Camillo J. Taylor is the Raymond S. Markowitz President’s Distinguished Professor in the Department of Computer and Information Science at the University of Pennsylvania , where he has been a faculty member since 1997. He also serves as Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the School of Engineering and Applied Science. His research focuses on Computer Vision and Robotics , particularly in 3D reconstruction, semantic mapping, and autonomous navigation. Education: A.B. in Electrical Computer and Systems Engineering, Harvard College (1988) M.S. and Ph.D. in Computer Science, Yale University (1990, 1994) Research Interests: Dr. Taylor’s work bridges Computer Vision and Robotics to enable autonomous systems to perceive and navigate complex environments. Key themes include semantic SLAM, event camera applications, and meta-learning for adaptive controllers. His projects often integrate vision, physics, and multi-agent collaboration, as seen in systems like EvMAPPER and OCCAM . Recent Article Trends: His 2024–2025 publications focus on semantic mapping , event-based vision , and multi-agent LLM systems , reflecting his lab’s emphasis on real-time perception, physics-informed reconstruction, and rational decision-making in robotics. These works span applications from solar eclipse imaging to wildfire analysis and natural hazard resilience. Awards: NSF CAREER Award (1998) Lindback Minority Junior Faculty Award (2001) IEEE WACV Best Paper Award (2012) Lindback Distinguished Teaching Award (2012) Advising and Service: Dr. Taylor has advised numerous PhD students, including Jason Hughes and Bowen Jiang. He has served as a Program Chair for CVPR (2006, 2017) and General Chair for ICCV (2021). His contributions to the GRASP Laboratory have advanced autonomous micro-UAVs and semantic SLAM.
Gianni Franchi is an Assistant Professor at ENSTA Paris, part of Institut Polytechnique de Paris. His research focuses on robust computer vision, uncertainty quantification, and explainable AI (XAI). He has been teaching Deep Learning, Computer Vision, and Machine Learning courses since 2020 at ENSTA Paris and Télécom Paris. PhD in Fusion of Information, Machine Learning, and Image Processing (2016) from Mines de Paris Postdoctoral experience at Paris Saclay University (2018-2020) and Seigen University (2016-2018) Current PhD students: Rémi Kazmierczak, Olivier Laurent, Adrien Lafage, Mouïn Ben Ammar Alumni: Xuanlong Yu (2020-2023) Research interests include robust computer vision, anomaly detection, uncertainty quantification, out-of-distribution detection, certifiable AI, and explainable AI. He leads the development of the PyTorch library Torch Uncertainty for uncertainty quantification in deep learning. Recent publications span uncertainty quantification in foundation models, trajectory forecasting, vision-language adaptation, and explainability benchmarks. Gianni actively collaborates on multimodal autonomous driving datasets and uncertainty-aware systems for human-agent interaction.
Fulong Wu holds the prestigious Bartlett Chair of Planning at University College London's Bartlett School of Planning since 2011. This distinguished position has previously been held by notable figures including Sir Patrick Abercrombie, Sir William Holford, Lord Richard Llewelyn-Davies, Sir Peter Hall, and Mike Batty FRS. Professor Wu's appointment represents a significant moment for the school to redefine planning discipline in global terms for a new generation. Wu received his BSc and MSc degrees from Nanjing University and completed his PhD at the University of Hong Kong. Prior to joining UCL, he taught at the Universities of Southampton and Cardiff. His academic journey reflects a deep commitment to urban planning scholarship with a specific focus on Chinese urban contexts. BSc, Nanjing University MSc, Nanjing University PhD, University of Hong Kong Professor Wu's research centers on urban development in China and its social and sustainable challenges. His work critically examines the Chinese model of urban governance, state entrepreneurialism, and the financialization of Chinese cities. He has made significant contributions to understanding migration patterns, spatial inequalities, suburbanization, neighborhood governance, and urban poverty in Chinese cities. His research provides valuable insights that challenge Western-centric planning theories while enriching global urban studies with Chinese perspectives. His recent publications reveal a clear trend toward analyzing the evolving relationship between statecraft and urban governance in China, particularly in the context of post-pandemic recovery and financialization processes. A significant portion of his recent work examines how Chinese cities manage crises, with several studies focusing on the Shanghai lockdown experience. His ERC-funded project on rethinking China's model of governance serves as an intellectual anchor for much of this research, demonstrating how Chinese urban governance represents both a distinctive model and a critical lens for understanding global urban transformations. Professor Wu's scholarly recognition includes: Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (2016) ESRC 2013 Outstanding International Impact Award Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2002) British Academy Fellow As Principal Investigator of a European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant project titled 'Rethinking China's Model of Governance,' Professor Wu leads significant research funding that supports his team's work. He co-founded and coordinates the China Planning Research Group (CPRG) at UCL with Professor Fangzhu Zhang, which has become an influential research cluster generating substantial impact within and beyond the university. His mentorship extends to supervising PhD students and collaborating with early-career researchers on China-focused urban studies. The China Planning Research Group (CPRG), jointly coordinated by Professor Wu and Professor Zhang, serves as a vital hub for research on Chinese urban development. This group has produced influential work on topics including rural migrants in urban China, Chinese land and housing development, urban neighborhoods, and regional governance systems. The CPRG's research output has significant policy implications and contributes to global debates about alternative urban development models beyond neoliberal paradigms.
Zsolt Kira serves as an Assistant Professor in the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Institute of Technology's College of Computing, with additional affiliations at the Georgia Tech Research Institute and as Associate Director of ML@GT. He leads the Robotics Perception and Learning (RIPL) Lab, driving research at the intersection of machine learning and robotics. Dr. Kira earned his Ph.D. in 2010 under Professor Ron Arkin, establishing foundational expertise in robotics and AI before transitioning to his current academic role after industry experience at SRI International Sarnoff. His research pioneers beyond supervised learning through unsupervised, semi-supervised, self-supervised, and continual/lifelong learning frameworks, while advancing distributed perception via multi-modal fusion and cross-robot information integration. This dual focus addresses core challenges in robotic autonomy and sensor processing. Analysis of his 15 most recent publications reveals dominant trends in embodied AI systems, robust foundation model adaptation, and multimodal learning architectures. Key themes include neural radiance field applications, reinforcement learning for locomotion, and novel benchmarks for memory evaluation in agents. While specific advisees and grants aren't documented in the source material, his RIPL Lab leadership implies active graduate mentorship and research funding acquisition. The lab's work directly enables next-generation robotic systems through algorithmic innovation in perception and learning. The RIPL Lab operates as a hub for developing machine learning techniques that solve difficult perception problems in robotics, with particular emphasis on unsupervised learning paradigms and distributed multi-robot systems that push the boundaries of autonomous operation.
Professor Gavan McNally is a distinguished behavioral neuroscientist at the University of New South Wales, where he serves as a Professor in the School of Psychology. He is actively engaged in research on the fundamental behavioral and brain mechanisms for learning and motivation, with applications to clinical conditions such as addictions, anxiety disorders, and mood disorders. McNally holds several prestigious editorial positions, including Editor-in-Chief of Neurobiology of Learning & Memory and Senior Editor of The Journal of Neuroscience. He also serves as President-Elect of the European Behavioral Pharmacology Society and is a Member of the Australian Research Council College of Experts. McNally's research interests span behavioral neuroscience, focusing on how fundamental brain mechanisms apply to clinical conditions. He employs a systems neuroscience approach, combining well-controlled behavioral approaches with optogenetics, chemogenetics, in vivo calcium imaging, and whole brain circuit mapping in both normal and transgenic animals. His work bridges basic science with clinical applications through collaborations with colleagues at University of Sydney, Sydney Local Health District, Monash University, and Turning Point. McNally's research particularly examines the cellular, circuit, and systems level mechanisms underlying learning, motivation, and their dysregulation in disorders like addiction. His laboratory investigates how these mechanisms translate to human conditions, with a strong emphasis on developing new treatments for psychological disorders. His extensive publication record demonstrates a clear trajectory in understanding punishment learning, addiction mechanisms, and the neural circuits underlying motivated behavior. Recent work has increasingly focused on the cognitive pathways to punishment insensitivity, the role of specific neural circuits in addiction, and translational approaches to understanding maladaptive behaviors. McNally's research bridges animal models with human studies, creating a comprehensive understanding of the neural mechanisms that govern learning and motivation, with particular attention to how these processes go awry in addiction and other psychological disorders. 2008 QEII Fellow, Australian Research Council 2009 Association for Psychological Science, International Rising Star 2010 Fellow, Association for Psychological Science 2010 UNSW Faculty of Science Staff Excellence Award for Research and Training 2011 Pavlovian Research Award, The Pavlovian Society 2012 Future Fellow (Level 3), Australian Research Council 2016 D.G. Marquis Behavioral Neuroscience Award, American Psychological Association 2017 Fellow, American Psychological Association 2019 Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia 2021 D.G. Marquis Behavioral Neuroscience Award, American Psychological Association 2022 Ross Day Plenary Lecturer, Australasian Brain and Psychological Sciences 2023 European Behavioural Pharmacology Society Plenary Lecturer 2024 Elspeth McLachlan Plenary Lecturer, Australasian Neuroscience Society 2024 D.G. Marquis Behavioral Neuroscience Award, American Psychological Association Professor McNally actively supervises several students including Bixuan Lin, Si Yin Lui, Hannah Machet, Bart Cooley, Kelly Zhuang, and Alexandra Gregory. His current research is supported by significant funding including an Australian Research Council Discovery Project (2024-2026) on "Risky choices: From cells and circuits to computations and behaviour," another Discovery Project (2025-2028) on "Multimodal mapping of punishment learning," and NHMRC grants including a Synergy Grant on "Linking clinical and basic science discovery to find new treatments for alcohol-use disorder" and an Ideas Grant on "Novel pathways to abstinence from alcohol seeking." These projects reflect his commitment to both fundamental neuroscience and translational applications for treating psychological conditions. His teaching responsibilities include PSYC2081 Learning & Physiological Psychology and PSYC3051 Physiological Psychology. McNally's laboratory employs advanced techniques including optogenetics, chemogenetics, in vivo calcium imaging, and whole brain circuit mapping to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying learning, motivation, and their dysregulation in disorders. His team works at the intersection of basic neuroscience and clinical applications, with strong collaborations across multiple institutions to translate fundamental findings into potential treatments for addiction and other psychological disorders. The lab has made significant contributions to understanding the role of brain regions like the ventral pallidum, paraventricular thalamus, and nucleus accumbens in addiction, fear learning, and punishment sensitivity.
Andreas Jentys is a Professor at the Department of Technical Chemistry within the TUM School of Natural Sciences at Technische Universität München (TUM). His research focuses on understanding surface reactions and transport phenomena in mesostructured, micro- and mesoporous oxides with acid/base or redox properties, as well as supported metal catalysts for gas and condensed phase reactions. He prepares materials with tailored functionality and studies their sorptive and catalytic properties using in situ electron and vibrational spectroscopy combined with microkinetic experiments. Education: PhD (Dr. techn.) in Chemistry from TU Wien (1991) Postdoctoral: Royal Institution of Great Britain (1992-1993) with Prof. Richard Catlow Academic Career: TU Wien (1998: Associate Professor), TUM (1999: Senior Scientist; 2011: Professor) Teaching: Active in TUM Asia since 2006 Research interests span catalysis, surface chemistry, material science, and chemical reaction engineering. He specializes in zeolites, bimetallic catalysts, and in situ spectroscopic methods. Recent work examines: Hydrogen evolution and carbon-carbon coupling on Cu Methane activation via Co²⁺ sites in ZSM-5 Photocatalytic systems using metal-organic frameworks Solvent effects in palladium-catalyzed hydrogenation CO₂ hydrogenation over bifunctional catalysts Publications trend toward heterogeneous catalysis, with emphasis on: Design of mesoporous and microporous materials Characterization of metal clusters and oxo species Microkinetic modeling of catalytic systems Environmental applications (NOx/CO₂ reduction) Hydrogen and hydrocarbon processing Teaching includes courses on: Reaction Engineering and Kinetics Industrial Chemical Processes I & II Fundamentals of Catalysis TC Praktikum (internship)
Professor Lorraine Maltby , OBE, is a distinguished academic at the University of Sheffield , specifically within the School of Biosciences and the Department of Animal and Plant Sciences . She currently serves as the Deputy Vice-President for Research at the university (2017–2022). With a career spanning over three decades at the University of Sheffield, she has held various significant roles including Head of the Department of Animal and Plant Sciences (2008-2012) and progression from Lecturer to Professor of Environmental Biology (2004). PhD – University of Glasgow (1984) BSc – University of Newcastle (1981) Research Interests: Professor Maltby is a leading expert in freshwater ecology and ecotoxicology , focusing on the impacts of anthropogenic activities on freshwater ecosystems. Her research examines how pollution and climate change affect these delicate environments and the ecosystem services they provide. She aims to develop a mechanistic understanding of key ecosystem services and the ecological processes that underpin them, particularly how they are affected by human inputs and activities. Her recent publications reflect her research focus on topics such as spatial variation in macroinvertebrate sensitivity to chemicals, linking ecotoxicity to ecosystem service damage , and heterogeneity in biological assemblages for chemical risk assessment. Scientific Awards and Recognition: Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to Environmental Biology and Animal and Plant Sciences (2020) Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology (2021) Elected Fellow of the Freshwater Biological Association (2019) Portrait of a Woman Exhibition (2017) Elected Fellow of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (2016) Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry Environmental Education Award (2009) Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry Exceptional Service Award (2005) Professional Activities: Professor Maltby has significant leadership and service roles in her field, including: Chair of UK-SCAPE Programme Advisory Board Chair of Irish Research Council COALESCE International Review Panel Member of NERC peer review panels Member of European Centre for Ecotoxicology and Toxicology of Chemicals Scientific Committee (2010-) Member of European Food Safety Authority Stakeholder Bureau (2023-) Member of SETAC Panel on Chemicals Management (2023 - )
Dr. Feras Dayoub is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Computer and Mathematical Sciences (Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology) at the University of Adelaide , specializing in Embodied AI and Robotic Vision within the Australian Institute for Machine Learning (AIML) . He co-directs the CROSSING French-Australian laboratory for human-autonomous agent teaming and holds an Adjunct position at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) , serving as an Associate Investigator at its Centre for Robotics . Previously, he was a Chief Investigator at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Robotic Vision . His research focuses on advancing reliable deployment of computer vision and machine learning on mobile robots in real-world environments. Applied projects include agricultural automation , environmental conservation , and autonomous infrastructure monitoring . He has published extensively on topics like object detection , domain adaptation , 3D representation learning , and vision-language navigation , with a particular emphasis on robustness in dynamic and partially observed environments. Dr. Dayoub is also an educator specializing in programming , computer vision , and robotic perception . He contributes to open-source robotics research through tools like AARK (Autonomous Racing Toolkit) and has led teams developing solutions for precision agriculture (e.g., Deepfruits fruit detection system) and environmental monitoring (e.g., Crown-Of-Thorns starfish detection ). Key Collaborations : CROSSING Lab, QUT Centre for Robotics Research Themes : Embodied AI, Robust Perception, Domain Adaptation
Amir-massoud Farahmand is an Associate Professor at the Polytechnique Montréal (Department of Computer and Software Engineering) and a Status-Only Associate Professor at the University of Toronto (Department of Computer Science). He is also a Core Academic Member at Mila (Quebec AI Institute). His research focuses on computational and statistical mechanisms for designing efficient reinforcement learning (RL) agents and adaptive algorithms. Dr. Farahmand's research spans reinforcement learning, optimal transport, adversarial robustness, and model-based methods. He has extensively studied regularization in RL, distributional approaches, and algorithm design for stability and convergence. His textbook Lecture Notes on Reinforcement Learning (2021) emphasizes mathematical intuition over algorithmic collections. Recent publications highlight trends in high-update-ratio RL, distributional equivalence, and self-prediction for task understanding. He is actively involved in teaching, having previously instructed courses on machine learning, neural networks, and RL at the University of Toronto. Scientific Awards : Ontario Early Researcher Award (2024) for Accelerated Reinforcement Learning Algorithms Dr. Farahmand has mentored numerous students, including his first PhD graduate Yangchen Pan (now at Oxford) and MSc students like Allen Bao (AMD) and Farnam Mansouri (University of Waterloo). He is currently recruiting graduate students at Polytechnique Montréal and Mila for 2025 admissions.
Prof. Dr. Michael Klasen is a leading theoretical physicist at the Institute of Theoretical Physics at the University of Münster, where he heads his eponymous research group. His work bridges nuclear and particle physics, with significant contributions to quantum chromodynamics and physics beyond the Standard Model. His research focuses on Particle Physics , Quantum Chromodynamics , and Physics beyond the Standard Model , with particular emphasis on understanding the quark-gluon structure of atomic nuclei and dark matter phenomena. His innovative approach connects microscopic quark-gluon dynamics with nuclear binding phenomena, creating a crucial bridge between nuclear and particle physics. Prof. Klasen's recent work analyzing nucleon binding at the quark-gluon level was recognized as a "Breakthrough of the Year 2024" by Physics World. His research group's publication in Physical Review Letters demonstrated how quarks and gluons behave differently in nucleon pairs than in free nucleons, fundamentally advancing our understanding of nuclear binding. Breakthrough of the Year 2024 from Physics World Leadership of Research Training Group 2149 "Strong and weak interactions - from hadrons to dark matter" Supervision of award-winning doctoral research including the Infineon Dissertation Prize 2025 Prof. Klasen has successfully mentored numerous PhD students, with 20 of his group's graduates continuing their academic careers at prestigious institutions including CERN and Stanford University. His research has been supported by major funding bodies including the German Research Foundation (DFG), the Helmholtz Alliance for Astroparticle Physics, and BMBF collaborative research programs. The Klasen working group maintains active collaborations with international research networks including CTEQ, DM@NLO, and RESUMMINO.
Malay Banerjee is a Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT Kanpur) . His academic career is anchored in mathematical ecology and nonlinear dynamics, with a focus on modeling ecological and epidemiological systems. Education: Ph.D. (2005), University of Calcutta, India M.Sc. (1998), University of Calcutta, India Research Interests: His research spans Mathematical Ecology , Eco-epidemiology , and Nonlinear Dynamics . He applies differential equations and stochastic modeling to understand predator-prey dynamics, phytoplankton competition, and the impact of allelopathy and Allee effects on ecosystem stability. Publications Overview: His recent publications (2011–2014) focus on advanced modeling of ecological systems, including stochastic phytoplankton dynamics, bifurcation in predator-prey systems, and spatial self-organization. These works are published in leading journals like Mathematical Biosciences , Ecological Complexity , and Theoretical Ecology . Awards and Honors: Junior Research Fellowship (JRF), CSIR India Contact & Office: Office: FB-526, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, IIT Kanpur, Kanpur 208016 Phone: 0512-259-6157 (O) Email: malayb@iitk.ac.in
Nuria Chinchilla is Professor of People Management in Organizations at IESE Business School, University of Navarra, and holder of the Carmina Roca and Rafael Pich-Aguilera Chair of Women and Leadership. She founded the International Center for Work & Family and the I-WIL Initiative (IESE Women in Leadership), which focuses on fostering diversity in business and women's leadership globally. Her educational background includes a PhD in Business Administration and Economics, an MBA from IESE Business School, and a Law Degree from the University of Barcelona. She began her full-time professorship at IESE in 1984 and has maintained an active academic career spanning over four decades. Professor Chinchilla's research focuses on women and leadership, life course integration, family-responsible organizations, personal and professional career management, and organizational change. Her work examines how women leaders contribute to company development, the role of women on boards of directors, work-family balance, and corporate family responsibility. She has developed frameworks for integrating professional and personal life in harmony, emphasizing the conciliation with oneself as a starting point for broader life integration. Her recent publications reflect trends toward understanding talent management in post-pandemic organizations, sustainable business practices, and the impact of technology on work-life balance. Her research connects leadership development with ecological and humanistic approaches to business, exploring how purpose-driven organizations can create meaningful change. Best Female Manager of the Year by FEDEPE Gold Cross from European Development Foundation (AEFE) Member of Royal Academy of Economic and Financial Sciences of Spain (RACEF) since December 2018 Spanish candidate for UN CEDAW 2012 Professor Chinchilla serves as an advisor to numerous companies and government agencies, and is a member of several advisory boards including the VIP Advisory Board of the European Professional Women's Network, the Board of Trustees of UIC, and was a member of IWF-Spain from 2015-2019. She is a frequent speaker at universities and international conferences worldwide and has served as a visiting professor at business schools across Europe, Latin America, and Africa. Her work through the I-WIL network organizes events connecting women leaders at different career stages and investigates women's leadership impact on organizations.
Dr. Hilde Kuehne is a Professor at the University of Tuebingen and a key researcher at the Tuebingen AI Center. She holds affiliations with MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab and Goethe University Frankfurt, with a focus on computer vision, multimodal learning, and explainable AI. Her work bridges vision-language models, audio-visual alignment, and self-supervised methods. Co-organizer of the New Frontiers in Associative Memories workshop @ ICLR 2025 Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Carl-Zeiss-Foundation Contributor to CVPR 2025's UTD dataset for unbiased video benchmarks Her research addresses critical challenges in: Explainability for Vision Transformers (LeGrad) Fine-grained audio-visual alignment (CAV-MAE Sync) Zero-shot visual recognition automation (Meta-Prompting) Spatio-temporal grounding without annotations Recent collaborative work spans 15+ publications across CVPR, NeurIPS, ICCV, and ICLR, with emphasis on multimodal foundation models, dataset bias mitigation, and differentiable logic networks. She actively contributes to workshop organization and peer review as evidenced by her involvement in CVPR 2025 and ICLR 2025 program committees.
Andrew McCallum is a Distinguished Professor and Director of the Center for Data Science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Rochester (1995) and a BS from Dartmouth College (1989). His research focuses on machine learning, natural language processing, and information extraction, with applications to scientific literature and knowledge base construction. He has pioneered work on conditional random fields and probabilistic databases, and led the development of systems like Rexa, an advanced research paper search engine. Affiliations: Center for Data Science, Center for Intelligent Information Retrieval, Computational Social Science Institute Key Projects: OpenReview.net, Unified Information Extraction, Automated Knowledge Base Construction His work emphasizes extracting actionable knowledge from unstructured text, with contributions to social network analysis, entity resolution, and semi-supervised learning. McCallum has over 300 publications and has received awards including the NSF ITR Grant, IBM Faculty Partnership Awards, and ACM/AAAI Fellowships. He has advised numerous students and served as ICML General Chair (2012). Recent Research Trends: Probabilistic box embeddings, case-based reasoning for knowledge bases, scalable clustering algorithms, and applications in biomedical informatics.
Professor Bert Smith is a distinguished academic at the University of Oxford, serving as a Fellow of Lincoln College. He holds the position of Professor in the Faculty of Classics, with a specialization in Greek Archaeology and Roman Art/Archaeology. His academic journey includes MA, MPhil, and DPhil degrees from Oxford University. Prior to his current role, he was a Harkness Fellow at Princeton University (1983-85) and taught Hellenistic and Roman art at New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts (1986-1995). His research focuses on the art and visual cultures of the ancient Mediterranean, particularly the relationship between visual representation and social/political contexts. As director of the Aphrodisias excavation project since 1991, he has contributed significantly to understanding the archaeology of Greek cities in the Eastern Roman Empire. Key achievements include a British Academy/Philip Leverhulme Fellowship (2007-2008) and leadership in the AHRC-funded 'Last Statues of Antiquity' project (2009-2012), resulting in a collaborative book (2016). Teaching responsibilities include lectures and seminars on Greek and Roman art and archaeology. His publications span over four decades, with notable works on sarcophagi iconography, Aphrodisias excavations, and Hellenistic art. He actively collaborates with institutions like the Oxford Centre for Greek and Roman Antiquity (OCGRA). Current research continues to explore late antiquity art and archaeology through fieldwork and interdisciplinary projects.
