Lutz Schubert is a researcher at the Institute of Computer Science , University of Cologne. He focuses on efficient distributed and parallel execution environments for heterogeneous systems, notably the MyThOS operating system in collaboration with Brandenburg University of Technology, Cottbus-Senftenberg. His interdisciplinary work bridges computer science and digital archaeology , addressing modeling of non-deterministic events from sparse excavation data and exploring human behavior constraints in archaeological contexts. Research Interests Design of modular, scalable operating systems for distributed systems Optimization of execution environments for heterogeneous hardware Application of complex systems modeling to digital archaeology Statistical and probabilistic methods for archaeological interpretation Autonomic resource distribution and adaptation in computing Publication Trends : His work spans operating systems , parallel computing , and digital humanities , with recent emphasis on probabilistic reasoning in archaeology and adaptive OS design for multicore architectures. Labs & Collaborations : He collaborates with Brandenburg University of Technology on MyThOS and leads research in computational archaeology as chair of Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA) , Germany.
Roberto Martin-Martin is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of Texas at Austin, where he leads the Robot Interactive Intelligence (RobIN) Lab. His research bridges robotics, computer vision, and machine learning to enable robots to operate autonomously in human-centric environments like homes and offices. Previously, he was a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Stanford Vision and Learning Lab working with Fei-Fei Li and Silvio Savarese, and an AI Researcher at Salesforce AI. Education: Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Robotics from Technische Universität Berlin (TUB), advised by Professor Oliver Brock B.Sc. from Universidad Politécnica de Madrid Dr. Martin-Martin's research focuses on developing AI algorithms that combine reinforcement learning and imitation learning with advanced planning and control to address core challenges in robot perception. His work spans mobile and whole-body manipulation, dexterous and contact-rich interactions, and long-horizon tasks in unstructured environments. He takes inspiration from human cognition through psychology and cognitive science to develop solutions for skills ranging from simple pick-and-place operations to complex tasks like cooking and furniture assembly. His recent publications demonstrate a strong trend toward enabling robots to learn from human demonstrations, particularly through video, and to safely adapt these demonstrations to their own morphology. There's significant emphasis on mobile manipulation, bimanual tasks, and developing hardware that supports robust robot learning through trial and error. His work shows increasing integration of large language models and vision-language models to enhance robot understanding and task execution. Scientific Awards: RSS Pioneer (2020) Winner of Amazon Picking Challenge (2015) RSS Best Systems Paper Award (2016) ICRA Best Paper Award IROS Best Mechanism Award Amazon Faculty Award AAAI Young Faculty IJCAI Early Faculty Nominated for Best Paper at IROS (2014, 2017) Dr. Martin-Martin advises PhD students including Arpit Bahety, who is working on mobile manipulation and learning. He serves as Chair of the IEEE Technical Committee on Mobile Manipulation and is a co-founder of QueerInRobotics. His research is supported by industry partnerships and academic funding sources that enable his lab to develop both hardware and software innovations in robotics. He directs the Robot Interactive Intelligence (RobIN) Lab at UT Austin, which takes a holistic approach to robot intelligence, developing both the hardware (like the BaRiFlex gripper) and software frameworks necessary for robots to learn from interaction. The lab's research addresses the full pipeline from perception to action, with particular emphasis on learning from human demonstrations, safe exploration, and adapting to novel objects and environments.
Alexander Schwing is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, affiliated with the Coordinated Science Laboratory. His research focuses on machine learning and computer vision with applications in 3D scene understanding, generative modeling, and multi-agent systems. Education: Diploma in Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, Technical University of Munich (TUM) PhD in Computer Science, ETH Zurich Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Toronto Research Interests: Structured prediction in deep learning Generative adversarial networks and stability Multi-modal vision-language models 3D scene reconstruction from single images Embodied agent collaboration Semantic segmentation with temporal coherence Recent Publications: Highlight trends in neural rendering, video object segmentation, and reinforcement learning with applications to 3D modeling and multi-agent systems. Notable innovations include SAIL-VOS dataset for amodal segmentation and NeRFDeformer for single-view scene transformation. Scientific Awards: NSF CAREER Award, 3M and Amazon research awards, multiple student recognition awards, ETH Zurich PhD medal, and best paper at Intelligent Tutoring Systems 2014. Teaching: Offers graduate courses in Pattern Recognition (ECE 544) and Machine Learning (CS 446/ECE 449). Previously taught at University of Toronto and ETH Zurich. Labs & Collaborations: Leads research at Coordinated Science Laboratory (UIUC) with collaborations across University of Toronto, ETH Zurich, and industry partners like Samsung SAIT and Amazon.
Christopher G. Atkeson is a Professor at the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), where he has been since 2000 after previously holding positions at MIT and Georgia Institute of Technology. His research focuses on fulfilling the science fiction vision of machines achieving human levels of competence in perception, cognition, and action, with particular emphasis on understanding how to get machines to generate and perceive human behavior. Atkeson's work spans two complementary approaches: humanoid robotics and human aware environments. His research interests include nonparametric learning, memory-based learning, reinforcement learning, learning from demonstration, and modeling human behavior. He is particularly known for his work on robot learning of challenging dynamic tasks such as juggling, trajectory-based optimization, and soft robotics (including his contributions to the Baymax character in Disney's Big Hero 6). His recent publications demonstrate a strong focus on tactile sensing (FingerVision), human-in-the-loop optimization for exoskeletons, deep learning for locomotion control, and trajectory-based optimization methods. His work consistently bridges theoretical foundations in machine learning with practical implementations on physical robots. Among his scientific recognitions are an NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award, a Sloan Research Fellowship, and a Teaching Award from the MIT Graduate Student Council. Atkeson has advised numerous students who have gone on to successful careers in academia and industry, including notable researchers like Andrew Moore and Stefan Schaal. His teaching includes courses on dynamic optimization, humanoids, kinematics, dynamics, and control.
Anca Dragan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley, where she runs the InterACT Lab focused on algorithms for human-AI and human-robot interaction. Currently on leave from Berkeley, she leads AI Safety and Alignment at Google DeepMind, overseeing safety for Gemini models and preparing for future advancements. Dragan has been a co-PI of the Center for Human-Compatible AI and served on the steering committee for the Berkeley AI Research (BAIR) Lab. B.Sc. in Computer Science from Jacobs University Bremen, Germany Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University Dr. Dragan's research focuses on enabling AI agents to work effectively with, around, and in support of people. Her work bridges robotics, machine learning, and game theory to create systems that better understand human preferences and coordinate with users. Key areas include AI alignment (ensuring AI does what people actually want), learning reward functions from diverse human feedback forms, and developing algorithms for human-AI collaboration across domains like autonomous vehicles, brain-machine interfaces, and recommender systems. Her research emphasizes maintaining uncertainty about human preferences and accounting for the plurality of human values. Dr. Dragan's recent publications reveal a strong focus on addressing fundamental challenges in AI safety and alignment. Her work spans theoretical foundations of reward learning, practical implementations for human-AI coordination, and critical examinations of limitations in current approaches. There's a clear trajectory toward more robust, safe, and value-aligned AI systems that can handle complex human preferences while avoiding both present-day harms and potential catastrophic risks. IEEE RAS Early Academic Career Award in Robotics and Automation (2021) McEntyre Award for Excellence in Teaching (2020) PECASE (Presidential Early Career Award for Science and Engineering) (2019) Sloan Fellowship (2018) NSF CAREER Award (2017) Okawa Foundation Award (2017) MIT Tech Review 35 Innovators Under 35 (2017) Multiple best paper awards at top robotics and AI conferences Dr. Dragan has mentored numerous successful students who have gone on to faculty positions at MIT, Stanford, CMU, and Princeton, as well as industry roles at DeepMind, Waymo, and Meta. Her advising philosophy emphasizes both technical rigor and consideration of broader societal impacts. She has secured significant research funding including NSF CAREER, ONR Young Investigator, and Okawa Foundation awards, supporting work on human-AI interaction and alignment. Dragan has also consulted for Waymo for six years, helping develop roadmaps for deploying increasingly learning-based safety-critical systems. Dr. Dragan leads the InterACT Lab at UC Berkeley, which has produced influential work on Cooperative Inverse Reinforcement Learning, Inverse Reward Design, and other foundational concepts in human-AI interaction. The lab's research has significantly shaped the field of AI alignment, with applications spanning autonomous vehicles that coordinate with human drivers, brain-machine interfaces that adapt to user needs, and language models that better understand human preferences. Current work focuses on scaling safety approaches as AI capabilities advance, ensuring alignment keeps pace with technological progress.
Andrew Stephen is the L’Oréal Professor of Marketing and Deputy Dean for Faculty and Research at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. He leads the Marketing faculty and directs the Oxford Future of Marketing Initiative, focusing on emerging technologies like AI and data-driven strategies in marketing, media, and advertising. His research explores digital marketing, consumer behavior, and the impact of new technologies, earning him recognition as a top global marketing scholar. His academic contributions span leading journals such as the Journal of Consumer Research and Harvard Business Review. He serves as editor of the Journal of Consumer Research, co-editor of the International Journal of Research in Marketing, and actively engages with industry through councils like the Mobile Marketing Association’s Brand Safety Council. Teaching responsibilities include marketing curriculum oversight and courses across MBA, Executive MBA, and DPhil programs, focusing on digital transformation, marketing analytics, and the future of marketing. His work bridges academic rigor with industry relevance, addressing challenges in tech-enabled marketing and global brand strategies. Awards: Top marketing academic in the UK (AMA), featured in Poets & Quants’ top 40 under 40, multiple research excellence awards. Labs/Initiatives: Oxford Future of Marketing Initiative, fostering collaborations with leading companies to tackle industry challenges. Grants/Advising: Extensive industry partnerships and academic grants not explicitly detailed in the text.
Chris Atkeson is a Professor at the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University. His research focuses on achieving human-level competence in machines through humanoid robotics and human-aware environments. He explores machine learning techniques such as reinforcement learning, nonparametric methods, and memory-based learning to develop robots capable of complex tasks like manipulation, locomotion, and perception. His work emphasizes bridging the gap between simulation and real-world applications (sim2real transfer), with contributions to tactile sensing (e.g., FingerVision), dynamic walking control, and human-robot collaboration. Notable projects include participation in the DARPA Robotics Challenge with Team WPI-CMU, where his team developed reliable humanoid behavior for disaster response scenarios. Atkeson’s research spans robotics, computer vision, and control systems, with a focus on enabling robots to perceive, learn, and act in unstructured environments. His recent work includes advancements in 3D scene capture, soft robotics, and energy-based planning for compositional tasks.
Per Krusell is Professor of Economics at Stockholm University and holds the Torsten and Ragnar Söderberg Chair at the Institute for International Economic Studies (IIES). He is a Fellow of the Econometric Society and served as President of the European Economic Association in 2020. He is currently the Secretary of the Prize Committee for the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. Education: PhD in Economics, University of Minnesota Research Interests: Per Krusell’s research spans macroeconomics , inequality , climate economics , labor markets , and political economy . He has made foundational contributions to understanding incomplete markets, wealth distribution, optimal taxation, and the macroeconomic effects of climate change. His work often integrates dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) models with heterogeneous agents to study long-run outcomes and policy impacts. Publications Trend: His recent publications (2022–2025) reflect a strong focus on climate policy , integrated assessment modeling , and macro-labor dynamics . Key themes include carbon taxation, labor supply responses to productivity growth, fiscal multipliers in heterogeneous-agent settings, and the macroeconomic consequences of vaccination and epidemic control. Awards & Honors: Fellow of the Econometric Society Torsten and Ragnar Söderberg Chair in Economics President, European Economic Association (2020) Secretary, Nobel Prize Committee in Economic Sciences Advising & Grants: While specific student names are not listed, his leadership roles in global economic associations and policy committees indicate extensive academic advising and grant involvement in macroeconomic policy and climate economics. Labs & Teams: He is affiliated with the Institute for International Economic Studies (IIES) at Stockholm University, a leading research institute in macroeconomics and international economics.
Joseph Kable is the Jean-Marie Kneeley President's Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania's Department of Psychology within the School of Arts and Sciences. His research integrates experimental economics, cognitive neuroscience, and personality psychology to investigate the neural and psychological mechanisms underlying decision-making. He explores how subjective value is represented in the brain, deviations from rational choice theory, and individual differences in decision processes. His lab employs fMRI and interdisciplinary methods to study topics like risk tolerance, impulsivity, and neural plasticity. Education: BS in Chemistry from Emory University (undergraduate), PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Pennsylvania (doctoral). Research focuses on behavioral and cognitive neuroscience mechanisms of choice, including studies on temporal predictions, value signals, and brain structure-function relationships. His recent work examines how neural markers correlate with decision-making variability across individuals. He currently advises graduate students in Psychology and has post-doctoral researchers in his lab. Associated with MindCORE, Penn's hub for integrative mind research. Lab activities include undergraduate research programs and active studies exploring decision neuroscience and neuroeconomics.
Jiaxuan You is an Assistant Professor at the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, leading the U Lab focused on achieving Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) in digital environments. His research spans graph neural networks (GNNs), relational data, foundation models, and machine learning systems. PhD and MS in Computer Science from Stanford University (2021) Developed GraphGym and PyTorch Geometric (PyG) for graph learning Core member at Kumo AI (2021-2023) His research explores: Graph-enhanced LLMs: Integrating relational structures into foundation models AGI Development: Self-optimizing AI agents and tool utilization ML Systems: Scalable architectures and redundancy-free computation Interdisciplinary Applications: Financial networks, crop yield prediction, and metro systems Recent publications focus on temporal reasoning, multi-agent dynamics, and hybrid architectures for LLMs. He actively develops open-source tools like DBGYM and GraphRouter. Scientific recognition includes: JPMC PhD Fellowship Baidu Scholarship Best Student Paper at AAAI 2017 World Bank Big Data Innovation Challenge winner He mentors PhD and intern students, emphasizing machine learning systems expertise. His lab collaborates on AGI workshops (e.g., ICLR 2024) and industry projects.
Olga Russakovsky is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Princeton University and Associate Director of the Princeton Laboratory for Artificial Intelligence. Her research focuses on computer vision , machine learning , human-computer interaction , and fairness, accountability, and transparency in AI systems. Princeton University faculty member since 2025 Affiliated with Princeton's Center for Statistics and Machine Learning and Center for Information Technology Policy Scientific Recognition: Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (2025) PAMI Young Researcher Award (2022) AnitaB.org Emerging Leader Abie Award (2020) CRA-WP Anita Borg Early Career Award (2020) MIT Technology Review 35-under-35 Innovator (2017) PAMI Everingham Prize (2016) As a co-founder and current Board Chair of AI4ALL , she drives initiatives to expand diversity in AI. Her recent publications demonstrate expertise in vision-language models , deepfake detection , and ethical AI systems .
Shanique Brown serves as Assistant Professor of Management at the Zicklin School of Business, City University of New York (CUNY), where she investigates cognitive processes impacting organizational team dynamics and decision-making. Her research bridges industrial-organizational psychology with practical applications in extreme environments. Her academic foundation includes: Ph.D. in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from DePaul University M.A. in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville B.Sc. in Psychology from the University of the West Indies Dr. Brown's research centers on decision-making mechanisms and team cognition within organizational contexts, with specialized focus on extreme environments like space missions. She examines how cognitive styles, working memory, and team composition influence performance in isolated, confined, and high-stakes settings. Her work integrates psychological theory with actionable frameworks for optimizing team effectiveness across virtual and physical workspaces. Analysis of her publication history reveals evolving expertise in team science, particularly regarding virtual team leadership, polycultural organizations, and NASA-relevant analog research. Recent work emphasizes selection-optimization-compensation models for team performance and psychosocial factors in extreme environments, demonstrating consistent contribution to organizational psychology literature. Her scientific recognition includes: Editorial Fellowship from Group Dynamics (2022) Wayne State University Faculty Accessibility Fellowship (2022) Teaching Innovation Development Excellence Award (2020) Faculty Teaching Award (2020) University Research Grant (2019) Robert A. Daugherty Memorial Award (2011) Dr. Brown actively collaborates on NASA-funded research through the Human Research Program, developing crew composition models for long-duration space missions. She serves on Baruch College's PhD Admissions and Interdisciplinary Business Major committees while maintaining leadership roles in the Society of Industrial-Organizational Psychology, including Task Force Chair and Conference Committee positions. Her grant work focuses on translating team dynamics research into operational frameworks for extreme environments. She leads interdisciplinary collaborations with NASA researchers and international scholars on projects including virtual escape room studies for team performance assessment and CREWS (Crew Recommender for Effective Work in Space) development, demonstrating commitment to solving real-world team challenges in high-consequence settings.
Wendy Ju is an Associate Professor of Information Science at Cornell Tech, with appointments in the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science, the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute, and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. Previously, she served as executive director of interaction design research at Stanford University's Center for Design Research and as an associate professor of interaction design at the California College of the Arts. Her work bridges human-computer interaction, design, and robotics with a focus on how interactive devices can communicate with people without interrupting them. PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University Master's degree in Media Arts and Sciences from MIT Professor Ju's research centers on implicit interactions, human-robot collaboration, and automotive interfaces. She investigates how people interact with automated systems in natural contexts, develops methods for early-stage prototyping of autonomous technologies, and examines the social implications of robotics in urban environments. Her work spans from theoretical frameworks to practical applications, with particular emphasis on designing systems that integrate seamlessly into human activities without demanding constant attention. Her recent publications reveal a strong trajectory toward understanding human-robot interaction in public urban spaces, with increasing focus on robot navigation in city streets, the social implications of autonomous vehicles, and the integration of generative AI in design processes. Her work consistently bridges theoretical HCI frameworks with practical applications in transportation, urban design, and everyday robotics. Inducted into the ACM SIGCHI Academy (2025) Multiple Honorable Mention Awards at ACM CHI and DIS conferences Best Paper Award at Multimodal Technologies and Interaction (2023) Best Student Paper Award at IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Symposium (2017) Best Demonstration Award at HRI (2017) Professor Ju actively mentors numerous PhD and master's students, many of whom have become leading researchers in HCI and robotics. Her research has been supported by significant grants from NSF and industry partners, enabling extensive field studies of human-robot interaction in real-world settings. She has pioneered methodologies for studying autonomous vehicle interactions through both simulated and naturalistic driving environments. Her work with the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute supports interdisciplinary research at the intersection of computing, design, and urban technology. She has established research partnerships with transportation authorities, automotive companies, and urban planning organizations to study how emerging technologies can enhance urban mobility while respecting human needs and social contexts.
Sarah Billington is the UPS Foundation Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University and a Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment. Her research program focuses on sustainable building design, human wellbeing, and ethical supply chain practices. Education: PhD, University of Texas at Austin, Structural Engineering (1997) MSE, University of Texas at Austin, Structural Engineering (1994) BSE, Princeton University, Civil Engineering & Operations Research (1990) Her lab employs interdisciplinary methods to study how built environments impact human physical, psychological, and social wellbeing. Current projects include developing tools to quantify nature exposure in buildings, exploring affordable housing's role in wellbeing, and using AI to assess forced labor risks in material supply chains. While no longer active in this area, her group previously pioneered research on sustainable construction materials like bio-based composites and ductile cement-based composites. Her recent publications address topics such as nature integration in architecture, workplace design optimization, and health impacts of building materials. The Billington Lab at Stanford fosters collaborative team science, welcoming partnerships to advance occupant-centric engineering solutions.
Panos Ipeirotis is a Professor at the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at New York University, affiliated with the Department of Technology, Operations, and Statistics. He also serves as the George A. Kellner Faculty Fellow and is associated with the Center for Data Science and Computer Science departments at NYU. PhD in Computer Science (Columbia University, 2004) MSc in Computer Science (Columbia University, 2001) BSc in Computer Engineering & Informatics (University of Patras, 1999) His research spans crowdsourcing, machine learning, human-AI collaboration, online labor markets, and social media analytics. He pioneered human-machine loop systems that combine human and machine intelligence to achieve superior outcomes. His work has applications in data quality assurance, visual media search (e.g., Google Project Glass), and economic valuation of user-generated content. Recent publications focus on algorithmic fairness in hiring systems, occupational segregation analysis, and theoretical advancements in crowdsourcing consensus mechanisms. Earlier work includes foundational studies on data quality in crowdsourcing platforms, economic impacts of product reviews, and query optimization for text-centric tasks. 2015 Lagrange Prize in Complex Systems NSF CAREER Award SIGKDD Test of Time Award (2020) Multiple Best Paper awards (WWW 2011, KDD 2008, SIGMOD 2006) He has received significant grants, including a $1.5 million Google Research Grant (2013) for integrating crowdsourcing with machine learning algorithms. His work bridges computer science, economics, and social psychology, with implications for policy-making and business strategy.
