Dr. Kaibo Liu is the Grainger STAR Professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and serves as Associate Director of the UW-Madison IoT Systems Research Center. He earned his B.S. from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (2009), and M.S. and Ph.D. from Georgia Tech (2011/2013). His research focuses on system informatics, big data analytics, and data fusion for process modeling, monitoring, and decision-making. He has been funded by NSF, ONR, DOE, and industry partners. Notable awards include the 2024 Hromi Medal (ASQ), 2021 IISE Technical Innovation Award, and multiple early-career recognitions. Recent work emphasizes real-time cyber-physical security, reinforcement learning for data streams, and Bayesian methods for prognosis. He edits IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering and IISE Transactions on Data Science.
Kayvon Fatahalian is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Stanford University. His research focuses on real-time graphics, high-efficiency simulation engines for entertainment and AI, and large-scale image/video analysis platforms. He explores intersections of computer graphics, machine learning, and high-performance computing to advance systems for interactive applications and AI-driven tasks. His work includes innovations in rendering pipelines, embodied AI simulations, and generative models for 3D content creation. Recent projects address challenges in multi-agent systems, motion synthesis, and scalable rendering architectures. Fatahalian’s contributions span technical systems, algorithmic frameworks, and foundational research in graphics and AI. Notable areas of exploration include: Real-time rendering optimizations for complex scenes AI-driven motion and style generation from sparse inputs Efficient simulation frameworks for deep reinforcement learning Weak supervision techniques for rare category detection His publications emphasize practical systems with theoretical grounding, often bridging hardware/software co-design principles with modern AI methodologies. Current work includes developing agile hardware accelerators and scalable architectures for next-generation interactive systems.
Andrew Li is an Associate Professor of Operations Research at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business since 2024, previously serving as Assistant Professor since 2018. His research bridges statistics, optimization, and machine learning with applications to healthcare operations and retail management. Current teaching: Optimization, Business Analytics Capstone, and Topics in Optimization and Statistics PhD from MIT's Operations Research Center (2018), BS in Operations Research/Applied Mathematics from Columbia University (2012) Research Focus: Dr. Li develops data-driven decision frameworks for complex systems. Key areas include: Experience-based learning models with fairness constraints (organ allocation) Anomaly detection in low-rank matrices (retail inventory accuracy) Nanoparticle-based diagnostic systems for CAD and Alzheimer's Nonstationary demand forecasting in supply chains Publication Trends: Recent work combines bandit algorithms with healthcare applications (split liver transplants, CAD detection) and retail operations (inventory accuracy). Theoretical contributions include regret-optimal policies and entrywise anomaly detection guarantees. Scientific Honors: INFORMS Nicholson Award (2018) INFORMS Pierskalla Award (2021) NSF CAREER Award (2023) Professional Leadership: Active in INFORMS and CMU committees including MBA Analytics Curriculum, Thompson Award, and ENAiBLE AI-driven retail collaborative co-founder since 2021.
Aaron Roth is the Henry Salvatori Professor of Computer and Cognitive Science at the University of Pennsylvania, affiliated with the Department of Computer and Information Science in the School of Engineering and Applied Science. He holds a secondary appointment in the Department of Statistics and Data Science at the Wharton School and is associated with several research centers including PRiML, the Warren Center for Network and Data Sciences, and the AMCS program. He received his PhD from Carnegie Mellon University under Avrim Blum and was a postdoc at Microsoft Research New England. His research focuses on algorithms and machine learning, particularly in private data analysis, fairness in machine learning, game theory, mechanism design, and learning theory. His work bridges theoretical computer science with societal concerns, advocating for ethically aware algorithm design. He co-authored the book The Ethical Algorithm with Michael Kearns, which explores how to embed social values like privacy and fairness into algorithmic systems. His recent publications show a strong trend toward uncertainty quantification, multicalibration, conformal prediction, and fairness in reinforcement learning and high-dimensional settings. He frequently publishes in top-tier venues such as STOC, FOCS, ICML, NeurIPS, and COLT, often with a focus on rigorous theoretical foundations with practical implications. Hans Sigrist Prize Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship NSF CAREER award Google Faculty Research Award Amazon Research Award Yahoo Academic Career Enhancement award Roth has advised numerous PhD students and postdocs, many of whom now hold academic or industry research positions. He is also an Amazon Scholar at AWS and has served in advisory roles for companies like Apple, Facebook, Leapyear, and Spectrum Labs. He has been active in organizing workshops and tutorials on differential privacy, fairness, and adaptive data analysis, and has given keynotes at major conferences and institutions worldwide. He leads research groups and collaborates widely across Penn, focusing on responsible AI, privacy, and algorithmic fairness. His lab produces foundational work on calibration, unlearning, privacy-preserving learning, and equitable decision-making systems.
Pauli Murto is a Professor and Head of the Department at Aalto University School of Business, Department of Economics. His research spans microeconomic theory, information economics, and game theory, with a focus on strategic decision-making under uncertainty. Aalto University School of Business, Espoo, Finland Member of Helsinki Graduate School of Economics Research Interests: Dr. Murto's work examines strategic timing in economic decisions, information aggregation in games, auction theory, and investment behavior under uncertainty. His publications address topics like: Common value auctions and affiliated signals Stepwise investment under multi-dimensional uncertainty Equilibrium delay and neighborly coordination Irreversible investment in oligopolistic markets Publications (2002–2024): His research appears in top journals like Review of Economic Studies , Theoretical Economics , Journal of Economic Theory , and RAND Journal of Economics , often collaborating with scholars such as Juuso Välimäki and Chang-Koo Chi. Contact: Available at pauli.murto@aalto.fi or +358 40 353 8174. Office located in Room V308, School of Business building, Aalto University.
Edith Hemaspaandra is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), located in the Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences. She holds a BS, MS, and Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Amsterdam (the Netherlands). Her research focuses on computational social choice, computational complexity theory, logic complexity, and formal methods. She teaches courses such as CSCI-262/263 (Introduction to Computer Science Theory) and CSCI-664 (Computational Complexity). Her work explores the algorithmic aspects of voting systems, including election manipulation, control, and bribery, with a focus on their computational complexity. She has also contributed to formal methods for automata theory, educational tools like JFLAP extensions, and the study of complexity classes such as LWPP and WPP. Her research bridges theoretical computer science with practical applications in social choice theory and algorithm design. Her grants include an NSF-funded project on computationally protecting elections from manipulation (2011). She actively publishes in top venues like STACS and ISAAC, addressing topics ranging from graph reconstruction to hybrid election models. Though no awards are explicitly listed, her extensive publication record highlights her contributions to theoretical computer science. Her advising and grant activities include collaborative research projects and educational tool development. She is affiliated with RIT’s Department of Computer Science and maintains a personal website and ORCID profile.
Nikita Zhivotovskiy is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Statistics at the University of California Berkeley within the College of Letters and Science. His research spans the intersection of mathematical statistics, probability theory, and statistical learning theory with particular focus on high-dimensional data analysis and non-parametric inference. His research interests include mathematical statistics, applied probability, statistical learning theory, high-dimensional data analysis, non-parametric inference, and artificial intelligence/machine learning. Zhivotovskiy's work addresses fundamental questions in statistical learning theory, including risk bounds, algorithmic stability, and convergence rates, with applications spanning multiple domains including robust statistics and private learning. His recent publications (2021-2025) demonstrate significant contributions to theoretical machine learning, particularly in statistical learning theory, risk bounds, high-dimensional statistics, and algorithmic stability. These works appear in top venues including NeurIPS, COLT, and FOCS, reflecting the theoretical depth and importance of his contributions to the field. Among his notable achievements is a Best Paper Award at the Conference on Learning Theory (COLT) in 2020 for his work on 'Proper Learning, Helly Number, and an Optimal SVM Bound.' Zhivotovskiy has also contributed to the theoretical foundations of PAC learning, risk minimization, and statistical aggregation. Prior to his current position, Zhivotovskiy was a postdoctoral researcher at ETH Zürich (2021-2022) and Google Research (2019-2020). He completed his PhD at Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology in 2018 under the supervision of Vladimir Spokoiny and Konstantin Vorontsov.
Graham Neubig is an Associate Professor at the Language Technologies Institute (LTI) within Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). His research focuses on advancing artificial intelligence, particularly in natural language processing (NLP), multimodal reasoning, and large language models (LLMs). He explores topics such as AI safety, generative AI, and human-AI interaction, with an emphasis on practical applications like machine translation and web-agent systems. His work often involves developing frameworks for evaluating AI systems, such as OpenAgentSafety and BehaviorBox, which assess real-world agent performance and model behavior. Neubig's research also delves into improving LLM capabilities through reasoning analysis, hallucination detection (e.g., ZINA), and culturally aware systems (e.g., CAIRe). He has contributed to open-source projects like Pangea (a multilingual LLM) and frameworks such as Cmulab for model deployment. His recent work addresses challenges in agentic tasks, self-improving agents (Skillweaver), and benchmarking across domains like visual reasoning (VisualPuzzles) and software engineering. Notable achievements include advancing evaluation methodologies for LLMs, developing tools for ethical AI, and creating benchmark suites that test systems under realistic conditions. His lab collaborates on projects like the BrowserGym ecosystem and OpenHands platform, which aim to standardize web-agent research and AI-driven software development. Neubig's contributions span theoretical advancements and practical implementations, bridging the gap between cutting-edge research and real-world applications. He advises students such as Apurva Gandhi and actively publishes in top venues, addressing topics from instruction-following improvements to the societal impacts of AI. His work frequently emphasizes the importance of transparency, controllability, and cultural awareness in AI systems.
Somil Bansal is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University, part of the School of Engineering. Previously, he served as an Assistant Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) department at the University of Southern California. He holds a B.Tech. from IIT Kanpur, an MS, and a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley’s EECS department. Research Focus: Development of mathematical tools and algorithms for safety-critical autonomous systems, emphasizing learning-enabled systems’ safety. Key Collaborations: Waymo, Skydio, Google, Boeing, NASA AMES/JPL. Awards: NSF CAREER Award, Eli Jury Award, RSS Pioneer Award, and Outstanding Graduate Instructor Award. His research integrates control theory and machine learning to ensure safety in autonomous systems, focusing on safe learning frameworks, anomaly detection, and real-time safety guarantees. He leads the Safe and Intelligent Autonomy (SIA) Lab, which explores applications in robotics, autonomous driving, and aerospace systems. Teaching: Courses include Introduction to Control Design Techniques and Principles of Safety-Critical Autonomy. He advises doctoral students and supervises research projects in his lab.
Marcelo Mattar is an Assistant Professor of Psychology and Neural Science at New York University, leading the Mattar Lab. His research focuses on the neural computations underlying memory, decision-making, and reinforcement learning. He holds a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania and has held academic positions at NYU, UC San Diego, and postdoctoral roles at Princeton University and the University of Cambridge. His work bridges computational neuroscience and artificial intelligence, aiming to model how the brain uses internal models for planning and decision-making. Education: Ph.D. in Psychology (Computational and Cognitive Neuroscience), University of Pennsylvania, 2016 M.A. in Statistics, University of Pennsylvania, 2016 B.A. in Electronics Engineering, Instituto Tecnologico de Aeronautica, Brazil, 2010 Research Interests: The lab develops mathematical models of learning and decision-making, leveraging reinforcement learning, Bayesian statistics, and neural networks. Experiments involve human behavioral studies and neuroimaging, with collaborations in animal electrophysiology and computational psychiatry. Key Contributions: His work explores how episodic memory and hippocampal replay support flexible decision-making. Recent studies highlight parallels between human cognition and AI systems, such as language models' metacognitive abilities and brain-inspired algorithms. Awards: Newton International Fellowship, Royal Society (2018–2019) Lab Team: The lab includes postdocs, PhD students, and undergraduates from diverse fields like cognitive science, neuroscience, and computer science. Current members are listed on the lab's website. Lab Location: Meyer Hall, 6 Washington Place, New York, NY 10003.
Dr. Hengrui Cai is an Assistant Professor of Statistics at the University of California Irvine (UCI), affiliated with the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences. She holds a Ph.D. in Statistics from North Carolina State University (NCSU) and a B.S. in Statistics from Zhejiang University. Her research focuses on causal inference, reinforcement learning, and graphical models, with applications in precision medicine, healthcare analytics, and epidemiology. She develops interpretable solutions for individualized decision-making, particularly in healthcare settings such as ICU patient treatment optimization and pandemic analysis. Notable achievements include the NSF CDS&E-MSS Award (2024), ICS Research Awards (2023–2024), and recognition for contributions to causal discovery and policy evaluation. Dr. Cai advises graduate and undergraduate students on projects involving causal AI, machine learning, and healthcare data analysis. She teaches courses like 'Causal Machine Learning' and 'Introduction to Probability and Statistics,' emphasizing interdisciplinary approaches to real-world problems. Her work integrates statistical theory with practical applications, exemplified by software tools like ANOCE-CVAE for causal mediation analysis and the Sepsis EHR Benchmark Environment for reinforcement learning. Dr. Cai collaborates widely, contributing to projects such as quantifying the impact of the 2020 Hubei lockdowns on virus spread in China through causal graph analysis.
Brad Hayes is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at the University of Colorado Boulder within the College of Engineering and Applied Science, where he directs the Collaborative AI and Robotics (CAIRO) Laboratory. He also serves as Chief Technology Officer at Circadence, leading efforts in developing AI-enabled products for cybersecurity training and assessment. Undergraduate degree from Boston College PhD in Computer Science from Yale University Postdoctoral Associate at MIT Professor Hayes' research focuses on developing techniques that enable autonomous agents and robots to learn from and collaborate with humans safely, reliably, and productively. His work occurs at the intersection of pervasive and personalized artificial intelligence, human-robot teaming, and decision support. He has made significant contributions to collaborative robotics, dependable explainable AI, and imitation learning, with applications spanning manufacturing, healthcare, disaster response, autonomous vehicles, and space exploration. His recent publications reveal a strong emphasis on human-robot interaction, with particular focus on improving predictability in collaborative tasks, developing explainable AI systems that build trust, leveraging augmented and virtual reality for enhanced collaboration, and creating more efficient learning algorithms from human demonstrations. His work increasingly integrates large language models and advanced neural network architectures while maintaining a strong human-centered design approach. Sustainability Recognition (2025) for computational efficiency in motion planning Best Student Paper Runner-up at AAMAS 2022 Nominated for Best Technical Paper at HRI 2024 Best Technical Paper Runner-up at HRI 2019 Hayes has successfully mentored numerous graduate students through the CAIRO Lab, including multiple PhD graduates in 2024 alone. His lab receives funding from various organizations supporting research in human-robot interaction and collaborative AI. He frequently collaborates with industry partners and has established connections with major technology companies through his research and speaking engagements. The CAIRO Lab, under Hayes' direction, is a vibrant research environment focused on turning theoretical concepts into practical applications through hands-on work with real robots and human participants. The lab's research spans multiple domains including manufacturing, disaster response, autonomous vehicles, and space exploration, with a consistent emphasis on safe and effective human-machine teaming.
Luigi Acerbi is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Helsinki, where he leads the Machine and Human Intelligence research group. He is also an active member of the Finnish Center for Artificial Intelligence (FCAI) and ELLIS (European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems). His research focuses on probabilistic machine learning and computational neuroscience, particularly on developing efficient methods for statistical inference, Bayesian models of perception, and resource-constrained rationality. His work bridges machine learning and cognitive science, with applications in Bayesian optimization, simulation-based inference, and image completion. The recent publications highlight a strong trend toward unifying probabilistic conditioning across diverse tasks using transformer-based meta-learning frameworks like the Amortized Conditioning Engine (ACE). These works emphasize amortized inference, flexible latent variable modeling, and the integration of prior knowledge at runtime, enabling efficient and scalable Bayesian methods for complex problems. Scientific Affiliations: University of Helsinki, Department of Computer Science Finnish Center for Artificial Intelligence (FCAI) ELLIS (European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems) Education: PhD in Computational Neuroscience, Doctoral Training Centre, Edinburgh, UK Advisor: Sethu Vijayakumar and Daniel Wolpert Visiting work at Computational and Biological Learning Lab, Cambridge Postdoctoral Experience: Alex Pouget’s lab, University of Geneva, Switzerland Wei Ji Ma, New York University, USA Collaboration with the International Brain Laboratory Luigi Acerbi mentors PhD students including Daolang Huang and Nasrulloh Loka, and collaborates widely with researchers such as Samuel Kaski. He has contributed to open-source tools like PyVBMC and is involved in community initiatives such as the EurIPS conference. His work is supported by grants from the Research Council of Finland, Business Finland, and the UKRI Turing AI World-Leading Researcher Fellowship. He leads a research lab focused on amortized probabilistic inference, with ongoing projects including PriorGuide and Stacked VBMC, aiming to make Bayesian methods more practical and accessible for real-world scientific and engineering applications.
Jesper Lund Pedersen is an Associate Professor at the Department of Mathematical Sciences , University of Copenhagen , specializing in applied probability theory with applications in financial mathematics and insurance mathematics . His research spans stochastic processes, optimal stopping time problems, and stochastic control. Education : PhD in Mathematics (2000, Aarhus University) His work addresses: (Nonlinear) optimal stopping time problems Stochastic control and filtering Multidimensional point processes Levy processes in finance Key publications reveal expertise in Bayesian changepoint detection , random drift identification , and mean-variance portfolio optimization , with interdisciplinary applications in neuroscience (V-ATPase dynamics) and epidemiology. Scientific awards : Villum Experiment Grant (2018-2020) Steno Research Fellowship (2002-2005) His research collaborations span Denmark, the UK, Germany, and the USA, focusing on probability theory, financial mathematics, and biomedical applications.
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Nejdl is a Professor at the Institute for Data Science within the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Leibniz University Hannover. He serves as Executive Director of the L3S Research Centre and Leibniz Forschungszentrum Inclusive Citizenship. Web Science Information Retrieval Artificial Intelligence Deep Learning His recent research focuses on AI applications in medicine , multimodal data fusion , and ethical AI systems . Projects include CAIMed (AI in Causal Medicine) and DAISEC (AI & Cybersecurity). His publications span conferences like AAMAS, WWW, and SIGIR. Notable awards include membership in the National Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech) . Former students hold positions at institutions like Stanford, TU Dresden, and ETH Zürich. Current projects involve climate resilience AI , federated learning for healthcare , and quantum-inspired data science .
