John Psarras is a Professor at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, specifically within the Division of Industrial Electric Devices and Decision Systems. He serves as the Director of the Decision Support Systems Laboratory (DSSlab) and the University Research Institute of Communication and Computer Systems. He holds a Diploma in Mechanical Engineering (1982) and a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering (1989), both from NTUA. His research specializes in decision support systems with applications in energy management, environmental analysis, and information systems. Key areas include: Multi-criteria analysis for energy policy and renewable integration AI-driven optimization of smart grids and building efficiency Sustainable finance mechanisms for green projects Blockchain applications in education and data security His recent publications (2023–2025) demonstrate a strong focus on AI-enhanced decision tools for energy transitions, smart infrastructure, healthcare diagnostics, and cross-border renewable cooperation, reflecting interdisciplinary innovation. He has supervised 22 PhD theses and coordinates EU-funded projects in energy policy, clean technology, and capacity building. No scientific awards are listed in available sources. He leads the Decision Support Systems Laboratory (DSSlab), advancing research in energy analytics, and directs the University Research Institute of Communication and Computer Systems, facilitating large-scale interdisciplinary collaborations.
Mohsen Lesani is an Associate Professor in the Computer Science and Engineering Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz's Baskin School of Engineering. His research focuses on reliability and security of software systems, particularly concurrent and distributed systems, with recent emphasis on secure replicated systems and distributed machine learning. Dr. Lesani received his PhD from UCLA, MS in artificial intelligence from Sharif University of Technology, and BS in software engineering from University of Tehran. He was previously a postdoc at MIT. His educational background provides a strong foundation for his interdisciplinary research spanning programming languages, distributed systems, and security. His research interests center on creating reliable and secure distributed systems. Current projects include resilient and secure distributed systems, heterogeneous and reconfigurable secure distributed systems, automatic analysis and synthesis of replicated objects, verification of distributed systems, data analytics, secure exchange across blockchains, machine learning for performance models, domain-specific languages and type systems, and automatic fence insertion for concurrent systems. His work bridges theoretical foundations with practical implementations to address real-world challenges in distributed computing. Lesani's research has been recognized with several prestigious awards including the NSF CAREER award in 2020 and DARPA YFA award in 2022. His work has also received the SIGPLAN Research Highlight in 2019, a distinguished paper award at OOPSLA 2018, and a best paper award at ISSRE 2015. These accolades reflect the impact and quality of his contributions to the field. He actively mentors PhD students in the Safe and Secure Software (S3) lab, including Xiao Li, Eric Chan, Javad Saber-Latibari, and Tejas Mane. His research has been supported by multiple NSF grants, demonstrating sustained funding for his innovative work. Lesani serves on program committees for major conferences including POPL, PLDI, OOPSLA, and DISC, contributing to the academic community. Lesani leads the Safe and Secure Software (S3) lab at UC Santa Cruz, where his team works on cutting-edge research in distributed systems, programming languages, and security. The lab fosters a collaborative environment where theoretical insights are translated into practical systems that address real-world challenges in reliability and security of distributed applications.
Prof. Nikos Mamoulis is a Professor at the Department of Computer Science & Engineering, University of Ioannina, and a Lead Researcher at Archimedes Research Unit, ATHENA RC. He holds a PhD from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and a Diploma from the University of Patras. His research focuses on spatial data management, big data analytics, data privacy, and uncertain data systems. Education : Ph.D., Computer Science, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (2000) 5-year Diploma, Computer Engineering and Informatics, University of Patras (1995) Research Interests : Complex data management (spatial, spatio-temporal, time-series, text, graphs), big data analysis, privacy preservation, and uncertain data systems. He develops scalable algorithms and systems for modern data management challenges, with applications in transportation, social networks, and geospatial analytics. Projects & Grants : MESA: In-memory Spatial Analytics Made Scalable (HFRI-funded, PI) MORE: Real-time Energy Data Management (H2020, Senior Researcher) Smart City Bus Platform (ERDF-funded, PI/Coordinator) Awards : Outstanding Young Researcher Award (2008-2009, HKU) Best Paper Award at SSTD 2015 Test of Time Award at MDM 2022 Labs & Collaborations : Leads the Archimedes Research Unit at ATHENA RC, collaborating with institutions like HKUST and Uppsala University on spatial and big data systems. Active in organizing top-tier conferences like SIGMOD, EDBT, and ICDE.
Dimitris Mitropoulos is an Assistant Professor at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) in the Department of Business Administration, where he teaches courses on Distributed Ledger Technologies, Data Security and Privacy, Algorithms and Business Analytics, and Introduction to Programming. He also serves as Head of the Reliability Engineering Directorate at the National Infrastructures for Research and Technology (GRNET), Greece's national research and education network organization. Previously, he was a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Computer Science Department at Columbia University. Dr. Mitropoulos received his Ph.D. degree in Secure Software Development Technologies from the Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB) in 2014. His doctoral research was supported by the Heracleitus II Scholarship, co-financed by the European Union and Greek national funds. He is a member of prestigious professional organizations including ACM, IEEE, and USENIX. Dr. Mitropoulos conducts pioneering research at the intersection of software engineering and cybersecurity, with particular expertise in secure software development, vulnerability analysis, and blockchain security. His work spans multiple dimensions of software security including code injection attacks, infrastructure as code security, smart contract analysis, and dependency management in software ecosystems. His research methodology combines static and dynamic analysis techniques with empirical studies of real-world software systems, particularly focusing on Java, Python, and Solidity ecosystems. His recent work has made significant contributions to understanding security vulnerabilities in modern software development practices and infrastructure management. Dr. Mitropoulos has received numerous prestigious awards for his research contributions, including the Research Excellence Award from NKUA (2025), Distinguished Paper and Artifact Awards at PLDI '22, Best Data Showcase Award at MSR 2018, and multiple postdoctoral research funding scholarships. His work on "Finding typing compiler bugs" was recognized with both Distinguished Paper and Artifact Awards at PLDI '22, highlighting the significance and reproducibility of his research. He has also received recognition for his service to the academic community, including a Certificate of Appreciation from ESEC/FSE '21 for his contributions to conference organization. Dr. Mitropoulos has been actively involved in securing research funding and leading significant research projects. He currently serves as Principal Investigator for the SecOPERA project (2023-Today), funded by the European Commission under Horizon Europe. Previously, he contributed to several major EU and US-funded projects including eSSIF-Lab (2019-2022), FASTEN (2019-2022), PRIViLEDGE (2018-2021), CERTCOOP (2017-2020), PANORAMIX (2016-2019), and TREDISEC (2016-2018). His research has been supported by diverse funding sources including the European Commission's Horizon 2020 program, the National Science Foundation, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Dr. Mitropoulos plays an active role in the international research community through various leadership positions. He serves on program committees for top-tier conferences including OOPSLA (2026), ICSE (2026), ESEC/FSE (2025), and ISSTA (2025). He has previously served as Workshop Co-Chair for ISSTA 2025 and Student Volunteer Chair for ESEC/FSE 2021. His contributions to mentoring the next generation of researchers include serving as a mentor for the ICSE Student Mentoring Workshop (2022) and supervising Google Summer of Code projects (2017).
Maria Virvou serves as Professor and Chair of the Department of Informatics at the University of Piraeus, where she also directs the Graduate Program in Informatics and leads the Research Laboratory 'Software Technology'. She holds significant institutional leadership roles including membership in the University Senate and has chaired the Department of Informatics for multiple terms. As Editor-in-Chief of Springer book series 'Learning and Analytics in Intelligent Systems' and 'Artificial Intelligence-Enhanced Software and Systems Engineering', she maintains substantial academic influence across international scholarly platforms. Dr. Virvou earned her PhD in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence from the University of Sussex with a scholarship from the State Scholarships Foundation, a Master of Science in Computer Science from University College London, and her undergraduate degree from the Department of Mathematics at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. Her educational background in both mathematics and computer science has provided a strong foundation for her interdisciplinary research approach. Professor Virvou's research spans Software Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Educational Software and Games, User Modeling, and Human-Computer Interaction. She has pioneered work in personalized interactive software systems, applying fuzzy logic and machine learning techniques to create adaptive educational environments. Her recent work demonstrates a strategic expansion into AI applications for healthcare, with significant contributions to medical diagnostics using large language models and multimodal AI systems. She has also made notable advances in smart tourism applications through personalization techniques. With over 400 publications to her name, Professor Virvou's scholarly output shows a clear progression from foundational work in user modeling toward increasingly sophisticated AI applications across multiple domains. Her publication trends reveal a strategic focus on explainable AI, multimodal systems, and practical implementations that bridge theoretical advances with real-world applications, particularly in healthcare and education sectors. Ranked #1 worldwide in 'User Modelling' publications (147,450 total publications) according to Scopus Ranked #1 worldwide in 'Educational Software' publications according to both Scopus and Microsoft Academic Search Recognized among the top 2% of most influential Artificial Intelligence scientists worldwide by Stanford University General Co-Chair at the 14th IISA Conference 2023 Invited Keynote Speaker at the 35th IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training (CSEE&T 2023) As Director of the Research Laboratory 'Software Technology', Professor Virvou has built a robust research team focused on AI applications across multiple domains. She co-founded and co-chairs the IEEE Intelligent Information Systems and Applications international conference series, creating a significant platform for scholarly exchange. Her leadership extends to editorial roles with major academic publishers and active participation in international research collaborations that have secured substantial funding for innovative projects in AI and software engineering.
Yannis Theodoridis is a Professor at the Department of Informatics, University of Piraeus, leading the Information Systems Laboratory (InfoLab). He specializes in spatiotemporal databases, mobility analytics, and maritime data science. His research focuses on trajectory analysis, location-based services, and big data frameworks for transportation and maritime surveillance. Key projects include the MOD (Moving Objects Databases) initiative, the ARGOS framework for real-time trajectory prediction, and contributions to the HERMES trajectory database engine. He has advised 7 PhD students and co-authored numerous papers in IEEE and ACM venues. His work addresses challenges like vessel collision risk assessment, urban mobility optimization, and maritime event detection. He serves on the editorial board of the International Journal of Data Warehousing and Mining and contributes to conferences like PCI and ECML PKDD. His labs emphasize interdisciplinary approaches to mobility data science, integrating machine learning with domain-specific analytics.
Professor Gregoris Mentzas is a faculty member at the National Technical University of Athens, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, where he directs the Division of Industrial Electric Devices and Decision Systems. His research focuses on AI-enabled decision systems, knowledge management, and semantic technologies applied to digital enterprises and e-government. With over 350 publications, he ranks among the top 2% most cited scientists globally. Research Interests: Artificial intelligence for decision augmentation, big data analytics in personalized health and smart mobility, semantic web technologies, and industrial internet of things. Current projects investigate trustworthy AI frameworks and hybrid intelligence systems for Industry 5.0. Teaching: Leads courses in Digital Enterprise Management, Strategic Information Systems, and Project Management at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, incorporating industry case studies and experiential learning approaches. Awards & Leadership: Top 2% Highly Cited Scientist (PLOS Biology 2021) 5 Best Paper Awards in international conferences Director of Information Management Unit (1997-present) Board Member of Institute of Communication and Computer Systems (2006-2009) Projects & Funding: Secured over €18 million in research grants through 60+ European projects with industry partners including SAP, IBM, and Siemens. Research outcomes led to three technology spin-offs.
Kostas Magoutis is Professor and Chair of the Computer Science Department at the University of Crete , and a collaborating researcher at FORTH-ICS . His research focuses on scalable distributed systems, cloud computing, IoT, and quantum-enhanced control. Education and Career: Ph.D. in Computer Science, Harvard University (2003) Research Staff Member, IBM T. J. Watson Research Center (2003-2009) Assistant Professor (2014-2019, tenured 2017) and Associate Professor (2020-2024), University of Crete Professor and Chair, University of Crete (2024-present) Research Interests: His work spans distributed computer systems , cloud computing , scalable data stores and stream-processing engines , Internet of Things , and the emerging area of quantum-enhanced control . Representative projects include the H.F.R.I.-funded QUADS (2025-2028) on quantum-enhanced adaptive systems, STREAMSTORE (2020-2023) on elastic stream processing, SmartCityBus on IoT-driven public transport, and the EU FP7 PaaSage project on model-based cloud lifecycle management. Awards and Honors: Best Paper Awards: USENIX ATC 2002, USENIX BSDCon 2002, IEEE SRDS 2014 (Best Student Paper), IoT 2024 (Runner-up) Grand Challenge Audience Award, ACM DEBS 2022 Best Poster Award, ACM EuroSys 2022 EU Marie Curie IEF Fellow (2009-2011) Alexander S. Onassis Fellow (1994-1995) and J. William Fulbright Scholar (1993-1994) Students and Mentoring: He has supervised or co-supervised more than 30 Ph.D., M.Sc. and undergraduate students, including Antonis Papaioannou (Ph.D. 2021), Efthimios Papageorgiou (current Ph.D.), and numerous M.Sc. graduates now in industry and academia. Labs and Teams: At FORTH-ICS he leads activities within the Distributed Systems and Storage Laboratory, coordinating research on scalable storage, stream processing, and IoT data management. The lab collaborates closely with European and national initiatives, hosting visiting researchers and industry partners.
Nikitas Karanikolas serves as Professor in the Department of Informatics and Computer Engineering at the University of West Attica since March 2018, following a distinguished career progression from Assistant Professor (2004) to Associate Professor (2010) and Professor (2014) at the Technological Educational Institute of Athens. His professional trajectory includes significant roles as Systems Head of TEI Athens Library (1996-1997) and Chief of Informatics at Aretaieio University Hospital (1997-2004), alongside leadership positions in the Greek Computer Society as Board Member (2004-2006) and Secretary General (2006-2008). His academic foundation includes: Bachelor's in Statistics and Informatics from Athens University of Economics and Business (1988) PhD in Applied Informatics from Athens University of Economics and Business (1994) with thesis "Technological and Linguistic approaches in Natural Language Understanding" Dr. Karanikolas maintains an exceptionally broad research portfolio spanning Natural Language Processing , Computational Linguistics , Medical Informatics , and Green Energy systems. His work consistently bridges theoretical computational frameworks with practical healthcare applications, particularly evident in recent dementia care technologies and Greek language processing systems. The interdisciplinary nature of his research connects computational phonology with medical diagnostics and e-government applications. Analysis of his 15 most recent publications reveals a pronounced shift toward AI-driven healthcare solutions (particularly dementia patient monitoring), multilingual NLP systems (Greek and Polish), and urban safety applications . His work demonstrates consistent methodology development in ontological representations and multimodal fusion techniques, with increasing emphasis on real-world clinical and governmental implementations since 2023. No scientific awards were documented in the source materials. With 16 journal papers, 68 conference publications, and six authoritative Greek university textbooks, Dr. Karanikolas maintains an active research trajectory. His advising capacity is evidenced through extensive publication mentorship, particularly in medical informatics and NLP projects. While specific grant details are unavailable, his hospital information system implementations and textbook authorship suggest successful research funding acquisition. Current research activities focus on multimodal aggression prediction systems for dementia care, Greek language ontological frameworks, and urban navigation safety applications, primarily conducted through the University of West Attica's informatics infrastructure.
Kostas Magoutis is Professor and Chair of the Computer Science Department at the University of Crete and collaborating researcher with FORTH-ICS. His research focuses on distributed systems, scalable data processing, IoT, and cloud computing, with projects including GreenInCities for urban regeneration and STREAMSTORE for stateful stream processing systems. Research interests include: Distributed computer systems architecture Elastic stream processing platforms Quantum-enhanced computing applications Multi-cloud application lifecycle management Recent publications demonstrate strong focus on federated data systems, quantum computing applications, and IoT-enhanced infrastructure, with consistent output in high-impact conferences and journals. Awards and distinctions: Multiple best paper awards from USENIX conferences Grand Challenge Audience Award at DEBS 2022 Marie Curie Fellowship and IBM Research awards Advises over 20 PhD and MSc students in distributed systems research. Leads multiple EU-funded projects and serves on program committees for top conferences including SOSP, EuroSys, and IEEE BigData. Directs research groups in distributed systems and cloud computing at FORTH-ICS.
Manolis Koubarakis is a Professor and Director of Graduate Studies at the Department of Informatics and Telecommunications, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He is affiliated with the Archimedes Unit at Athena Research Center and is a member of ELLIS. His research focuses on Artificial Intelligence and Data Science, particularly in Linked Geospatial Data, Earth Observation, and Knowledge Graphs. Education: PhD in Computer Science (National Technical University of Athens), M.Sc. in Computer Science (University of Toronto), and B.Sc. in Mathematics (University of Crete). Research Interests: His work spans AI applications in geospatial data, entity resolution, ontology-based data access (OBDA), and semantic web technologies. He leads projects like ExtremeEarth (AI for Copernicus data) and LEO (linked Earth Observation data). Awards: 2015: Fellow of the European Association of Artificial Intelligence (EurAI) 2022: Best Demo Award at CIKM for Copernicus App Lab Advising & Grants: Supervises students in AI and data science. Collaborates on EU-funded projects like BigDataEurope and participates in initiatives like the Standing Scientific Committee for AI in Greece's justice system. Labs & Teams: Heads the AI Lab (ai.di.uoa.gr) and contributes to the MaDgIK group, focusing on data and knowledge management systems.
Sotirios K. Goudos is a Professor at the Department of Physics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH), Greece, and Director of the ELEDIA@AUTH lab within the ELEDIA Research Center Network. His research focuses on antenna design, evolutionary algorithms, wireless communications, machine learning, and IoT applications. He holds a B.Sc. in Physics (1991), M.Sc. in Electronics (1994), Ph.D. in Physics (2001), and additional qualifications in Information Systems and Electrical Engineering. Prof. Goudos is a Senior Member of IEEE and serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Telecom open access journal (MDPI) and Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, IEEE Access, and IEEE Open Journal of the Communication Society. He has organized multiple special issues in journals like EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking and has authored/edited books on antennas and AI in networks. His awards include multiple IEEE Access Outstanding Associate Editor recognitions (2019–2023) and inclusion in Stanford University's top 2% scientists list (2020–2024). He teaches courses on telecommunications, Java programming, and microwave systems, and has supervised over two dozen master's students since 2009. His work spans antenna optimization, AI-driven communications, and IoT security, with contributions to 5G/6G, RIS systems, and smart agriculture. Prof. Goudos actively contributes to IEEE Greece Section leadership roles, including Secretary (2022) and Vice-Chair (2023–2024). His labs and teams focus on ELEDIA's research in electromagnetics, optimization, and AI applications.
Antonios Deligiannakis is a Professor at the School of Electronic and Computer Engineering of the Technical University of Crete, specializing in database systems and distributed data processing. His academic career includes a postdoctoral position at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (2006-2007) and a visiting researcher role at AT&T Labs-Research (2003). His educational background includes: PhD in Computer Science, University of Maryland, USA (2005) Master's Degree in Computer Science, University of Maryland, USA (2001) Diploma in Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens (1999) Professor Deligiannakis's research spans Databases , Stream Processing , and Sensor Networks , with pioneering work in Approximate Query Evaluation for massive datasets and Complex Event Processing in distributed environments. His contributions enable efficient analytics in resource-constrained settings through techniques like synopses-based engines and windowed outlier detection. His 15 most recent publications (2020-2025) reveal a dominant focus on distributed streaming analytics, with recurring themes of cross-platform integration, federated learning, and extreme-scale interactive systems. Key innovations include the INFORE framework for interactive analytics, DAG* for IoT workflow optimization, and communication-efficient federated learning techniques—demonstrating consistent translation of theoretical advances into production-ready platforms. Scientific Awards: No specific awards were listed in the provided material. Information about advisees and research grants was not provided in available documentation, though his leadership in the Distributed Information Systems and Applications laboratory suggests active mentorship and project direction. He directs research in the Distributed Information Systems and Applications laboratory, developing systems for real-time analytics across domains including maritime surveillance, financial technology, and IoT platforms, with emphasis on scalability and fault tolerance in geo-distributed environments.
Anastasios Zafeiropoulos serves as Assistant Professor at Harokopio University of Athens, specializing in Spatial Data Management and Analysis within the Postgraduate Studies Program for “Applied Geography and Spatial Management” (Direction C: Geoinformatics). His academic role encompasses teaching “Spatial Databases” and advancing research at the intersection of geospatial technologies and distributed computing systems. His research program focuses on Spatial Databases, Internet of Things (IoT), Cloud/Edge Computing, and 6G Network Orchestration, with significant extensions into Knowledge Graph applications for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and socio-emotional learning in education. Key innovations include the EduCardia methodology for student competency assessment and frameworks for climate vulnerability analysis using knowledge graphs. Analysis of his 2024-2025 publications reveals three dominant thrusts: (1) AI-driven orchestration of 6G services across the computing continuum using reinforcement learning; (2) Knowledge Graph applications for SDG interlinkage analysis and materials science; (3) EU-funded IoT/Edge Computing project ecosystems. His work consistently bridges theoretical networking concepts with practical sustainability and educational applications. Dr. Zafeiropoulos actively contributes to EU-funded initiatives in IoT and Edge Computing standardization, particularly through AIOTI WG Standardisation. His project portfolio includes NEPHELE multi-cloud ecosystem development and O-RAN slice admission control research, demonstrating strong industry-academia collaboration in next-generation networking. He leads the development of innovative tools including Palindrome.js for distributed system visualization and the EmoSocio open-access emotional intelligence model, reflecting his commitment to translating research into practical educational and environmental solutions.
Professor Saman Amarasinghe is a faculty member in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he leads the Commit compiler research group at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). His research focuses on programming languages and compilers that maximize application performance on modern computing platforms, with a particular emphasis on high-performance domain-specific languages. Professor Amarasinghe received his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and computer science from Cornell University in 1988, followed by master's and PhD degrees in electrical engineering from Stanford University in 1990 and 1997, respectively. He joined the MIT faculty as an assistant professor in 1997 and has since become a world leader in his field. Professor Amarasinghe's research interests span programming languages, compiler design, and high-performance computing, with a particular focus on domain-specific languages. His group has developed numerous influential languages and compilers including Halide, TACO, Simit, StreamIt, StreamJIT, PetaBricks, MILK, Cimple, and GraphIt, which deliver unprecedented performance for application domains such as image processing, stream computations, and graph analytics. He has also pioneered the application of machine learning for compiler optimizations, from Meta optimization in 2003 to the OpenTuner autotuner framework. Professor Amarasinghe's publication history reveals a consistent research trajectory toward creating specialized language and compiler solutions that address performance challenges in specific domains while hiding complexity from application developers. His recent work focuses heavily on sparse computing, tensor algebra, graph processing, and the integration of machine learning techniques into compiler technology, demonstrating his ability to identify and address emerging computational challenges. ACM Fellow (2019) As an educator, Professor Amarasinghe has developed the popular Performance Engineering of Software Systems (6.172) class with Professor Charles Leiserson and created innovative project-based courses including the Open Source Software Project Lab, the Open Source Entrepreneurship Lab, and the Bring Your Own Software Project Lab. He also serves as the faculty director of MIT Global Startup Labs, which has helped create more than 20 startups across 17 countries. His research has translated into practical applications through startups like Determina, Inc. (acquired by VMware), demonstrating the real-world impact of his academic work. Professor Amarasinghe co-led the Raw architecture project with Professor Anant Agarwal, which did pioneering work on scalable multicores. His entrepreneurial activities include founding Determina, Inc. based on computer security research from his MIT lab and co-founding Lanka Internet Services, Ltd., the first Internet Service Provider in Sri Lanka, showcasing his ability to bridge academic research with commercial applications.
