Dr. Cindy L. Bethel
Interim Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs and Professor
Contact
- 3009 H.M. Comer
- phone (205) 348-1766
Research Areas
Education
- B.S., Computer Science, University of South Florida, 2004
- Ph.D., Computer Science and Engineering, University of South Florida, 2009
- CCC/NSF/CCC Computing Innovation Postdoctoral Fellow, Yale University, 2009-2011
Cindy L. Bethel, Ph.D. (IEEE and ACM Senior Member) is the Interim Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs and a Professor of Computer Science in the Lee J. Styslinger Jr. College of Engineering at the University of Alabama (UA). She is the Director of the Social, Therapeutic, and Robotic Systems (STaRS) lab. She served previously as a Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at Mississippi State University (MSU), where she held the Billie J. Ball Endowed Professorship in Engineering. She also served as a Program Director with the National Science Foundation from 2022-2025. She was a 2019 U.S. Fulbright Senior Scholar to Australia sponsored by the University of Technology Sydney. She has published over 100 peer reviewed journal articles, conference papers, and workshop papers in prestigious venues. She currently serves as a Computing Community Consortium (CCC) Council Member that is a subgroup under the national Computing Research Association. She was an NSF/CRA/CCC Computing Innovation Postdoctoral Fellow in the Social Robotics Laboratory at Yale University. She graduated in August 2009 with her Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of South Florida with doctoral minors in Psychology and in Applied Statistics. Her research interests include human-robot interaction, human-computer interaction, robotics, and artificial intelligence. Her research focuses on applications associated with robotic therapeutic support, information gathering from children using robots, and the use of robots for law enforcement, search and rescue, and military.
Affiliated Areas
Computer Science, Dean’s Office
Selected Publications
- BOOK CHAPTER (peer reviewed): Bethel, C. L., Henkel, Z., Baugus, K., “Conducting Studies in Human-Robot Interaction.” Chapter in edited book titled: Human-Robot Interaction: Evaluation Methods and Their Standardization. Editors C. Jost, B. Le Pévédic, T. Belpaeme, C. Bethel, D. Chrysostomou, N. Crook, M. Grandgeorge, N. Mirnig. Series Title: Springer Series on Bio- and Neurosystems. Series Volume 12. eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-42307, Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-42306, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-42307, Series ISSN: 2520-8535. Springer International Publishing, May 2020.
- Kim, S., Bennett, C. C., Henkel, Z., Lee, J., Stanojevic, C., Baugus, K., Bethel, C. L., Piatt, J. A., Šabanović, S., “Generative Replay for Multi-Class Modeling of Human Activities Via Sensor Data from In-Home Robotic Companion Pets.” Published in Intelligent Service Robotics. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11370-023-00496-0. Published digitally on December 19, 2023. Journal printed publication Vol. 17, Issue 2, Pages 277-287. March 2024.
- Šabanović, S., Charisi, V., Belpaeme, T., Bethel, C. L., Matarić, M., Murphy, R., Levy-Tzedek, S., “Robots for Good: Ten Defining Questions.” Published in Science Robotics, DOI: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scirobotics.adl4238. Volume 8, Issue 84. November 29, 2023. (Impact Factor: 25.0)
- CONFERENCE PAPERS (peer reviewed):
Bethel, C. L., Henkel, Z., Henkel, K., Thompson, J., Smith, K., “From Components to Caring: The Development Trajectory of a Socially Therapeutic Assistive Robot (STAR) Named TherabotTM. Invited publication and presentation at the 2023 World Symposium on Digital Intelligence for Systems and Machines (DISA 2023). DOI: 10.1109/DISA59116.2023.10308910 Pages: 31-45. Kosice, Slovakia. September 2023. - Aldridge, A. L., Errico, T., Morrell, M., Bethel, C. L., James, J., Chewar, C. M., Novitzky, M., “Integrating Human-Robot Teaming Dynamics into Mission Planning Tools for Transparent Tactics in Multi-Robot Human Integrated Teams.” Publication and Presentation in the 2025 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2025). DOI: 10.1109/ICRA55743.2025.11128530. May 19-23, 2025. Atlanta, GA, USA.
Awards and Honors
- 2026 – Top 10 Women of Distinction for 2026 from CIO Times Magazine.
- 2024 – Top 50 Women Leaders of Mississippi from Women We Admire.
- 2020 – Selected as one of the “World’s 50 Most Renowned Women in Robotics” by Analytics Insight.
- 2019 – Selected as one of the “30 Women in Robotics You Need to Know About 2019 Edition”
- 2014-2015 – Awarded the New Faculty Research Teaching Award from the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE).