Dr. Rajkumar Buyya is a Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor at the University of Melbourne and Founder & CEO of Manjrasoft , a spin-off commercializing cloud innovations. He has held visiting roles at Imperial College London , University of Birmingham , and Tsinghua University . Research Interests : His work spans Cloud Computing , Edge Computing , Grid Systems , and Energy-Efficient Computing , focusing on utility-driven resource allocation, simulation tools, and scalable IoT application frameworks. He pioneered the CloudSim toolkit and Aneka Cloud technologies. Scientific Awards : IEEE Fellow (2015), Web of Science Highly Cited Researcher (2016-2021) Khwarizmi International Award (2020), Scopus Researcher of the Year (2017) Frost & Sullivan New Product Innovation Award (2010), IEEE TCSC Medal (2009) Impact : Authored over 850 publications, including the widely adopted textbook Mastering Cloud Computing . Graduated 54 PhD students now in leadership roles at institutions like Newcastle University and companies such as IBM , Google , and Amazon . His research has driven global adoption of cloud/edge technologies in 50+ countries.
Ugur Cetintemel is the Khosrowshahi University Professor of Computer Science at Brown University, where he has been since completing his PhD at the University of Maryland in 2001. His research focuses on data management systems, database systems, distributed systems, and stream processing, with recent work integrating AI techniques into database systems. He teaches courses such as Database Management Systems and Data Science fundamentals. Notable contributions include the Aurora and Borealis stream processing engines, S-Store for transaction processing, and DBPal for natural language interfaces. His work emphasizes scalable, efficient systems for large-scale data challenges. Education: PhD in Computer Science, University of Maryland, 2001 MS in Computer Science, Bilkent University, 1996 BS in Computer Science, Bilkent University, 1994 Research Interests: Data management, stream processing, distributed systems, predictive analytics, and AI integration with databases. Key projects include optimizing database systems for modern hardware, developing real-time stream processing frameworks, and exploring interactive data exploration techniques. Grants & Advising: Extensive contributions to grants and collaborations, though specific grant details are not listed. Supervises graduate students in areas like database systems and machine learning integration. Part of the Brown Data Management Group. Labs/Teams: Leads research within the Brown Data Management Group, focusing on advancing database systems for big data and real-time analytics.
Professor Omer Rana serves as Professor of Performance Engineering and International Dean for the Middle East at Cardiff University's School of Computer Science and Informatics. He also holds the prestigious position of Cross-Council Research Director for the UK National Edge AI Hub, demonstrating his leadership in national research initiatives. Previously, he led the Complex Systems research group and served as Dean of International for the Physical Sciences and Engineering College at Cardiff University. Professor Rana is a Fellow of both the Learned Society of Wales and the Higher Education Academy, and serves on the Advisory Board of the Welsh Ethnic Minority Professors Initiative (WEMPI). His research expertise centers on the intersection of intelligent systems and high performance distributed computing, with particular focus on applying intelligent techniques to resource management in distributed systems. His scholarly contributions span edge computing, cloud computing, Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, federated learning, privacy-preserving systems, and sustainable computing. Professor Rana has published extensively in top-tier journals and conferences, with recent work emphasizing practical applications in industrial automation, smart buildings, and sustainable computing solutions. Professor Rana's publication record demonstrates consistent leadership in edge computing and distributed systems research, with a growing emphasis on practical implementations across diverse application domains. His work bridges theoretical computer science with real-world technological challenges, particularly in industrial automation, smart environments, and sustainable infrastructure. Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales Fellow of the Higher Education Academy Professor Rana actively supervises postgraduate students and has secured significant research funding for projects related to edge computing, IoT, and distributed systems. His international collaborations span Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, reflecting his global influence in the field. He serves as a sought-after keynote speaker, workshop chair, and panel moderator at major international conferences including IEEE/ACM Utility and Cloud Computing (UCC) and IEEE Edge Computing. He leads multiple research initiatives, most notably as Cross-Council Research Director for the UK National Edge AI Hub, where he shapes national research directions in edge computing and AI. His work has practical applications across industrial automation, smart building management, electric vehicle infrastructure, and sustainable computing solutions.
Kyle C. Hale is an Associate Professor at Oregon State University's School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (College of Engineering). He holds a Ph.D. and M.S. from Northwestern University (2016, 2013) and a B.S. in Computer Science from UT Austin (2010). Prior to joining Oregon State in 2024, he served as an Associate Professor at Illinois Tech in Chicago. His research spans operating systems, high-performance computing (HPC), virtualization, computer architecture, and system security. Current work focuses on specialized system software stacks for emerging computing paradigms like memory disaggregation and parallelism optimization. He leads the HExSA Lab and collaborates with the HiPCastor group. Scientific Awards: NSF CAREER Award (2023-2028) Illinois Tech College of Computing Excellence in Research (2023) Illinois Tech College of Computing Excellence in Teaching (2021) Illinois Tech Department of Computer Science Teacher of the Year (2020) EuroSys '22 Best Artifact Award Recent Research Trends: His publications emphasize compiler techniques for memory-disaggregated systems, optimizing parallel runtimes through hardware-software integration, virtualization at fine granularities, and accelerating machine learning workloads via system-level innovations. Keywords include HPC, virtualization, parallelism, and secure execution contexts. Teaching: Courses taught include Computer Architecture (CS/ECE 472), System Security (CSP 544), Operating Systems (CS 450), and advanced topics in serverless/edge computing. He actively recruits PhD students to the HExSA Lab.
Anastasia Ailamaki is a Professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), renowned for her work in database systems and data management . Her research focuses on optimizing query processing for modern hardware, particularly GPUs and heterogeneous systems, and advancing cloud data analytics with serverless architectures like PixelDB . She has co-authored influential frameworks for adaptive query optimization , hardware-conscious database engines , and model-relational data management . Key research areas: GPU acceleration , HTAP , query approximation , spatial data processing , and cloud-native databases . Recent work emphasizes cross-task optimizations in distributed environments, efficient sampling , and context-aware joins integrating vector embeddings. In 2023, she contributed to adaptive recursive query optimization and speculative K-means clustering, while 2024 publications addressed proportional caching (HPCache) and model-relational systems . Her collaborations span institutions such as MIT, Microsoft, and ETH Zurich, with publications in top venues like SIGMOD , VLDB , and ICDE .
Xiaojiang Du is the Anson Wood Burchard Endowed Professor at Stevens Institute of Technology, directing research in IoT security, AI security, and wireless networks. An IEEE Fellow and ACM Distinguished Member, he leads NSF-funded projects on secure IoT systems and cross-platform security vulnerabilities. Education PhD in Electrical Engineering, University of Maryland MS in Electrical Engineering, Tsinghua University BE in Electrical Engineering, Tsinghua University Research Focus: Develops security frameworks for IoT ecosystems and adversarial machine learning, with recent breakthroughs in smart home security anomaly detection. Honors: IEEE Fellow, ACM Distinguished Member, multiple best paper awards at IEEE conferences. Graduated PhD students hold faculty positions at UNC Charlotte, UL Lafayette, and ShanXi University. Professional Service: IEEE ComSoc Distinguished Lecturer, Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions, and General Co-Chair for IEEE/ACM IWQoS 2023. Secured $9M+ in research funding from NSF, NSA, and DOD.
Mehmet Esat Belviranli is an Assistant Professor in the Computer Science Department at the Colorado School of Mines, where he directs the High Performance Systems and Software Lab (HyperSys). His research focuses on increasing resource utilization in heterogeneous architectures through runtime systems, scheduling algorithms, and performance modeling, with publications in top venues including MICRO, PPoPP, and SC. Education: Ph.D. in Computer Science, University of California, Riverside (2016) M.S. in Computer Science, Bilkent University (2009) B.S. in Computer Science, Bilkent University (2006) Belviranli's research spans heterogeneous architectures, runtime systems, performance modeling, parallel programming, autonomous computing, deep learning acceleration, cyber-physical systems, and edge-cloud platforms. His work develops analytical models and programming abstractions to address resource management, scheduling, and security challenges in diversely heterogeneous systems, with applications in edge computing, autonomous systems, and machine learning acceleration. Recent projects emphasize real-world constraints and security implications. His publication trends reveal increasing focus on edge-cloud resource management (e.g., HARNESS), security vulnerabilities in heterogeneous systems (e.g., MC3), and deep learning acceleration under resource constraints. Key themes include memory contention modeling, scheduling for cyber-physical systems, and concurrent DNN execution, reflecting a shift toward practical deployment in security-sensitive edge environments. Scientific Awards: U.S. Air Force Research Lab Summer Faculty Fellowship Award (2022) U.S. Air Force Research Lab Summer Faculty Fellowship Award (2021) Oak Ridge National Laboratory Significant Event Award (2019) Best Paper Finalist, IEEE HPEC 2018 Outstanding Paper Award, DATE 2024 Belviranli mentors Ph.D. students Ismet Dagli (MLCommons Rising Star 2024, CGO'24 SRC finalist) and Justin Davis (DATE'24 Outstanding Paper Award winner). He has secured $2M+ in funding from NSF, DoE, and SRC, including an NSF-SaTC grant on mobile security (2024), a DoE grant on superconductive systems (2023), and an NSF FuSe grant on graphene nanoribbons (2023), often leading multi-institutional teams from Rochester, Virginia, Arizona, and Minnesota. The HyperSys Lab develops ecosystems for high-performance heterogeneous systems, with recent projects including HARNESS for edge-cloud resource management and MC3 for mobile SoC security. The lab has received equipment donations from Google Coral.ai and Xilinx, and collaborates with national labs on security challenges and next-generation semiconductor technologies.
Chris De Sa is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Cornell University, affiliated with the Cornell Machine Learning Group and leading the Relax ML Lab. His research focuses on algorithmic, software, and hardware techniques for high-performance machine learning, particularly relaxed-consistency stochastic algorithms like asynchronous and low-precision stochastic gradient descent (SGD). He earned his Ph.D. from Stanford University under advisors Kunle Olukotun and Chris Ré. His work emphasizes constructing efficient, parallel, and distributed machine learning frameworks for deep learning and data analytics. Education: Ph.D. in Computer Science, Stanford University (2017) Research Interests: Algorithmic techniques for scalable ML, quantization, distributed optimization, hyperbolic geometry in ML, and reliable measurement of ML systems. His group develops frameworks for efficient inference/training and explores the intersection of ML with domains like agriculture and plant science through courses like PLSCI 7202. Recent Highlights: DARPA YFA Grant (2024), NSF CAREER Award, Google Research Scholar Award, and multiple best paper recognitions. Key contributions include QuIP quantization methods, Coneheads attention mechanisms, and theoretical advances in decentralized training. Awards: NSF CAREER Award DARPA YFA Grant (2024) Google Research Scholar Award Mr. & Mrs. Richard F. Tucker Teaching Award Grants & Advising: Advises 8 Ph.D. students (including Ruqi Zhang, Yucheng Lu, A. Feder Cooper) and holds leadership roles in MLSys conferences. Active in grant-funded research (e.g., NSF Robust Intelligence). Labs/Teams: Leads the Relax ML Lab and participates in Cornell’s Institute for Digital Agriculture (CIDA).
Hank Childs is a Professor in the School of Computer and Data Sciences at the University of Oregon, specializing in scientific visualization and high-performance computing. He leads the Research Group on Computing and Data Understanding at eXtreme Scale (CDUX) and has held leadership roles including Interim Executive Director of the School of Computer and Data Sciences. His educational background includes a Ph.D. (2006) and B.S. (1999) in Computer Science from the University of California at Davis. Prior to academia, he worked for 14 years at Lawrence Livermore and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories, where he served as architect of the VisIt open-source visualization tool. Research interests center on visualizing extreme-scale scientific datasets from supercomputers, with a focus on in situ visualization for cosmology, seismology, and fluid dynamics. He has pioneered projects like VTK-m and Ascent, and his work explores power-performance tradeoffs and data-parallel algorithms for GPUs. Recent publications emphasize scalable visualization techniques for exascale computing, with 15 notable works from 2021-2020 covering particle advection, in situ triggering, and power-aware frameworks. His research has been honored with multiple best paper awards at IEEE LDAV, EGPGV, and SC conferences. DOE Early Career Award (2012) University of Oregon Faculty Excellence Award (2018) 4+ million dollars in research funding since 2013 5 Best Paper awards in 2021 alone As an educator, he received four consecutive CIS Best Teacher Awards (2014-2019). He has served as Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions journals and organized numerous visualization workshops including Dagstuhl seminars and Shonan workshops.
Olaf Steinbach is a University Professor (Univ.-Prof.) at the Institute of Applied Mathematics at Graz University of Technology. His academic career spans over three decades with continuous research activity from 1992 to the present, including publications scheduled for 2026. He serves as a project manager for several research initiatives including the Special Research Area (SFB) F90 Computational Electric Machine Laboratory, which runs from 2022 to 2026. Professor Steinbach's research interests primarily focus on Numerical Analysis and Computational Mathematics . His work centers around developing and analyzing advanced numerical methods, particularly Finite Element Methods (FEM) and Boundary Element Methods (BEM), for solving partial differential equations (PDEs) and optimal control problems. His research spans both theoretical aspects (such as error analysis, stability, and convergence) and practical applications (including electric machines, electromagnetics, and biomechanics). He has made significant contributions to space-time finite element methods, which treat time as an additional dimension in the discretization process, leading to more robust and efficient solvers for time-dependent problems. Analysis of his recent publications (2021-2026) reveals a strong focus on optimal control problems governed by partial differential equations, with particular emphasis on elliptic, parabolic, and hyperbolic PDEs. His work demonstrates a consistent pattern of developing robust numerical methods with rigorous error analysis, often incorporating regularization techniques to handle challenging constraints. The applications span computational electromagnetics (particularly electric machines), fluid dynamics, and wave propagation problems. His research increasingly incorporates advanced computational techniques including parallel computing and isogeometric analysis. Professor Steinbach has supervised numerous doctoral students and has been actively involved in organizing academic events, including summer schools on Boundary Element Methods. His collaborative network extends across multiple disciplines and institutions, reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of his work in computational mathematics. His research has been supported through multiple significant projects including DK-W1244 Doctoral Program on Partial Differential Equations, the EU CASOPT project on optimization of industrial devices, and the ongoing Special Research Area on Computational Electric Machine Laboratory. These projects demonstrate his leadership in establishing research frameworks that bridge theoretical mathematics with practical engineering applications. Professor Steinbach maintains an active research group within the Institute of Applied Mathematics, collaborating closely with researchers in computational engineering, electrical engineering, and biomechanics. His work on the Computational Electric Machine Laboratory represents a particularly strong interdisciplinary effort combining mathematical theory with electrical engineering applications.
Tianzheng Wang is an Associate Professor and Director of the Dual-Degree and Partnerships Programs at the School of Computing Science, Simon Fraser University. His research focuses on database systems, transaction processing, parallel and distributed computing, and embedded systems. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Toronto (2017) and a BSc in Computing from Hong Kong Polytechnic University (2012). Research Interests: Database systems optimized for modern hardware, parallel programming, synchronization, and distributed architectures. His work emphasizes high-performance transaction processing and efficient indexing techniques, with applications in cloud and embedded systems. Awards: ACM SIGMOD Best Paper Award (2025), IEEE TCSC Early Career Award (2019), and multiple distinguished reviewing recognitions (SIGMOD/VLDB 2021-2024). His research has been integrated into systems like Amazon Redshift and DragonflyDB. Teaching: Leads courses such as CMPT 454 (Database Systems II), CMPT 300 (Operating Systems), and special topics in databases. Actively mentors graduate and undergraduate students in research projects. Labs & Collaborations: Heads the Data-Intensive Systems Lab, part of SFU's Data Science and Systems groups. Collaborates on tools like PiBench for persistent memory benchmarking and contributes to open-source projects like CoroBase and Tabular.
Luca Iocchi is a Full Professor at Sapienza University of Rome, where he teaches in the Master in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics program. He is affiliated with the Department of Computer, Control, and Management Engineering and the Faculty of Engineering of Information, Computer Science and Statistics. Iocchi serves as an Associate Editor for Artificial Intelligence Journal and has been the scientific coordinator of Spoke of PNRR project FAIR (Future AI Research). His educational background includes: Master in Engineering in Computer Science (Laurea in Ingegneria Informatica) cum Laude, Sapienza Università di Roma, 1995 PhD in Engineering in Computer Science (Dottorato in Ingegneria Informatica), Sapienza Università di Roma, 1999 Professor Iocchi's research focuses on cognitive robotics, task planning, multi-robot coordination, robot perception, robot learning, human-robot interaction, and social robotics. His work has significant applications in security, surveillance, and environmental monitoring. He has published over 200 referred papers with an h-index of 46 (Google Scholar). His research bridges theoretical AI with practical robotic systems operating in real-world environments, with a particular emphasis on developing intelligent systems that can interact effectively with humans. His recent publications show a strong trend toward multi-agent reinforcement learning, trust modeling in human-AI teams, UAV coordination, and planning systems. There's a clear focus on making robotic systems more reliable, efficient, and capable of operating in complex real-world scenarios like healthcare facilities and smart cities. His work increasingly integrates formal planning approaches with machine learning techniques. Professor Iocchi has received numerous scientific awards: 1999 Top Paper Award WebNet'99 2006 Best Paper Award RoboCup 2006 2008 Best Robotics Demo Award AAMAS 2008 2014 Best Paper Award For Engineering Contribution RoboCup 2014 2017 RoboCup@Home SSPL 2017 - 3rd place 2018 Canada-Italy Innovation Award 2019 Best Paper Award For Engineering Contribution RoboCup 2019 As an academic advisor, Iocchi has directed the PhD Program in Engineering in Computer Science from 2020 to 2023. He has been Principal Investigator for numerous research projects including SciRoc (European Robotics League), AI4EU (European AI project), BUBBLES, AIPlan4EU, ROSITA, Trust Your Agents, and FAIR. His research has been supported by EU H2020 programs, national grants, and industry collaborations, demonstrating strong connections between academia and practical applications. Professor Iocchi is actively involved with the Cognitive Cooperating Robots Lab (LabRoCoCo) and is a key member of the RoboCup Federation, having served as Vice-President from 2019 to 2024. He has played a significant role in benchmarking domestic service robots through RoboCup@Home and the European Robotics League Service Robots (ERL-SR), which he helped establish. His leadership in organizing international scientific robot competitions has been instrumental in advancing the field of service robotics.
Yang You is a Presidential Young Professor at the National University of Singapore (NUS), affiliated with the Department of Computer Science under NUS Computing. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from UC Berkeley, advised by Prof. James Demmel. His research focuses on parallel/distributed algorithms, high-performance computing, and machine learning, particularly in scaling deep neural networks on distributed systems and supercomputers. Notably, his team achieved world records in ImageNet and BERT training speeds, with techniques adopted by tech giants like Google and NVIDIA. His optimizers (LARS/LAMB) are included in MLPerf benchmarks. Education - PhD in Computer Science, UC Berkeley - Outstanding Graduate of Tsinghua University (1st rank). Research Interests Yang You’s work spans machine learning system optimization, parallel computing, and distributed training infrastructure. He explores efficient algorithms for large-scale models, including techniques for reducing training time and improving scalability. His contributions emphasize practical implementations that bridge theory and industry applications, such as accelerating diffusion models and optimizing LLM inference. Awards & Honors Lotfi A. Zadeh Prize (2020) IPDPS 2015 Best Paper Award (0.8% acceptance) ICPP 2018 Best Paper Award (0.3% acceptance) ACM/IEEE George Michael HPC Fellowship Siebel Scholar (2020) Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia (2021) Advising & Labs He advises PhD students in cutting-edge research and leads the NUS AI Lab , focusing on advancing AI systems and high-performance computing. His lab collaborates with industry partners to deploy scalable machine learning solutions.
Roxana Geambasu is an Associate Professor at Columbia University's Department of Computer Science, with affiliations to the Software Systems Lab and the Cybersecurity Committee . She specializes in systems security, differential privacy, and resource management for modern computing environments. PhD: University of Washington (2011) Undergraduate: Polytechnic University of Bucharest, Romania Her research focuses on integrating differential privacy as a first-class computing resource in infrastructure systems, with key contributions in: Privacy Budget Management (PrivateKube, DPack, Turbo) Web & Mobile Privacy (Cookie Monster, Big Bird) Security Abstractions (POSIX, Vanish, XRay) Article trends show a strong emphasis on differential privacy (8/15), resource scheduling (5/15), and privacy-preserving advertising (3/15). Key subfields include budget optimization, browser APIs, and ML pipeline privacy. Scientific awards include: Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship NSF CAREER Award Google Ph.D. Fellowship in Cloud Computing Best Paper Awards at SOSP, EuroSys She advises M.S. and undergraduate students, teaching courses in Distributed Systems and Privacy Curriculum . Her lab develops tools like PixelDP and Sunlight for operationalizing privacy in real-world systems.
Natalie Enright Jerger is a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Toronto's Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering. She holds the Canada Research Chair in Computer Architecture and serves as Director of the Division of Engineering Science (2023-2028). Previously, she was the Percy Edward Hart Professor (2016-2019). She received her B.S. in Computer Engineering from Purdue University (2002), and M.S./Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from University of Wisconsin-Madison (2004/2008). Her research focuses on: Multi/many-core architectures and on-chip networks Cache coherence protocols and memory hierarchy optimization Approximate computing and sustainable systems Intermittent computing for energy-harvesting devices Hardware acceleration for machine learning Her publications demonstrate strong emphasis on networks-on-chip (NoC) innovations, including routing algorithms, deadlock handling, power-efficient designs, and topology optimizations. Recent work expands into approximate computing, mobile architectures, and ML-driven hardware design. Major Awards: Fellow of Engineering Institute of Canada (2023) McLean Senior Fellow (2019) IEEE Micro Top Picks (2016) ACM/IEEE Microarchitecture Hall of Fame (2015) Sloan Research Fellowship (2015) Canada Research Chair (current) Distinguished Scientist, ACM Fellow, IEEE She leads the NEJ research group and collaborates with industry partners including Intel, AMD, Qualcomm, and IBM. Her work is funded by NSERC, CFI, and industrial grants. She co-chaired ASPLOS 2023 and HPCA 2014, and actively promotes diversity through WICARCH and ACM initiatives.
