Shiva Nejati is a Professor at the University of Ottawa 's School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science . He holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Toronto and previously worked as a Senior Scientist (2012-2019) and Scientist (2009-2012) at the SnT Centre (University of Luxembourg) and Simula Research Laboratory. Research focus: Software engineering for cyber-physical systems (autonomous vehicles, IoT), blending formal verification, machine learning, and search-based testing Key tools developed: ARIsTEO, SOCRaTEs, SimCoTest, EPIcuRus Editorial roles: Associate Editor for EMSE Journal (2025–), ASE Journal (2025–), IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering (2020–2024) His work combines formal methods , empirical software engineering , and AI/ML to address verification challenges in complex systems, particularly through evolutionary algorithms and surrogate modeling . Notable collaborations include industry partners in telecommunications, automotive, and aerospace sectors. Recent publications emphasize large language models for requirements analysis, adversarial testing of vision systems, and multi-objective optimization for test generation. His Sedna Research Lab actively trains graduate students in these cutting-edge methodologies.
Lerrel Pinto is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at New York University's Courant Institute, where he leads the General-purpose Robotics and AI Lab (GRAIL). His research focuses on enabling robots to generalize and adapt in unstructured environments through advancements in robot learning, decision making, and multimodal sensing. Before joining NYU, he completed a postdoc at UC Berkeley, a PhD in Robotics at Carnegie Mellon University, and an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering at IIT Guwahati. Key research areas include large-scale robot learning, representation learning for sensory data, reinforcement learning for adaptability, and open-source robotics hardware. Notable achievements include the Sloan Fellowship (2025), NSF CAREER Award (2024), and Best Paper Awards at multiple robotics conferences. Pinto's lab has developed influential systems such as the AnySkin tactile sensing framework and the OPEN TEACH teleoperation system. Education highlights include a PhD from CMU (2019) under Abhinav Gupta, a postdoctoral stint with Alexei Efros and Pieter Abbeel at Berkeley, and undergraduate studies at IIT Guwahati. He has authored over 65 publications in top conferences like ICRA, NeurIPS, and CVPR. Pinto teaches courses on robotics, reinforcement learning, and AI at NYU. His service contributions include roles on program committees for ICML, NeurIPS, and IROS, as well as organizing workshops on topics like Dexterous Manipulation and Vision-Language Models for Robotics. His team actively collaborates through the GRAIL lab, with current projects exploring tactile sensing, zero-shot policy deployment, and multimodal robot learning systems. Ongoing research emphasizes bridging the gap between human and robotic dexterity through novel reward structures and adaptive control frameworks.
Andy Hargreaves is an internationally recognized scholar and advisor in education, holding dual roles as Adjunct Professor at Boston College and Visiting Professor at the University of Ottawa. He advises governments including Ontario, Scotland, and New Brunswick on educational policy and system reform. His work focuses on leadership, well-being, student engagement, and systemic educational change. Hargreaves co-leads the ARC Education Project and founded CHENINE, a Canadian research initiative advancing pedagogical innovation. Research Interests: Leadership from the Middle Teacher Well-Being and Professional Capital Identity Development in Schools Play-Based Learning Crisis Management in Education Awards: 2023 Canadian EdTech Awards Educator of the Year 2023 RHSU Edu-Scholar #16 2022 National Academy of Education Member 2015 Grawemeyer Award Key Projects: ARC Education Project (7 nations collaboration) CHENINE (Canadian educational innovation hub) Canadian Playful Schools Network Labs/Teams: Directs CHENINE, collaborates through ARC networks, and leads research on global educational transformation.
Dino Pedreschi is a Full Professor of Computer Science at the University of Pisa, affiliated with the Department of Computer Science (DI-UNIPI). He co-leads the Pisa KDD Lab, a joint research initiative between the University of Pisa and the Italian National Research Council’s Institute of Information Science and Technology, one of the earliest labs focused on data mining and knowledge discovery. His research spans Big Data Analytics , Social Network Analysis , Human Mobility Analysis , Privacy-by-Design , Explainable AI (XAI) , and ethical data mining . He is a pioneer in privacy-preserving data mining and has contributed significantly to understanding societal impacts of AI and big data. Recent publications highlight trends in explainable AI , fairness-aware data mining , urban mobility modeling , and socio-economic nowcasting , reflecting a strong interdisciplinary focus combining computer science, social science, and policy. Notable scientific awards include: Google Research Award on Privacy (2009) University of Pisa Ordine del Cherubino (2017) Pedreschi has played leadership roles in major conferences such as ECML/PKDD (Co-Chair 2004), ICDM (Vice-Chair 2005), and ICDE (Vice-Chair 2014). He founded the Business Informatics MSc program at the University of Pisa to train interdisciplinary data scientists. He has been a visiting scientist at the University of Texas at Austin, CWI Amsterdam, UCLA, and the Barabási Lab at Northeastern University. He actively contributes to European research initiatives including SoBigData++, FAIR, and TAILOR, and has advised on AI policy, including testimony before the Italian Parliament on AI and labor markets. He is a key member of the Pisa KDD Lab, a leading research group in data science and AI ethics, fostering collaboration between academia and public institutions.
Martha Stiegman is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, York University. Her research integrates Indigenous knowledge, food sovereignty, and arts-based methodologies to address issues of social, environmental, and disability justice. She is actively engaged in community-based research and public scholarship in Toronto and Mi’kma’ki (Nova Scotia). Her educational background includes a PhD from Concordia University’s Special Individualized Program and a BA in English Literature & Political Science from McGill University. This interdisciplinary foundation supports her work at the intersection of activism, research, and art. Stiegman’s research focuses on three interconnected domains: Indigenous/settler treaty relations, food sovereignty and justice movements, and participatory video and arts-based research. She emphasizes decolonizing methodologies and community-led knowledge production. Her work explores how arts-based approaches can deepen dialogues across communities and strengthen collective action for justice. Her recent publications and multimedia projects demonstrate a strong trend toward interdisciplinary, community-engaged scholarship that bridges Indigenous epistemologies, environmental justice, and disability justice. She frequently uses film, digital storytelling, and public art to mobilize knowledge and challenge colonial narratives. Co-creator of A Treaty Guide for Torontonians (2022) Lead on the Polishing the Chain project exploring Toronto’s treaty relationships Editor of the forthcoming Anti Colonial Food Systems (Routledge) Active collaborator with Indigenous scholars and artists including Dr. Sherry Pictou, Ange Loft, and Elder Kerry Prosper Stiegman has been involved in significant research grants such as the Atlantic Aboriginal Health Research Program. While specific advisees are not listed, her collaborative projects suggest active mentorship and supervision. She does not appear to lead a formal lab but works within research collectives and community partnerships.
Pavel Tkach is a Researcher at the Arctic Centre , University of Lapland. His research focuses on Arctic governance, subnational decision-making, and policy analysis, with a particular emphasis on environmental policy, migration studies, and indigenous rights. Tkach has been actively involved in EU-funded projects such as Arctic PASSION (observing systems for societal needs), SIRIUS 3.0 (migrant education data mapping), and Co-CREATE (responsible solar radiation modification research). He holds a Law background and has contributed to interdisciplinary research on topics like Nordic forest policy, green transition in the Arctic, and indigenous data sovereignty. Tkach has organized major events such as the Arctic Circle Assembly 2024 and Rovaniemi Arctic Spirit 2023 , showcasing his role in fostering international collaboration. His research outputs include commissioned reports on data-driven governance frameworks and peer-reviewed articles on climate policy, cultural security, and Arctic socio-legal dynamics. Tkach collaborates with institutions across Europe and is a key contributor to pan-Arctic observational systems and sustainable tourism initiatives.
Karen Livescu is a Professor at the Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago (TTIC), a philanthropically endowed graduate institute for computer science located on the University of Chicago campus. She also serves as a courtesy faculty member in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Chicago and is an Affiliated Scholar at the Data Science Institute there. Her research focuses on advancing speech and language processing through innovative machine learning approaches. Education: PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT (2005) S.M. from MIT Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (1999) A.B. in Physics from Princeton University (1996) Karen's research spans multiple dimensions of speech and language processing with particular emphasis on speech recognition, spoken language understanding, and multimodal processing. She has made significant contributions to articulatory feature-based speech recognition, self-supervised learning for speech representation, and sign language processing. Her work consistently bridges machine learning techniques with linguistic and speech science knowledge, focusing on creating more robust, interpretable, and inclusive speech processing systems that can handle diverse languages and modalities. Her recent publication trajectory reveals a strong focus on self-supervised learning for speech representation, multilingual speech processing, and sign language understanding. She has been instrumental in developing benchmark frameworks like SUPERB and ML-SUPERB that have become standard evaluation tools in the speech community. Her work increasingly addresses critical challenges in low-resource language scenarios, language disparities in speech technology, and ethical considerations in real-world deployment. Scientific Awards: Best Paper award at EMNLP 2024 for 'Towards robust speech representation learning for thousands of languages' Best Student Paper Award at ASRU 2023 Best Short Paper Award at CRAC 2021 Top system at WMT-SLT 2023 Karen has successfully advised numerous PhD students and postdoctoral researchers who have gone on to faculty positions at institutions like University of Waterloo, University of Edinburgh, and Stellenbosch University, as well as industry roles at major technology companies including Google, Meta, and NVIDIA. Her research group has secured significant funding for projects including the development of the SLUE benchmark for spoken language understanding and the SUPERB framework for evaluating self-supervised speech models. She has been actively involved in organizing workshops and symposia that bring together researchers in speech and language processing. Karen leads the Speech and Language at TTIC (SL@TTIC) research group, which maintains a strong collaborative relationship with researchers at the University of Chicago and other institutions. The group has been particularly active in advancing sign language processing through projects like ChicagoFSWild and OpenASL, while also making significant contributions to spoken language understanding and multilingual speech recognition. Her team regularly participates in community challenges and benchmarks, helping to push the field forward through open science and collaborative evaluation frameworks.
Ethan Mollick is the Ralph J. Roberts Distinguished Faculty Scholar, Rowan Fellow, and Associate Professor of Management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He serves as Co-Director of the Generative AI Labs at Wharton, where he researches AI's impact on work, entrepreneurship, and education. His academic background includes a PhD and MBA from MIT's Sloan School of Management and a bachelor's degree from Harvard University. Mollick's research spans artificial intelligence applications in business and education, entrepreneurship dynamics, and innovation management. He explores how generative AI transforms classroom education through simulations like PitchQuest, and investigates startup funding disparities with a focus on gender representation. His work on the 'jagged technological frontier' demonstrates how humans integrate AI capabilities through Centaur and Cyborg approaches. His publications reveal consistent focus on practical AI implementation, with recent work examining prompt engineering for diverse idea generation, AI-assisted teaching strategies, and gender representation tipping points in venture capital. The research shows increasing emphasis on educational applications since 2022, coinciding with the ChatGPT breakthrough. MBA Professor of the Year Award, Poets & Quants (2024) Named to TIME Magazine's Most Influential People in Artificial Intelligence ASQ Award for Scholarly Contribution (2024) Greif Research Impact Award (2020) McGraw-Hill/Academy of Management Innovation in Entrepreneurship Pedagogy Award (2016) As Co-Director of Wharton's Generative AI Labs, Mollick leads prototype development and research on human-AI collaboration. His teaching includes Technology Strategy, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation courses where he implements AI simulations. He has advised numerous organizations and co-founded a startup prior to academia, bringing practical experience to his research on solo versus team ventures. Mollick directs Wharton Interactive's game development initiatives, creating educational simulations including PitchQuest (AI-powered VC simulator), The Saturn Parable (crisis management), and The Entrepreneurship Game. His lab work focuses on creating scalable AI educational tools that provide personalized learning experiences through simulated practice environments.
Dr. HAJNAL Géza is an Associate Professor at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME), Faculty of Civil Engineering, where he serves in the Department of Hydraulic and Water Resources Engineering. His office is located in Room K. ép / mf. 12/7, and he can be contacted via email at hajnal.geza@emk.bme.hu or phone at +36 1 463 2362. His teaching portfolio includes active courses such as Hydraulic Engineering, Water Management (BMEEOVVAT43) and Hydrometric Field Course (BMEEOVVAI44). Previously, he taught Hidrogeology (BMEEOGMMET3) and Hydrogeology of Subsurface Water (BMEEOGMDT81). HAJNAL's research specializes in hydrogeology , with emphases on karst aquifer dynamics, groundwater flow modeling, climate impacts on hydrology, and hydraulic engineering. His work integrates field measurements (e.g., drip-water monitoring in Buda Castle Cave) with advanced numerical modeling to address complex hydrological challenges in Hungarian watersheds. Analysis of his 15 most recent publications (2013–2025) reveals dominant themes: 73% focus on karst/fractured aquifers , 20% on hydrological modeling techniques , and 7% on socio-environmental conflicts. Recurrent technical subfields include seepage flow validation, transmissivity determination, and rainfall-runoff sensitivity. No scientific awards, grants, student advisees, or lab affiliations are documented in the provided materials.
Zita Vale is a Full Professor at the Institute of Engineering (ISEP) of the Polytechnic of Porto (IPP), where she holds the first Full Professor position since 2017. She is a co-founder of GECAD (1999) and coordinates GECAD's Power and Energy (PES) activities. GECAD is recognized by FCT since 2004 and classified as Excellent. She has served as GECAD director (2010-2017), vice-director (1999-2009, 2017-present), and is a member of the administration board. She is also co-founder and member of the coordination board of the National Associated Laboratory on Intelligent Systems. Her educational background includes a PhD (1993) and Agregação/Habilitation (2003) in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Porto. She began her academic career at the University of Porto as a Teaching Monitor (1985), Assistant (1985-1993), and Professor (1993-1998) before moving to ISEP in 1998. Zita Vale's research focuses on the design and development of artificial intelligence-based models for Power and Energy Systems. Her work spans knowledge-based systems, multiagent systems, machine learning, metaheuristics, and semantics, with applications in smart grids, energy management, electricity markets, and renewable energy integration. She has an extensive international network and has participated in 80 R&D projects, raising over 22 million Euros for GECAD. Her recent publications demonstrate a strong emphasis on optimization techniques, explainable AI, energy storage systems, and the integration of distributed energy resources in power systems. She serves as Editor-in-Chief of Applied Energy (Elsevier), a leading journal in the field with an Impact Factor of 11.2. Her citation metrics are impressive, with over 17,000 citations on Google Scholar and an H-index of 64. Editor-in-Chief of Applied Energy (Elsevier) Over 17,000 citations on Google Scholar H-index of 64 Zita Vale has supervised 29 PhD students (25 completed) and 72 MSc students (66 completed), demonstrating her strong commitment to academic mentorship. She has also been involved in numerous international and national evaluation processes, including project proposals, faculty positions, and PhD juries across 15+ countries. She has contributed to over 225 evaluation processes from 2018-2023, including 150+ project proposals/execution, 50+ Faculty/Researchers positions, 2 Habilitation juries, and 25+ PhD juries. She leads GECAD's involvement in several major research initiatives, including the National Associated Laboratory on Intelligent Systems and various European projects such as IoTalentum, TRADERES, DOMINOES, and EcoRural-IoT from Horizon 2020, as well as PRODUTECH EU DIH from Horizon Europe. Her leadership extends to international organizations where she serves as President of Intelligent Systems Applications in Power (ISAP) and Technical Committee Program Chair of IEEE PES Analytic Methods for Power Systems Committee.
Dominik Schnaus is a PhD Student at the Computer Vision Group within the School of Computation, Information and Technology at the Technical University of Munich. His research focuses on computer vision and deep learning, particularly in vision-language correspondence and uncertainty estimation in neural networks. Research Interests: 3D/4D reconstruction, vision-language models, neural network uncertainty, robotics Contact: dominik.schnaus@tum.de
Tariq Iqbal is an Assistant Professor at the University of Virginia , with joint appointments in the Department of Systems and Information Engineering and Department of Computer Science . He leads the Collaborative Robotics Lab (CRL) , specializing in human-robot teams and embodied AI . Previously, he was a Postdoctoral Associate at MIT's CSAIL , advised by Prof. Julie Shah , and earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science from University of California San Diego (UCSD) under Prof. Laurel Riek . Ph.D. in Computer Science, University of California San Diego (2017) M.S. in Computer Science, University of Texas at El Paso (2012) B.S. in Computer Science and Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (2007) His research lies at the intersection of artificial intelligence and robotics , focusing on human-robot collaboration in dynamic environments. Key areas include motion prediction , multimodal fusion , trust modeling , and collaborative learning . His work integrates cognitive science and deep learning to enhance robotic fluency in naturalistic settings. Recent publications (2023–2025) highlight advancements in human-robot team dynamics , multimodal dataset creation , and motion prediction algorithms . Notable works include Energy-Based Transformers for scalable AI, PoseTron for motion prediction, and Accessible Navigation Mapping for assistive robotics. These contributions span trust modeling , cloud robotic infrastructure , and safety in close-proximity collaboration . National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) Young Investigator Program (YIP) Award Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing (CCAM) Innovation Award As faculty, he has secured grants from NSF and AFOSR , mentored research students, and taught courses like Stochastic Modeling I (SYS 6005) and Robots and Humans (SYS 4582/6465, ECE 4502/6465, CS 6465) . His prior industry roles at IBM Watson Lab and Grameenphone Ltd. inform his applied research in telecom infrastructure and cognitive robotics . He leads the Collaborative Robotics Lab (CRL) at UVA, which develops multimodal datasets , real-time coordination algorithms , and adaptive pathfinding systems . Current projects explore human motion prediction , team synchrony , and embodied question-answering , reflecting his commitment to advancing human-robot fluency and contextual AI .
Mykola Oleksiyovych Zhuravel serves as a Senior Lecturer at Zaporizhia Polytechnic National University within the Department of Occupational Safety and Environmental Protection, part of the Faculty of Construction, Architecture and Design. With over 37 years of service since 1987, he has established himself as a dedicated educator and researcher in occupational safety, civil defense, and environmental protection fields. His research interests span occupational safety, civil defense, environmental safety, life safety, industrial safety, ergonomics, and risk management. Zhuravel's scholarly work consistently addresses practical safety concerns in Ukrainian industrial and educational settings, with a particular focus on regional environmental challenges in Zaporizhzhia. His publications demonstrate a progression from foundational safety principles to contemporary concerns like ecological energy security and digital workplace safety. Analysis of his 15 most recent publications reveals a strong emphasis on practical applications of safety science, with recurring themes in environmental protection, workplace hazard mitigation, and emergency preparedness. His work bridges theoretical safety frameworks with practical implementation strategies, particularly relevant to Ukrainian industrial contexts. Zhuravel maintains active professional development, with numerous certifications through 2024 in occupational safety, civil defense, and academic integrity. He is an associated member of the European Community for Occupational Safety and Health (EUOP register number 13823000211, registered June 12, 2023). As an educator, he teaches multiple safety-related disciplines including Safety of Life of a Specialist with Basics of Labor Protection, Protection of Human Living Environment and Occupational Safety, and Civil Protection and Occupational Safety in Industry. His teaching approach integrates theoretical knowledge with practical safety applications relevant to Ukrainian industrial contexts.
Alina Sajed is an Associate Professor of International Relations in the Department of Political Science at McMaster University, where she joined in September 2013 after serving as Assistant Professor at the University of Hong Kong from 2010 to 2013. She earned her PhD in Political Science from McMaster University in 2008, following academic work at Alexandru Ioan Cuza University in Romania. Her educational background includes: Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in English and French Language and Literature from Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iași Master of Arts from Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iași Master of Arts in Political Science from McMaster University PhD in Political Science from McMaster University (2008) Professor Sajed's research critically examines international relations through decolonial and postcolonial lenses, with particular focus on colonialism, decolonization, anticolonial theory, and Third Worldism as global political projects. Her work centers on North Africa and the Middle East, exploring political violence, political Islam, and the unrealized potential of Third Worldism beyond rigid nationalist boundaries. She investigates how Algerian intellectuals engaged in translocal solidarity with other decolonization projects worldwide. Dr. Sajed has received significant recognition for her scholarly contributions, including: ISA's 2024 Theory Award for special issue 'Anticolonial Connectivity and the Politics of Solidarity' President's Award for Excellence in Graduate Supervision (2022) As an educator, she teaches courses including International Relations: North-South, Non-Western International Relations, and Politics of the Global South. She serves as Associate Editor at Contexto Internacional: Journal of Global Connections and has guest edited issues for South Atlantic Quarterly and Postcolonial Studies, demonstrating her leadership in advancing decolonial approaches to international relations scholarship.
Dr. Matthias Gruber is a Reader (Associate Professor) in Cognitive Neuroscience at Cardiff University's School of Psychology. He leads the Cardiff University Motivation and Memory Lab at CUBRIC, where his research investigates the neuroscience of motivation and its effects on memory using multimodal neuroimaging techniques (structural/functional MRI, M/EEG). His work focuses on how intrinsic motivational states like curiosity enhance learning and memory consolidation. Education includes: PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London (2007-2011) Research Assistant position at University of Regensburg (2003-2006) Research explores: Neural mechanisms of curiosity and motivation Effects of reward anticipation on memory encoding Hippocampal-prefrontal interactions during learning Developmental aspects of curiosity from childhood to adulthood Real-world applications of motivation research His publications consistently demonstrate how motivational states modulate memory systems, with recent work focusing on spatial exploration dynamics and educational applications. Awards and honors: Sir Henry Dale Fellowship (Wellcome/Royal Society, 2019-2024) Laird Cermak Award (2016) Michael S. Gazzaniga Prize for Cognitive Neuroscience (2015) Elected to Memory Disorders Research Society (2017) Research funding includes major grants from Wellcome Trust, Royal Society, and European Commission. He leads the Motivation and Memory Lab at CUBRIC and is currently accepting expressions of interest from potential research trainees.
