Marketta Kyttä is a Professor of Land Use Planning at Aalto University's Department of Built Environment. She holds a PhD in Architecture from Helsinki University of Technology (2004) and leads the Spatial Planning and Transportation Engineering Master’s program. Research Interests: Child- and age-friendly urban environments SoftGIS methodology for participatory mapping Social sustainability and urban health Public participation in planning Activity space modeling Scientific Awards: Lea Pulkkinen award Tapio Nummenmaa award Geospatial World Forum's WebGIS Innovation Award (2010) Oskari Vilamo award (2020) Oppikirja-palkinto for urban planning literature Methodological Contributions: SoftGIS (PPGIS innovation) Commercialization as Maptionnaire software International Collaborations: Affiliated with universities in Italy, Australia, and the US. Her work spans 80+ countries through Maptionnaire’s global adoption.
Dr Duncan Smith is an Associate Professor in GIS and Visualisation at the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA) at University College London (UCL). He serves as Programme Co-Director for the MSc Urban Spatial Science, focusing on digital visualisation and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) education. His research emphasizes urban sustainability, transport accessibility, and interactive urban visualisation, with a particular interest in global mega-cities like London, Singapore, and São Paulo. Dr Smith holds a PhD from UCL (2011), an MSc from the University of Edinburgh (2005), and a BA (2003). His recent projects include leading the ESRC-funded Driving Urban Transitions project (2024) exploring sustainable travel in small cities and outer metropolitan areas. Previously, he was Co-Investigator on the SIMETRI project (NSFC JPI Urban Europe) analyzing urban sustainability in London, the Randstad, and China's Greater Bay Area. His research interests span urban visualisation techniques, transport equity analysis, and polycentric urban development. Key areas include GIS-driven urban modelling, accessibility metrics, and the intersection of housing policy with sustainable urban form. His interactive visualisations, available on citygeographics.org , showcase innovative approaches to spatial data presentation. Dr Smith's work consistently addresses global sustainability challenges through geospatial methodologies. Recent studies highlight inequalities in transport accessibility and the spatial implications of urban policies. Upcoming projects will further investigate small-city mobility dynamics using multi-national collaborations with Amsterdam and Lisbon researchers.
Alexei A. Efros is the Howard Friesen Professor in the EECS Department at UC Berkeley, affiliated with the Berkeley Artificial Intelligence Research (BAIR) Lab. Previously, he spent a decade at CMU's Robotics Institute and held a postdoc at the University of Oxford under Andrew Zisserman. He collaborates with INRIA/École Normale Supérieure in Paris. His research focuses on self-supervised learning, generative models, and visual data mining, with applications to robotics, computational photography, and art. Education & Academic Roles: Postdoc at Oxford (with Andrew Zisserman), faculty at CMU (2005–2015), currently at UC Berkeley. Teaches courses like CS 180/280A (Computer Vision) and CS 280 (Graduate Computer Vision). Research Interests: Self-supervised learning, generative models (e.g., diffusion models, inpainting), visual commonsense, and cross-modal reasoning. His work bridges computer vision and graphics, emphasizing data-driven approaches. Recent projects include Visual Jenga, Diffusion Models as Data Mining Tools, and Prioritized Generative Replay. Grants & Labs: Leads the Efros Research Group, advised over 40 PhD students (e.g., Jun-Yan Zhu, Tinghui Zhou). Collaborates with institutions like INRIA and NVIDIA. Active in grants related to AI, vision, and robotics. Labs/Teams: BAIR Lab (UC Berkeley), former affiliations with CMU Robotics Institute and Willow Team (INRIA/ENS Paris). Current lab focuses on generative AI, 3D perception, and visual reasoning.
Beth St. Jean is an Associate Professor and Faculty Director of the Carillon Community in Health Justice at the University of Maryland’s College of Information Studies (College Park). She holds a PhD and MS in Information from the University of Michigan School of Information and a BA in Mathematics from Smith College. Her research focuses on improving health outcomes through understanding health-related information behaviors, health literacy, and self-efficacy. She co-authored Understanding Human Information Behavior (2021) and leads projects like HackHealth to enhance youth health literacy. Education: PhD in Information, University of Michigan School of Information (2012) MS in Information (LIS), University of Michigan School of Information (2006) BA in Mathematics, Smith College (1988) Research Interests: Health informatics, health justice, consumer health information behavior, health literacy, youth digital practices, and information literacy. Her work emphasizes addressing health disparities through information access and education. Recent Research Trends: Her publications explore topics like long-haulers’ information needs (2024), pandemic-era health justice (2023), and social media’s role in predicting health disparities (2022). She also investigates patient-generated health data challenges (2022) and library roles in promoting health equity (2020). Awards and Recognition: ASIS&T SIG-USE Innovation Award (2017) ACM SIGCHI Excellent Reviewer (2017) ALISE/LMC Paper Award (2015) Beta Phi Mu/LRRT Research Award (2014) Teaching and Grants: Teaches courses on information behavior, research methods, and consumer health informatics. Co-PI on grants like HackHealth 2.0 (NIH, $123K) and youth health literacy initiatives ($68.5K). Also serves as Assistant Director of the Information Policy & Access Center and Senior Fellow at CASCI. Labs and Initiatives: Leads the Carillon Community in Health Justice and collaborates on projects like the HackHealth after-school program to engage disadvantaged youth in health entrepreneurship.
Ian Ewart is an Associate Professor at the University of Reading's School of the Built Environment, serving as Head of Construction and Engineering Management and Research Group Lead for Organisation, People and Technology. He chairs the Research Ethics Committee since 2016 and supervises undergraduate/postgraduate dissertations. His academic journey spans engineering and anthropology: DPhil Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Oxford, St Hugh's College (2007-2012) MSc Material Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, University of Oxford, St Hugh's College (2006-2007) BA (Hons) Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Oxford, Harris Manchester College (2003-2006) Diploma in Management Studies, University of the West of England (1990-1994) BEng (Hons) Mechanical Engineering, Staffordshire University (1983-1987) Ewart's research integrates ethnographic methods with digital technology studies, examining human-technology interactions in construction and domestic settings. His work bridges engineering practice and social anthropology, focusing on skill transmission, sustainable design, and multisensory experiences in virtual environments. Publications from 2025-2013 reveal a dominant trajectory in digital twins for socio-ecological sustainability, VR-based occupant behavior prediction, and HBIM for heritage conservation. The corpus demonstrates consistent cross-disciplinary innovation, merging archaeological reconstructions with healthcare applications while maintaining anthropological rigor. Key recognition: ESRC Future Research Leader fellowship (2013) for Designing Healthy Homes project He supervises PhD candidates like Afolabi Dania (Nigerian sustainable construction) and Joanna Hull (Heritage BIM), leveraging ESRC funding for ethnography-VR health studies. His grants emphasize participatory design and real-world impact assessment in built environments. Leaders the Organisation, People and Technology research group, developing multisensory Roman town reconstructions with sound/smell integration to advance archaeological and architectural experience modeling.
Chee-Wooi Ten is a tenured Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Michigan Technological University, where he has served since 2010 and achieved tenure in 2016. He concurrently holds an Affiliated Professor appointment in Applied Computing and directs both the PSERC Site and ICC CPS Center. His institutional roles emphasize cyber-physical security integration within power infrastructure. His educational background includes: PhD in Electrical Engineering from University College Dublin (2009) MSc in Electrical Engineering from Iowa State University (2001) BSc in Electrical Engineering from Iowa State University (1999) Ten's research pioneers cyber-informed security engineering strategies for bulk power systems, focusing on quantifying rare events through system risk models and data science. His work bridges power grid interactions with robotics and transportation systems to advance decarbonization and electrification. Key methodologies include validating cyber-physical security frameworks against steady-state and dynamic grid approaches, with emphasis on attack/defense combinatorics and smart home technologies. This transdisciplinary approach supports the fourth industrial revolution's resilience requirements. His publication trends reveal strong focus on risk-aggregated substation testbeds using generative adversarial networks, cyber insurance models for power systems, and cascading failure analysis from switching attacks. Recent works increasingly integrate machine learning with physics-based modeling to address cybersecurity threats in inverter-based resource integration and distribution emergency operations. Ten has secured over $6.5M in active funding including: $2M DOE grant (MTU portion $105,000) for CyDERMS Center on DERs/Microgrids cybersecurity $704,409 CyManII award for secure digitalization in smart manufacturing $1.05M DOE ARPA-E grant for decarbonized freight transportation modeling NSF CyberCorps Scholarship for Service program ($3.38M) His grants consistently address risk management through data-driven and physics-based modeling, with industry partnerships through PSERC and utility collaborations. As ICC CPS Center Director, he leads research on cyber-physical security testbeds and coordinates the PSERC Summer Transformation School. His team develops validation frameworks for NERC CIP compliance while addressing practical pain points in OT cybersecurity for grid operators.
Nicolas Federico Martin is an Associate Professor in the Department of Crop Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, with additional appointments as Associate Professor in the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Center for Digital Agriculture, and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA). His interdisciplinary work bridges traditional agricultural science with cutting-edge computational approaches. Dr. Martin's research focuses on the intersection of agriculture and data science, with particular emphasis on: Precision agriculture and on-farm experimentation methodologies Machine learning applications for crop management and yield prediction Nitrogen and nutrient management optimization Soybean and corn breeding and production systems Remote sensing and UAV applications in agriculture Sustainable agricultural practices including cover crop management His publication record demonstrates a clear trajectory toward increasingly sophisticated integration of artificial intelligence with agricultural science. Recent work shows heavy emphasis on using machine learning algorithms (particularly reinforcement learning, convolutional neural networks, and generalized additive models) to solve practical farming challenges related to crop management decisions, yield prediction, and resource optimization. This research has significant implications for both scientific understanding of crop-environment interactions and practical farm management. Dr. Martin actively collaborates across disciplines and institutions, as evidenced by his extensive co-authorship network spanning agronomy, computer science, environmental science, and economics. His work has garnered attention from numerous news outlets and social media platforms, indicating its relevance to current agricultural challenges. He is a key contributor to the Data-Intensive Farm Management project, which aims to transform agronomic research through on-farm precision experimentation. His affiliation with NCSA provides access to high-performance computing resources essential for processing large agricultural datasets. Additionally, his work in Latin American agriculture (particularly in Mexico and Argentina) reflects his commitment to addressing global food security challenges.
Professor Nicole Metje is a Professor of Infrastructure Monitoring at the Department of Civil Engineering, University of Birmingham, and Director of the National Buried Infrastructure Facility. She also serves as Co-director of the Institute of Quantum Technology. Her research focuses on quantum sensing, geotechnical engineering, and infrastructure monitoring, with a particular emphasis on buried infrastructure detection and sustainable urban development. Education: PhD in Civil Engineering (University of Birmingham, 2001); Dipl.-Ing. in Civil Engineering (Hannover University, Germany, 1998). Key roles and affiliations include membership in EPSRC Infrastructure Strategic Advisory Team, Chartered Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors, and international advisory boards for Hong Kong Polytechnic University. She has authored/co-authored over 50 journal papers and a textbook on tunnel construction. Research areas include quantum sensor applications for buried asset detection, geophysical soil properties, and sensor development for infrastructure monitoring. She leads projects such as UKCRIC National Buried Infrastructure Facility and Quantum Technology Hub in Sensors and Metrology. Awards and fellowships include FICE, FCInstCES, CEng, FHEA, and multiple committee memberships in national/international bodies. Teaching includes MSc courses on underground construction and geotechnical engineering. She supervises doctoral research on quantum sensors, soil-structure interactions, and sustainable infrastructure.
Axel Dreher is Professor of International and Development Politics at Heidelberg University’s Alfred-Weber-Institute for Economics. He is a leading scholar in political economy and development economics, with extensive affiliations including the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, CEPR, CESifo, KOF, AidData, and EUDN. He serves as Editor of the Review of International Organizations and Co-Director of the Center for European Studies (CefES) at the University of Milan-Bicocca. Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg (2011–Present) Georg-August University Göttingen (2008–2011) ETH Zurich (2005–2008) University of Konstanz (2004–2005) University of Exeter (2003–2004) University of Mannheim (2000–2003) His research centers on political economy , economic development , foreign aid , and globalization . He investigates how political institutions, leadership incentives, and geopolitical interests shape development outcomes and international financial flows. His work often employs empirical and geospatial methods to analyze aid allocation, corruption, migration, and the rise of emerging donors like China. The 15 most recent publications reflect a strong focus on China’s overseas development finance , regional favoritism , and the political determinants of aid . Keywords span political economy, development economics, and international relations, with subfields including Chinese foreign aid, geospatial analysis, governance, institutional quality, and South-South cooperation. His recent book Banking on Beijing and award-winning paper Wedded to Prosperity exemplify his cutting-edge contributions to understanding the political economy of development. Scientific awards include: 2023 Best Paper Award, Political Economy of Aid Society (PEAS) 2023 Best New Dataset Award, International Political Economy Society International Geneva (IG) Award 2020 Excellence in Refereeing Award, World Bank Economic Review (2019) 2010 KfW Excellence Award for policy-relevant research Multiple DFG and Swiss research grants Dreher has advised over 30 PhD students on topics ranging from aid effectiveness to political violence and migration. He has received major research grants from the German Research Foundation (DFG), Swiss Network for International Studies (SNIS), European Commission, and VolkswagenStiftung. His leadership roles include organizing the annual Political Economy of International Organizations conference series and serving on editorial boards of top journals such as World Development and Defence and Peace Economics . He is actively involved in academic labs and research networks including the Courant Research Center on Poverty and Equity at Göttingen, AidData at William & Mary, and the Center for European Studies (CefES). His current work continues to explore the intersection of politics, development, and globalization, particularly through georeferenced data and natural experiments.
Jim Thatcher is an Assistant Professor at the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences (CEOAS) at Oregon State University. He serves as editor of Cartographic Perspectives , a leading journal in cartography. His research focuses on the intersection of technology, society, and environment, particularly examining how data and spatial technologies operate within capitalist systems. Key areas include Critical GIS, Critical Cartography, and Digital Political Ecology. Thatcher's current projects explore equitable coastal flood risk modeling using topological data analysis, mapping infrastructural legacies of slavery in the Pacific Northwest, and creating accessible disaster response maps for non-English speakers in Oregon. He also investigates spectral governance for rural internet access, cartography's societal role, climate education through board games, and geographic influences on electoral districting. His research emphasizes critical approaches to spatial data, questioning representational practices and power dynamics embedded in geospatial technologies. Recent work includes analyzing Bitcoin mining's environmental impacts on hydropower systems and examining the World Bank's renewable energy mapping through Critical Data Studies. Thatcher actively mentors graduate students and encourages interdisciplinary inquiries blending critical social theory with computational methods. Thatcher has authored numerous articles and co-authored Data Power (Pluto Press, 2022), an open-access exploration of data's role in societal control and resistance. His scholarship bridges critical geography with emerging technologies, advocating for ethical and equitable spatial practices in an increasingly data-driven world.
Jan Skaloud serves as an Adjunct Professor at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), affiliated with the School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering (ENAC). He holds positions across multiple departments including SSIE (Institute of Earth Surface Dynamics), EDCE (Doctoral Program in Environmental Sciences and Engineering), and leads the Earth Sensing and Observation (ESO) Lab. His office is located at GC C2 397 in the EPFL campus in Lausanne, Switzerland. Dr. Skaloud's research expertise spans satellite positioning, inertial and integrated navigation systems, sensor orientation and calibration, attitude determination, mobile mapping, airborne laser scanning, and Kalman filtering techniques. His work bridges theoretical development with practical applications in UAV navigation, photogrammetry, and remote sensing. He teaches across three EPFL sections and two faculties, demonstrating his interdisciplinary approach to education. His publication record shows consistent contributions to the field, with recent work (2023-2025) focusing on vehicle dynamic model-based navigation for various UAV platforms, including delta-wing and fixed-wing drones. His research demonstrates a clear trajectory toward increasingly sophisticated navigation systems that integrate aerodynamic modeling with traditional sensor fusion approaches. This trend reflects the growing importance of model-based navigation in achieving higher precision and autonomy in UAV operations. 2021: Samuel Gamble Award for career contribution in photogrammetry & sensing (ISPRS) 2020: U.V. Helava Award for best paper in ISPRS Journal (2016-2019) 2017: Best Demo Award at IEEE International Workshop on Metrology & Aerospace 2014: Hansa Luftbild Award for best paper in PFG journal 2012: Karl Kraus Medal for best textbook in Photogrammetry 2009: GNSS Leader to Watch Innovation Award (GPS World) Dr. Skaloud has supervised numerous PhD students whose work focuses on advanced navigation systems, sensor calibration, and UAV applications. His research has received funding for projects involving direct georeferencing, mobile mapping systems, and UAV-based search and rescue operations. The ESO lab he directs serves as a hub for cutting-edge research in Earth observation technologies. The Earth Sensing and Observation Lab under Dr. Skaloud's direction brings together researchers working on navigation systems, sensor integration, and data processing techniques for geospatial applications. The lab maintains strong connections with industry partners and international research organizations, facilitating technology transfer and collaborative research projects.
Diana Allen is a Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at Simon Fraser University, where she leads the Groundwater Resources Research Group (GRRG). Her research focuses on hydrogeology with particular emphasis on groundwater resource evaluation and hydrogeological modeling, with current research on climate change impacts on groundwater systems, groundwater resources in mountainous and coastal regions, and low temperature geothermal systems. Education: B.Sc. Honours, Carleton University, 1986 M.Sc., Carleton University, 1988 Ph.D., Carleton University, 1996 Dr. Allen's research spans several key areas of hydrogeology and water resources. Her work on climate change impacts examines how extreme climate events affect groundwater systems, particularly in mountainous regions. She has developed methodologies for reconstructing historical groundwater levels using tree ring widths to understand long-term drought patterns. Her research on coastal aquifers assesses vulnerability to salinization, while her work in Northeast British Columbia evaluates water security risks associated with shale gas development. She also investigates aquifer-stream connectivity and the impacts of pumping on streamflow. Dr. Allen's publication record shows a strong focus on applied hydrogeology with significant contributions to understanding groundwater responses to climate extremes, drought assessment methodologies, and coastal aquifer vulnerability. Her research combines field studies with numerical modeling across diverse environments from mountainous regions to coastal deltas. Dr. Allen has successfully secured funding from major agencies including NSERC, the Canadian Mountain Network, the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions, and various BC government ministries. Her research has practical applications for water resource management under climate change. As a dedicated educator and mentor, Dr. Allen supervises numerous graduate students working on cutting-edge hydrogeological research projects across British Columbia and beyond. Her students pursue careers in hydrogeology and environmental geoscience, applying GIS methods and computational hydrogeology to analyze field data.
Professor Sara B. Pritchard is a leading scholar in environmental science and technology studies (STS) at Cornell University's College of Arts and Sciences. She holds a Ph.D., M.A., and B.A. in History from Stanford University and University of Puget Sound. Her research critically examines light pollution, environmental ethics, and the intersection of technology and nature. Pritchard has received grants from the National Science Foundation and Cornell's Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future, among others. Her major works include Night as Environment: Light Pollution and the Anthropocene (2024) and Confluence: The Nature of Technology and the Remaking of the Rhône (2011). She co-edited influential volumes such as New Natures: Joining Environmental History with Science and Technology Studies (2013) and pioneered the concept of 'envirotechnical analysis.' Pritchard advises students across disciplines including Anthropology, Asian Studies, and Natural Resources. Her research explores dark histories, nuclear disasters, and sustainable energy transitions. She collaborates with global scholars through special journal issues on topics like climate justice and polar night studies. Pritchard’s work bridges environmental humanities with technological critique, emphasizing interdisciplinary approaches to urgent ecological challenges.
Esther Rolf is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her research focuses on blending methodological and applied machine learning techniques to address social and environmental challenges, emphasizing usability, data-efficiency, and fairness. Her work includes developing algorithms for environmental monitoring with satellite imagery and advancing geospatial ML systems. Her research explores the multifaceted role of data representation in machine learning, particularly how spatial distribution and data acquisition impact model fairness and efficacy. Projects include formalizing representivity in training data and tackling evaluation challenges in geospatial ML applications. Recent publications highlight her expertise in satellite-based poverty mapping, multimodal data efficiency, and geospatial foundation models. She integrates specialized architectures and domain-specific benchmarks into her work. Best Paper Award, ICML (2018) Best Paper Award, NeurIPS Workshop on AI for Social Good (2019) NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Google Research Fellowship Esther's lab at CU Boulder recruits PhD students and postdocs interested in statistical/geospatial ML and context-driven research for real-world problems. She teaches graduate courses in machine learning and geospatial ML at CU Boulder.
Mike Willis is an Associate Professor of Cryospheric Science, Geodesy & Remote Sensing at the Department of Geosciences, Virginia Tech's College of Science. His research focuses on advancing remote sensing techniques to study Earth's cryosphere, coastal environments, and natural hazards. He leads projects on glacial dynamics, sea level rise impacts, landslide monitoring, and the application of GNSS and InSAR technologies. His work combines field instrumentation (e.g., OrangePi-GNSS systems) with satellite data analysis to address climate and geohazard challenges in polar regions and coastal communities. Education background: Not explicitly stated in provided text. Research interests include cryospheric science, geodetic monitoring, and environmental remote sensing applications. His lab group maintains a dedicated website at https://sites.google.com/view/4datvt/ . Key research themes include: Glacier and ice shelf mass balance Coastal vulnerability to sea level rise Disaster monitoring using GNSS-IR and InSAR High-resolution digital terrain modeling Recent projects highlight work in Greenland (landslide monitoring, sea level measurements), the Pacific Northwest (subduction zone hazards), and the Dominican Republic (coastal inundation modeling). His interdisciplinary approach bridges geophysical observations with computational geospatial analysis.
