William Yang Wang serves as the Mellichamp Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the University of California, Santa Barbara (2019-present). He directs the UCSB Center for Responsible Machine Learning, the Mind and Machine Intelligence Initiative, and the UCSB NLP Group. His research focuses on theoretical foundations and practical algorithms for AI, particularly in NLP, LLMs, and neuro-symbolic reasoning. PhD in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University Active in AI theory and applications (2016-present) Research interests span multiple AI domains, with special emphasis on NLP and responsible machine learning. He has pioneered datasets like HybridQA, TabFact, and VaTeX, enabling advancements in multi-hop QA, fact verification, and video-language tasks. His work combines statistical relational learning with modern deep learning paradigms. Recent publications center around multimodal reasoning, knowledge graph integration, and responsible AI development. He has received numerous accolades including the IEEE SPS Pierre-Simon Laplace Award (2024) and NSF CAREER Award (2021). Karen Sparck Jones Award (2022) DARPA Young Faculty Award (2018) IBM Faculty Award Mentoring 15+ PhD and postdoc researchers who now hold positions at Microsoft Research, Amazon, Meta GenAI, and academic institutions like Arizona and Rutgers. His lab maintains active collaborations with industry partners through initiatives like ChipAgents.ai, which he founded as CEO.
Joseph Eremondi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Regina, Faculty of Science, Canada. He began his tenure in 2024 after serving as a Royal Society Newton International Fellow at the University of Edinburgh, where he conducted postdoctoral research with Ohad Kammar in the Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science. He earned his PhD from the University of British Columbia (UBC) under the supervision of Ron Garcia at the UBC Software Practices Laboratory. His research is centered on programming languages theory, with a strong focus on type systems that enhance software reliability and usability. He is particularly known for his work in dependent types, gradual typing, and the integration of both paradigms. His research interests include: Dependent pattern matching and its semantic foundations Gradual dependent types and approximate normalization Error message generation and usability in dependently typed languages Static analysis using set constraints and SMT solvers Theoretical properties of reversal-bounded counter automata and shuffle operations His recent publications, appearing in premier venues like POPL, ICFP, and CPP, reflect a consistent trajectory toward making advanced type systems more accessible and practical. Key themes include coverage semantics for dependent pattern matching, formal models of gradual dependent typing, and improving the developer experience through better tooling and error diagnostics. Notable scientific recognitions include the NSERC Discovery Grant (awarded in 2025) and the prestigious Royal Society Newton International Fellowship. These awards underscore the impact and promise of his research program on the usability of dependently typed programming languages. Joseph is actively mentoring and recruiting graduate students, particularly in areas such as dependently typed programming (Lean, Agda, Idris, Coq), gradual typing, live programming environments, and static analysis. He emphasizes close collaboration within a small, focused research group. He has also served on program committees, including for TyDe and POPL Artifact Evaluation, demonstrating active engagement in the programming languages community. His work bridges theoretical rigor with practical implementation, evident in his artifact releases on GitHub and integration with tools like Ott and DrRacket. He maintains a personal website and open-source repositories that support reproducibility and community involvement.
Andrew Miller is an Associate Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department at the University of Illinois, specializing in Programming Languages, Formal Methods, Software Engineering, Security and Privacy, and Systems and Networking. His research focuses on blockchain technologies, cryptography, and secure systems. Professor Miller's research spans multiple critical areas in modern computer security. His work primarily focuses on blockchain technologies , where he has made significant contributions to understanding and improving the security, privacy, and performance of systems like Bitcoin and Ethereum. He has conducted empirical analyses of privacy in the Lightning Network and developed protocols for confidential smart contracts. His work in cryptography includes research on multiparty computation, zero-knowledge proofs, and formal methods for cryptographic protocol design. Miller also investigates security vulnerabilities in proof-of-stake systems and resource exhaustion attacks, contributing to the robustness of decentralized systems. His applied security research extends to privacy-preserving health applications, as evidenced by his work on the Safer Illinois platform for COVID-19 contact tracing. Miller's publication record demonstrates consistent contributions to top security and systems venues including IEEE Security & Privacy, ACM CCS, Financial Cryptography, and USENIX Security. His research shows a clear trajectory from foundational work in blockchain security to more applied systems addressing real-world privacy and security challenges. Recent work focuses on making multiparty computation services publicly auditable and developing decentralized identity solutions that maintain compatibility with existing systems. Distinguished Reviewer Award, IEEE Security & Privacy 2018 Professor Miller has advised students including Vivek Nair, who joined the prestigious Hertz Fellows program in 2022. He has taught various courses including Introduction to Algorithms & Models of Computation, Advanced Computer Security, Cryptography, Applied Cryptography, and Ideal Functionality in Cryptography. His research has received support through grants including the SaTC: CORE: Medium project on "Automated Support for Writing High-Assurance Smart Contracts" in 2018. Miller is actively involved in research groups focusing on blockchain security, cryptographic protocols, and privacy-preserving systems. His lab appears to collaborate extensively with researchers across multiple institutions, as evidenced by the diverse author lists on his publications. Current work seems to be focused on making decentralized systems more secure, privacy-preserving, and accessible for real-world applications.
Soumya Dutta is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK), where he leads the INSIGHT: Intelligent Scientific and Visual Computing of Big Data Research Group. He joined IIT Kanpur in October 2022 after working as a Scientist II at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) from July 2019 to August 2022, and previously as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at LANL from June 2018 to July 2019. His educational background includes a Ph.D. and M.S. in Computer Science and Engineering from The Ohio State University (2011-2018), where he was part of the GRAVITY research group, and a B.Tech. in Electronics and Communication Engineering from West Bengal University of Technology, India (2005-2009). Research Interests: Dr. Dutta's research focuses on the intersection of machine learning, visual computing, big data, and high-performance computing. His primary research areas include Machine Learning for Visual Computing and Image Analysis, Big Data Visualization and Analytics, Data Science and HPC, Machine Learning for Scientific Computing, and Explainability and Interpretability of AI Models. His work addresses various big data characteristics including the 5 Vs: Volume, Velocity, Variety, Veracity, and Value. He develops techniques that make complex machine learning models more interpretable and explainable, enabling their effective adoption in real-life applications across scientific domains, social media, IoT, healthcare, and industry applications. Dr. Dutta's research group has secured multiple funded projects including: DAVi: An Intelligent Data Analytics and Visualization Framework (funded by ISRO), Intelligent Visual Computing of Extreme-scale Data for Accelerating Scientific Discovery (IIT Kanpur Initiation Grant), Enabling Interactive Big Data Analytics and Visualization at Exascale (SERB), Development of AI-Enabled National Portal for Efficient Search of Missing People (C3iHub), and Proactive and Generalized Deepfake Defense Mechanisms (C3iHub). Best Reviewer, Honorary Mention Award for IEEE Transactions on Visualization & Computer Graphics (TVCG), 2021 Best Paper Award at ISAV 2021, co-located with Supercomputing (SC) LAAP Award at Los Alamos National Laboratory, 2021 Best Paper Award at TopoInVis 2019 Best Paper Award at ISAV 2018, co-located with Supercomputing (SC) Best Poster Award in 12th Annual CSE Student Poster Exhibition, The Ohio State University, 2018 Best Poster Award in 11th Annual CSE Student Poster Exhibition, The Ohio State University, 2017 Best Paper Honorable Mention Award at IEEE Visualization Conference (IEEE VIS) 2016 Dr. Dutta actively mentors a large group of students including Ph.D., M.Tech., and B.Tech. students. His current Ph.D. students include Shanu Saklani, Sankhadeep Bhowmick, Ananya Chaturvedi, Arpita Santra, Anubhav Dixit (co-supervised), and Robin Shah. He has supervised numerous M.Tech. students with thesis topics ranging from uncertainty-aware neural networks to deepfake detection. Dr. Dutta currently teaches courses including CS360 - Introduction to Computer Graphics and CS661 - Big Data Visual Analytics. The INSIGHT research group collaborates internationally with researchers from Meta, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and National Taiwan Normal University. The group's work focuses on building machine learning and data science-based solutions to analyze large-scale multifaceted data in a scalable way, enabling interactive and interpretable analytics of complex data from scientific simulations, social media, IoT, healthcare, and other application domains.
Jundong Li is an Assistant Professor at the University of Virginia with primary appointment in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and secondary appointments in Computer Science and the School of Data Science. He is affiliated with the School of Engineering and Applied Science and conducts research at the intersection of machine learning, data mining, and artificial intelligence. Education: Ph.D. in Computer Science, Arizona State University, 2019 M.Sc. in Computer Science, University of Alberta, 2014 B.Eng. in Software Engineering, Zhejiang University, 2012 His research focuses on graph machine learning , trustworthy and fair AI , and large language models . He investigates how to make deep learning models more interpretable, robust, and equitable, especially in graph-structured data and NLP applications. His work combines causal inference, feature selection, and model explanation techniques to build reliable AI systems. His recent publications (2024–2022) reveal a strong trend toward large language models , with topics including in-context learning, knowledge editing, and collaborative reasoning. Simultaneously, he continues pioneering research on fairness and interpretability in graph neural networks , addressing structural bias, adversarial attacks, and node attribution. His work is highly interdisciplinary, spanning computer science, data science, and social impact. Scientific Awards: SIGKDD Rising Star Award (2024) PAKDD Best Paper Award (2024) NSF CAREER Award (2022) SIGKDD Best Research Paper Award (2022) JP Morgan Faculty Research Award (2021, 2022) Cisco Faculty Research Award (2021) Stanford/Elsevier Top 2% Scientist (2024) Jundong Li actively advises graduate students, as seen in his co-authored papers with researchers like Song Wang, Yushun Dong, and Binchi Zhang. His research is generously funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) through multiple programs including CAREER, III, SaTC, SAI, and S&CC, as well as by the Department of Energy (DOE) , Office of Naval Research (ONR) , Jefferson Lab , and industry partners including JP Morgan, Cisco, Netflix, and Snap . He leads a dynamic research group focused on advancing the frontiers of graph learning and trustworthy AI, with projects on causal inference, model unlearning, and explainable systems. His lab contributes to both theoretical foundations and real-world applications in public health, transportation, and network security.
Sanjit A. Seshia is the Cadence Founders Chair Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley . He is affiliated with the Group in Logic and the Methodology of Science and participates in centers like the Industrial Cyber-Physical Systems Center , Berkeley AI Research , and the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing . Research interests include formal methods for automated verification and synthesis of dependable systems, with applications to cyber-physical systems , AI-based autonomy , and computer security . His work spans SMT solving, model counting, syntax-guided synthesis, and algorithmic improvisation, with tools like UCLID5 , VerifAI , and Scenic for verifying autonomous systems and educational platforms like CPSGrader . Students and collaborators include notable researchers such as Dorsa Sadigh (Stanford), Daniel Fremont (UC Santa Cruz), and Hazem Torfah (Chalmers). He has co-founded startups like Decyphir and 20ⁿ Labs based on his research.
Vaishak Belle is a Reader in Logic and Learning at the School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh, and serves as Director of Research and Innovation at the Bayes Centre (40% position). His academic career focuses on the critical intersection of artificial intelligence, formal logic, and machine learning systems. His research spans multiple domains within AI: Neurosymbolic AI integration approaches Logic-based machine learning frameworks Ethics, fairness, and responsibility in AI systems Generative AI and its societal impact Robotics with advanced reasoning capabilities Causal modeling and probabilistic reasoning Belle leads a research laboratory dedicated to advancing neurosymbolic AI, which combines the explainability of symbolic systems with the learning capabilities of neural networks. His recent work has explored abduction in logical frameworks, formal languages for AI safety, and the relevance of logic for general-purpose AI systems. He has made significant contributions to bridging the gap between theoretical AI foundations and practical applications. His publications demonstrate consistent focus on creating AI systems that can reason formally while learning from data, with applications ranging from robotics to ethical decision-making frameworks. His research addresses fundamental challenges in developing trustworthy, explainable AI that can operate safely in complex environments. Beyond technical research, Belle is actively engaged in AI education through executive programs on AI leadership and ethics, and has contributed to public understanding through his children's book "The girl and the robot" which explores human-robot relationships and emotional projection onto artificial agents. He maintains an active presence in the international AI research community, regularly participating in major workshops including Dagstuhl seminars on neurosymbolic AI, and collaborating with researchers across disciplines from computer science to philosophy.
Assia Mahboubi is a tenured researcher ( directrice de recherche ) at INRIA in the Gallinette team, Nantes, France, and an endowed professor in the Algebra and Number Theory section of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands. Her work bridges theoretical computer science and formal mathematics, with significant contributions to proof assistants and formal verification. Her research focuses on the foundations and formalization of mathematics in type theory, particularly on the automated verification of mathematical proofs. She explores the interplay between computer algebra and formal proofs, and is a key contributor to the Rocq prover (formerly Coq) and the Mathematical Components libraries. Her work often examines how familiar mathematical objects can be optimally represented for computer-aided proof checking. Recent publications show a strong trend toward categorical reasoning, diagram chasing, and continuity properties in constructive type theory, with increasing focus on practical applications of formal methods in computational mathematics. Her work demonstrates the maturation of formal verification techniques from theoretical foundations to practical tools for mathematical research. ERC Consolidator grant for the FRESCO (Fast and Reliable Symbolic Computation) project Mahboubi actively supervises doctoral students including Vojtěch Štěpančík, Tomás Vallejos Parada, and Alain Chavarri Villarello. She has received significant research funding through her ERC Consolidator grant for the FRESCO project, which aims to develop fast and reliable symbolic computation techniques. She is deeply involved in the international research community, serving on program committees for major conferences including POPL, CPP, and ICFP. She leads research in the Gallinette team at INRIA, which focuses on the intersection of proof assistants, programming languages, and formal mathematics. Her work has helped establish formal verification as a practical tool for mathematical research, moving beyond theoretical foundations to real applications in computational mathematics.
Gordon Plotkin is a Professor at the School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh, where he is affiliated with the Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science (LFCS). His research lies at the intersection of theoretical computer science and programming language semantics, with a profound influence on the formal understanding of computation. His research interests include Programming Language Theory, Semantics of Programming Languages, Domain Theory, Operational Semantics, Lambda Calculus, Type Theory, Concurrency Theory, and Algebraic Effects. His seminal work on structural operational semantics and domain theory has laid the foundation for modern semantics of programming languages. His publications span over five decades, showing a sustained and evolving research trajectory from foundational work in lambda calculus and domain theory to recent contributions in algebraic effects, probabilistic computation, and biochemical systems modeling. The articles demonstrate a consistent focus on formal methods, mathematical rigor, and the algebraic structure of computational effects. He has collaborated with leading researchers including Martín Abadi, John Power, Glynn Winskel, and John Reynolds. His work continues to influence both theoretical and practical developments in programming languages and systems. Gordon Plotkin has made foundational contributions to computer science, particularly through his development of structural operational semantics and domain-theoretic models of computation. He has advised numerous researchers and supervised many influential PhD theses, though specific student names are not listed in the provided text. His work has been supported by long-standing affiliations with the Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science and the University of Edinburgh, and he has contributed to major collaborative projects in programming language design and verification. He is associated with several research groups and labs, most notably the Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science (LFCS), which serves as a hub for theoretical research in programming languages, semantics, and logic at the University of Edinburgh.
Sean Welleck is an Assistant Professor at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science, Language Technologies Institute, leading the L3 Lab. His research focuses on bridging informal and formal reasoning with AI, spanning machine learning for mathematics and code, inference algorithms, and AI agents. PhD in Computer Science from New York University (advised by Kyunghyun Cho) Postdoctoral work at University of Washington (advised by Yejin Choi) His work explores AI-driven formal methods for mathematics and code generation, test-time compute scaling, and algorithms enabling AI improvement over time. Recent publications analyze reasoning evaluation, premise selection, and automated proof optimization in systems like Lean. Key article trends include neural theorem proving, code generation, and inference-time compute optimization. Awards: NVIDIA AI Labs Pioneering Research Awards (2017, 2018), NAACL 2025 Best Paper. Current advisees include PhD students Pranjal Aggarwal, Weihua Du (co-advised with Yiming Yang), Andre He (co-advised with Daniel Fried), and Seungone Kim (co-advised with Graham Neubig). He co-organizes workshops like Autoformalization for the Working Mathematician (ICERM 2025) and VerifAI: AI Verification in the Wild (ICLR 2025), and teaches Advanced NLP at CMU.
Jens Groth is an Honorary Professor at the Department of Computer Science, University College London (UCL), and serves as Chief Scientist at Nexus. His primary research focuses on cryptography, with an emphasis on cryptographic protocols, zero-knowledge proofs, and privacy-preserving technologies. Groth has contributed significantly to advancements in digital signatures, homomorphic encryption, and secure multi-party computation. He holds a leadership role as Program Chair for the 15th IMA International Conference on Cryptography and Coding (2015) and has been a key figure in shaping modern cryptographic standards. His work often bridges theoretical foundations with practical implementations, emphasizing efficiency and security. Groth's research interests include but are not limited to: cryptographic protocol design, lattice-based cryptography, and the application of zero-knowledge proofs in real-world systems such as blockchain and voting systems. His publications span venues like CRYPTO, EUROCRYPT, and ASIACRYPT, reflecting his impact on the field. Notably, he advocates for open access to research and has contributed to strategies ensuring conferences adopt de facto open-access policies. His current focus at Nexus centers on verifiable computation and distributed cryptographic systems.
Anand V Natarajan is the ITT Career Development Professor in Computer Technology and Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) at MIT, with affiliation to the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). He holds a PhD in Physics from MIT (2018), advised by Aram Harrow, and previously served as a postdoc at Caltech's Institute for Quantum Information and Matter. His research focuses on theoretical quantum information, emphasizing quantum complexity theory (e.g., MIP* and QMA(2) classes), nonlocality (Bell inequalities, nonlocal games), and semidefinite programming hierarchies. He teaches courses such as Quantum Cryptography, Quantum Systems Engineering, and Introduction to Algorithms at MIT. Notable contributions include resolving the MIP* = RE problem and the FOCS 2019 Best Paper Award for NEEXP ⊆ MIP*. He advises PhD students in quantum computing topics and collaborates extensively on quantum verification protocols and entanglement testing.
Ruoyu (Fish) Wang is an Associate Professor at the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, Arizona State University (Tempe campus). He also holds affiliations as Associate Director of Impact at the Global Security Initiative, Center for Cybersecurity & Trusted Foundations, and with the Biodesign Center for Biocomputing, Security and Society. His educational background includes: Ph.D. in Computer Science, University of California, Santa Barbara Professor Wang's research focuses on system security, with an emphasis on automated binary program analysis and reverse engineering of software. He is the co-founder and core developer of the angr binary analysis platform, which won third place in the DARPA Cyber Grand Challenge (2018). His work spans vulnerability discovery, fuzzing, and security tool development for binary program analysis. His current research interests include: Binary program analysis and reverse engineering Automated vulnerability discovery and mitigation Fuzzing techniques and robust testing Phishing and fraud detection in e-commerce Security of firmware and embedded systems Application of machine learning to security problems His recent publications (2024-2025) demonstrate cutting-edge research in fraud detection for e-commerce using LLMs, advanced fuzzing methodologies, and binary decompilation techniques. Key trends include bridging theoretical program analysis with practical security tools, as evidenced by extensions to the angr platform, and addressing emerging threats in financial ecosystems and client-side security. Dr. Wang has received notable recognition: Third place in DARPA Cyber Grand Challenge (2018) with team Shellphish As an active educator, he supervises graduate research (CSE 599/799) and teaches core cybersecurity courses including Software Security (CSE 545) and Information Assurance (CSE 365). His teaching spans multiple semesters through 2025, covering practicums, internships, and special topics in computing security. Dr. Wang co-founded the angr binary analysis platform and contributes to Arizona State University's security research ecosystem through leadership roles in the Center for Cybersecurity & Trusted Foundations and Biodesign Center for Biocomputing, Security and Society.
Stefania Dumbrava is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at ENSIIE (École Nationale Supérieure d'Informatique pour l'Industrie et l'Entreprise) and a permanent member of the ACMES team in the SAMOVAR laboratory at Télécom SudParis, Institut Polytechnique de Paris. She is also actively involved in the Property Graph Schema Working Group and the European Research Network on Formal Proofs (EuroProofNet). Education PhD in Computer Science, Université Paris-Sud (2016) MSc in Computer Science, Jacobs University Bremen (2012) BSc in Mathematics, Jacobs University Bremen (2010) Research Interests Dumbrava's research lies at the intersection of formal methods and data management . She designs and verifies algorithms and systems for graph databases , with emphasis on property graphs , schema discovery , query optimization , and distributed graph processing . Recently, her work focuses on certifying large-scale distributed graph systems under the ANR JCJC VERDI project (2025–2029). Awards & Honors SIGMOD Best Paper Award 2023 – “PG-Schema: Schemas for Property Graphs” SIGMOD Research Highlight Award 2023 – “Threshold Queries” VLDB 2022 Best Regular Research Paper Runner-Up – “Threshold Queries in Theory and in the Wild” SIGMOD 2025 Distinguished Reviewer Award ICDE 2025 Best Program Committee Member Award EASST Best Software Science Paper Award, ICGT 2025 Students & Grants Dumbrava has supervised numerous research interns and is actively recruiting PhD students for her ANR VERDI project on verified foundations of large-scale distributed graph systems. She has also served on six PhD thesis committees as examiner since 2021. Labs & Teams She leads the ACMES research group within the SAMOVAR laboratory (Télécom SudParis, Institut Polytechnique de Paris), where her team develops formally verified graph-database engines and tools such as GRASP, VerDILog, and DatalogCert.
Henry Yuen is the Srivani Family Associate Professor of Computer Science at Columbia University, with affiliations in the CS Theory group, Data Science Institute, and Columbia Quantum Initiative. His work bridges theoretical computer science and quantum information, focusing on the computational foundations of quantum systems. Yuen received his BA in Mathematics from the University of Southern California (2010) and PhD in Computer Science from MIT (2016). His research explores quantum complexity theory, quantum cryptography, and quantum information through both theoretical frameworks and practical applications. His recent publications reveal a strong focus on quantum pseudorandomness, quantum circuit complexity, and quantum cryptographic primitives. The research trajectory demonstrates increasing sophistication in connecting quantum computational models with fundamental questions in complexity theory, particularly through the lens of quantum interactive proofs and quantum state complexity. His work frequently intersects with operator algebras and quantum information theory, reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of modern quantum computing research. NSF CAREER award Sloan Fellowship Yuen actively mentors graduate students, with several PhD students having graduated to postdoctoral positions or faculty roles. His service includes co-organizing the Columbia CS Theory Seminar and serving on program committees for major conferences including QIP, STOC, and ITCS. He has organized multiple workshops on quantum computing challenges and cryptography. As a member of the Columbia Quantum Initiative, Yuen contributes to Columbia's growing quantum ecosystem, collaborating across departments to advance both theoretical foundations and potential applications of quantum information processing.
