Soosan Beheshti is a Professor and Program Director in the Department of Electrical, Computer, and Biomedical Engineering at Toronto Metropolitan University. She holds a B.S. from Isfahan University of Technology and M.S./Ph.D. from MIT. Her research focuses on signal processing, statistical learning, and information theory, with applications in biomedical systems, data denoising, and system modeling. She has received awards such as the Dean's Teaching Award (2010) and the EECS Carlton E. Tucker Award (1998). Education: B.S., Electrical Engineering, Isfahan University of Technology (1996) M.S. & Ph.D., Electrical Engineering, MIT (2002) Research Interests: Statistical Signal Processing Information Theory Data Denoising & Compression System Modeling & Control Machine Learning Applications Awards: Dean's Teaching Award (2010) Gold Paper Award (PacRim 2009) Best Paper Award (Remote Sensing 2008) MIT Teaching Excellence Award (1998) Teaching: Courses include Signals and Systems, Control Systems, and Statistical Inference. She has supervised numerous graduate students and postdocs in her Signal and Information Processing (SIP) Lab. Labs/Teams: Director of the SIP Lab, conducting research in signal processing, information theory, and biomedical applications. Collaborates with industry partners like Myant Inc. and Huawei Technologies.
Rachel Pottinger is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of British Columbia within the Faculty of Science. She has been at UBC since 2004, progressing from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor in 2012 and to full Professor in 2021. She is affiliated with research centers including CAIDA (Centre for Artificial Intelligence Decision-making and Action) and DFP (Designing for People), and is part of ICICS (Institute for Computing, Information and Cognitive Systems). Her research focuses on data management, particularly semantic data integration, metadata management, and making data more accessible and understandable to users. She leads the Data Management and Mining Lab and has supervised numerous doctoral and master's students. Her work addresses three main areas: helping people understand and explore their data, managing data not well supported by databases, and coordinating data across multiple databases. Her recent publications demonstrate strong trends in database usability, data provenance visualization, query recommendation systems, and building information modeling integration. Her work bridges theoretical database concepts with practical human-centered applications, particularly in making complex data systems more accessible to non-expert users. UBC Computer Science Department Faculty Teaching Award 2013 Computer Science Department Teaching Award 2010 CS Department Teaching Award Denice Denton Emerging Leader Award 2007 Pottinger has supervised numerous PhD and Master's students, with research focusing on data provenance, database usability, and data coordination. She has been involved in significant research projects related to data lakes, open data navigation, and query recommendation systems. Her current research explores table annotation and discovery in data lakes, query refinement for aggregation queries, and query prediction based on past user behavior. She is actively involved in the academic community, serving as Secretary-Treasurer for SIGMOD, on the VLDB Journal editorial board, and as a member of the Computing Research Association's Board of Directors. She previously served as General Co-Chair of SIGMOD 2020 and as Associate Head for the Undergraduate Program of the Department of Computer Science from 2018-2020.
HaoYu Wang is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at SUNY Albany. His research focuses on parameter-efficient and data-efficient deep learning, particularly in natural language processing and machine learning, aiming to democratize AI access. He holds a Ph.D. from Purdue University's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, a B.Eng. from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, and an MS from SUNY Buffalo. His work includes innovations like RoseLoRA (sparse low-rank adaptation for knowledge editing), LightLT (lightweight quantization for long-tail data), and FedKC (federated knowledge composition for multilingual NLU). He has received awards such as the Future Leaders in Data Science (2024) and Bilsland Dissertation Fellowship. Key research areas include parameter efficiency, cross-lingual NLU, and model fairness. Recent publications span topics like federated learning optimization, robust retrieval-augmented generation, and mitigating token overfitting in LLMs. He advises students on Ph.D. and intern roles, emphasizing CVs and research interests in applications.
Nikolaos Tziavelis is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Basking Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz. His research bridges theoretical and practical aspects of database systems, focusing on improving real-world data processing through novel algorithmic solutions. Education: Ph.D. from Northeastern University (advised by Mirek Riedewald and Wolfgang Gatterbauer) Diploma from National Technical University of Athens, Greece Research Interests: Data Management Database Theory Query Processing and Optimization Algorithms for Big Data Integration of Machine Learning with Database Systems Publication Trends: His work emphasizes ranked enumeration, join algorithms, and query optimization, with applications in responsive database systems and machine learning integration. Key themes include theoretical foundations, practical system improvements, and algorithmic efficiency for complex data processing tasks. Scientific Awards: 2022 Google PhD Fellowship PODS 2021 Best of Recognition 2023 VLDB PhD Workshop Best Paper Award 2024 Khoury Research Award from Northeastern University Service: He has served on program committees for major conferences including SIGMOD, VLDB, PODS, EDBT, ICDE, and Northeast Database Day.
Dr. Bo Liu is an Associate Professor in the School of Computer Science at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), where he serves as a core member and director of the AI Security and Privacy (AISP) Research Lab at the Australian Artificial Intelligence Institute (AAII). With expertise spanning cybersecurity, privacy protection, AI and machine learning, and wireless communications, Dr. Liu has established himself as a leading researcher in the field of AI security and privacy. Dr. Liu earned his PhD from the Department of Electronic Engineering at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 2010. His academic journey at UTS has progressed from Senior Lecturer (November 2019-December 2022) to his current position as Associate Professor (January 2023-present). Dr. Liu's research focuses on the critical intersection of artificial intelligence and security, particularly addressing emerging threats in the age of advanced AI systems. His work spans multiple dimensions of security and privacy, including deepfake detection, privacy-preserving data synthesis, AI model security, and fair machine learning. He has pioneered approaches to detect AI-generated content, protect visual privacy through de-identification techniques, and address the complex relationship between algorithmic fairness and privacy preservation. His publication record demonstrates significant contributions across multiple cutting-edge research areas, with particular emphasis on detecting and mitigating threats from generative AI systems. His recent work reveals a strong focus on deepfake detection across multiple modalities (images, video, and audio), privacy-preserving techniques for sensitive data, and the security implications of emerging AI architectures like Retrieval-Augmented Generation systems. Dr. Liu has secured substantial research funding, including as Lead Chief Investigator on multiple ARC Discovery and Linkage Projects, totaling over $3.5 million AUD. His industry collaborations include partnerships with the NSW Department of Planning and the Reserve Bank of Australia, demonstrating the practical applicability of his research. As an academic leader, Dr. Liu serves as Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Broadcasting and actively contributes to the academic community through conference organization, peer review for top-tier venues, and assessment for ARC grant schemes. He also teaches courses including Penetration Testing, Ethical Hacking and Offensive Security, and supervises Masters and PhD students in cybersecurity and privacy research.
Chicheng Zhang is an Assistant Professor in the Computer Science Department at the University of Arizona, where he conducts research in the theory and applications of interactive machine learning. He earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) in 2017 under the supervision of Professor Kamalika Chaudhuri, and was previously an undergraduate student at Peking University working with Professor Liwei Wang. From 2017 to 2019, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the Machine Learning Group at Microsoft Research NYC. His research lies at the intersection of learning theory and practical algorithm design, focusing on interactive machine learning paradigms such as reinforcement learning, contextual bandits, active learning, and imitation learning. He aims to develop algorithms that are data-efficient, computationally tractable, and robust, with applications in healthcare, wireless communication, and fair AI systems. His work emphasizes principled algorithm design with theoretical guarantees and empirical validation. The most recent publications reflect a strong trend in developing efficient, theoretically grounded methods for sequential decision-making and interactive learning. Key themes include sample efficiency, robustness to noise, fairness in algorithmic decisions, and application-driven research in domains like oral cancer detection and mmWave network optimization. His work frequently bridges theoretical analysis with real-world deployment considerations. While no scientific awards are mentioned in the provided text, Dr. Zhang actively mentors prospective PhD students and encourages collaboration. He has contributed to interdisciplinary projects involving fairness-aware bandit algorithms for network coexistence, interpretable classifiers for cancer detection, and LLM-based initialization for reinforcement learning. His lab focuses on developing intelligent agents that actively learn from environments and human experts. He can be reached at chichengz@arizona.edu .
Muhammad Ali Gulzar is an Assistant Professor in the Computer Science Department at Virginia Tech and an Amazon Scholar at Amazon Web Services. His research focuses on improving developer productivity through automated debugging and testing for applications in emerging domains, including data-intensive software such as dataflow programs, ML/AI applications, and computational notebooks. Education Ph.D. in Computer Science from University of California, Los Angeles (Google Ph.D. Fellow 2017-2020) Research Interests Gulzar's research spans three primary areas: (1) automated tracking-code localization techniques in web applications, (2) re-engineering testing and debugging for data-intensive applications, and (3) advancing current testing and debugging practices in Federated Learning Applications. His work addresses the challenges of debugging in complex systems where traditional approaches fail due to the scale and distributed nature of modern applications. His research has significant implications for improving software quality, developer productivity, and accessibility in web applications. Research Trends Recent publications demonstrate a strong focus on debugging and testing challenges in emerging application domains. His work bridges traditional software engineering with machine learning, data-intensive systems, and web technologies. Notably, he has made significant contributions to Federated Learning debugging (FedDebug), accessibility challenges in ad-driven web applications, and semantic caching for Large Language Models. His approach often combines novel algorithmic insights with practical implementations that address real-world challenges in software development and maintenance. Scientific Awards Google Ph.D. Fellow (2017-2020) $1.1 million NSF award for Federated Learning research ACM CCS 2024 Distinguished Artifact Award Advising and Grants Gulzar leads a productive research group with multiple students contributing to publications in top-tier venues. His NSF-funded research on Federated Learning demonstrates his ability to secure competitive funding for innovative projects. His advising style appears to emphasize practical impact alongside theoretical contributions, with students often taking lead roles in publications. Current research directions include debugging techniques for Large Language Models, accessibility challenges in modern web applications, and novel testing approaches for distributed data processing systems.
Jian Zhao is an Associate Professor at the University of Waterloo's School of Computer Science, specializing in Information Visualization (InfoVis), Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), and Data Science. With a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto (2016), his research emphasizes interactive visualization techniques, AI integration in design processes, and socio-technical systems. He explores how human-AI collaboration can enhance data analysis, presentation, and user experience in complex systems. Key research areas include: 1) AI-Driven Design (e.g., code generation via sketching, infographic creation), 2) Health Informatics (therapeutic AI tools for autism support), 3) Immersive Technologies (VR/AR interfaces for presentations and education), and 4) Social Computing (remote family communication, multi-modal emoticons). His work bridges technical innovation with human-centered design principles. His publications (2021–2025) reflect a focus on interactive visualization frameworks (e.g., iTrace for cross-view data analysis), AI-human collaboration (CoLadder for hierarchical code editing), and specialized applications like TherAIssist for art therapy and EMooly for autism support. Zhao frequently explores novel interaction modalities , including gesture-based VR interfaces and sketch-based programming tools. He leads projects in computational notebooks (EDAssistant, Slide4N), visual analytics (MissBin for bipartite networks), and neurofeedback training games (Eggly). His work often emphasizes systematic design considerations for missing data, cross-view analysis, and contextual visualization in spatial AR environments.
Gerry Dozier is the Charles D. McCrary Eminent Chair Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering at Auburn University's College of Engineering. His research focuses on artificial intelligence, computational intelligence, cybersecurity, identity science, and cyber identity protection. He leads initiatives like the Center for Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity Engineering and contributes to Alabama's AI policy through the state commission. Dr. Dozier holds a Ph.D. from North Carolina State University and has pioneered work in adversarial machine learning, biometric security, and low-resource language NLP. Education: Ph.D. Computer Science, North Carolina State University (Raleigh) M.S. Computer Science, North Carolina State University (Raleigh) B.S. Computer Science, Northeastern Illinois University Research Themes: Combines AI with cybersecurity to address modern digital challenges. Specializes in adversarial attacks/defenses, biometric authentication systems, and ethical NLP applications in multilingual contexts. Active in developing tools for sentiment analysis in underrepresented languages and mitigating biases in automated systems. Impact: Spearheaded Auburn's AI@AU initiative with lecture series and forums. Collaborates internationally on facial recognition, malware detection, and medical AI applications like bacterial vaginosis diagnosis. His work bridges theoretical CS advancements with real-world security and ethical considerations. Labs/Teams: Directs Auburn's AI & Cybersecurity Engineering Center and contributes to interdisciplinary groups like the McCrary Institute for Cyber and Critical Infrastructure Security.
Elina Rönnberg is a Professor and Deputy Head of Department at the Department of Mathematics, Linköping University, where she leads research in discrete optimisation and intelligent decision-making. Her work bridges theoretical method development and real-world applications in sectors such as healthcare, aviation, mining, and transportation. She is actively involved in the Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program (WASP) and has collaborated with industry leaders like Saab and Scania. Her research focuses on advanced optimisation techniques including Dantzig-Wolfe decomposition, Lagrangian relaxation, column generation, branch-and-price, and logic-based Benders decomposition. She also explores hybrid methods combining mathematical programming with constraint programming and machine learning. Applications span nurse rostering, electric vehicle routing, aircraft arrival scheduling, and underground mine planning. Recent publications highlight a strong trend toward integrating AI and machine learning—particularly graph neural networks—with classical optimisation frameworks to accelerate solution methods. Her work emphasizes practical impact, robustness, and scalability in solving complex scheduling and resource allocation problems. Nurse Rostering with Strategic Planning of Skills for Sick-Leave Robustness (2024) Pricing for the EVRPTW with Piecewise Linear Charging (2024) Speeding Up Logic-Based Benders Decomposition with Graph Neural Networks (2024) Elina supervises several PhD students and has co-supervised doctoral research at international institutions including Makarere University (Uganda) and the University of Exeter (UK). She has contributed to applied projects through student theses in collaboration with Scania and Saab, focusing on electric vehicle routing and search-and-rescue optimisation. She previously served as a Specialist in Optimisation at Saab Aeronautics (2014–2020) and co-founded Schemagi, a scheduling tool aimed at improving quality in healthcare. She teaches courses such as Introduction to Optimization (TAOP07) and Project - Applied Mathematics (TATA62). Her research group, 'Mathematics and algorithms for intelligent decision-making,' operates within the Division of Applied Mathematics (TIMA) at the Department of Mathematics. The team develops decision support tools that enhance efficiency and sustainability in complex systems, particularly under the growing demands of electrification and digitalisation in transport and logistics.
Christopher G. Healey is the Goodnight Distinguished Professor of Analytics in the Institute for Advanced Analytics and a Professor in the Department of Computer Science at North Carolina State University. His research spans visualization, data analytics, text analytics, sentiment analysis, machine learning, cognitive psychology, computer graphics, and social media analytics. He has graduated 15 Ph.D. and 26 master's students and secured over $6 million in research funding from agencies including the National Science Foundation, Department of Defense, National Security Agency, Army Research Office, and various industry partners. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles and is a senior member of both IEEE and ACM, as well as a member of the NC State Academy of Outstanding Teachers. His research focuses on developing visualization techniques that leverage visual perception to support rapid, accurate, and effective analysis of large, complex datasets. More recently, he has been investigating machine learning for natural language processing and text analytics. His work includes projects on visualizing election results, sentiment estimation for social media, and wildfire narratives using large-scale social media data. His publications demonstrate a strong trend toward integrating machine learning with visualization, particularly for text analytics and social media analysis. He has made significant contributions to visualizing deep neural networks, cyber situation awareness, and pandemic response analytics, showing how visualization can enhance understanding of complex systems and large datasets across multiple domains. IBM Faculty Award (2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012) Senior member, Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) (2007) Senior member, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) (2007) NC State Academy of Outstanding Teachers inductee (2003) National Science Foundation Faculty Early CAREER Award (2001) He has successfully mentored numerous graduate students and secured significant research funding across multiple projects. His work with the Laboratory for Analytic Sciences, National Science Foundation, and Department of Defense demonstrates strong industry and government partnerships. His recent projects focus on visualizing social media narratives, deep neural networks for text understanding, and predictive analytics for large document collections. He leads research groups focused on visualization and analytics, working with teams to develop innovative approaches for data exploration and analysis. His current work continues to push the boundaries of how visualization can be used to enhance understanding of complex data across domains including public health, cybersecurity, and social media analysis.
Giuseppe Santucci is an Associate Professor at the Department of Computer, Control and Management Engineering Antonio Ruberti at Sapienza University of Rome. He teaches courses on Fundamentals of Computer Science, Software Engineering, and Visual Analytics. His office is located in Room B218 at Via Ariosto 25, Rome, and his contact email is santucci@diag.uniroma1.it. Dr. Santucci's research focuses on Visual Analytics, Information Visualization, Human-Computer Interaction, and Information Retrieval. His work spans theoretical aspects of visual query languages for semantic models to practical applications in visual analytics for cybersecurity, cryptocurrencies, and deep learning explainability. He has published over 130 articles in international journals and conferences, demonstrating his significant contributions to these fields. His recent publications show a strong trend toward applying visual analytics to increasingly complex domains including cybersecurity, cryptocurrencies, and explainable AI. The work demonstrates an evolution from theoretical foundations of visual query systems to practical applications that help users understand complex data and systems. His research bridges the gap between theoretical computer science and practical user-centered solutions. Dr. Santucci has received notable recognition including: IEEE VizSec 2018 Best Paper Award Human-Computer Interaction Cybersecurity Awards 2018 He actively mentors students through thesis projects focused on information visualization and visual analytics. His PROMISE project provides a framework for students to engage in cutting-edge research in information retrieval and visual analytics. He has supervised work on topics including visual evaluation techniques, visual mappings optimization, and user studies for Infovis systems. Dr. Santucci leads the A.WA.RE (Advanced Visualization & Visual Analytics REsearch) group at Sapienza University. This group conducts research on visual analytics tools for information retrieval evaluation, cybersecurity analysis, and deep learning explainability. Their work includes developing frameworks like CryptoComparator for cryptocurrency analysis and BUCEPHALUS for cybersecurity platform analysis.
Stefano Leonardi is a Full Professor in the Department of Computer, Control and Management Engineering Antonio Ruberti at Sapienza Università di Roma. His research focuses on Algorithm Theory, Algorithms and Data Science, and Economics and Computation. He leads the ERC Advanced Grant project AMDROMA, exploring algorithmic mechanisms for online markets. He has held roles as Conference Chair for STOC 2021, WWW 2015, and FUN 2018, and coordinates the Sapienza School of Advanced Studies (2016-2018). His work spans approximation algorithms, online algorithms, and mechanism design. Awards include the ERC Advanced Grant and EATCS Fellowship. His research interests emphasize foundational algorithmic problems in web-based markets, leveraging rigorous design and large-scale data analysis. Recent projects include ALGADIMAR (PRIN 2019-2022) for digital market algorithms. He chairs the Highlights of Algorithms conference series and serves on program committees for top venues like EC, ICALP, and SODA. His lab focuses on web algorithmics and data mining, addressing challenges in online labor markets and fair division. Leonardi's academic contributions include over 100 publications, with recent work on fair algorithms, prophet inequalities, and mechanism design in auctions. He has pioneered methods for submodular optimization, online learning, and multi-agent systems. Grants and awards reflect his leadership in bridging theory with real-world applications, particularly in digital economies. Grants: ERC Advanced Grant (2018-2023), PRIN ALGADIMAR (2019-2022) Leadership: Chair of ACM STOC 2021, WWW 2015, and 9th FUN Conference Labs/Teams: Laboratory on Web Algorithmics and Data Mining Key Projects: AMDROMA (algorithmic mechanisms), ALGADIMAR (digital markets)
Sainyam Galhotra is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Cornell University. His research focuses on developing data science tools for effective and responsible analytics, leveraging techniques from causal inference, data management, theoretical computer science, machine learning, and human-computer interaction to address challenges in trustworthy system design including robustness, explainability, and fairness. Education: Postdoc: University of Chicago PhD: University of Massachusetts Amherst (supervised by Barna Saha) BTech: Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi) (supervised by Prof. Amitabha Bagchi) Research Interests: Dr. Galhotra's research spans several interconnected areas in data science and artificial intelligence. His work primarily focuses on Responsible Data Science , where he develops methods to ensure that data-driven systems operate fairly and transparently. Within this broad area, his specific interests include: Causal Inference techniques for understanding cause-effect relationships in complex data Algorithmic Fairness approaches to mitigate bias in machine learning systems Explainable AI methods that make black-box models more interpretable Data Management systems for efficient and reliable data processing Entity Resolution techniques for integrating data from multiple sources Trustworthy System Design that addresses robustness, explainability, and fairness His recent publications demonstrate a clear trend toward developing frameworks that combine causal reasoning with practical data management systems, particularly focusing on how to make data-driven decisions more transparent and equitable. The intersection of database systems with fairness considerations appears to be a particularly active area of his research. Scientific Awards: Rising Star in Data Science at the Data Science Institute, UChicago (Oct 2021) Computing Innovation Fellowship Award Recipient (by CRA, CCC and NSF) (Apr 2021) DAAD AInet Fellow (Feb 2021) ACM SIGMOD Entity Resolution Programming Contest – Top 5 finalist (May 2020) Most reproducible paper award in SIGMOD 2018 and 2019 (Jun 2019) First recipient of Krithi Ramamritham Computer Science Scholarship (Jun 2019) Best paper award in SIGSOFT FSE 2017 (May 2017) Dr. Galhotra is actively seeking students to collaborate with on his research projects. His work has been supported by various fellowships and awards, including the prestigious Computing Innovation Fellowship. He has mentored several students through his research projects, with a focus on developing the next generation of data scientists who can build responsible and trustworthy systems. His research group appears to focus on the intersection of database systems and responsible AI, developing tools like HypeR for causal reasoning, Ver for view discovery, and Nexus for correlation discovery in spatio-temporal data. This work suggests a cohesive research agenda centered around making data systems more transparent, fair, and user-friendly.
Jamie Morgenstern is an Associate Professor at the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering , University of Washington . She was previously an assistant professor at Georgia Tech and a Warren Center Fellow at University of Pennsylvania . Expertise: Ethics & Fairness, Human-Centered AI, Machine Learning Education: PhD in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University (2015) Her research examines the social impact of machine learning and ensuring ML models do not exacerbate societal inequalities. She investigates robustness to human-generated training data, fairness in clustering and active learning, and algorithmic equity in recommendation systems. Recent publications focus on interactive ML systems , fairness constraints , and privacy-preserving methods across conferences like NeurIPS, ICML, and AIES. Key subfields include multimodal learning , membership inference attacks , and data equity . Scientific Awards: NSF Career award for "Strategic and Equity Considerations in ML" Simons collaboration project Simons Award for Graduate Students in Theoretical Computer Science (2014-2016) NSF GFRP fellowship Microsoft Research Graduate Women's Scholarship Spotlight presentation at NeurIPS 2015 Mentoring: She advises current PhD students Rachel Hong , Jie (Claire) Zhang , and Yuanyuan (Chloe) Yang . Former advisees include Daniel Jiang (MS), Bhuvesh Kumar (PhD), and Angel (Alex) Cabrera (BS). Grants: Funded by NSF Career award and Simons collaboration projects. Previously supported by Simons, NSF, and Microsoft Research fellowships. Labs & Collaborations: Collaborates with researchers like Michael Kearns , Aaron Roth , and Avrim Blum . Affiliated with the Allen School's Artificial Intelligence research group.
