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Maja J Matarić is the Chan Soon-Shiong Chaired and Distinguished Professor of Computer Science at the University of Southern California's Viterbi School of Engineering, with courtesy appointments in Neuroscience and Pediatrics. She serves as founding director of the USC Robotics and Autonomous Systems Center, co-director of the USC Robotics Research Lab, and Principal Scientist at Google DeepMind. Previously, she held leadership roles as USC's interim Vice President of Research (2020-2021) and Vice Dean for Research (2006-2019). Her educational background includes: PhD in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence from MIT (1994) MS in Computer Science from MIT (1990) BS in Computer Science from University of Kansas (1987) Matarić pioneers Socially Assistive Robotics (SAR) , a field her lab named, focusing on human-robot interaction that provides assistance through social rather than physical support. Her research targets critical health and wellness challenges including post-stroke rehabilitation, autism spectrum disorder therapy, cognitive exercises for Alzheimer's patients, ADHD academic support, and mental health interventions. She develops systems modeling user engagement, personality, and motivation, with extensive real-world deployments in schools, rehabilitation centers, and homes. Analysis of her recent publications reveals dominant themes in cognitive health robotics (2025 CHI paper on LLM-powered elder care), pediatric assistive technology (2025 IDC speech therapy review), and adaptive preference modeling (2025 HRI contrastive learning work). Her research consistently bridges machine learning with human-centered design for vulnerable populations. Major scientific recognition includes: ACM Athena Lecturer Award (2024) ACM Eugene L. Lawler Humanitarian Award (2024) ACM Fellow (2020) Presidential Mentoring Award (2011) Multiple society fellowships (AAAS, IEEE, AAAI) As a dedicated mentor, Matarić has championed underrepresented groups through CRA-W, placing numerous women in faculty positions. She leads USC Viterbi's K-12 STEM Outreach Program serving low-income Los Angeles schools and authored The Robotics Prime for student education. Her research has secured significant funding enabling real-world technology transfer, with documented impact in rehabilitation centers and homes through deployable SAR systems. Her Robotics Research Lab at USC drives innovation in embodied AI, with current projects spanning LLM-integrated elder care robots, ADHD academic companions, and autism therapy systems. The lab emphasizes co-design with end-users and rigorous real-world validation across diverse populations.

• Socially Assistive Robotics
• Human-Robot Interaction
• Assistive Technology
• +7 more

Professor Lisa Strohschein holds dual roles as a Professor in the Sociology Department and Director of Undergraduate Programs at the University of Alberta's Faculty of Arts. Her research focuses on family dynamics and health inequalities, employing longitudinal methodologies to analyze large datasets. She teaches courses on health sociology, mental illness, and socialization, emphasizing sociological perspectives on health distribution and care systems. Her research interests include the interplay between socioeconomic factors and mental health, gender disparities in marital outcomes, and generational shifts in parenting practices. She has published extensively on topics like teen pregnancy correlates, poverty dynamics, and the mental health implications of family structures. Strohschein has received the 2019-20 Killam Annual Professorship and serves as Editor-in-Chief of Canadian Studies in Population, a peer-reviewed journal focusing on demographic research. She also contributes to policy through roles like membership in Statistics Canada's Demographic Statistics Advisory Committee and past presidency of the Canadian Population Society. Her scholarly work bridges theoretical frameworks (life course, stress process theory) with methodological rigor, often using growth curve models and competing risks analysis. Current research trends emphasize cross-national comparisons and applied policy relevance, particularly in understanding how family transitions impact health across the life course.

• Family Dynamics and Health
• Health Inequalities
• Life Course Approach
• +3 more

Jino Distasio is a Professor and Acting Dean of Science at The University of Winnipeg, Department of Geography. He teaches Urban Geography, Cultural Geography, and Social Geography, with courses like GEOG-3413 Urban Revitalization and GEOG-3430 Housing and Neighbourhood Planning . His research focuses on housing and neighborhood development, city planning, urban revitalization, homelessness, mental health, and urban transportation. Teaching Areas : Urban Geography, Cultural Geography, Social Geography Key Collaborations : Institute of Urban Studies (U. of Winnipeg), Housing First initiatives, interdisciplinary teams in public health and social policy His recent publications highlight Housing First interventions, urban policy impacts on homelessness, and social determinants of health. Scientific awards and honors were not explicitly mentioned in the provided text.

• Urban Geography
• Cultural Geography
• Social Geography
• +5 more

Elisha David Klonsky is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of British Columbia, Faculty of Arts. His primary research classification is Clinical Psychology with a secondary focus in Social/Personality Psychology. He directs the Personality, Emotion, and Behaviour Lab (PEBLab) and maintains an active research program while accepting graduate students for the 2023/24 application cycle. Dr. Klonsky earned his PhD from the University of Virginia in 2005. His educational background has positioned him as a leading researcher in clinical psychology, particularly in suicide research. Dr. Klonsky's research interests center on suicide theory, motivations, and the transition from suicidal thoughts to attempts. His work also spans metascience, emotion research, and psychological/clinical assessment. He has developed the influential Three-Step Theory (3ST) of suicide, which operates within an ideation-to-action framework. His research examines how emotional pain, impulsivity, and nonsuicidal self-injury relate to suicidal behavior, with particular interest in developing better assessment tools for clinical practice. Recent work has expanded into metascience, addressing the replication crisis in psychology. His publication record shows consistent high-impact work primarily in suicide research, with recent emphasis on suicide motivations, emotion measurement, and theoretical frameworks. The research demonstrates strong clinical applicability while maintaining rigorous scientific methodology. Dr. Klonsky has received numerous prestigious awards including: UBC Killam Research Prize (2020) Killam Faculty Research Fellowship (2017) American Association of Suicidology: Edwin S. Shneidman Award (2015) Association for Psychological Science Rising Star (2011) David Shakow Early Career Award (2011) American Psychological Association Fellow (2010) Dr. Klonsky has successfully mentored numerous graduate students who have gone on to academic positions at institutions including Old Dominion University, McGill University, Wesleyan University, and Texas Tech University. His research has been supported by significant funding from organizations including the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and National Institute of Mental Health. Current projects include studies on suicidality in youth with autism spectrum disorder and advancing the measurement of emotional experience. The Personality, Emotion, and Behaviour Lab maintains active research programs in suicide, emotion, metascience, and related areas, with particular emphasis on developing parsimonious models of suicide and better understanding suicide motivations and warning signs.

• Suicide
• Metascience
• Emotion
• +4 more

Ming-Syan Chen is a distinguished academic holding dual roles as a Distinguished Research Fellow and Director of the Research Center for Information Technology Innovation (CITI) at Academia Sinica, Taiwan, and a Distinguished Professor jointly appointed across multiple departments at National Taiwan University (NTU), including Electrical Engineering (EE), Computer Science and Information Engineering (CSIE), and the Graduate Institute of Communication Engineering (GICE). His career spans academia and industry, with prior roles as a research staff member at IBM Watson Research Center and leadership positions in Taiwan's technology sector. Education: He earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from National Taiwan University, followed by M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer, Information, and Control Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Research Interests: Chen's work focuses on databases, data mining, machine learning, multimedia networking, and cloud computing. He has authored over 350 papers and holds numerous patents, contributing to foundational advancements in query processing, data management, and networked systems. Award Highlights: Recipient of ACM and IEEE Fellowships, National Chair Professorship (lifetime honor), Teco Award, Pan Wen Yuan Distinguished Research Award, and IBM's Outstanding Innovation Award. His contributions span research, teaching, and technology commercialization. Leadership & Service: Former Dean of NTU's College of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, CEO of Taiwan's Networked Communication Program, and Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Electrical Engineering. He has chaired international conferences and served on editorial boards of journals like IEEE TKDE and VLDB. Labs & Teams: Leads the Network Database Laboratory and collaborates on national initiatives in information and communication technologies. His research groups focus on data science, distributed systems, and social network analysis.

• Databases
• Data Mining
• Machine Learning
• +3 more

Dr. Daniel Dutton is an Associate Professor in the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology at Dalhousie University's Faculty of Medicine, based at the Dalhousie Medicine New Brunswick campus in Saint John. His research focuses on how social environments influence health outcomes and the role of government policies in mitigating these impacts, particularly in areas like poverty, homelessness, and health economics. He holds adjunct roles at the University of New Brunswick (Sociology) and is the Scientific Director of APPTA, a hub bridging aging research and policy. He teaches courses in epidemiology, population health, and statistics. Education: PhD in Community Health Sciences (University of Calgary) MA in Economics (University of Calgary) BA Honours in Economics (Queen’s University) Research Interests: Dr. Dutton examines population-level health determinants, government policy effectiveness, and socioeconomic disparities. His work employs large datasets and econometric models to analyze topics such as homelessness incidence, healthcare cost savings through preventive measures, and the distributional impacts of public spending. Key Contributions: Scientific Director of the APPTA aging and technology hub. Co-founder of the IMPART research collaborative. Author of influential studies on Housing First programs, opioid prescribing patterns, and the fiscal benefits of guaranteed annual income policies. Advising & Grants: Supervises multiple MSc students and has collaborated on grants analyzing healthcare utilization in New Brunswick and Alberta. His work often intersects with policy-making, emphasizing actionable insights from quantitative research. Labs & Teams: Leads the Dutton Research Group, which uses mascot Odin the Saint Bernard to foster team cohesion. Active in interdisciplinary collaborations across public health, sociology, and economics.

• Social Epidemiology
• Public Health Policy
• Health Economics
• +3 more

Tracey Galloway is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM), where she conducts critical research on Indigenous health disparities and policy interventions in northern Canada. Her work bridges medical anthropology, public health, and community-based participatory research to address systemic inequities affecting circumpolar populations. Education: PhD, McMaster University, 2008 MA (institution unspecified) BA (institution unspecified) BScN (institution unspecified) Dr. Galloway's research program centers on chronic disease risk assessment and health system improvement in Indigenous communities, with specific expertise in nutrition transition, food security, child growth patterns, and public health policy evaluation. She examines the impact of federal programs like Nutrition North Canada while developing community-led solutions for health equity. Her methodological approach combines quantitative analysis of health outcomes with qualitative community engagement, emphasizing Indigenous research sovereignty and decolonizing methodologies. Her publication record reveals consistent thematic focus across 15 recent articles, demonstrating interdisciplinary collaboration between anthropology, epidemiology, and health economics. Key trends include rigorous evaluation of colonial impacts on Indigenous food systems, innovative analysis of subsidy program effectiveness, and centering Indigenous patient experiences in healthcare design. Her work consistently prioritizes community-defined research questions and actionable policy recommendations. Dr. Galloway actively mentors graduate students including Darci Belmore, Carly Checholik, Neda Maki, and Hiliary Monteith, guiding research on Indigenous health determinants and policy interventions. While specific grant details aren't publicly enumerated, her collaborative projects involve partnerships with Indigenous communities across Northern Canada and interdisciplinary teams addressing complex health system challenges. She maintains strong community partnerships for her applied research, particularly in Nunavut and Northwestern Ontario, working directly with Anishinabeck and Inuit communities to translate findings into culturally safe health initiatives and policy reforms that address the root causes of health inequities.

• Indigenous health
• circumpolar populations
• nutrition transition
• +7 more

Brian Greenfield, MD, FRCPC, ABPN is an Associate Investigator at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) and affiliated with the Brain Repair and Integrative Neuroscience (BRaIN) Program. He is a professor at McGill University and focuses on childhood suicide research through genetic predisposition, disease pathways, treatments, and predictive testing. His work intersects with mental health, borderline personality disorder (BPD), and externalizing disorders in youth. Email: brian.greenfield@muhc.mcgill.ca Dr. Greenfield's research explores the genetic and clinical dimensions of suicide risk in children and adolescents. He investigates biomarkers, predictive algorithms, and treatment models to address mental health crises, particularly in borderline personality disorder and suicidal behaviors. His publications highlight innovative approaches to suicide prevention in youth, including outpatient rapid-response systems, diagnostic tools for BPD, and population-level surveillance algorithms. Research keywords include psychiatry, genetics, health economics, and clinical psychology. As part of the BRaIN Program at RI-MUHC, Dr. Greenfield contributes to translational neuroscience and integrative mental health studies, bridging clinical practice with research to improve outcomes for vulnerable young populations.

• Child Psychiatry
• Psychiatric Genetics
• Mental Health
• +3 more

Lana Wells is an Associate Professor at the University of Calgary's Faculty of Social Work and holds the Brenda Strafford Chair in the Prevention of Domestic Violence. As Founder/Director of Shift: Primary Prevention Research Hub and Research Fellow at the School of Public Policy, she specializes in preventing gender-based violence through systems change, policy innovation, and community engagement. Key research areas: Gender equity, Indigenous sovereignty, AI ethics for social work, and male allyship in violence prevention Led over $11M in research funding and 22.5M+ in prevention initiatives 2023 Killam Professor Award recipient Recent publications focus on AI applications for violence prevention, gamification in male engagement, and rural/small-town violence reduction strategies. Her work spans interdisciplinary collaborations with public health agencies, Indigenous communities, and international organizations. Major projects: Alberta's Primary Prevention Playbook, Strong Women's Circle with Indigenous communities, ConnectED Parents virtual intervention Active in policy advisory roles for governments and NGOs Scientific awards include: 2023 Killam Annual Professor Award 2022 Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal 2019 Alberta Inspiration Award 2015 & 2013 Carthy Foundation Leadership Awards 2012 School of Public Policy Fellowship As a graduate supervisor in Social Work and Public Policy, she develops prevention workforce capacity through Shifttolearn.com. Current initiatives include data-driven dashboards for real-time violence prevention and cultural transformation in male-dominated institutions.

• Gender-Based Violence Prevention
• Social Policy and Legislation
• Systems Change and Organizational Culture
• +5 more

Dr. Frances Chen is a Professor and Area Coordinator in the Department of Psychology at the University of British Columbia (UBC), located on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Musqueam People. She holds a PhD from Stanford University (2009). Her research integrates health psychology, social psychology, and neuroendocrinology to explore how social experiences influence mental and physical health. Key areas include the physiological impacts of loneliness, social support, and hormonal changes during puberty on adolescent development. Education: PhD, Psychology, Stanford University, 2009 Research Focus: Dr. Chen investigates how social interactions 'get under the skin' through studies on loneliness, stress, conflict negotiation, and hormonal mechanisms. Her work emphasizes interventions to enhance social connection and reduce health disparities. Recent Article Trends: Recent publications highlight interdisciplinary approaches, including genetic influences on depression, effects of near-infrared lighting on cognition, and longitudinal studies on adolescent hormonal contraceptive use. Her work bridges basic science and applied health outcomes. Awards & Grants: Michael Smith Health Research BC C2 Award (2022) Killam Faculty Research Fellowship (2019) Teaching & Learning Enhancement Fund Grant (2025) SSHRC Prosociality Project Funding (2023) Lab & Mentorship: Director of the Social Health Lab, she mentors graduate and undergraduate students, prioritizing equity and inclusion. Recent lab achievements include studies on teen health development and interventions to improve student success in psychology programs. Lab Initiatives: UBC Teen Health and Development Study (longitudinal hormonal/mental health tracking) NIR lighting health impact research (collaborative interdisciplinary project) Prosociality 'in the Wild' SSHRC project

• Health Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Neuroendocrinology
• +6 more

Dr. Jennifer Katz serves as an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS) at the University of British Columbia's Faculty of Education. She joined UBC in July 2016 after previously holding an Associate Professor position in Inclusive Education at the University of Manitoba. Renowned for creating the Three Block Model of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), her framework is now implemented across Canadian school divisions to advance inclusive educational practices. Dr. Katz's research centers on inclusive education K-12 , social and emotional learning (SEL) , and mental health promotion in schools . Her work integrates the Three Block Model of UDL to address diverse student needs while emphasizing indigenous perspectives through extensive collaboration with First Nation elders and communities in Manitoba, Alberta, and Quebec. This intersectional approach reimagines inclusive education through reconciliation frameworks and culturally responsive practices. Analysis of her recent publications reveals consistent focus on mental health literacy programs for students with developmental disabilities, UDL's impact on academic achievement and teacher efficacy, and the integration of Indigenous knowledge systems. Her research bridges theory and practice through classroom-based interventions, cluster-randomized trials, and transformative learning frameworks that prioritize student well-being and social inclusion. Scientific Awards: No scientific awards were documented in the provided sources. Advising and Grants: While specific graduate students and research grants aren't detailed in the text, Dr. Katz's extensive publication record and community partnerships indicate active research leadership. Her work with school divisions across Canada suggests significant program implementation funding, though grant specifics remain unreported. Labs and Teams: Dr. Katz maintains critical partnerships with First Nation communities, embedding Indigenous knowledge into educational frameworks. Her Three Block Model implementation involves multi-school division collaborations nationwide, creating practitioner-researcher networks focused on inclusive classroom transformation.

• Inclusive Education
• Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)
• Mental Health in K-12
• +3 more

Professor Diana Inkpen is a faculty member at the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Ottawa. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto's Department of Computer Science and degrees from the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania (M.Sc. and B.Eng.). Her research focuses on computational linguistics, natural language processing (NLP), and artificial intelligence, with specialties in natural language understanding/generation, lexical semantics, and semantic web agents. Education: Ph.D., Computer Science, University of Toronto M.Sc., Computer Science and Engineering, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca B.Eng., Computer Science and Engineering, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca Affiliations: Director, NLP Lab Editor-in-Chief, Computational Intelligence journal Associate Editor, Natural Language Engineering journal Her research has led to roles such as program co-chair for AI 2012 and leadership in organizing international workshops. She has received funding from NSERC, SSHRC, and OCE, and was honored with a Visiting Professor title at the University of Wolverhampton, UK. Her teaching spans courses like Information Retrieval, Natural Language Processing, and Prolog programming. Professor Inkpen's work bridges NLP innovations with societal challenges, including mental health surveillance via social media analysis and bias mitigation in AI systems. She actively contributes to interdisciplinary projects, such as detecting hate speech and legal text entailment, while maintaining a global research network through collaborations and international conference involvement.

• Computational Linguistics
• Natural Language Processing
• Artificial Intelligence
• +6 more

Dr. Thomas E. Doyle is an Associate Professor at the McMaster School of Biomedical Engineering and the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at McMaster University. His research focuses on biomedical signal processing, human-computer interfacing (HCI), and machine learning applications for healthcare augmentation, rehabilitation, and enhancement. He holds a Ph.D. from Western Ontario, Canada, and teaches courses like COMPENG 2DI4 (Logic Design). His work bridges cybernetics and clinical applications, emphasizing AI-driven solutions for medical diagnostics, patient monitoring, and space exploration. Education: B.E.Sc, B.Sc, M.E.Sc, Ph.D. from Western Ontario, Canada Recent Projects: Developed AI systems for remote healthcare diagnostics (2023) Collaborated with NASA on medical emergency simulators for deep space missions (2017–2023) Led ventilator development efforts for local hospitals during the pandemic (2020) His research interests span machine learning for mental health diagnostics, trust quantification in medical AI, and extended reality (XR) for medical training. He emphasizes interdisciplinary approaches, integrating computational methods with healthcare challenges. Recent publications highlight applications in pediatric emergency care, chronic pain management, and reliable medical device design. Dr. Doyle actively engages in educational initiatives, including first-year engineering pedagogy and experiential learning programs. He has received funding for projects such as the Educating the Engineer of 2025 (EtE-25) awards and contributes to initiatives like the Digital & Smart Systems and Health & Bio-innovation research clusters at McMaster.

• Biomedical Engineering
• Human-Computer Interfacing (HCI)
• Machine Learning
• +6 more

Peter W. Klein is an Emmy Award-winning full professor at the University of British Columbia's School of Journalism, Writing, and Media within the Faculty of Arts. He founded the UBC Global Reporting Centre and served as director of the school from 2011 to 2015. Klein also holds an affiliation as a faculty associate at the UBC School of Public Policy and Global Affairs. He runs the Global Reporting Program, a year-long course that works with master's journalism students from UBC and other universities worldwide. Klein's research focuses on Global Journalism, Innovation in Journalism, Documentary Production, and Investigative Reporting. His work emphasizes collaborative international reporting frameworks, solutions-focused empowerment journalism, and the ethical dimensions of global reporting practices. He has developed long-term investigative projects like Hidden Costs, which examines the hidden costs of global commerce through data, field reporting, academic research, and artistic exhibits. His scholarly output demonstrates consistent focus on international reporting practices, fixer-journalist relationships, data journalism, and environmental investigations. The articles reveal a career-long commitment to investigative methodologies with emphasis on cross-border collaboration, ethical reporting frameworks, and innovative storytelling approaches that bridge journalism with academic research. Emmy Award for Best Investigation (National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences) Sigma Delta Chi award Edward R. Murrow award Rosalynn Carter Mental Health Journalism fellowship Ochberg Fellow at Columbia University's Dart Center 2011 UBC President's Award for Public Education through Media Klein has supervised numerous student-led investigative projects through the International Reporting Program and Global Reporting Program, working with news organizations including The New York Times, Toronto Star, The Guardian, PBS Frontline, Vice News and Al Jazeera. His research projects have received funding from SSHRC and CIHR, including the Hidden Costs initiative and Million Dollar Meds project. He has also collaborated with the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies on solutions-focused empowerment journalism projects.

• Global Journalism
• Innovation in Journalism
• Documentary Production
• +3 more

Professor Louis Schmidt is a leading academic in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour at McMaster University , with a research focus on developmental psychophysiology, temperament, and the long-term effects of early adversity. His work bridges neuroscience, psychology, and behavioral science, emphasizing the interplay between brain function and socio-emotional development across the lifespan. Key research themes: Shyness, social anxiety, autism spectrum disorder, schizophrenia, and outcomes of extremely low birth weight. Recognized for mentoring postdoctoral fellow Kristie Poole, who was celebrated as a role model in the Child Emotion Laboratory. Scientific Awards : Royal Society of Canada recognition for contributions to research and scholarship. Research Trends from 15 recent publications include: Neurophysiological mechanisms of shyness (EEG, ERP, RSA) Impact of antenatal corticosteroids on adult brain function Intergenerational effects of maternal mental health interventions Cross-cultural comparisons of temperamental shyness Developmental consequences of preterm birth Behavioral and neural correlates of social anxiety in diverse populations Grants & Collaborations : Led the SNACS randomized controlled trial on antenatal corticosteroids, with applications in obstetrics and developmental neuroscience. Collaborates extensively on topics like autism spectrum disorder, schizophrenia, and emotion regulation. Labs & Teams : Directs the Child Emotion Laboratory at McMaster University, fostering interdisciplinary research on developmental psychopathology and neural mechanisms of temperament.

• Developmental Psychophysiology
• Temperament and Personality Development
• Neuroscience of Shyness and Social Anxiety
• +4 more