Bruce M. McLaren

Bruce M. McLaren is a Professor in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, where he directs the McLearn Lab. He is a past President of the International Artificial Intelligence in Education Society (2017–2019). His research explores how artificial intelligence and emerging technologies can support human learning, with particular interests in intelligent tutoring systems, digital learning games, generative AI and large language models (LLMs) for education, and collaborative learning.

A major focus of Prof. McLaren’s research has been understanding how interactive educational technologies can promote learning, engagement, reflection, and productive struggle. His research on digital learning games has shown, for example, that middle-school students learned more from a well-designed digital learning game than from a more conventional intelligent tutoring system. He has also conducted extensive research on intelligent tutoring systems, worked and erroneous examples, adaptive feedback and hints, and collaborative learning technologies.

More recently, Prof. McLaren’s research has focused on generative AI and LLM-supported learning, particularly how generative AI can encourage deeper reasoning, reflection, and self-explanation rather than simply provide answers. This includes research on LLM-supported Socratic reflection and on when conversational AI helps learning — and when additional dialogue may instead add unnecessary time or cognitive load. His recent work also explores meta-adaptive learning, in which AI can help determine when a learner would benefit most from an intelligent tutor, digital learning game, simulation, worked example, collaborative activity, reflective dialogue, assessment, or another instructional approach.

Prof. McLaren’s interest in the capabilities and responsible use of AI extends back to his doctoral research at the University of Pittsburgh. His 1999 Ph.D. dissertation applied case-based reasoning to ethical reasoning, using engineering ethics as a domain for investigating how AI could reason with cases and ethical principles. This early work contributed to the emerging field of machine ethics, connecting his early AI research to contemporary questions surrounding responsible AI and generative AI.

McLaren has authored or co-authored more than 230 publications, including 47 journal articles, with approximately 15,000 citations and an h-index over 60. He has held numerous leadership roles in the international AIED research community. He has also spent more than 20 years in the commercial sector applying AI to practical problems, including leadership positions at OpenWebs Corporation and Carnegie Group, Inc. His more than four decades of work in artificial intelligence were recently profiled by the University of Pittsburgh in the 2026 article, “Built in Pittsburgh: A Forty-Year Journey Through AI with ISP Alum.”

McLaren holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Intelligent Systems and an M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Pittsburgh, and a B.S. in Computer Science, cum laude, from Millersville University.