Greg Durrett is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at University of Texas at Austin, leading the TAUR Lab (Text Analysis, Understanding, and Reasoning ). His research focuses on advancing Large Language Models (LLMs) for knowledge-intensive tasks in medical information processing scientific discovery legal reasoning . He received his B.S. in Computer Science and Mathematics from MIT (2010) and Ph.D. in Computer Science from UC Berkeley (2016). His work develops techniques to train LLMs with new capabilities augment models for reliability assess model outputs improve reasoning frameworks . His 15 most recent publications (2021-2025) span knowledge propagation in LLMs chain-of-thought reasoning code generation benchmarks multi-modal reasoning fact verification discourse analysis . Scientific honors include NSF CAREER Award (2024) NSF grants (2018, 2024) Bloomberg Data Science Grant (2017) Facebook Fellowship (2014) Best Paper Finalist (EMNLP 2013) . Teaching: CS388: Natural Language Processing (graduate) CS371N: NLP (undergraduate) High school NLP module .
Dr. Jimeng Sun is a Health Innovation Professor at the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science and Carle Illinois College of Medicine at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Co-founder of Keiji AI , he leads groundbreaking research at the intersection of artificial intelligence and healthcare, actively deploying clinical AI systems and developing frameworks like PyHealth and Therapeutics Data Commons . His research spans four major areas: Clinical AI Systems : Developing interpretable models (e.g., RETAIN) for patient similarity, temporal event prediction, medication recommendation, and clinical outcome forecasting Drug Discovery : Creating molecular optimization frameworks, drug-target interaction models, and AI-driven platforms Clinical Trials : Pioneering patient-trial matching, outcome prediction, and optimization frameworks using deep learning and graph neural networks Biosignal Analysis : Advancing sleep staging, seizure classification, and automated EEG/Cardiac monitoring systems With over 500 top-tier publications (including in Nature , NEJM AI , and leading AI conferences) and an h-index of 99, his work has been recognized with the Top 100 AI Leaders in Drug Discovery and Advanced Healthcare award. He maintains active collaborations with institutions like Massachusetts General Hospital , Medidata Solutions , and OSF Healthcare . His recent publications reveal a strong focus on: Reinforcement learning applications in medical data analysis Large language model adaptation for clinical tasks Knowledge graph integration with AI systems Synthetic data generation for healthcare Multi-modal learning in clinical contexts Explainable AI for medical applications Dr. Sun's lab ( Sunlab ) emphasizes practical impact over theoretical work, actively collaborating with hospitals and healthtech companies. He welcomes contributions from clinicians, researchers, and industry partners through initiatives like his AI for Health webinar series .
Anna Choromanska is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at NYU Tandon School of Engineering, with affiliations to NYU Center for Data Science (CDS), NYU Center for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP), NYU Center for Advanced Technology in Communications (CATT), and the C2SMART Center. Her research focuses on deep learning optimization, generalization, and applications in autonomous driving and large-scale data analysis. She holds an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship and NSF CAREER Award, and her work impacts industries like NVIDIA and Facebook. She directs the Learning Systems Laboratory (LSL), emphasizing interdisciplinary experimental/theoretical work. Research Interests: Machine Learning fundamentals, DL optimization, continual learning, autonomous vehicle systems, large data analysis. Her lab explores DNN learning dynamics, training architecture design, and scalable algorithms. Professional Impact: Over 50 invited talks, workshop organization for top ML conferences, and contributions to open-source projects like Vowpal Wabbit. Her algorithms are deployed in production systems at Facebook and Baidu. Awards: NSF CAREER Award Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship IBM Global University Program Academic Award (2x) Columbia University Presidential Fellowship Advising & Labs: Leads LSL, supervising interdisciplinary projects in optimization and autonomy. Actively involved in NYU's Modern AI seminar series and industry partnerships through CATT. Personal Interests: Accomplished pianist, salsa dancer, and fashion design enthusiast with notable performances and certifications in dance and music.
Antonio A. Casilli is a Professor of Sociology at Télécom Paris (Institut Polytechnique de Paris) and a researcher at the Interdisciplinary Institute of Innovation (i3) . He is an associate member of LACI-IIAC (formerly the Edgar Morin Center) at EHESS and serves as a Faculty Fellow at the Nexa Center for Internet and Society (Polytechnic University of Turin) since 2018. Research Focus: Digital labor, platform economy, AI ethics, and the social implications of technology Awards: Prix Étoiles de la SCAM, Prix Meilleur Documentaire de l'Année (Bangkok), selected as Nature Journal Top Science Pick His work analyzes how digital platforms reshape labor dynamics, privacy norms, and social inequalities. Recent studies explore global AI data work, including fieldwork in Latin America, Africa, and Europe. He advocates for ethical frameworks recognizing human labor behind automation. Media Engagement: Regular contributor to France Culture , Le Monde , Wired , and Rue89 . Authored En attendant les robots (2019) and Schiavi del clic (2020), investigating hidden digital labor structures.
Danqi Chen is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Princeton University's School of Engineering and Applied Science. Their research focuses on advancing large language models (LLMs), with emphasis on model alignment, safety, and long-context reasoning capabilities. Key research areas: LLMs, AI safety, retrieval systems, and model optimization Recent work explores theorem proving, context encoding, and ethical content generation Their 2025 publications highlight innovations in formal verification scaffolding, attention mechanism efficiency, and copyright-aware generation. 2024 studies investigate continual memorization, rule-based chatbot representations, and scientific literature retrieval benchmarks. Current projects demonstrate commitment to improving model robustness, interpretability, and security compliance in multimodal systems.
Erik Velldal is a Professor in the Language Technology Group (LTG) at the Section for Machine Learning , Department of Informatics, University of Oslo . With over 25 years of experience in machine learning and natural language processing (NLP), he leads the SANT project focused on sentiment analysis and contributes to major research initiatives including MediaFutures , NorwAI , and Integreat (Norwegian Center for AI Research). His work bridges linguistic theory and computational methods, emphasizing semantic modeling and uncertainty detection. Research interests include sentiment analysis , language modeling , event extraction , and machine learning applications to NLP. Recent publications address cross-domain sentiment classification , generative event analysis , and multilingual model adaptation . He co-developed the Norwegian Review Corpus (NoReC) and Norwegian Anaphora Resolution Corpus (NARC) , foundational resources for Norwegian NLP. His projects often involve collaboration with international institutions, reflected in publications at venues like ACL, COLING, and EMNLP. Current efforts focus on entity-level sentiment analysis , diagnostic datasets for Norwegian , and evaluating compositional generalization in language models. No public record of scientific awards or part-time appointments exists.
Sarah Ebling is a Full Professor of Language, Technology and Accessibility at the University of Zurich's Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. She leads the Language, Technology and Accessibility research group within the Institute for Computational Linguistics. Her work focuses on computational linguistics applications for assistive technologies targeting disabilities such as hearing impairments, visual impairments, and cognitive disorders. Key areas include sign language technologies, automatic text simplification, and audio description systems. She directs the large-scale Swiss innovation project 'Inclusive Information and Communication Technologies' (2022-2026, CHF12 million budget) and collaborates on EU H2020 and SNSF Sinergia projects. Education: Holds a doctoral degree (summa cum laude, 2016) from the University of Zurich with research on automatic translation to Swiss German Sign Language. Completed studies in German Linguistics, Computational Linguistics, and English Linguistics at Universities of Zurich and Heidelberg, with research stays in Dublin, Chicago, and Rochester. Research emphasizes multimodal accessibility solutions, including sign language fluency assessment, gesture-based interaction, and AI-driven text adaptation. Current projects explore audio description translation systems (SwissADT), sign language corpus development (SwissSLi), and digital tools for comprehensibility assessment in simplified texts. Her work bridges computational linguistics with ethical considerations in assistive technology deployment. Grants and Leadership: Principal Investigator on major accessibility-focused grants, including the CHF12M Swiss innovation project. Supervises PhD candidates in areas like sign language assessment tools and text simplification algorithms. Active in international collaborations, publishing extensively in computational linguistics and accessibility journals/conferences. Technology Development: Created the 'DigiSpon' benchmark for language sample analysis and developed open-source tools for sign language translation baselines. Her team's innovations include the SignCLIP model connecting text and sign language via contrastive learning, and pose estimation frameworks for sign language recognition.
Dr. Kenneth Edwin Barker is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science within the Faculty of Science at the University of Calgary, where he also serves as Director of the Institute for Security, Privacy and Information Assurance (ISPIA). His academic career spans several decades with significant contributions to database systems and privacy research. Dr. Barker earned his B.S. and M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Calgary in 1982 and 1984 respectively, followed by a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Alberta in 1990. His educational background established the foundation for his extensive research career in database systems and information security. His primary research interests focus on Privacy Preserving Data Repositories , with specific attention to protecting privacy in mobile applications, understanding privacy's impact on data analytics, and architecting database management systems that inherently respect user privacy. His work also extends to distributed database environments, integration of legacy systems, and multidatabase environments. Dr. Barker's research bridges theoretical foundations with practical applications, making significant contributions to how privacy is implemented in real-world systems. An analysis of his recent publications reveals a strong trend toward practical privacy-preserving techniques for cloud data, social networks, and location-based services. His work consistently addresses the tension between data utility and privacy protection, developing innovative methods to maintain data value while safeguarding personal information. The publications span multiple subfields including encrypted search, graph privacy, high-dimensional data privacy, and privacy metrics. Best Paper Award at DBSec 2012 Best Paper Award at CODASPY 2012 Best Paper at BNCOD 2009 Dr. Barker has been instrumental in establishing privacy research infrastructure at the University of Calgary through his leadership of ISPIA. His research has attracted significant funding from various sources supporting privacy and security initiatives. While specific grant details aren't provided in the text, his extensive publication record indicates sustained research funding throughout his career. He has collaborated extensively with researchers both within and outside the University of Calgary, particularly with R. Alhajj and other colleagues on numerous projects. As Director of ISPIA, Dr. Barker oversees a research environment focused on advancing security and privacy technologies. The institute serves as a hub for interdisciplinary research, bringing together computer scientists, social scientists, and legal experts to address complex privacy challenges. His leadership has positioned the University of Calgary as a significant player in privacy research within Canada.
Leonardo Becchetti is a Full Professor at the University of Rome Tor Vergata's Department of Economics and Finance, teaching Microeconomics and Topics in Applied Economics for the 2025-2026 academic year. Based in room P2 S55, he maintains an active research profile with email contact becchetti@economia.uniroma2.it. His research centers on Corporate Finance, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Happiness Economics, extending to Sustainable Development and Ecological Transition. He investigates how economic structures influence well-being through relational goods, generativity, and sustainability frameworks, employing game-theoretic and empirical methodologies to analyze climate action, AI impacts, and cooperative behavior. Analysis of his 2024-2025 publications reveals intensifying focus on ecological transition mechanisms, including renewable energy communities, circular economy governance, and sustainable investment models. His work increasingly integrates climate economics with behavioral insights, examining conditional cooperation in environmental actions and AI's disruption of labor markets. No scientific awards or student advising information is publicly documented. He participates in departmental research initiatives including DEF Seminars and ROBO Seminars, contributing to the university's research centers on economic and social impact.
Dominik Stammbach is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Princeton University's Center for Information Technology Policy (CITP) and Polaris Lab, applying Natural Language Processing to enhance access to justice, detect climate misinformation, and combat corporate greenwashing through data-centric methodologies. His educational background includes: Dr. Sc. in Computer Science, ETH Zurich (2024) Master's in Language Science and Technology, Saarland University, Germany Stammbach's research pioneers NLP applications for societal impact, focusing on automated fact checking (evidence extraction from legal documents), AI tools for public defenders, and detection of climate denial narratives. He integrates high-quality data practices with transformer-based models to address real-world challenges in legal accessibility and environmental communication, emphasizing user-centered design through nationwide interviews with public defenders. His publication trajectory reveals accelerating specialization in climate-NLP intersections and legal AI, with 2023-2024 works dominating his output. Key themes include knowledge-base optimization for fact verification, political bias mitigation in LLMs, and environmental claim detection—showcasing methodological rigor through ACL/EMNLP publications and interdisciplinary journal contributions. Stammbach actively shapes research communities as organizer of ClimateNLP workshops (ACL 2024/2025) and keynote speaker at IEEE ICDM 2025, driving collaboration between NLP researchers and climate scientists while developing practical AI tools for public sector agencies.
Edward Alden is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), specializing in U.S. economic competitiveness, trade, and immigration policy. He holds visiting academic positions at Western Washington University as the Ross Distinguished Visiting Professor and is affiliated with the Washington Campus as faculty. He also serves on the advisory council of the Clayton Yeutter Institute of International Trade at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Bachelor’s in Political Science, University of British Columbia Master’s in International Relations, University of California, Berkeley Pursued doctoral studies (no degree completed) His research spans international trade, immigration policy, border security, and U.S. foreign economic policy . His recent work critically examines pandemic-era border closures, Trump’s trade tariffs, and the future of U.S. global competitiveness. He is a co-author of When the World Closed Its Doors and author of Failure to Adjust and The Closing of the American Border . His recent publications and commentary focus on the instability of U.S. trade policy, the human costs of restrictive border regimes, and the erosion of multilateral trade norms. He frequently analyzes the economic implications of protectionist policies and the strategic use of tariffs in foreign policy. Mellon Fellowship in the Humanities MacArthur Foundation Graduate Fellowship Lukas Book Prize Finalist (2009) Alden has advised on several CFR Independent Task Forces on trade and immigration. He is a monthly columnist for Foreign Policy and has contributed to Foreign Affairs , New York Times , and Wall Street Journal . His media appearances include BBC, CNN, NPR, and PBS NewsHour. He leads public webinars and podcasts on trade and immigration, engaging both academic and policy audiences. He is affiliated with research teams at CFR’s Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies and contributes to initiatives like RealEcon and the CFR Fellows’ Book Launch series.
Denghui Zhang is an Assistant Professor in the School of Business at Stevens Institute of Technology. His research focuses on data science, large language models (LLMs), and business analytics, with particular emphasis on applications in financial systems, knowledge graphs, and spatio-temporal prediction. He is a member of the Stevens Institute for Artificial Intelligence and has held academic roles including reviewer positions for prestigious journals like Nature Communications and conferences such as AAAI and SIGKDD. Dr. Zhang holds a PhD in Information Systems from Rutgers University (2023) and an MS in Computer Science from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (2018). His educational background bridges computer science and business analytics, enabling his cross-disciplinary research. His research explores cutting-edge topics like federated learning optimization for LLMs, theory-of-mind reasoning mechanisms, and ethical AI governance. Notable contributions include turbulence forecasting models, traffic prediction frameworks, and venture capital investment strategies leveraging reinforcement learning. Dr. Zhang has received prestigious recognitions including the ICIS 2023 Best Student Paper Award and AAAI-23 Student Scholar distinction. His work frequently addresses practical challenges in AI ethics, financial decision-making systems, and scalable machine learning architectures. He actively contributes to academic communities through program committee roles for top conferences and has pioneered novel methodologies in multi-agent financial systems and graph neural network design.
Sergiu Nisioi is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Bucharest, with expertise in computational linguistics, machine translation, and text simplification. He bridges cognitive science with NLP through eye-tracking and EEG research, while also exploring sound art and digital autonomy via initiatives like HYPHA.ro. Current projects include PN-IV-P2-2.1-TE-2023-2007 (text complexity/readability), Legal Document Processing , and Europarl Dialectal Corpora Research spans computational psycholinguistics , LSTM-based translation models , and algorithmic composition for sound art His work integrates interdisciplinary methodologies, combining EEG signal processing for architecture data with the University of Architecture, and DSP for ecological projects at chlorophylla.live.
Timothy Menzies is a full Professor in the Department of Computer Science at North Carolina State University's College of Engineering. He serves as the director of the Irrational Research lab (mad scientists r'us) and holds editorial positions as editor-in-chief of the Automated Software Engineering journal and associate editor for IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering. With over 300 publications and more than 24,000 citations, Menzies is a globally recognized leader in software engineering research. Menzies' research focuses on developing computer systems that make optimal decisions with minimal data, specializing in artificial intelligence, intelligent agents, data sciences, analytics, and software engineering. His pioneering work in data-driven, explainable, and minimal AI for software systems has redefined defect prediction, effort estimation, and multi-objective optimization. He is particularly known for his contributions to empirical software engineering, emphasizing transparency and reproducibility. As the co-creator of the PROMISE repository, he helped establish modern empirical software engineering by demonstrating that small, interpretable AI models can outperform larger, more complex ones. Menzies' recent publications reveal several key trends in his research: a growing emphasis on ethical considerations in AI deployment, particularly in sensitive domains like legal systems; continued innovation in software analytics with a focus on hyperparameter optimization tailored specifically for software engineering tasks; exploration of causal relationships in software analytics; and development of techniques that work effectively with limited data, including landscape analysis, surrogate learning, and active learning approaches. Mining Software Repositories Foundational Contribution Award (2017) Carol Miller Graduate Lecturer Award (2016) IBM Faculty Award (2016, 2017) ACM Fellow (2025) ASE Fellow (2024) IEEE Fellow Professor Menzies has advised 24 Ph.D. students throughout his career, with recent completions including Andre Motta (April 2025) and Xueqi Yang (October 2024). His research has secured over $19 million in funding from prestigious agencies including NSF, DARPA, and NASA, as well as industry partners like Meta, Microsoft, and IBM. Current grants focus on improving machine learning model efficiency, adapting empirical software engineering methods to computational science, vulnerability detection, and software analytics at scale using transfer learning across 10,000+ GitHub projects. Menzies has developed innovative approaches to help developers navigate the challenges of AI implementation while maintaining ethical standards and practical effectiveness. As director of the Irrational Research lab, Menzies leads a team focused on creating AI tools that are not only intelligent but also fair, transparent, and trustworthy. The lab's work emphasizes practical applications of AI in software engineering while addressing the human factors involved in developer-AI collaboration. Current projects include developing methods for better fuzzing with L3harris, improving vulnerability detection through smart pruning techniques, and creating AI platforms for workforce empowerment through credential gap diagnostics.
Colin Conrad is an Associate Professor of Digital Innovation at Dalhousie University’s Faculty of Management. He also serves as Co-Director of the College of Digital Transformation and Principal of the Cognition and Organizations Research Group. His research focuses on interdisciplinary projects spanning information systems, computer science, and cognitive neuroscience, with particular emphasis on human factors in educational technology and artificial intelligence. His work is supported by NSERC, CFI, and Mitacs. Research interests include mind wandering measurement via EEG, AI ethics, human-AI interaction, and neurophysiological impacts of digital technologies. He explores topics such as virtual teacher perception, privacy calculus in AI systems, and cognitive state awareness in human-AI collaboration. His recent studies address challenges in remote work ergonomics, digital transformation during crises, and legal/ethical aspects of brain-computer interfaces. His publications analyze behavioral responses to cybersecurity notifications, virtual influencer trust dynamics, and adaptive online learning systems. Current projects investigate the cognitive effects of AI-generated media and the neurophysiological foundations of attention in digital environments. Colin’s research is funded through grants emphasizing interdisciplinary innovation and societal impact. He collaborates with industry partners to translate neuroscientific insights into practical applications in education and workplace design.
