Mary "Missy" Cummings

Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Mary "Missy" Cummings received her B.S. in Mathematics from the US Naval Academy in 1988, her M.S. in Space Systems Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in 1994, and her Ph.D. in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia in 2004.
A naval officer and military pilot from 1988-1999, she was one of the Navy's first female fighter pilots.
Cummings is currently a Professor in the Duke University Pratt School of Engineering, the Duke Institute of Brain Sciences, and is the director of the Humans and Autonomy Laboratory and Duke Robotics. Her research interests include human-unmanned vehicle interaction, human-autonomous system collaboration, human-systems engineering, public policy implications of unmanned vehicles, and the ethical and social impact of technology.

Appointments and Affiliations

  • Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
  • Professor of Computer Science
  • Associate of the Duke Initiative for Science & Society
  • Faculty Network Member of the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences

Contact Information

  • Office Location: 131 North Building, Box 103957, Durham, NC 27708
  • Office Phone: (919) 660-5306
  • Email Address: m.cummings@duke.edu
  • Websites:

Education

  • Ph.D. University of Virginia, 2004

Research Interests

Human-unmanned vehicle interaction, human-autonomous system collaboration, human-systems engineering, public policy implications of unmanned vehicles, and the ethical and social impact of technology.

Courses Taught

  • CYBERSEC 531: The Human Element in Cybersecurity
  • ECE 590: Advanced Topics in Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • EGR 393: Research Projects in Engineering
  • ME 591: Research Independent Study in Mechanical Engineering or Material Science
  • ME 592: Research Independent Study in Mechanical Engineering or Material Science

In the News

Representative Publications

  • Cummings, M. L., H. Nassar, and V. Alaparthy. “Defining the Tradespace for Passively Defending Against Rogue Drones.” Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems: Theory and Applications 103, no. 4 (December 1, 2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-021-01524-w.
  • Cummings, M. L., and S. Li. “Subjectivity in the Creation of Machine Learning Models.” Journal of Data and Information Quality 13, no. 2 (May 13, 2021). https://doi.org/10.1145/3418034.
  • Alaparthy, V., S. Mandal, and M. Cummings. “Machine Learning vs. Human Performance in the Realtime Acoustic Detection of Drones.” In Ieee Aerospace Conference Proceedings, Vol. 2021-March, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1109/AERO50100.2021.9438533.
  • Zhu, H., R. Xu, and M. L. Cummings. “Quantitative operator strategy comparisons across human supervisory control scenarios.” In Ieee International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 10968–74, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1109/IROS45743.2020.9341135.
  • Mandal, S., L. Chen, V. Alaparthy, and M. Cummings. “Acoustic detection of drones through real-time audio attribute prediction.” In Aiaa Scitech 2020 Forum, 1 PartF:1–13, 2020. https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2020-0491.