Jaime Teevan ’98 B.S.

Jaime Teevan majored in computer science as a Yale undergraduate, despite not taking a course in computer science until her sophomore year. The internet was in its infancy during Dr. Teevan’s time at Yale; she remembers “having to walk up Science Hill to get an email address because students weren’t given email addresses by default.” Dr. Teevan was introduced to her first website late one night in the Zoo, the school’s sole computer lab—by the man who ended up becoming her husband, Alex Hehmeyer. Dr. Teevan quickly embraced the internet, creating Timothy Dwight’s first website and serving as its webmaster. But despite the draw of technology, she still recalls the memorable classes she took outside of her major, including an architecture class on skyscrapers taught by Vincent Scully and a psychology class taught by Peter Salovey. She participated in co-ed varsity sailing and helped develop a robotic soccer team that competed at the RoboCup in Paris in 1998, overlapping with the World Cup games going on in the same city—a particularly salient memory for Dr. Teevan, as the group witnessed the celebrations when France won that year.

 

Dr. Teevan’s experience thinking broadly at Yale informs her work today as a scientist and researcher, which she sees as a truly creative endeavor. “To be a good scientist,” Dr. Teevan says, “you need to see things in new ways, and you need to understand the past, and you need to be able to communicate clearly. And this is at the heart of a Yale education, regardless of your discipline.” In her current position as chief scientist and technical fellow at Microsoft, she is responsible for driving research-backed innovation in the company’s core products, including the use of artificial intelligence (AI). Her leadership in integrating AI into Microsoft’s suite of tools, most notably through the creation of M365 Copilot, underscores her commitment to transforming everyday productivity through advanced technology. Dr. Teevan also serves as an affiliate professor at the University of Washington’s Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering.

 

Dr. Teevan credits her time at Yale with preparing her for the rigor of her professional life. She sold her senior thesis on web search to Infoseek, one of the very first web search engines, and took her first job there. Her continued interest in search led her to complete a Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a Financial Technology Option at the Sloan School of Management. She began her career at Microsoft in 2006 as a researcher, producing 280 publications, over 21,000 citations, and 61 patents. Dr. Teevan invented the first personalized search algorithm used by Bing. She also served as technical advisor to Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella to formulate technical strategy and track scientific trends, before moving to her current role as chief scientist.

 

Today, Dr. Teevan serves on several boards, including the boards of Shutterstock and the Computing Research Association, where she works, serendipitously, with her senior thesis advisor, Gregory Hager, and others to advance computing research. Dr. Teevan’s work has garnered numerous accolades. She is an Association for Computing Machinery Fellow and recipient of the Karen Sparck Jones and Technology Review TR35 Young Innovator awards. At Yale, she is a member of the School of Engineering & Applied Science (SEAS) Leadership Council, where she is honored to advise dean Jeff Brock on AI and helping SEAS “take research to the world.” In 2023, Dr. Teevan was recognized by Time magazine as one of the top 100 most influential people in AI.