Dr. Corey T. Callaghan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation at the University of Florida . Based at the Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center , his research focuses on global change ecology using big data from citizen science platforms like eBird and iNaturalist, combined with geospatial analyses and macroecological theory . Ph.D. (2019) from UNSW Sydney M.S. (2015) from Florida Atlantic University B.S. + B.S. (2013) from Canisius College His work examines urban ecology , including how species traits influence urban tolerance across birds, amphibians, and butterflies. He develops adaptive sampling frameworks to optimize citizen science data collection while addressing biases. Current projects analyze human-nature interactions through citizen science participation, secondary data in photographs, and machine learning for biodiversity monitoring. He actively contributes to conservation strategies for urban biodiversity and data-driven restoration efforts . Recent publications highlight his expertise in cross-taxa comparisons , continental-scale analyses , and ecosystem service quantification . He leads the Global Ecology Research Group at the University of Florida, emphasizing collaborative science and open-source methodologies .
Stefano Ermon is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Stanford University, affiliated with the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and a Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment. His research focuses on advancing machine learning and generative AI techniques to address societal and environmental challenges, including computational sustainability, geospatial analysis, and climate science. He holds a Ph.D. from Cornell University (2015). Education: Ph.D. in Computer Science, Cornell University (2015). Research Interests: Ermon’s work bridges foundational machine learning (e.g., diffusion models, generative AI, and optimization) with applications in sustainability, geospatial analysis (via satellite imagery), and earth observation systems. Notable contributions include predicting poverty using satellite data and developing scalable methods for molecule generation. Articles Trends: His recent work emphasizes diffusion models for generative tasks (e.g., text-to-image, molecule design), geospatial AI (e.g., environmental monitoring), and ethical AI (e.g., bias mitigation in LLMs). He also explores applications in robotics and scientific computing. Awards: He has received prestigious awards, including the ICML 2024 Best Paper Award, Sloan Research Fellowship, Microsoft Research Faculty Fellowship, and the IJCAI Computers and Thought Award. Advising and Grants: Ermon teaches courses like Probabilistic Graphical Models (CS228) and has secured grants from NSF, ONR, AFOSR, and private foundations. His lab develops tools for climate science and sustainable development. Labs/Teams: Leads the Stanford AI Lab group focused on computational sustainability and generative AI, collaborating with institutions like the Woods Institute for environmental applications.
Mark Schmidt is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of British Columbia, Faculty of Science. He holds the Canada Research Chair in Large-Scale Machine Learning and is a Canada CIFAR AI Chair at the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute. His research spans multiple centers including CAIDA (Centre for Artificial Intelligence Decision-making and Action), the Data Science Institute, and the Machine Intelligence Learning Discovery (MILD) group. Dr. Schmidt's educational background includes a Ph.D. from UBC (2005-2010), an M.Sc. from the University of Alberta (2003-2005), and a B.Sc. from the University of Alberta (2000-2003). His academic career progressed from Postdoc positions at Simon Fraser University, Ecole Normale Superieure, and UBC to Assistant Professor (2014-2019), Associate Professor (2019-2024), and current Professor (2024-present) at UBC. His research focuses on machine learning optimization, with particular emphasis on improving numerical algorithms for large-scale machine learning applications. His work bridges theoretical optimization and practical applications across computer vision, natural language processing, and reinforcement learning. He has developed numerous optimization techniques including variants of stochastic gradient methods, coordinate descent algorithms, and natural gradient approaches. Analysis of his recent publications reveals a strong focus on optimization for over-parameterized models, particularly transformers and large language models. His work addresses critical challenges in step-size selection, convergence guarantees, and efficient implementation of optimization algorithms. His research has significant implications for training deep neural networks more effectively and understanding why certain optimization methods outperform others in practice. Among his notable awards are the Dorothy Killam Fellowship (2025), Arthur B. McDonald Fellowship (2024), Sloan Research Fellowship (2017), and multiple UBC teaching awards. He has also received the Lagrange Prize in Continuous Optimization and Best Paper Award at AISTATS 2021. Dr. Schmidt actively supervises numerous graduate students, with over 40 PhD and Master's students listed as current or alumni members of his research group. His laboratory maintains strong connections with industry partners, with many alumni securing positions at leading AI companies including Google, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft.
Joseph A. November is an Associate Professor in the Department of History at the University of South Carolina, affiliated with the McCausland College of Arts and Sciences. His research focuses on the history of biomedical computing, distributed computing, and the intersection of technology and medicine. He holds a Ph.D. from Princeton University (2006), an M.A. from the University of Chicago (2002), and a B.A. from Hamilton College (1997). His work includes the award-winning book Biomedical Computing: Digitizing Life in the United States (2012), which explores the co-development of biomedicine and computing technologies. Current projects include Revolutions@home , examining distributed computing in protein folding research, and a biography of computing pioneer Robert S. Ledley. He has received grants from the NSF, NIH, and the Charles Babbage Institute. Teaching interests span the history of science and technology, including courses on the history of medicine, digital humanities, and the role of games in historical education. He actively contributes to professional organizations like SHOT and the History of Science Society. Awards include the Computer History Museum Prize (2013) and the National Institutes of Health DeWitt Stetten Fellowship (2007-2008). His research bridges historical analysis with contemporary issues in technology and biomedical ethics.
Jimmy Ba is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Toronto and a CIFAR AI Chair. His research develops efficient learning algorithms for deep neural networks, with applications in reinforcement learning and AI. He completed his PhD under Geoffrey Hinton and holds multiple fellowships including the Facebook Graduate Fellowship. Research Focus: Neural network efficiency, reinforcement learning architectures, and optimization methods for deep learning systems. Teaching: Courses on Neural Networks, Deep Learning, and Inference Algorithms at University of Toronto. Awards: Facebook Graduate Fellowship (2016-2018) Massey College Junior Fellowship
Professor Catherine Greenhill is a faculty member at the School of Mathematics and Statistics, UNSW Sydney , where she serves as Professor and head of the Combinatorics group. Her academic career spans institutions including the University of Queensland, University of Oxford, University of Leeds, University of Melbourne, and Australian National University. D.Phil., University of Oxford (1996) M.Sc. (Research) in Combinatorics (1992) B.Sc. (Hons) in Pure Mathematics (1991) Her research focuses on the intersection of discrete mathematics , theoretical computer science , and probability , particularly in asymptotic combinatorics , probabilistic methods , and analysis of algorithms . Her work includes asymptotic enumeration of combinatorial structures and design of randomized algorithms for graph sampling and counting. Her recent publications (2025–2021) center on random graphs and hypergraphs , with key contributions to switch Markov chains , degree sequence analysis , and chromatic number bounds . These works reflect her expertise in probabilistic combinatorics and algorithmic complexity . Scientific Awards: Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (2022) Christopher Heyde Medal in Pure Mathematics (2015) June Griffith Fellowship (2013) Hall Medal (2010) Advising and Grants: She has supervised numerous PhD/Masters students and secured multiple ARC Discovery Grants (2019–2021, 2014–2016, 2012–2014). Her grants address topics like hypergraph modeling, random discrete structures, and network analysis in illicit drug trafficking.
Boris Hanin is an Associate Professor at Princeton University's Department of Operations Research and Financial Engineering (ORFE) and Associated Faculty at the Program in Applied and Computational Mathematics (PACM). Prior to Princeton, he held academic positions at Texas A&M University (Assistant Professor of Mathematics), MIT (NSF Postdoctoral Fellow), and Northwestern University (PhD in Mathematics under Steve Zelditch). He works part-time at Foundry, an AI/computing startup, leading the Foundry Institute. PhD in Mathematics, Northwestern University NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship, MIT Mathematics Associate Professor, Princeton ORFE Part-Time Leader, Foundry Institute His research spans machine learning, probability theory, and mathematical physics, focusing on neural network theory (approximation power, optimization guarantees), random matrix theory, and spectral asymptotics. He has made foundational contributions to understanding gradient behavior, initialization, and infinite-width limits in deep learning. Boris has supervised numerous PhD students and postdocs, with former members securing prestigious positions at Harvard, MIT, and Huawei. He serves as Associate Editor for journals like Pure and Applied Analysis and Mathematics of Operations Research , and has taught short courses at Oxford, Luxembourg, and Tor Vergata on statistical physics of neural networks and deep learning theory. 2024 Sloan Fellowship in Mathematics NSF CAREER grant DMS-2143754 NSF grant DMS-2133806 His research group collaborates on topics including hyperparameter transfer, architecture-aware scaling, and spectral analysis of random waves and neural networks. He actively contributes to theoretical machine learning through foundational publications in venues like Probability Theory and Related Fields , Journal of Machine Learning Research , and Communications in Mathematical Physics .
Jason D. Lee is an associate professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS) and Statistics at the University of California, Berkeley. Previously, he held academic positions at Princeton University as an associate professor, and was a research scientist at Google DeepMind. He completed his Ph.D. in Computational and Mathematical Engineering at Stanford University under the advisement of Trevor Hastie and Jonathan Taylor. For students and collaborators, his primary contact email is jasonlee@princeton.edu, though prospective students and postdocs are asked to include "filter_student" in the subject line. Ph.D., Computational and Mathematical Engineering, Stanford University (2015) B.Sc., Mathematics, Duke University (2010) Lee's research lies at the intersection of machine learning, statistics, and optimization, focusing on the theoretical foundations of artificial intelligence. His work addresses fundamental questions in deep learning, including optimization landscapes, representation learning, and reinforcement learning theory. He has made significant contributions to understanding how gradient descent operates in neural network training and has developed provably efficient algorithms for various learning scenarios. His ten most recent publications represent a diverse yet coherent body of work across machine learning theory, focusing on topics such as Gaussian multi-index models, transformer learning capabilities, shallow neural networks, and optimization techniques. These publications appear in top venues including COLT, ICML, NeurIPS, and JMLR. Among his notable accolades are: Samsung AI Researcher of the Year Award (2023) NSF Career Award (2022) ONR Young Investigator Award (2021) Sloan Research Fellow in Computer Science (2019) NIPS Best Student Paper Award (2016) Princeton Commendation for Outstanding Teaching (ECE538B) Lee has advised numerous students including Alex Damian, Wenhao Zhan, Eshaan Nichani, Tianle Cai, Zixuan Wang, and Yunwei Ren. Former advisees have gone on to positions at institutions like NYU Courant, Facebook AI Research, UW, MIT, Duke, and Microsoft Research. His research group and collaborators span multiple institutions, working on theoretical and applied aspects of machine learning and artificial intelligence, with a particular focus on the optimization and learning dynamics of neural networks and transformer models.
Yee Whye Teh is a Professor at the Department of Statistics, University of Oxford, and a research scientist at DeepMind. His work focuses on statistical machine learning, including probabilistic learning, Bayesian nonparametrics, deep learning, and Monte Carlo methods. He co-directs the ELLIS programme on Robust Machine Learning and has held roles such as Programme Co-chair for ICML 2017. Teh has delivered keynotes at UAI 2019, an IMS Medallion Lecture at JSM 2019, and the Breiman Lecture in 2017. His research emphasizes scalable inference algorithms, hierarchical models, and applications in genetics and natural language processing. Teh's educational background includes a PhD from the University of Toronto (2003) and a Master's from the same institution (2000). He has contributed to widely used software tools like the Sequence Memoizer and has been recognized for his work through prestigious lectureships. Research interests span Bayesian nonparametric models, MCMC methods, and their applications in genetics and data compression. His lab collaborates on projects like fragmentation-coagulation processes for genetic variation modeling and Mondrian forests for online learning. Teh advises students through Oxford's graduate programs, though he notes high demand for mentorship. His work often bridges theory and practice, addressing challenges in big data learning and small data problems.
Jan Østergaard is a Full Professor in Information Theory and Signal Processing at Aalborg University's Department of Electronic Systems. He leads the AI and Sound research section and directs the CASPR center. His expertise spans AI-driven acoustic signal processing, information theory, and EEG signal analysis. Østergaard holds a M.Sc. from Aalborg University and a PhD (cum laude) from Delft University of Technology. Major awards include the Danish Young Researcher’s Award and a EURASIP Best Thesis honor. His work focuses on speech enhancement, sound zone technologies, and neural tracking of auditory attention. Recent research emphasizes low-latency speech transmission, deep learning for sound field control, and robust voice activity detection. He serves on editorial boards and national committees, advancing Denmark’s sound technology initiatives. Education: M.Sc. (Aalborg, 1999), PhD (Delft, 2007) Research interests emphasize practical AI applications in sound systems, including hearing aid improvements, data-efficient acoustic modeling, and feedback control in networked systems. Over 210 publications and 17 active projects reflect his interdisciplinary impact across academia and industry.
Benjamin Van Roy is a Professor at Stanford University since 1998, affiliated with the Departments of Electrical Engineering and Management Science and Engineering, and the Institute for Computational and Mathematical Engineering. He leads the Efficient Agent Team at Google DeepMind and previously held leadership roles at Morgan Stanley, Unica, and Enuvis. He holds SB, SM, and PhD degrees in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from MIT, advised by John Tsitsiklis. His research focuses on reinforcement learning, alignment, and information theory, with contributions to machine learning foundations, optimization, and finance. He has authored over 150 publications, including influential works on Thompson Sampling, approximate dynamic programming, and exploration strategies. His honors include INFORMS and IEEE Fellowships and the INFORMS Lanchester Prize. Van Roy advises doctoral students across academia and industry, with graduates at top institutions and companies like Meta, Tesla, and Citadel. He teaches courses on reinforcement learning, stochastic control, and optimization. His open-source projects include Epistemic Neural Networks and the Neural Testbed for evaluating machine learning models. Key contributions include foundational work in reinforcement learning theory, scalable methods for recommendation systems, and applications in finance and resource allocation. His research bridges theoretical insights with practical applications, emphasizing alignment and safety of AI systems.
Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyUnited States
Polina Golland is a Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) at MIT and a Principal Investigator in the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). Her research focuses on developing novel techniques for biomedical image analysis and understanding, particularly in medical vision, AI/ML, and health care applications. She leads the Medical Vision Group and collaborates with the Vision Group at CSAIL. Her work emphasizes statistical modeling of medical images, shape modeling, and predictive analytics for biological processes. Current projects include fetal MRI analysis, cardiac MRI segmentation, and quantitative assessment of pulmonary edema in chest X-rays. She has secured grants from NIH, MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab, and other institutions to support her research. Dr. Golland teaches courses on inference, probability, and probabilistic systems. She advises graduate students in MIT's EECS program and has mentored numerous postdocs and researchers. Her lab focuses on translating advanced imaging techniques into clinical workflows, with applications in neuroimaging, fetal health monitoring, and cardiovascular disease analysis. Notable collaborations include work with Harvard Medical School affiliates, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and the MIT Jameel Clinic. Her research aims to bridge computational methods with clinical needs, improving diagnostic tools and treatment planning through machine learning and medical imaging innovation.
Sewoong Oh is a Professor at the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington, where he has been faculty since 2019. His research focuses on the foundations of machine learning with particular emphasis on differential privacy, secure and robust machine learning, and federated learning. Prior to joining UW, he was at the Department of Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 2012-2019. He is affiliated with multiple NSF AI Institutes including ACTION (Agent-based Cyber Threat Intelligence and Operation), AI-EDGE (Future Edge Networks and Distributed Intelligence), and IFML (Foundations of Machine Learning). Oh received his PhD in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 2011 under Andrea Montanari, followed by postdoctoral work at MIT's Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems under Devavrat Shah. His educational background spans top institutions in theoretical computer science and electrical engineering. His research spans the critical intersection of machine learning security, privacy, and robustness. Oh's work addresses fundamental challenges in making AI systems reliable and trustworthy, with particular focus on defending against backdoor attacks, developing privacy-preserving algorithms, and creating efficient tokenization methods for language models. His recent SuperBPE work demonstrates how moving beyond traditional subword tokenization can significantly improve language model efficiency and performance. His research consistently bridges theoretical foundations with practical implementations, as evidenced by numerous open-source repositories containing production-ready code. Oh's publications reveal a consistent trajectory toward addressing security and privacy concerns in increasingly complex machine learning systems, with recent work focusing on language model tokenization, data-centric AI, and federated learning frameworks. His research shows strong interdisciplinary connections between theoretical computer science, statistics, and practical machine learning systems. ACM SIGMETRICS best paper award (2015) NSF CAREER award (2016) ACM SIGMETRICS rising star award (2017) GOOGLE Faculty Research Awards (2017, 2020) 2024 ICML Best Paper Award (for work by advisee Jon Hayase) Professor Oh maintains an active research group with numerous PhD students, postdocs, and undergraduate researchers. His students have secured prestigious positions at leading tech companies including Amazon, Google, and Snap, as well as academic appointments at institutions like University of Wisconsin-Madison and Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He has received substantial research funding through his participation in multiple NSF AI Institutes and industry research awards from Google. His lab maintains several active GitHub repositories implementing cutting-edge research in backdoor defense, robust statistics, and privacy-preserving machine learning.
Dr. Peichen Zhong is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the National University of Singapore (NUS). He leads the Applied Machine Learning and Materials Modeling (AM³) Group, focused on advancing computational methods for clean energy technologies. His research integrates machine learning with atomistic simulations to tackle challenges in battery materials, disordered materials, and sustainable energy systems. Education: B.S. in Physics from University of Science and Technology of China (2018); Ph.D. in Materials Science from UC Berkeley (2023, advised by Prof. Gerbrand Ceder); Postdoctoral training at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and BIDMaP, co-advised by Persson, Cheng, and Krishnapriyan. Research Interests: Computational modeling of battery cathodes/electrolytes, AI-driven interatomic potentials, statistical mechanics in disordered materials, and generative models for scientific discovery. Key areas include Li/Na-ion batteries, solid-state reactions, and sustainable energy materials. Awards: BIDMaP Emerging Scholar Fellowship (UC Berkeley CDSS, 202?), 2023 Rising Stars in Materials Science (CMU/MIT/Stanford). Labs/Teams: The AM³ Group at NUS MSE focuses on interdisciplinary research combining theory, computation, and AI4Science. Current openings include PhD students and postdoctoral researchers.
Adrian Weller is a prominent researcher and academic at the University of Cambridge, serving as a Director of Research in Machine Learning within the Department of Engineering. He holds multiple significant leadership roles including Programme Director for Trust and Society at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence (CFI), and previously served as Programme Director for AI at The Alan Turing Institute, the UK national institute for data science and AI. His work bridges theoretical machine learning research with practical applications and societal implications of artificial intelligence. Weller's research interests span a broad spectrum of AI and machine learning topics with a particular focus on ensuring beneficial societal outcomes. His work encompasses explainability, fairness, robustness, scalability, privacy, safety, and ethics in AI systems. He has made significant contributions to trustworthy machine learning, including developing frameworks for AI governance, certification, and human-AI collaboration. His research group actively investigates neuro-symbolic approaches, privacy-preserving techniques, and methods for improving the reliability and interpretability of AI systems. His recent publications demonstrate a strong trend toward addressing the practical challenges of deploying AI systems in real-world contexts, particularly focusing on certification frameworks, governance mechanisms, and human-centered approaches. His work spans theoretical advances in machine learning architectures while maintaining a strong connection to societal impact, with publications appearing in top venues across AI, machine learning, and interdisciplinary applications. Scientific Awards: MBE for services to digital innovation (2022 Queen's Birthday Honours) Turing AI Fellowship for Trustworthy Machine Learning Weller actively supervises a large group of PhD students and postdocs, with current students including Juyeon Heo, Yanzhi Chen, Katie Collins, Isaac Reid, Yichao Liang, Herbie Bradley, and Shoaib Siddiqui. His former students have gone on to positions at leading institutions including Google DeepMind, ETH Zurich, NYU, and MPI-IS Tübingen. He has served on numerous advisory boards including the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation, UNESCO's expert group on AI ethics, and the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council on AI. His research has been supported through his Turing AI Fellowship and various collaborative projects focused on safe and ethical AI development. Weller leads a vibrant research group focused on trustworthy machine learning, which actively organizes workshops and conferences including ICML 2024 (where he served as Program Chair), multiple workshops on responsible AI, and events through the ELLIS network. His group collaborates extensively across disciplines, working with researchers in computer science, social sciences, law, and policy to address the multifaceted challenges of developing beneficial AI systems.
