrical & Computer Engineering department, Dr. Etemad is remapping how artificial intelligence can reshape our relationships with machines.

Learn more about Dr. Etemad and his work at the Ingenuity Labs website.


Xiaodan Zhu

Mitchell Professor in Text Analytics and Machine Learning


Teaching computers how to understand written language, speech and images requires next-generation algorithms – and Dr. Zhu, a faculty member in of our Electrical & Computer Engineering department – is leading the way. His work uses multimodal, speech and language data to allow AI to advance our daily lives in ways we can scarcely imagine.

View Dr. Zhu's talk on text analytics and machine learning at the Ingenuity Labs website.


Josh Woods

Mitchell Professor in Intelligent Infrastructure Monitoring


A technological environment is a built environment. Dr. Josh Woods is rethinking how we can sense and measure how buildings “feel” – and reinvent how we relate to the structures we live and work in. He’s a faculty member in our Civil Engineering department; using AI and new ways of measuring materials, his work will transform how we use data to inform design.

View Dr. Woods' talk on intelligent infrastructure monitoring at the Ingenuity Labs website.


Matt Robertson

Mitchell Professor in Soft and Multi-Material Robotics


How can nature influence the future of robotics? Dr. Matt Robertson leads the field in bio-inspired robotics. A faculty member in Queen’s Mechanical & Materials Engineering department, he’s using the natural world to develop better robots – and figuring out how they move, get powered, and even swarm.

View Dr. Robertson's talk on soft and multi-material robotics at the Ingenuity Labs website.