Maritza Mills
I study philosophy of mind, AI, and cognitive science. I'm broadly interested in emotion-cognition
interaction. More narrowly, how emotions fit within computational theories of mind.
I take the position that affect plays an epistemic, constitutive role in human intelligence.
One hypothesis I'm pursuing is that emotions function as constraints on perceptual
and conceptual spaces, which could explain their role in creativity and problem-solving.
I use this philosophy to evaluate applied issues in human-computer interaction and
foundational AI research.
Before joining USC, I earned my MS in Computer Science from Georgia Tech and worked
in product management at Google, AWS and startups. This experience allows me to bring
a practical perspective to my theoretical interests.