Fanny Chevalier is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto, cross-appointed to the Department of Computer Science and Department of Statistical Sciences. Her research bridges data visualization and human-computer interaction, focusing on interactive tools for visual analytics and creative data exploration. Research Focus: Key themes include design and evaluation of visual exploration tools for complex datasets, statistics education through visualization, perception of animated transitions, and sketch-based interfaces. Her work emphasizes both theoretical and applied aspects of data-human interaction. Education & Career: Holds an MSc (2004) and PhD (2007) from Université de Bordeaux, with postdoctoral experience at Inria (France), OCAD University, and University of Toronto. Transitioned from research scientist roles to academia, joining the University of Toronto faculty in 2017. Contact: Email: fanny@cs.toronto.edu
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Janek is a leading researcher in solid-state electrochemistry, affiliated with the Institute of Physical Chemistry at Justus Liebig University Giessen and serving as Scientific Director of the KIT/BASF Joint Laboratory BELLA . He manages the Giessen Center for Materials Research and leads the FestBatt competence cluster. Expertise in atomic mobility in solids Focus on electrochemical energy storage Key participant in the POLIS Cluster of Excellence His recent research explores solid-state batteries , post-lithium systems (sodium/magnesium), and bioanalytics using TOF-SIMS. Collaborations with BASF AG and Degussa AG drive application-oriented projects on material stability and degradation. Scientific accolades include: Four-time Highly Cited Researcher (Clarivate) 2022 Leopoldina Greve Prize (with Kerstin Volz) Election to the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (2022) Prof. Janek's work involves interdisciplinary collaborations across KIT, Ulm University, and industry partners. His group investigates mixed-ion conductors , electrode kinetics , and plasma-electrochemistry interfaces , supported by grants from BMBF and industry.
Wai Pang Ng is a Professor and Head of the Department of Mathematics, Physics and Electrical Engineering at Northumbria University. He holds a BEng (Hons) in Communications and Electronic Engineering from the University of Northumbria and a PhD in Electronic Engineering from the University of Wales, Swansea. His research focuses on radio-over-fiber systems, distributed fiber sensing, high-speed optical communications, and adaptive signal processing. Ng has held leadership roles in IEEE chapters and conferences, including chairing the IEEE UK&RI Communications Chapter (2011–2015) and serving as publicity chair for IEEE ICC 2015 and 2016. His research interests include innovative fiber optic sensor designs, acoustic wave devices for biomedical applications, and hybrid communication systems combining radio-over-fiber and free-space optics. Recent work emphasizes ultra-sensitive pressure/temperature sensors using microstructured fibers and acoustofluidic platforms for lab-on-a-chip applications. Ng has supervised seven PhD/MSc projects and actively contributes to standards development in optical communication systems. Ng’s publications span advanced sensor technologies, nonlinear compensation in optical systems, and turbulence-resistant free-space optical links. His work bridges academic research with practical applications in telecommunications, environmental monitoring, and healthcare diagnostics. Professional affiliations include IEEE technical committees (SPCE, TCGCC, ONTC) and guest editorships for IET Communications.
Prof. Dr. Daniel J. Lang is a leading academic at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), where he serves as Professor for Designing Real-World Laboratory Research and Head of the Research Group "Designing Real-World Laboratory Research" at ITAS. He also holds the UNESCO Chair in Higher Education for Sustainable Development at Leuphana University of Lüneburg. His career spans key roles including Dean of the Faculty of Sustainability at Leuphana University (2012-2016) and leadership positions in multiple research projects. Current affiliations: KIT (2022-present), Leuphana University (2010-2022) Research focus: Real-world laboratories, transdisciplinary research, sustainability transformations, knowledge integration, and urban mobility systems His work connects academic research with practical sustainability challenges, particularly in mobility (TRAMIGO, ADMoS-Future), digitalization (LinkLab), and societal transformation. He has developed frameworks for evaluating socio-technical experiments and co-designed tools for policy implementation. Scientific contributions include establishing transdisciplinary methodologies and contextual analysis frameworks. Recent projects examine equity in automated mobility (CulturalRoad), knowledge transfer in real-world labs, and sustainability transitions in SMEs (TRANSFORM). His 15 most recent publications address topics like socio-technical experiments, equity metrics, and cross-case learning. Key awards: UNESCO Chair in Higher Education for Sustainable Development Advising: Supervised Beecroft, R.'s 2020 dissertation on real-world labs
Ralf Bierig joined Maynooth University's Computer Science Department in 2017, teaching topics including information retrieval, software testing, interaction design, and virtual reality. He is the programme director of the Higher Diploma in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and User Experience (UX). He earned his BSc (2002) from University of Furtwangen and PhD (2008) from Robert Gordon University. Research Interests His work spans information retrieval, interactive information retrieval, personalisation, information search behavior, usability (UX), and virtual reality (VR). Recent publications focus on multimodal concept indexing, hybrid IR approaches, and contextual adaptation in search systems. Publication Trends His research combines statistical semantics, graph modeling, and multimodal data analysis across academic collaborations in Austria, Germany, and international venues like ECIR and SIGIR.
Prof. Torsten Wolfgang Kuhlen serves as a Universitätsprofessor at RWTH Aachen University, leading the Teaching and Research Area for Virtual Reality and Immersive Visualization within the Department of Computer Science. He is affiliated with Chair of Computer Science 12 (High Performance Computing), the Visual Computing Institute, and remains an integral part of the RWTH IT Center where his research group operates one of the world's largest Virtual Reality laboratories including the 30 sqm aixCAVE visualization chamber. The group maintains strong connections with Computational Science & Engineering Division, National High Performance Computing Center for Computational Engineering Science (NHR4CES), and VR in Science and Industry Network NRW e.V. Prof. Kuhlen's research spans virtual reality, immersive visualization, and multimodal 3D user interfaces with applications across simulation science, production technology, neuroscience, and medicine. His work combines basic research on advanced methods and algorithms with interdisciplinary collaborations involving RWTH Aachen institutes, Forschungszentrum Jülich, and industry partners. Recent publications demonstrate strong focus on audiovisual perception, immersive analytics, collaborative virtual environments, and practical VR applications in education and manufacturing. His research group has produced significant work on listening effort in virtual environments, immersive authoring techniques, and VR applications for scientific visualization. Notable projects include VRScenarioBuilder for automated vehicle testing and applications in monitoring additive manufacturing processes. The group actively participates in major conferences including IEEE VIS and EuroVis, with several award-winning contributions. Prof. Kuhlen has advised PhD students including Martin Bellgardt who recently completed his doctoral degree on "Increasing Immersion in Machine Learning Pipelines for Mechanical Engineering". The research group maintains state-of-the-art VR infrastructure including the aixCAVE facility which is open to all RWTH research groups.
Gijs Heuts is an Associate Professor in the Fundamental Mathematics group at the Mathematical Institute of Utrecht University, part of the Faculty of Science. His research focuses on advanced topics in algebraic topology and higher category theory, with particular expertise in Goodwillie calculus, chromatic homotopy theory, and operads. He is affiliated with the Utrecht Geometry Center, which includes prominent mathematicians Ieke Moerdijk and Lennart Meier. His work is currently funded by prestigious grants including an ERC Starting Grant titled "Chromatic homotopy theory of spaces" and an NWO Vidi grant "Hopf algebras and periodic homotopy theory". Starting September 2025, he will also serve as one of the Principal Investigators on the NWO XL consortium "Symmetry on the interface of topology and higher algebra". Dr. Heuts' research centers around homotopy theory and derived algebraic geometry, with a focus on generalizations of classical algebraic concepts (such as Lie algebras, commutative rings, and Hopf algebras) to homotopy theory. His work has significant applications to chromatic homotopy theory, with Goodwillie calculus and operads serving as central methodological tools. His publication record demonstrates consistent high-impact contributions to the field, with papers appearing in top journals such as Annals of Mathematics and Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society. His research spans theoretical foundations of higher category theory to specific applications in unstable homotopy theory, particularly focusing on connections between spectral Lie algebras and vn-periodic phenomena. ERC Starting Grant "Chromatic homotopy theory of spaces" NWO Vidi grant "Hopf algebras and periodic homotopy theory" PI on NWO XL consortium "Symmetry on the interface of topology and higher algebra" (starting Sept 2025) Dr. Heuts completed his PhD under Jacob Lurie at Harvard University and was previously a postdoc at the University of Copenhagen. He has held research positions at the Isaac Newton Institute and Hausdorff Research Institute. He was an organizer of the MIT Talbot Workshop (2012-2015) and currently organizes the European Autumn School in Topology (EAST).
Carlos Fernandez-Granda is an Associate Professor of Mathematics and Data Science at New York University, holding joint appointments at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Science and the Center for Data Science. He currently serves as the Interim Director of the Center for Data Science. His academic career spans over a decade at NYU, where he has taught probability and statistics to data-science students. Dr. Fernandez-Granda's research focuses on designing and analyzing data-science methodology, with current emphasis on machine learning applications in medicine, climate science, and scientific imaging. His work bridges theoretical foundations with practical applications across multiple domains. His notable contributions include: Development of the COBRA (COnfidence-Based chaRacterization of Anomalies) score for automatic assessment of impairment and disease severity Applications of machine learning to improve climate projections through the M2LInES project Research on magnetic resonance fingerprinting for quantitative tissue parameter estimation Development of AI systems for medical diagnostics including Alzheimer's detection and breast cancer diagnosis Dr. Fernandez-Granda is the author of the book "Probability and Statistics for Data Science," published by Cambridge University Press. The book serves as a comprehensive guide to the two pillars of data science, featuring real-world datasets and addressing fundamental challenges like overfitting, the curse of dimensionality, and causal inference. His research has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation (Division of Mathematical Sciences, grants 1616340 and 2009752) and the Alzheimer's Association (grant AARG-NTF-21-848627). Dr. Fernandez-Granda is actively involved in several collaborative projects: M2LInES project: An international collaboration focused on improving climate projections using machine learning to capture unaccounted physical processes at the air-sea-ice interface Math and Data group: Exploring the intersection of mathematical theory and data science applications
Academic Profile Christina Harrington is an Assistant Professor at Carnegie Mellon University with dual appointments in the School of Computer Science (Human Computer Interaction Institute) and School of Design. She directs the Equity and Health Innovations Design Research Lab , focusing on community-centered technology design. Her work bridges industrial design, interactive systems, and human factors psychology to advance health equity through technology. Research Focus Harrington's research employs participatory and speculative design methods to address systemic inequities in technology. She examines how design can support health autonomy for older adults, people with disabilities, and historically excluded communities (particularly Black and Latinx populations). Her work actively challenges corporate design paradigms through frameworks like design justice and community collectivism , with recent emphasis on ethical AI and conversational technologies. Research methodologies include: Community-based participatory research Speculative co-design Critical race and disability frameworks Intersectional analysis of technology impacts Publications Focus Her recent publications (2023-2025) demonstrate strong focus on equity-centered design with three dominant themes: 1) Health technology disparities affecting Black older adults, 2) Participatory AI and algorithmic justice, and 3) Design justice pedagogy. Over 60% of recent works explicitly examine racial equity in AI systems, health interfaces, and design education. Honors & Recognition Google Award for Inclusive Research (2022) for "Transforming theory into practice: eliciting cultural imaginaries and design thinking to understand Black-Centered Design" Skip Ellis Early Career Award (2022) Data & Society Faculty Fellow (2022-2023) Leadership & Impact As lab director, Harrington leads community-engaged projects that translate design justice principles into practice. She serves on committees for community tech initiatives and has industry experience at Apple, Lenovo, and Motorola. Her work influences both academic discourse (ACM CHI, CSCW, DIS) and industry practices in ethical design.
Lara J. Cushing is an Associate Professor of Environmental Health Sciences at UCLA's Fielding School of Public Health, holding the Jonathan and Karin Fielding Presidential Chair in Health Equity. Her work centers on environmental justice, health disparities, and climate change impacts, with emphasis on racial equity in exposure to environmental hazards. Her educational background includes a PhD in Energy & Resources Group, MPH in Epidemiology, and BS in Molecular Environmental Biology, all from UC Berkeley. Dr. Cushing's research investigates how structural racism manifests in environmental health through historical redlining, oil and gas infrastructure siting, drinking water contamination, and climate vulnerability. She employs mixed-method epidemiological and geospatial approaches to study impacts on pregnant women and infants, focusing on urban greenspace, extreme heat, and sea level rise. Her community-engaged methodology partners with frontline organizations to ensure research directly informs environmental justice advocacy. Analysis of her recent publications reveals three dominant trends: (1) Historical discrimination's enduring impact on current environmental hazards, (2) Health consequences of fossil fuel infrastructure on marginalized communities, and (3) Methodological innovations in measuring cumulative environmental and social stressors. Her work spans climate adaptation, drinking water justice, and air pollution epidemiology with consistent focus on racial health disparities. Her significant honors include: Contributing Author to the IPCC Fourth Assessment Robert & Patricia Switzer Foundation Environmental Fellowship JPB Environmental Health Fellowship at Harvard Chan School Dr. Cushing maintains active community partnerships that shape her research agenda and policy recommendations, particularly through UCLA's Center for Healthy Climate Solutions and Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Equity. Her work bridges academic rigor with community-driven solutions for environmental health equity. She leads interdisciplinary collaborations examining climate-water-health intersections, with current projects focusing on Permian Basin emissions, urban heat vulnerability, and drinking water justice in California frontline communities.
Henry F. (Hank) Korth is a Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at Lehigh University, with a courtesy appointment in the Department of Decision and Technology Analytics in the College of Business. He serves as Director of the Blockchain Lab in the Center for Financial Services and Co-Director of the Computer Science and Business Program. Korth is a Fellow of the ACM and IEEE, and a recipient of the VLDB 10-Year Award and Bell Labs President's Silver Award for contributions to database technologies. PhD in Computer Science from Princeton University MA, MSE in Computer Science from Princeton University BA in Mathematics from Williams College Korth's research spans database systems, blockchain systems, distributed systems, and real-time systems. He has pioneered transaction management in parallel and distributed systems, query processing, and the impact of modern computing architectures on database performance. His recent work focuses on blockchain applications in enterprise databases, including acceleration of zero-knowledge proofs, benchmarking frameworks, central-bank digital currencies, and private-yet-provable accounting systems. His contributions are rooted in both theoretical advancements and practical implementations, such as the QTM™ aggregation engine and the DataBlitz™ main-memory storage manager. Scientific awards include: ACM Fellow IEEE Fellow 10-Year Award at the VLDB Conference Bell Labs President's Silver Award Korth actively supervises research within the Blockchain Lab and is affiliated with the Scalable Software Systems Research Group at Lehigh. His scholarly output reflects a deep engagement with blockchain benchmarking, concurrency control, verifiable databases, and the evolution of database systems in response to technological shifts.
Taylor Sparks is a Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Utah, where he also serves as Director of Graduate Affairs for the John and Marcia Price College of Engineering. He holds a PhD in Applied Physics from Harvard University, an MS in Materials from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a BS in Materials Science & Engineering from the University of Utah. His research focuses on advancing materials discovery using machine learning to streamline and optimize material design, with applications in energy materials, dental materials, and sustainable engineering. His work integrates big data and materials informatics to explore new synthetic techniques, structure-property relationships, and sustainable materials that balance performance with economic factors. The Sparks Research Group has secured funding from agencies including DOE, NSF, DOD, and various industry partners. Sparks' recent research output demonstrates a strong trend toward leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning to accelerate materials discovery, with particular emphasis on large language models for materials science, Bayesian optimization for experimental design, and novel approaches to crystal structure prediction. His work bridges the gap between theoretical predictions and experimental validation in materials science. NSF CAREER Award Royal Society Wolfson Visiting Fellow Acta Materialia Outstanding Reviewer Award for 2020 Honorary Outstanding Faculty Teaching Award of 2020-2021 Materials Science & Engineering Department Research Award for 2023 John G. Francis Prize for Undergraduate Student Mentoring Sparks has advised numerous graduate students who have gone on to successful careers in academia and industry. His research has been supported by significant grants from NSF, DOE, DOD, Army Research Office, and industry partners. His group has developed innovative tools including the Materialism Podcast, a materials science YouTube channel, and the Honegumi interface for Bayesian optimization, demonstrating his commitment to both research excellence and science communication. The Sparks Research Group operates multiple laboratories focused on materials characterization, synthesis, and informatics. They collaborate extensively with other institutions globally, host visiting researchers, and run outreach initiatives including the Materialism Podcast and YouTube channel to make materials science more accessible to broader audiences.
Christian Rossow is Faculty at CISPA – Helmholtz Center for Information Security in Dortmund, Germany, where he leads the System Security research group. He holds dual academic appointments as a professor in the Computer Science department at Saarland University and as an honorary professor at TU Dortmund University. His research spans systems, software, and network security, with a focus on cyber attacks, defenses, and privacy. Research Interests: His primary research areas include software and system security (e.g., exploitation techniques, compiler-assisted defenses, AI-assisted (in)security), network security (e.g., DDoS mitigation, attack attribution, traffic analysis), and cybercrime (e.g., malware analysis, data-driven studies). He emphasizes foundational research with practical applications. Publication Trends: His recent work (2023–2025) shows a strong focus on microarchitectural attacks (e.g., cache side-channels, prefetcher analysis), browser and web security (e.g., sandbox escapes, CSS fingerprinting), network protocol vulnerabilities (e.g., TCP spoofing, infinite loops), and applied cryptography (e.g., ISA extensions for key management). His research consistently targets top-tier venues like IEEE S&P, USENIX Security, ACM CCS, and NDSS. Distinguished Paper Award at IEEE EuroS&P 2021 Best Student Paper Award at MIT Spam Conference 2010 Advising and Grants: He actively supervises PhD students and postdoctoral researchers, with alumni placed in industry (NVIDIA, Crowdstrike, Continental) and academia. His research is supported by major grants including EU H2020 SISSDEN, BMBF-funded BOB, DFG-funded anonymous communication, and RAMSES. He regularly serves in leadership roles in the community, including PC Chair for RAID 2022/2023 and USENIX WOOT 2018, and Track Chair for ACM CCS 2026. Labs and Teams: He leads the System Security research group at CISPA, a world-leading institution for security and privacy. The group comprises talented full-time researchers and focuses on cutting-edge research with strong individual supervision and worldwide collaborations.
Miriam Diamond is a Professor at the Department of Earth Sciences and School of the Environment, University of Toronto. She holds cross-appointments in Chemical Engineering, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, and Physical & Environmental Sciences. PhD in Chemical Engineering (University of Toronto, 1990) MSc in Mining Engineering (Queen’s University, 1984) MSc in Zoology (University of Alberta, 1980) Her research focuses on chemical contaminant fate, transport, and exposure in indoor and urban environments, Arctic regions, and Great Lakes systems. She develops mathematical models , passive sampling methods , and policy frameworks to address pollution from flame retardants, phthalates, PFAS, and microplastics. Recent publications highlight microplastic extraction techniques , sleeping children’s exposure , and polymeric flame retardant risks . Key awards include the Royal Society of Canada Fellowship and 2025 President’s Impact Award . She supervises PhD candidates Anna Shalin , Lin Boynton , and others. Her policy contributions include serving on the Canadian Chemical Management Plan Science Committee and co-chairing the Earth Commissioner initiative.
Alfredo Pasquarello is a Full Professor at the Chair of Atomic Scale Simulation within the Condensed Matter Theory Laboratory (CSEA) at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) . He teaches courses such as Computer Simulation of Physical Systems I and General Physics: Quanta . Education: Physics at Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa (1986), University of Pisa (1986), PhD at EPFL (1991). Research: Focuses on atomic-scale simulations using density functional theory (DFT) and many-body perturbation to study defects in oxides , oxide-semiconductor interfaces , and energy materials like perovskites and photocatalysts. Recent Publications: 15 most recent articles (2022–2024) address band gaps, polarons, water splitting, and defect engineering in materials for photovoltaics and electrochemistry. Awards: Recipient of the EPFL Latsis Prize (1998) . Students: Supervised PhD/Master's students including Stefano Falletta, Thomas Bischoff, Patrick Gono, and Zhendong Guo. Labs: Leads the Chair of Atomic Scale Simulation at EPFL SB IPHYS CSEA.
