Pat Pataranutaporn, PhD, founding director of the Cyborg Psychology research group and co-founding director of Media Lab's Advancing Human with AI (AHA) program, has been selected as one of four winners of the 2026 Psychology of Technology Dissertation Award for his dissertation "Cyborg Psychology: The Art & Science of Designing Human-AI Systems that Support Human Flourishing."

The dissertation introduces an interdisciplinary, human-centered approach to understanding how AI systems influence human psychological processes — including motivation, critical thinking, self-reflection, confidence, beliefs, and biases — and applies these insights to design AI systems that support human flourishing. The work presents several AI systems informed by psychological research, including the "Wearable Reasoner" to enhance human rationality, "Personalized Virtual Characters" to support learning motivation, and "Future You" to encourage long-term oriented thinking and behavior.

The Psychology of Technology Institute hosts the annual dissertation award program to help doctoral students gain support and visibility for their work. The initiative connects and supports scholars from multiple scientific disciplines who conduct research examining the psychological determinants and consequences of adopting new technologies, including how these technologies are transforming how people live, work, play, and interact.