Rissland majored in applied mathematics as an undergraduate at
Brown University, where her undergraduate studies included a computer science course from
Andries van Dam. She graduated in 1969. After a 1970 master's degree at
Brandeis University, she completed a Ph.D. in mathematics at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1977. Her dissertation,
Epistemology, Representation, Understanding and Interactive Exploration of Mathematical Theories, was supervised by
Seymour Papert. She joined the UMass Amherst faculty in 1979. Her interest in law began around this time after reading a book on
US Supreme Court decisions. In 1982 and 1983 she was affiliated with the
Harvard Law School as a Fellow of Law and Computer Science, and from 1985 to 1986 she returned to the Harvard Law School as a lecturer. She also served two terms as a program director for artificial intelligence and cognitive science at the
National Science Foundation, from 2003 to 2007 and again from 2010 to 2012, helped found the International Association for Artificial Intelligence and Law, and later served as its president. She retired in 2013. ==Recognition==