BUCS Alum Dr. Gonca Gürsun Named Inventor of the Year by the Bosch Center for Artificial Intelligence
Boston University Computer Science alum Dr. Gonca Gürsun (PhD ’13) has been named Inventor of the Year by the Bosch Center for Artificial Intelligence (BCAI), a highly selective honor recognizing outstanding innovation among Bosch’s 85,000 global researchers and engineers.
The award is granted only on rare occasions to individuals whose work redefines the boundaries of technology and delivers significant global and economic impact. Dr. Gürsun received the honor directly from Dr. Stefan Hartung, Chairman of the Board of Management of Bosch GmbH.
Currently Lead AI Research Engineer at BCAI, Dr. Gürsun was recognized for her pioneering role in developing the first AI-based behavior models for autonomous driving, an innovation now deployed by major car manufacturers and operating on roads across 16 European countries and the United States. Her work has transformed research into real-world systems that make autonomous driving smoother, safer, and more natural.
“Being recognized as Inventor of the Year underscores how AI research can grow into real-world impact at scale. I’m proud that our work not only advanced the science but is also improving how people experience technology in everyday life.”
Dr. Gürsun’s patented multi-agent, attention-based models enable vehicles to analyze complex traffic scenarios and predict the next few seconds of behavior. For example, the system can anticipate when another driver is about to change lanes before any visible movement occurs. These predictive capabilities address one of the field’s greatest challenges: creating AI-driven vehicles that understand and anticipate human behavior to make automated driving functions smoother, safer, and more natural.
Our goal was to teach cars not just to react, but to understand traffic—to anticipate behavior the way a human driver does.
A recipient of BU’s Research Thesis of the Year Award and the IRTF Applied Networking Award, Dr. Gürsun’s work continues to bridge foundational research with large-scale deployment. Reflecting on her time at BU, she shared:
BU gave me the freedom and courage to explore how intelligent systems can move from lab experiments to real-world impact. That mindset has stayed with me ever since.
Building on this recognition, Dr. Gürsun is now advancing research in Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) architectures and large language-based behavior models, continuing her role as a pioneer at the frontier of artificial intelligence.
Congratulations to Dr. Gürsun on this extraordinary achievement and on representing BU’s legacy of innovation, research excellence, and real-world impact.