Carla E. Brodley is a computer scientist specializing in Machine learning. She is a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Brodley serves as the Dean of Inclusive Computing at Northeastern University, where she is also the Executive Director for the Center for Inclusive Computing and holds a tenured appointment in the Khoury College of Computer Sciences. She is a proponent for greater enrollment of women and under-represented minorities in computer science.
Brodley's research has contributed to the development of Machine learning algorithms and their applications in fields such as medicine and scientific discovery. Her work often addresses challenges in data quality, including handling missing data and noisy labels, which are critical for building reliable models. She has also been active in promoting interdisciplinary collaborations, particularly in clinical and translational science.
Education and career
Brodley graduated from McGill University in 1985. Initially majoring in English, she quickly switched to economics, but after taking a computer programming course as a sophomore, she changed to a double major in mathematics and computer science. After working as a consultant and computer programmer in Boston, she returned to graduate school with the intention of earning a master's degree in Artificial intelligence. She continued to pursue a Ph.D. under the supervision of Paul Utgoff, completing her doctorate in 1994.
Following her Ph.D., Brodley joined the electrical engineering faculty at Purdue University's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. In 2004, she moved to Tufts University, where she became chair of the computer science department from 2010 to 2013. During her time at Tufts, she also held an affiliation with the Clinical and Translational Science Institute at Tufts Medical Center, applying machine learning to medical research. In 2014, she moved to Northeastern University as dean of the Khoury College of Computer Sciences, a position she held until 2021. She then became Dean of Inclusive Computing, focusing on expanding access to computing education.
Research contributions
Brodley's research spans Machine learning theory and applications. She has worked on algorithms for feature selection, classification, and clustering, with a particular interest in robust learning when data are imperfect. Her early work addressed the problem of learning from data with missing values and mislabeled examples, proposing methods to identify and correct such issues. This has implications for real-world datasets, which often contain errors or incomplete records.
In the medical domain, Brodley collaborated with clinicians to develop predictive models for diseases such as cancer and diabetes, using electronic health records and imaging data. She has also contributed to the field of Data Augmentation and Curriculum Learning, exploring how to improve model training by presenting examples in a meaningful order. Her work has been published in top venues such as the International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML) and the Journal of Machine Learning Research.
Advocacy and leadership
Brodley is widely recognized for her efforts to increase diversity in computer science. At Northeastern, she established the Center for Inclusive Computing, which aims to double the number of women and underrepresented minorities earning computing degrees. The center provides support for curriculum redesign, mentorship, and outreach programs. Brodley has spoken publicly about the importance of creating inclusive environments, citing data showing that systemic barriers, not lack of interest, deter many students from pursuing computing.
Her advocacy extends to national initiatives. She has served on advisory boards for organizations like the National Science Foundation and has been involved in efforts to reform computer science education. Brodley's leadership has been instrumental in shifting institutional policies to promote equity, such as revising admissions criteria and offering bridge programs for students from non-traditional backgrounds.
Recognition
Brodley was named a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery in 2016 "for applications of machine learning and for increasing participation of women in computer science." She is also a Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). These honors reflect her dual impact as a researcher and an advocate. In addition, she has received teaching awards and has been invited to deliver keynote lectures at major conferences, including the Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS) and the International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR).
Brodley's work has influenced both academic research and practical applications, and her commitment to broadening participation in computing continues to shape the field. As of 2025, she remains active in research and leadership at Northeastern University.