{"id":"93d3fe26-fa2f-4d80-9f0e-42a49fd7e385","slug":"daniel-d-lee","name":"Daniel D. Lee","bioBrief":"Korean-American robotics and AI researcher who served as Executive Vice President of Samsung Research and Head of Global AI Centers at [Samsung Electronics](/companies/samsung-electronics) from 2018 to 2023, founding and leading the Samsung AI Center in New York City with a focus on robotics. He was previously the UPS Foundation Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, where he directed the GRASP Lab—a $13M research center pioneering autonomous vehicles, self-configuring humanoids, and robot swarms—from 2001 until departing for Samsung in 2018. He earned a PhD in Physics from MIT (1995) and an AB summa cum laude in Physics from Harvard (1990), and is an IEEE Fellow and AAAI Fellow. He is now the Tisch University Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Cornell Tech.","priorExits":null,"nationality":"American","verificationPosture":"verified","aliases":[],"sources":[{"url":"https://news.samsung.com/global/samsung-electronics-opens-a-new-ai-center-in-new-york-city","title":"Samsung Electronics Opens a New AI Center in New York City","sourceName":"Samsung Newsroom"},{"url":"https://www.grasp.upenn.edu/people/daniel-lee/","title":"Daniel Lee - GRASP Lab, University of Pennsylvania","sourceName":"GRASP Lab (UPenn)"},{"url":"https://www.kias.re.kr/kias/people/faculty/viewMember.do?memberId=11039","title":"Lee, Daniel D. AI Distinguished Professor - KIAS","sourceName":"KIAS"},{"url":"https://www.ece.cornell.edu/faculty-directory/daniel-dongyuel-lee","title":"Daniel Dongyuel Lee - Cornell ECE Faculty","sourceName":"Cornell University"}],"reviewStatus":"reviewed","createdAt":"2026-08-28T15:04:47.571Z","updatedAt":"2026-08-31T04:56:36.187Z","educations":[],"companyRoles":[{"id":"a933ae28-3a23-4d6a-9540-5022b7c11063","personId":"93d3fe26-fa2f-4d80-9f0e-42a49fd7e385","companyId":"99d1553e-fa75-4b3d-88fb-adb1ce51230f","role":"executive","roleTitle":"EVP & Head of NY AI Center","startDate":null,"endDate":null,"currentRole":true,"roleBasis":"verified_secondary","createdAt":"2026-08-28T15:04:48.403Z","company":{"slug":"samsung-ai-center","name":"Samsung AI Center"}}],"boardRoles":[],"investorRoles":[],"foundings":[]}