# Andrew Mao

> Andrew Mao is the co-founder and CEO of Parsnip, an AI-powered learning app often called 'Duolingo for cooking' that helps novices build real confidence in the kitchen. A Harvard computer-science PhD and former computational social scientist, he ran the longest iterated prisoner's dilemma experiment ever conducted, built ML systems at neural-interface startup CTRL-labs (acquired by Facebook), and now applies the science of how people learn to the very human problem of figuring out what's for dinner.

- **Role:** Co-founder & CEO at Parsnip
- **Organizations:** Parsnip, CTRL-labs, Microsoft Research, Aarhus University, Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania, StartX
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Ph.D. Computer Science (Dissertation: 'Experimental Studies of Human Behavior in Social Computing Systems'; advised by Yiling Chen), Harvard University, S.M. Computer Science, Harvard University, B.S. Economics, summa cum laude & B.S.E. Computer Science, summa cum laude, University of Pennsylvania (Wharton & SEAS)
- **Known for:** Co-founded Parsnip, an AI cooking-education app with 35k+ organic downloads and a 4.9-star rating, featured by Apple, Ran the longest iterated prisoner's dilemma experiment ever conducted (one month), Built ML platforms handling 1TB+ time-series datasets at CTRL-labs (acquired by Facebook)

## Career timeline

- **2009** — Graduates summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with dual degrees in Economics (Wharton) and Computer Science.
- **2012** — Earns S.M. in Computer Science at Harvard; interns at Microsoft Research building predictive models of user engagement.
- **2015** — Completes Ph.D. in Computer Science at Harvard, studying human behavior in social computing systems.
- **2015-2017** — Postdoctoral researcher in Computational Social Science at Microsoft Research NYC; runs the longest iterated prisoner's dilemma experiment ever conducted and builds the TurkServer experiment platform.
- **2017** — Tenure-track Assistant Professor at Aarhus University, Denmark, working on the ScienceAtHome citizen-science platform.
- **2017-2019** — Research Scientist & Product Manager at CTRL-labs (neural interface startup acquired by Facebook); builds ML platforms for 1TB+ time-series datasets.
- **2020** — Co-founds Parsnip and becomes CEO, building an AI-powered learning app for cooking.
- **2023** — Announces Parsnip's seed raise backed by Duolingo's Luis von Ahn and Severin Hacker, among others.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Parsnip, an AI cooking-education app with 35k+ organic downloads and a 4.9-star rating, featured by Apple
- Ran the longest iterated prisoner's dilemma experiment ever conducted (one month)
- Built ML platforms handling 1TB+ time-series datasets at CTRL-labs (acquired by Facebook)
- 12 peer-reviewed publications with 1,200+ citations and an h-index of 12 across AAAI, EC, HCOMP, Nature Communications, and PLoS ONE
- 31 invited talks worldwide; program committee member for 8+ international conferences
- Graduated summa cum laude in two majors at the University of Pennsylvania
- Parsnip hit #1 product of the week on Product Hunt and #1 on Hacker News

## Latest updates

- **2023-02** — Announced Parsnip's seed raise, backed by Duolingo co-founders Luis von Ahn and Severin Hacker.
- **2024-09** — Shipped a new generation of Parsnip AI that 'does the heavy lifting' in personalized cooking lessons.
- **2025** — Posted on building 'AI tutors that actually work,' extending Parsnip's learning engine toward broader education.

## Links

- Website: https://www.andrewmao.net/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mizzao/
- GitHub: https://github.com/mizzao

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/andrew-mao
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-25