Michael is the McDonald Agape’s Senior Distinguished Research Scholar—working in the governance, architecture, and ethics of systems that read, model, and direct human interior states.

He arrives at these problems through formal training in law (M.S.L. Northwestern Pritzker’s School of Law), systems engineering (Ph.D. in progress, George Washington University), ethical philosophy and religious studies (Ph.D., Durham University), GIS (cert., University of Alaska Fairbanks), and computer engineering (NYU Tandon Bridge Program). His doctoral work at GWU is supported by the NSF-funded Co-Design of Trustworthy A.I. Systems program, where he focuses on A.I. metrology and comparative governance schemes of high-risk industries.

Prior to joining the Affective Computing group at the MIT Media Lab, Michael was a Research Scholar for Responsible Tech, Innovation, and Policy at Princeton University for twelve years with the Faith & Work Initiative. He was also a lecturer in the School of Engineering and Applied Science and the Keller Center for Innovation where he co-taught Engineering and Ethics (EGR 501) and received the SEAS Dean’s Teaching Award for his course on the History of Entrepreneurship (EGR 301).

Michael has held fellowships and lectureships at Yale, Harvard’s Center for the Study of World Religions, and the Département de Philosophie at l’École normale supérieure in Paris. As an Alexander von Humboldt award winner, Michael spent three years at the Universität Tübingen. Michael was also elected a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies at Corvinus University in Budapest.

His research runs along two tracks: (1) affective states and attention; and, (2) the biotechnological and legal dimensions of the scale problem of life.

Michael was born in Fairmont, MN, and is passionate about the use of physical A.I. systems for good.