Dr. Ben Swift is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Cybernetics, ANU, specializing in AI, computational art, and cybernetics. He leads the Cybernetic Studio, an interdisciplinary collective exploring cybernetic systems through hardware/software/people collaborations. As a livecoding artist, he performs globally and co-founded the ANU Laptop Ensemble. His research spans generative AI, open-source tools like Extempore, and UX design. Education: PhD in Computer Science (ANU) Projects: Australia's Digital Economy (2022), The Augmented Web (2019) Research focuses on AI creativity, biofeedback interfaces, and computational music. His work bridges technical innovation with artistic expression, evident in projects like TSPNet and adversarial camera systems. Key contributions include Extempore’s development and studies in live coding disruption. Awards unspecified but recognized internationally for interdisciplinary impact.
Chris Bryan is an Assistant Professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence (SCAI) at Arizona State University (ASU), part of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering. He leads the Sonoran Visualization Laboratory (SVL @ ASU), focusing on data visualization, human-computer interaction, and advanced interfaces for data science. His research includes explainable AI, augmented/virtual reality, and privacy-preserving visualization techniques. Educations: Ph.D. Computer Science, University of California, Davis (2018) B.S. Computer Science, University of Arkansas (2008) Research Interests: Bryan’s work spans data visualization, human-computer interaction, explainable AI, and immersive visualization. He develops tools for collaborative analysis, privacy-aware systems, and visual analytics for complex data. Current projects involve VR/AR interfaces, bias reduction in NLP tasks, and educational visualization tools. Recent Achievements: Recipient of the 2024 and 2023 Top Five Percent Faculty Award at ASU’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering. NSF grants for privacy-preserving visualization (SaTC #2224066) and visualization education (IUSE #2216452). Multiple publications in top venues like IEEE VIS, CHI, and EuroVis, including work on differential privacy, mind wandering in visualization, and LLM prompt exploration. Advising & Grants: Advises Ph.D., MS, and undergraduate students on visualization and HCI research. Collaborates with institutions like Los Alamos National Laboratory, Phoenix Children’s Hospital, and Nankai University. Lab focuses on mentoring and preparing students for academic and industry roles in visualization and AI. Labs & Teams: Leads the SVL @ ASU, which uses advanced hardware (HTC Vive, HoloLens 2) and tools like D3.js, React, and LaTeX. The lab emphasizes interdisciplinary projects with domain experts in medicine, engineering, and security.
Tim Weyrich is Professor of Visual Computing (part-time) at University College London and Professor of Digital Reality at Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg. He leads the Digital Reality Lab and has affiliations with the Virtual Environments and Computer Graphics group at UCL, Eurographics, and the EPSRC Doctoral Training Centre (SEAHA). Previously, he held a Postdoctoral Teaching Fellowship at Princeton University. Research Interests: Content creation and computational photography Appearance modeling and fabrication Point-based graphics and cultural heritage analysis Digital humanities and 3D printing Article Trends: Recent work focuses on neural radiance fields (FruitNeRF++), 3D Gaussian splatting, mmWave radar inverse rendering, and texture anomaly detection. Applications span autonomous systems, cultural heritage, and medical imaging. Scientific Awards: Best Paper Honourable Mention (BMVC 2022) Best Student Paper Award (EG Workshop on GCH 2014) Honorable Mention (Eurographics 2011) Best Student Paper Honourable Mention (BMVC 2018) ACM SIGCHI Best Paper Honourable Mention (CHI 2013)
Prof. Dr. Julia Metag is Professor for Communication Science at the Department of Communication, University of Münster, where she heads the chair on 'Forms and Processes of Public Communication.' Her research focuses on political communication, science communication, media effects, and online communication. She is actively involved in major research initiatives such as the 'Hot SciComm Lab' (funded by the Volkswagen Foundation) and 'Global Warming’s Five Germanys,' and has led significant projects including the 'Science Barometer Switzerland.' Julia Metag's research interests include science communication, political communication, media use, public trust in science, science-related populism, climate change communication, and digital media. She investigates how audiences engage with scientific information, the role of visuals and AI in science communication, and the impact of misinformation and conspiracy theories. Her work often employs survey, experimental, and content analysis methods to understand public perceptions and media effects. Her recent publications reflect a strong focus on trust in science, audience segmentation, science literacy in digital environments, and the multimodal nature of science communication. She frequently collaborates with scholars across Europe, particularly with Mike S. Schäfer and other colleagues in Switzerland and Germany. Scientific Awards and Memberships: Member of the Academia Europaea (The Academy of Europe) Member of the German Society for Journalism and Communication Studies (DGPuK) Member of the International Communication Association (ICA) Member of the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA) Member of the Center for Higher Education and Science Studies (CHESS), University of Zurich Editorial Board Member of Studies in Communication Sciences , Media and Communication , and Environmental Communication Advisory Board Member of the German 'Wissenschaftsbarometer' Julia Metag supervises student theses and leads collaborative research projects, often involving interdisciplinary teams. She has previously held academic positions at the University of Zurich and the University of Fribourg, and her work is widely published in top journals such as Public Understanding of Science , Science Communication , and Communication Research . She is also involved in public engagement through projects like 'Frag Sophie!' and 'Nachgefragt bei Sophie & Co,' which use creative formats to bridge science and society. She leads the 'Hot SciComm Lab,' which investigates science communication in highly contested, multimodal environments shaped by social media, AI, and deepfakes. Her leadership in research networks such as 'Cultures of Compromise' further demonstrates her interdisciplinary reach and academic influence.
Taiwo Amoo is an Assistant Professor of Business and Quantitative Methods at Brooklyn College, CUNY , where he has been employed since 1999. His academic career spans institutions including Baruch College (substitute and adjunct roles, 1993-1999) and Kaduna Polytechnic, Nigeria (1987-1988). With a PhD in Operations Research (University of Exeter, 1992) and a BSc in Statistics (University of Ibadan, 1986), Amoo specializes in operations management, statistical analysis, and educational innovation. Current position: Assistant Professor (Brooklyn College, CUNY) Key expertise: Operations Management, Queueing Theory, Rating Scale Methodology Technological proficiency: SAS, SPSS, Oracle Database Systems His research focuses on optimizing rating scale design , integrating technology in education , and interdisciplinary approaches to business programs . Publications from 2000-2002 examine biases in survey construction, humor as an educational tool, and the relevance of traditional disciplinary structures in modern academia. Notable awards include PSC CUNY Grants and recognition as the Best Statistics Student at the University of Ibadan. Current affiliations: Brooklyn College (CUNY) Past affiliations: Baruch College (CUNY), University of Exeter, Kaduna Polytechnic
Lukas Engelmann is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh , specifically within the Science, Technology and Innovation Studies department under the School of Social and Political Science . His research focuses on the history and sociology of biomedicine , with particular interest in epidemiological reasoning , visual cultures of disease , digital epidemiology , and decolonial approaches to medical history . The Epidemy Lab , which he founded, explores the historical development of epidemiology and its contemporary influence on data-driven public health and pandemic policy-making . Engelmann's work has been funded by prestigious grants including an ERC Starting Grant (2021-2025) for his research on the history of epidemiological reasoning, and support from the Wellcome Trust for projects examining the social dimensions of digital health . His book 'Mapping AIDS' (2018) established him as a leading scholar in medical visualization , while 'Sulphuric Utopias' (2020) with Christos Lynteris explores the technological history of maritime sanitation and its political implications. Recent publications emphasize the visual and data practices that have shaped epidemiology, including works on epidemic modeling during the COVID-19 pandemic , the history of plague mapping , and the ethical implications of digital phenotyping . He has also contributed to interdisciplinary discussions on syndemics , co-infection epistemology , and the commercialization of bacteriology in the early 20th century. His scientific contributions have earned recognition through editorial roles in journals like Big Data and Society , and collaborative projects such as 'Working with Diagrams' (2022) which investigates the epistemological role of visual tools in medical knowledge production. Scientific Awards and Funding: ERC Starting Grant (2021-2025) Wellcome Trust Institutional Support Fund British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grant Chancellor's Fellowship (University of Edinburgh) 'Sulphuric Utopias' listed in The Guardian's 30 Books to Understand the World (2020)
Keith Obadike is a Professor in the Department of Art at Cornell University's College of Architecture, Art, and Planning (AAP), where he also serves as Director of Undergraduate Studies. He is an acclaimed interdisciplinary artist and composer, known for his collaborative work with Mendi Obadike, which spans sound art, digital media, public installations, performance, and internet-based projects. His artistic and academic work critically engages with technology, race, history, and identity. Obadike earned a B.A. in Visual Art from North Carolina Central University and an M.F.A. in Sound Design from Yale University. Prior to joining Cornell, he taught at William Paterson University and held visiting positions at Princeton University, Columbia University, Northwestern University, and the Art Institute of Chicago. His research and creative practice focus on sound art, digital media, public art, performance, and collaborative practice , with strong interdisciplinary connections to Afrofuturism, data sonification, and social justice. He explores how sound and technology mediate racial identity, memory, and liberation, notably through the concept of acousmatic blackness , which he and Mendi developed to describe the racial perception of sound when its source is unseen. Obadike’s selected works include large-scale public sound installations such as Blues Speaker (for James Baldwin) , Free/Phase , Compass Song (Times Square Arts), and GuideStar (Space Needle, Seattle). His projects often use data sonification, archival research, and mythic storytelling, blending historical inquiry with futuristic vision. Notable series include the Opera-Masquerades , Americana Suites , and Numbers Station works, which transform databases of violence into sonic experiences. His honors include: Rockefeller New Media Arts Fellowship (2004) Louis Comfort Tiffany Biennial Award (2015) New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Fiction New Music USA Creator Development Fund (2022) Obadike has received commissions and support from institutions such as the Vera List Center, Harlem Stage, Times Square Arts, the American Composers Orchestra, and the Cornell Mui Ho Center for Cities. He has exhibited and performed at The New Museum, The Whitney Museum of American Art, MoMA, and The Studio Museum in Harlem. His writings and publications include contributions to Studies into Darkness (2022), and artist books such as Four Electric Ghosts and Big House / Disclosure (both 2014). He has also released albums like Crosstalk (2008) and created internet artworks such as Blackness for Sale (2001) and The Interaction of Coloreds (2002), which are foundational in new media and critical race art. While specific advisees are not listed, his role as Director of Undergraduate Studies and Professor indicates active mentorship. His work is deeply collaborative, often co-created with Mendi Obadike, and supported by interdisciplinary teams and institutions.
Dr. Asier Moneva is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR) and The Hague University of Applied Sciences , specializing in cybercrime , environmental criminology , and situational crime prevention . His work focuses on offender decision-making in cyberspace, cybercrime victimization patterns, and the application of data science to crime analysis. Education : PhD in Criminology (2020), Master in Crime Analysis and Prevention (cum laude, 2017) from Miguel Hernández University. Current Role : Analyzing cybercrime patterns through environmental criminology frameworks and data science methodologies. Moneva's research examines longitudinal offending patterns in cybercrime, particularly through analyses of web defacement archives ( Zone-H data) and hacker behavior. His studies reveal extreme concentration of cybercrime among chronic offenders, with 2.9% of hackers responsible for 68.5% of defacements. He also investigates repeat victimization dynamics in digital environments and the effectiveness of warning banners as deterrents. Recent publications focus on ransomware payment decisions by SMEs, stolen data markets on Telegram, and the intersection of familial relationships with cybercrime involvement. His work combines quasi-experimental designs , crime scripting , and conjunctive analysis to develop prevention strategies.
Murali Mani is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science, Engineering, and Physics at the College of Innovation and Technology, University of Michigan-Flint. He is actively involved in teaching courses such as Database Design (CSC 384, CSC 584) and Independent Graduate Study in Computer Science (CSC 591), and serves as Principal Investigator on multiple research grants focused on computing education and data science. His research interests span database systems, data provenance, generative AI for data augmentation, computing education, and the societal impact of technology . He has developed educational tools including epidemiology calculators and market basket analysis modules to support interdisciplinary learning. His work emphasizes integrating computing skills across disciplines such as health sciences and management. The 15 most recent scholarly contributions reflect a strong focus on data management, AI-augmented data curation, educational technology, and the cognitive aspects of learning programming. These publications appear in venues such as VLDB, IEEE FIE, and ACM conferences, with several under review or in preparation for top-tier journals like Communications of the ACM and the VLDB Journal. Scientific Awards: No awards explicitly mentioned in the provided text. Advising and Grants: Murali Mani actively mentors students through independent graduate studies and collaborative research projects. He has secured funding from the National Science Foundation (SGER grant on provenance metadata) and internal university sources, including the CIT/CHS Joint Grant and the Office of Research at UM-Flint, supporting projects on civic literacy, computational skills integration, and AI for social science data archiving. Labs and Teams: While no formal lab name is mentioned, Murali Mani leads a research group focused on data systems and computing education, collaborating with colleagues across departments and institutions. He contributes to initiatives such as the Michigan Institute for Data & AI in Society (MIDAS) and the Academic Data Science Alliance (ADSA), and has presented at conferences including IASSIST, FIE, and ICCTAC.
Benedikt Warth is a Full Professor for Food Chemistry and Exposome Research at the Department of Food Chemistry and Toxicology, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Vienna (since 2022). He coordinates the Austrian node of the ESFRI research infrastructure EIRENE and leads the 'Global Exposomics and Biomonitoring Laboratory' since 2017. His work bridges chemistry and toxicology, focusing on exposomics and metabolomics to assess chemical exposure and its health impacts. Education: PhD in Analytical Chemistry (2012), Master’s in Biotechnology (2009), Bachelor’s in Food Science and Biotechnology (2007) Research interests center on exposomics , metabolomics , and analytical chemistry , particularly for environmental and food-related toxicants. Recent articles highlight advancements in mass spectrometry for exposome-scale analysis, combining targeted and non-targeted approaches, and exploring chemical interactions (e.g., xenoestrogens, mycotoxins, flame retardants) in biological systems. Key trends in his publications include: Development of hybrid LC-MS methods (targeted/untargeted) for sensitive exposomics Integration of AI and cognitive computing for pathway analysis Global biomonitoring of mycotoxins and xenobiotics in vulnerable populations Standardization frameworks for non-targeted analysis (SRT) Notable awards include the 2025 Chemical Research in Toxicology Young Investigator Award , Brigitte Gedek-Science Award , and multiple grants (ERC Consolidator, Erwin-Schrödinger Fellowship). He has delivered over 20 invited talks on exposomics, including sessions at ACS Fall Meetings and international conferences. His laboratory's projects span: Breast cancer exposomics (linking environmental exposures to disease onset) High-throughput sample preparation for exposome-wide studies Systems toxicology of chemical mixtures (e.g., flame retardants, mycotoxins) Development of global metabolomic assays for toxicity prediction
Annette R. Grilli is a Research Professor in the Department of Ocean Engineering at the University of Rhode Island , focusing on ocean renewable energy and coastal hazard assessment. Her work integrates numerical modeling and statistical analysis to study extreme events like tsunamis and storms. Ph.D. in Climatology, University of Delaware (2000) M.S. in Oceanography, University of Liege (1984) B.S. in Geography & Education, University of Liege (1983) Her research spans offshore wind farm siting optimization , tsunami propagation modeling , and coastal erosion dynamics . Recent publications highlight applications of phase-resolving wave models and machine learning to coastal resilience and marine renewable energy systems. Grants include collaborations with NOAA , Department of Energy , and NSF , focusing on coastal hazard visualization , tsunami detection algorithms , and design elevation mapping under climate change scenarios. She contributes to digitalCommons@URI with over 100 publications in Ocean Engineering and Civil Engineering domains.
Daniel Pettersson is a Professor at University of Gävle specializing in educational science with a particular focus on international knowledge measurements, comparative education, and curriculum studies. His work critically examines the hegemony of comparisons in education, particularly through large-scale assessments like PISA, and explores how these influence educational policy and practice. Professor Pettersson's research spans several interconnected domains within educational science. He investigates how international comparisons shape educational discourse and policy, examining the historical development of assessment practices and their impact on national education systems. His work frequently analyzes the production of educational knowledge through data visualization and quantification, revealing how numbers become authoritative in educational decision-making. A significant portion of his research focuses on Swedish education within international contexts, exploring how global educational trends are adopted, adapted, and contested in national settings. His extensive publication record reveals several key trends in his scholarly work. Over the past two decades, Pettersson has traced the evolution of international large-scale assessments from marginal research tools to central policy instruments. His recent work increasingly examines data visualization techniques in educational research and the historical construction of educational knowledge through quantification. He also explores the intersection of teacher education with international assessment frameworks, revealing tensions between global educational discourses and local teaching practices. Professor Pettersson has made significant contributions to understanding how educational policy is shaped by international comparisons. His research demonstrates how assessment data becomes transformed into policy narratives that influence educational reform. He has documented the historical trajectory of international assessment research, showing how it evolved from marginal academic interest to central policy instrument. His collaborative work with scholars like Sverker Lindblad, Thomas Popkewitz, and Tatiana Mikhaylova has been particularly influential in critically examining the political dimensions of educational measurement. His research activities include extensive work with international research teams, participation in major conferences including the Nordic Education Research Association (NERA) and the International Standing Conference for the History of Education (ISCHE), and contributions to systematic reviews of international comparative research. Professor Pettersson's work bridges historical analysis, policy studies, and critical examination of educational measurement practices, providing valuable insights into how global educational knowledge is produced and circulated.
Jon Crowcroft is the Marconi Professor of Communications Systems in the Department of Computer Science and Technology at the University of Cambridge, and serves as the Chair of the Programme Committee at the Alan Turing Institute. He is also a Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge, and a visiting professor at the Department of Computing at Imperial College London. With a career spanning over three decades in computer networking research, Professor Crowcroft has made seminal contributions to the development of the Internet and continues to be highly active in cutting-edge research areas. His educational background includes: BA in Physics from Trinity College, University of Cambridge (1979) MSc in Computing from University College London (1981) PhD from University College London (1993) Professor Crowcroft's research spans multiple domains in computer networking and distributed systems. He has worked in Internet support for multimedia communications for over 30 years, with three main focus areas: scalable multicast routing, practical approaches to traffic management, and the design of deployable end-to-end protocols. His current research focuses on opportunistic communications, social networks, and techniques to scale infrastructure-free mobile systems. He is particularly known for his 'build and learn' paradigm for research and has recently been exploring decentralized digital identification systems, smart cities, and edge computing. His work often bridges theoretical foundations with practical implementations, emphasizing privacy-preserving approaches and sustainable network architectures. Professor Crowcroft has received numerous prestigious awards recognizing his contributions to the field, including: Election as Fellow of the Royal Society (2013) ACM SIGCOMM Award (2009) ACM Fellow (2002) Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering IEEE Fellow (2004) Chartered Fellow of the British Computer Society Throughout his career, Professor Crowcroft has advised numerous PhD students, including Mark Handley and Pan Hui, who have themselves become influential researchers in the networking community. He has authored several influential books that have been adopted internationally in academic courses, such as 'TCP/IP & Linux Protocol Implementation,' 'Internetworking Multimedia,' and 'Open Distributed Systems.' His research has been supported by various grants and collaborations with both academic institutions and industry partners, contributing to successful startup projects and influencing Internet standards. Professor Crowcroft is actively involved in several research initiatives, including serving on the Scientific Council of IMDEA Networks Institute since 2007 and the advisory board of the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems. He is also a director of the Matrix Foundation, which develops open network protocols. His current research group focuses on privacy-preserving analytics, decentralized systems, and the future of Internet architecture.
Professor Stephan A. Sieber is a leading researcher in bioorganic chemistry at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), where he holds the Chair of Organic Chemistry II within the TUM School of Natural Sciences. His research program focuses on developing new drugs against multidrug-resistant bacteria through a multi-disciplinary approach that integrates synthetic chemistry, functional proteomics, microbiology, and protein biochemistry. His laboratory has made significant contributions to identifying unprecedented antibacterial targets beyond the scope of current antibiotics and exploiting these for chemical manipulation. Recent work has increasingly incorporated machine learning approaches to accelerate antibiotic discovery, with notable publications on AI-guided pipelines, drug-target interaction prediction, and high-throughput screening optimization. Sieber's research has resulted in the discovery of new active substances, some of which are currently being optimized for medical applications. His group's publications reveal a strong focus on chemical proteome mining, natural product mode of action studies, and novel antibacterial target identification. The lab has published extensively in top journals including Nature Chemistry, Nature Communications, and ACS Central Science. Inhoffen Medal (2024) Max Bergmann Medal (2023) ERC Advanced Grant (2023) Merck Future Insight Prize (2020) Klaus Grohe Prize (2020) ERC Consolidator Grant (2016) Professor Sieber leads an active research group that maintains a strong presence in the scientific community through regular publications, conference presentations, and collaborations. His laboratory website and BlueSky presence (@sieberlab.bsky.social) demonstrate ongoing research activities and engagement with the broader scientific community. He has successfully secured significant research funding including multiple ERC grants that have supported his innovative work in antibiotic discovery.
Nakul Gopalan serves as an Assistant Professor at Arizona State University's School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence (SCAI) in Tempe, where he founded and leads the Logos Robotics Lab since joining in August 2022. His academic foundation was established through a PhD in Computer Science from Brown University completed in 2019. Education: PhD in Computer Science, Brown University (2019) Research Focus: Dr. Gopalan pioneers work at the critical intersection of language grounding and robot learning, developing algorithms that enable robots to interpret natural language instructions and learn from human demonstrations. His research directly addresses real-world usability challenges by focusing on hierarchical reinforcement learning, task planning, and human-robot collaboration frameworks that empower non-expert users to train robots for home and office environments. Key innovations include plannable representations for natural language instruction following and transfer learning techniques for robotic task execution. Publication Evolution: Recent publications (2023-2025) demonstrate accelerating specialization in language-conditioned robot learning, with 80% of his latest work exploring compositional instruction following, novice-user teaching interfaces, and explainable AI for robotics. His research trajectory shows a deliberate shift from foundational language grounding (2017-2020) toward practical human-robot collaboration systems, evidenced by increased focus on hardware-software co-design, cross-embodiment transfer, and clinical applications of explainable AI in neurology support systems. Scientific Recognition: Best Paper Award at RoboNLP workshop (Association for Computational Linguistics) 2017 RSS 2023 Best Student Paper Finalist Mentorship & Service: As lab director, Dr. Gopalan actively mentors graduate researchers while teaching core courses including Data Structures and Algorithms (CSE 310) and specialized seminars on robot learning. His significant service contributions include organizing the RSS 2021 "Robotics for People" workshop, serving as Action Editor for ICRA 2023/2024, and extensive reviewing for top-tier robotics conferences (RSS, ICRA, CORL) and AI venues (NeurIPS, AAAI). Research Infrastructure: The Logos Robotics Lab operates as his primary research vehicle, focusing on natural language interfaces for robot training, hierarchical task decomposition, and real-world deployment of language-grounded learning systems. Current projects integrate large language models with robotic control frameworks to enable zero-shot task generalization across different robot embodiments.
