Mike Papadakis is an Associate Professor at the University of Luxembourg's Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT), where he leads the SerVal research group. His research focuses on software engineering, software security, and artificial intelligence. He holds a PhD in Software Testing and Verification from Athens University of Economics and Business, with an MSc and BSc from the same institution. His research explores mutation testing, machine learning applications in software development, and test optimization. Recent publications demonstrate a strong emphasis on AI robustness, flaky test analysis, and automated debugging techniques. Notable achievements include the IEEE TCSE Rising Star Award (2020) and 12 additional research awards. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles and delivered more than 30 invited talks globally.
Li Yang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Information Technology , part of the Faculty of Business and Information Technology at Ontario Tech University. His research focuses on applying AI and machine learning to cybersecurity, particularly in intrusion detection and anomaly detection for 5G/6G networks and IoT systems. He holds a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Western University (2022), and has held roles such as Vice Chair of IEEE Computer Society, London Section (2022–2023). Education: PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Western University (2022) Master of Science, University of Guelph (2018) Bachelor of Engineering, Wuhan University of Science and Technology (2016) Research Interests: His work spans cybersecurity, machine learning, deep learning, AutoML, model optimization, network automation, IoT security, intrusion detection, and adversarial machine learning. He develops frameworks for concept drift adaptation and online learning to enhance cybersecurity measures, with a focus on trustworthy AI and defense strategies against adversarial attacks. Awards: Graduate Student Award for Excellence in Research (2022) Graduate Symposium Award for Best Presentation (2022) Mitacs Accelerate Fellowship (2021) OC2 Lab Industrial Research Excellence Award (2020) Ranked in Stanford/Elsevier's Top 2% Scientists (2024) Grants & Involvement: Li Yang has contributed to conferences like IEEE GlobeCom and IEEE CCECE, and authored patents such as 'Convenient primary-secondary barrels' (2009). His work has garnered thousands of citations and GitHub stars, emphasizing practical applications of AI in cybersecurity.
Dr. M.Z. Naser is an Assistant Professor in the Glenn Department of Civil Engineering at Clemson University. His research focuses on causal and explainable machine learning methodologies applied to structural engineering, materials science, and fire safety. He holds a PhD from Michigan State University and an M.S. from the American University of Sharjah. Naser teaches courses such as Machine Learning for Civil Engineers and Structural Fire Engineering, emphasizing interdisciplinary innovation. His work bridges data-driven analysis with domain-specific knowledge to address challenges in resilient infrastructure design, including fire-resistant materials, structural retrofits, and AI-driven decision-making. Education: PhD, Michigan State University; M.S., American University of Sharjah Research Themes: Explainable AI, Fire Engineering, Structural Materials, Causal Inference Key Projects: Developing SPINEX framework, wildfire classification models, and cognitive infrastructure systems Recent publications analyze over 1000 fire tests to uncover spalling mechanisms, explore synthetic fire tests via GANs, and benchmark automated ML platforms. His work on causal diagrams for civil engineers and firefighter algorithms highlights contributions to both theory and practical applications. Naser also advocates for integrating AI into engineering education, emphasizing ethical and transparent model deployment.
Joaquin Vanschoren is an Associate Professor of Machine Learning at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), affiliated with the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science. He leads the Automated Machine Learning group and serves as Education Director for the Data Science program. His research focuses on democratizing AI, algorithm selection, and open science platforms like OpenML. He has received awards including the Dutch Data Prize and Amazon Research Award. Education: PhD in Engineering (KU Leuven, Belgium), MSc in Computer Science (KU Leuven). Research visits included IBM, Amazon Research, and universities globally. Research Interests: Machine Learning, Automated ML, Meta-learning, AI Safety, Data-centric AI. He co-founded OpenML and chairs MLCommons' AI Safety working group. Key Projects: NeurIPS Datasets and Benchmarks track, MLCommons initiatives, OpenML platform. Supervised 78 research works and authored 200+ papers. Awards: Dutch Data Prize (2016), Amazon Research Award (2019), Microsoft Azure Research Awards (2016–2017). Labs/Teams: OpenML open source team, MLCommons collaborations, Automated Machine Learning group at TU/e.
Dr. Marc Schmitt serves as a Research Associate in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Oxford while concurrently leading as Managing Director of the DEIM Research Institute in Germany. His interdisciplinary work bridges academic research and industry applications across artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and financial systems. Academic Background: PhD in Computer and Information Sciences (AI in Finance), University of Strathclyde MSc in Quantitative Finance, University of Strathclyde MSc in Software Engineering, University of Oxford BA in Business Administration, Technische Hochschule Nürnberg Georg Simon Ohm Dr. Schmitt's research focuses on AI-driven decision-making at the intersection of finance, business analytics, and cybersecurity. His work examines how intelligent systems integrate into organizational structures while addressing systemic risks in digital ecosystems. Recent investigations include generative AI threats in social engineering, no-code AutoML applications, and policy frameworks for AI-enhanced security systems. His publications demonstrate consistent methodological innovation across theoretical and applied domains. Analysis of his publication trajectory reveals growing emphasis on generative AI security implications (2024-2025), with foundational work in business analytics applications (2023). The research shows strong interdisciplinary connections between computer science, financial economics, and human-centered design principles, reflecting his unique background spanning technical and business domains. Prior to academia, Dr. Schmitt held strategic positions including Senior IT Partner for Equity Finance at Siemens Financial Services and management consulting roles at d-fine and Deloitte, where he advised Fortune 500 companies on digital transformation and risk management. His industry experience directly informs his research approach, emphasizing practical implementation challenges alongside theoretical innovation.
Prof. Dr. Erik Rodner is a faculty member at the University of Applied Sciences Berlin (HTW Berlin), where he serves as a Professor for Machine Learning and Data Science. He also contributes to the School of Engineering Sciences - Technology and Life. His research spans computer vision, machine learning, and biomedical applications, with a focus on learning with limited data, robust visual recognition models, and medical image analysis. He has developed innovative methods for medical diagnostics, industrial classification, and anomaly detection. Recent publications (2025-2016) highlight his expertise in visual in-context learning, semi-weakly segmentation, and active learning frameworks. He has collaborated with institutions such as ZEISS Group, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, and UC Berkeley. Scientific Awards: Award for Excellent Teaching (2023)
Hongkai Wen is a Professor (Chair in Machine Learning Systems) in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Warwick, UK. He holds dual appointments as a Fellow of the Alan Turing Institute (serving as Independent Scientific Advisor for BridgeAI and member of Turing Research Ethics team) and previously worked as Senior Research Scientist at Samsung AI Centre Cambridge and postdoctoral researcher at Oxford University. Education: Computer Science, Keble College, University of Oxford Research Focus: Develops intelligent multi-modal perception systems for real-world deployment with extreme computational efficiency. Core expertise spans ML systems optimization, neural architecture search, and cross-disciplinary applications in robotics, urban mobility, and wearable/IoT security. Pioneered event-based vision techniques and training-free NAS frameworks. Publication Trends: Recent work (2023-2025) demonstrates accelerating innovation in diffusion model efficiency, on-device AI deployment, and sensor fusion techniques. Dominant themes include computational resource optimization for edge devices, multi-modal temporal modeling, and privacy-preserving spatial analytics, with significant contributions to NeurIPS, ICML, and CVPR venues. Scientific Recognition: Best Paper Award, AutoML Conf 2023 (T-CET) Best Paper Runner-up, SenSys 2024 (AdaFlow) Best Paper Awards: IPSN 2014 & EWSN 2013 1st/2nd Place, Zero Cost NAS Competition (AutoML'22) Mentorship & Funding: Actively supervises PhD candidates through thesis committees at Warwick, Ulster, and Queensland universities. Secured National AI Strategy Fund for Macro Neural Architecture Search research. Recruits annually for PhD positions with scholarships from UKRI, Turing Institute, and industry partnerships. Research Leadership: Heads the AI/ML Systems (AMS) Division at Warwick, directing a 15+ member team developing deployable ML frameworks for mobile/robotic platforms. Maintains active collaborations with Samsung AI Centre and Turing Institute's BridgeAI programme on ethical AI deployment.
Juan Zhai is an Assistant Professor in the Manning College of Information & Computer Sciences (CICS) at University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she co-directs the Laboratory for Advanced Software Engineering Research (LASER) and participates in the UMass NLP group. Her academic career spans over 7 years of active service including program committee roles at top-tier conferences like ICSE, FSE, and ASE. Her research focuses on Software-AI Synergy with core areas including: Formal Specification Synthesis for precise software behavior definition Comment Generation and Maintenance using LLMs Trustworthy AI through bias detection and framework testing Deep Learning Infrastructure Reliability Recent work demonstrates strong emphasis on practical tools for AI safety and software dependability. Her publication trends show consistent output in top software engineering venues (ASE, ICSE, FSE) with increasing focus on AI/ML conferences (ACL, CVPR, ICLR). Key themes include metamorphic testing for deep learning frameworks, bias analysis in LLMs, and formal methods for specification synthesis. She actively serves the community through: Program committees for 13 major conferences Reviewing for 5 top journals including TOSEM and TSE 40+ total reviews across SE and AI venues Juan mentors PhD students including Gehao Zhang (research focus: Software Engineering, AI Safety) and teaches graduate courses like CS520 (Theory and Practice of Software Engineering) and CS692P (Hot Topics in SE Research). She leads the LASER lab which develops tools like C2S, CPC, and DevMuT for software reasoning and AI infrastructure testing.
Weiwen Jiang is a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at George Mason University (GMU), affiliated with the College of Engineering and Computing (CEC). He leads the JQub lab, focusing on hardware/software co-design for computing systems, spanning classical (FPGAs, ASICs) and quantum computing applications in AI-driven fields like medical imaging and geophysics. Prior to GMU, he held a postdoctoral position at the University of Notre Dame and earned his PhD in Computer Science from Chongqing University with a joint PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh. His research emphasizes quantum computing, AI accelerators, and domain-specific computing. Notable achievements include the 2025 NSF CAREER Award, ACM Sigda Meritorious Service Award (2024), and IEEE QuantumWeek Best Paper Award (2023). His work is funded by NSF, DoE, ARO, Meta, and Leidos. He co-chaired IEEE QuantumWeek (2023–2025) and created workshops like StableQ at ESWEEK 2023. Key contributions include developing frameworks like QuPAD for quantum learning and JQub's AI-driven geophysical and medical imaging tools. His lab graduated Dr. Yi Sheng (now at University of South Florida) and Dr. Zhepeng Wang (Amazon Applied Scientist). Current research explores quantum machine learning, noise mitigation, and fairness in AI for edge devices.
Andreas Holzinger is a Professor at Graz University of Technology, with additional affiliations at Medical University Graz and University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna in Austria. He is recognized as an IFIP Fellow (2021) for his significant contributions to information processing and computer science. His work spans multiple institutions across Europe, with notable collaborations extending to the University of Alberta in Canada. Professor Holzinger's research focuses on Human-Centered AI, Explainable AI (XAI), and their practical applications across diverse domains. His work bridges theoretical AI advancements with real-world implementations in healthcare, forestry, and human-robot interaction. He has pioneered approaches in counterfactual explanations, graph neural networks, and human-in-the-loop systems that emphasize transparency and trustworthiness in AI decision-making processes. His recent publications demonstrate a strong trend toward integrating large language models with traditional AI systems while maintaining explainability. Holzinger's work consistently emphasizes the human element in AI systems, ensuring that technological advancements serve human needs rather than obscuring decision processes. His research in medical AI, smart forestry, and agricultural applications shows a commitment to solving practical problems with human-centered technological solutions. Scientific Awards: IFIP Fellow (2021) Professor Holzinger has been instrumental in establishing design guidelines for explainable AI systems, particularly through his work on post-hoc versus ante-hoc explanations. His research on Kandinsky Patterns has provided valuable experimental frameworks for pattern analysis and machine intelligence. He has secured significant research funding for projects bridging AI with practical applications in healthcare and environmental monitoring. His leadership extends to the organization of major conferences and workshops, including the CD-MAKE conference series, where he has fostered interdisciplinary collaboration between AI researchers and domain experts. His work on the CLARUS platform demonstrates practical implementations of interactive explainable AI for medical applications.
Katharina Eggensperger is an Early Career Research Group Leader at the University of Tübingen , leading the AutoML for Science group within the Cluster of Excellence Machine Learning for Science . She previously completed her Ph.D. at the University of Freiburg under Frank Hutter and Marius Lindauer (2022), and actively contributes to the AutoML community through open-source tool development and competition leadership. Co-developer of AutoML.org tools Faculty member of IMPRS-IS Chair for multiple AutoML workshops/conferences (2019-2025) Her research focuses on automated machine learning (AutoML) with specific attention to: AutoML Systems Hyperparameter Optimization Tabular Machine Learning Scientific Applications of ML She has organized multiple AutoML schools and conferences, including serving as Program Chair for AutoML 2024 and Non-archival Track Chair for AutoML 2025. Her work emphasizes making machine learning accessible through automation while maintaining scientific rigor and interpretability, particularly for tabular data applications. Katharina actively recruits PhD students through IMPRS-IS and collaborates with institutions like the University of Freiburg and Cyber Valley .
Vassilis Christophides is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Crete and holds an advanced research position at Inria Paris, where he leads work in the MiMove team. His research spans databases, web information systems, big data processing, and IoT analytics, with a strong emphasis on entity resolution, data integration, and scalable data mining. He has supervised numerous research projects funded by the European Union and the Greek State, and has published over 130 articles in top-tier conferences and journals. Research Interests: His primary research areas include Databases, Web Information Systems, Big Data Processing and Analytics, and Information Systems for the Internet of Things. He also focuses on entity resolution, knowledge graphs, streaming data, and explainable AI, particularly in the context of anomaly detection and fairness-aware data systems. His recent work explores hybrid attention models for entity alignment and causal analysis in time series classification. Recent Research Trends: Analysis of his recent publications (2021–2025) reveals a strong focus on entity resolution with fairness constraints, explainable anomaly detection, and adaptive scheduling in IoT edge analytics. He also investigates deepfake detection, crop type mapping using satellite data, and structural bias in knowledge graphs, demonstrating a broad and impactful research portfolio at the intersection of data management and machine learning. Scientific Awards: 2004 SIGMOD Test of Time Award Best Paper Award, ISWC 2003 Best Paper Award, ISWC 2007 Advising and Grants: While specific student names are not listed in the provided texts, Christophides has co-authored numerous papers with researchers such as Vasilis Efthymiou, Ioannis Tsamardinos, and Nikolaos Myrtakis, suggesting active mentorship. He has been the scientific coordinator of multiple EU and national research projects, indicating substantial grant leadership and project management experience. Labs and Teams: He is affiliated with the MiMove team at Inria Paris, a research group focused on mobility and data-intensive systems. His work bridges academic and applied research, leveraging Inria’s infrastructure for large-scale data experimentation and innovation in IoT and edge computing environments.
Jürgen Cito is an Associate Professor with tenure at Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien), specializing in software engineering, explainable AI, and performance engineering. He leads research at the IPA Lab (as indicated by his personal website) and maintains a visiting researcher position at Google. His academic journey began with joining TU Wien as an Assistant Professor in Spring 2020, with promotion to Associate Professor announced in April 2024. His research interests span multiple critical areas of modern software development, with particular focus on developer experience, program comprehension, and the intersection of AI with software engineering practices. His work bridges theoretical foundations with practical industrial applications, as evidenced by collaborations with major technology companies. Analysis of his recent publications reveals a strong emphasis on practical tools and methodologies that enhance software quality, performance, and security. His research trajectory shows increasing focus on explainable AI techniques applied to software engineering problems, performance prediction from source code, and automated security testing approaches that leverage large language models. best teaching award for distance learning for Web Engineering (2020) Cito actively contributes to the software engineering community through numerous conference committee roles, including program committee positions at ASE, ICSE, ESEC/FSE, and other major venues. His lab appears to focus on developer tools, program analysis, and AI-assisted software engineering, with connections to both academic and industrial research environments.
Fenglong Ma is an Associate Professor at Pennsylvania State University, affiliated with the Institute for Computational and Data Sciences and the Center for Socially Responsible Artificial Intelligence. His research focuses on data mining, healthcare informatics, machine learning, natural language processing, and multimodal learning. He holds a Ph.D. from the University at Buffalo (2019) and degrees from Dalian University of Technology. His work addresses challenges in federated learning, medical AI, adversarial robustness, and multimodal systems. Key contributions include innovations in quantization for large language models, federated knowledge injection, and medical vision-language benchmarking. Recent publications explore topics like collaborative fairness in federated learning, robust medical vision-language models, and adversarial attack mitigation. His research bridges theory and practical applications in healthcare, cybersecurity, and personalized recommendation systems. He leads the PSU Data Science Lab and collaborates on projects involving AI ethics, multimodal data integration, and scalable medical foundation models.
Eric Medvet is a professor specializing in evolutionary computation, genetic programming, and robotics. He is actively involved in research areas such as neuroevolution, soft robotics, and modular robotics. His work bridges theoretical advancements in evolutionary algorithms with practical applications in robotics and AI. Roles: Conference chair for EuroGP (2020-2022), co-chair of multiple workshops and sessions. Key Research: Focus on genetic programming, embodied intelligence, and the design of adaptive robotic systems. Research Interests: His work emphasizes the development of scalable and interpretable AI systems, particularly through evolutionary methods applied to robotics. He explores topics like neuroevolution for soft robots, quality diversity algorithms, and the integration of machine learning with evolutionary computation. Publications: His recent work highlights trends in interpretable AI, modular robotics control, and evolutionary algorithms for complex systems. Notable contributions include studies on MAP-Elites, graph-based genetic programming, and the application of LLMs in automated testing. Grants & Labs: Developed frameworks like JGEA for evolutionary computation experiments. Collaborates on projects integrating evolutionary methods with real-world robotics applications.
