Ling Xu is a Ph.D. Student in the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon in 2004. She worked for a year in industry before joining the Robotics Institute as a National Science Foundation graduate fellowship recipient. Her research focuses on path planning for air and ground robots. She also co-heads Creative Tech Nights, an outreach program to introduce middle and high school girls to Computer Science.

DeSIGN is an educational software designed to intelligently reinforce vocabulary and American Sign Language signs for deaf students in middle school. The motivation for this V-Unit project is to raise the reading comprehension level of deaf students graduating from high school, and enhance their participation in society. This software is designed to have an interactive tutor interface and includes a game. This work is done in collaboration with the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf in Pittsburgh, PA.