Ralf Bierig joined Maynooth University's Computer Science Department in 2017, teaching topics including information retrieval, software testing, interaction design, and virtual reality. He is the programme director of the Higher Diploma in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and User Experience (UX). He earned his BSc (2002) from University of Furtwangen and PhD (2008) from Robert Gordon University. Research Interests His work spans information retrieval, interactive information retrieval, personalisation, information search behavior, usability (UX), and virtual reality (VR). Recent publications focus on multimodal concept indexing, hybrid IR approaches, and contextual adaptation in search systems. Publication Trends His research combines statistical semantics, graph modeling, and multimodal data analysis across academic collaborations in Austria, Germany, and international venues like ECIR and SIGIR.
Mustafa Asım Kazancıgil is an Assistant Professor at Yeditepe University's Faculty of Computer and Information Sciences, Department of Information Security Technology. He has also served in the Department of Information Systems and Technologies at Yeditepe University since 2014. His academic journey includes a PhD in Informatics-Computer Science from Universita degli Studi di Milano (2013) and a Master's in Interactive Digital Television from the same institution (2006). PhD: Universita degli Studi di Milano (2013) Master's: Universita Degli Studi di Milano (2006) Bachelor's: Yeditepe University, Faculty of Communication, Department of Radio, Television and Cinema (2004) His research focuses on web design , information systems security , big data analytics , and emergency services technology . His publications include works on disaster resilience and interactive digital television applications. He has taught courses on Web Design, Information Systems Security, and Advanced Web Programming at both undergraduate and graduate levels. Administrative roles include Head of Department (2021) and multiple Erasmus Coordinator positions (2016-2019). He supervises theses in digital marketing and CRM trends, as well as CRM/SCM applications in management information systems. His teaching portfolio spans 2013-2025 across Yeditepe University's academic calendar.
Dr. Erica Garcia is a Senior Lecturer in Environmental Science at Charles Darwin University’s Faculty of Science and Technology, specializing in aquatic ecology. She leads research on river, wetland, and groundwater ecosystems, focusing on food web dynamics and biodiversity in changing environments. Her current projects include citizen science initiatives for groundwater security and wetland condition assessments. Dr. Garcia holds a PhD from Michigan State University (2006) and a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley (1999). She teaches courses in ecology and resource management and collaborates on interdisciplinary projects addressing water sustainability in Northern Australia. Her research spans observational, experimental, and molecular methods to understand ecosystem processes. Education: PhD in Zoology/Ecology, Evolutionary Biology and Behavior, Michigan State University (2000–2006) Bachelor of Science in Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley (1995–1999) Research Interests: Dr. Garcia’s work emphasizes freshwater ecosystems, including food web interactions, groundwater ecology, and the impacts of human activities on riverine systems. She employs eDNA, isotopic analysis, and remote sensing to assess ecosystem health and biodiversity. Current projects investigate groundwater resources and citizen science approaches to environmental monitoring. Grants & Projects: Co-lead on the Northern Australian Community Groundwater Security Project (citizen science) Principal Investigator for the Adelaide River Aquatic Ecosystem Mapping project (2023–2024) Collaborator on the Water Security for Northern Australia Program (2023–2026) Labs/Teams: She is affiliated with the Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods at CDU and collaborates with international networks on global river ecology and climate change impacts.
Michael Ferdman is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Stony Brook University, where he leads research in computer architecture and systems. His office is located in Room 343 at Stony Brook, NY 11794-2424, and he can be contacted via phone (631-632-8449) or email. Ferdman directs the Computer Architecture and Systems Laboratory (compas.cs.stonybrook.edu), focusing on next-generation server infrastructure. Ferdman's research spans the entire computing stack with emphasis on: FPGA integration for server environments (Intel HARP, Microsoft Catapult) Machine learning accelerators for convolutional neural networks Server systems optimization in the post-Moore era Network processing and software-defined networking Programming models for emerging memory technologies (HBM, 3D XPoint) Reconfigurable hardware and high-level synthesis His work addresses both performance and security challenges in modern computing infrastructure. Analysis of his 15 most recent publications (2022-2025) reveals consistent focus on: Hardware acceleration techniques (FPGAs, specialized processors) Memory hierarchy optimization and cache management Security vulnerabilities in web applications and systems Post-Moore computing architectures Parallel processing and distributed systems His research shows strong emphasis on practical implementations bridging hardware and software layers. Awards recognizing his contributions include: Graduate Teaching Award (2014) Best Paper Award at ASPLOS XVII Best Paper Finalist at HPCA XVII Three IEEE Micro Top Picks selections (2009, 2012) He teaches advanced courses including CSE 502, CSE 602, and CSE 506 at Stony Brook University.
Eetu Mäkelä is a Professor of Digital Humanities at the University of Helsinki, leading the research group at the Helsinki Centre for Digital Humanities. He focuses on computational methods in humanities and social sciences, including datafication and interdisciplinary collaboration. He serves as Technical Director of DARIAH-FI and a Research Programme Director at the Helsinki Institute for Social Sciences and Humanities. Currently, he heads the preparatory group for the Helsinki Liberal Arts and Sciences Bachelor’s Programme. His research emphasizes technological and theoretical foundations of computational research, with notable contributions to linked open data, sociolinguistic analysis, and historical text mining. He has developed widely used tools like Recon, Palladio, and Octavo, which are employed in academic and public sectors. His work has garnered over 20 awards, including best paper and open science recognitions. Key areas of expertise include digital humanities methodologies, data integration, and open science practices. He actively contributes to teaching, designing courses such as 'Methods for Digital Humanities' and demonstrating innovative pedagogical approaches. His recent projects involve analyzing 18th-century philosophical texts and sociolinguistic change using computational methods. Awards: Multiple best paper awards, open data awards, and open science awards. Grants/Advising: Leads research initiatives funded by the Academy of Finland and other bodies. Mentors interdisciplinary research teams but no specific student names listed. He maintains active roles in academic infrastructure, including the DARIAH-FI initiative and the Helsinki Institute’s datafication program. His work bridges technical innovation with humanities scholarship, emphasizing practical, enduring systems for academic and public use.
Eleanor O'Rourke is an Associate Professor at Northwestern University with joint appointments in the Department of Computer Science and the Learning Sciences, part of the McCormick School of Engineering. She co-directs the Delta Lab, focusing on interdisciplinary research in Human-Computer Interaction, Artificial Intelligence, and Learning Sciences. Her work examines how learning environments can foster motivation and effective practices in computer science education, supported by grants from NSF and Google. Educated at the University of Washington (PhD, MS in Computer Science & Engineering) and Colby College (BS in Computer Science and Spanish), her research employs mixed methods, including design-based research and grounded theory, to study student motivation, affective responses during programming, and AI-driven interventions. Notable contributions include tools like Ply and Isopleth , which support novice web developers, and studies on student self-assessment biases and growth mindset incentives. Her work has been recognized with multiple Best Paper Awards at ACM conferences, including ICER 2024 and SIGCSE 2022. She teaches courses such as Transformative AI and the Learning Sciences and Design of Learning Environments , and advises a diverse cohort of PhD students and undergraduates. The Delta Lab’s collaborative approach emphasizes innovation in educational technology and human-centered design.
Dr. Joshua New is a Distinguished R&D Staff Member at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and holds a Joint Faculty Position at The University of Tennessee since 2012. He leads research in building energy modeling, climate change science, and supercomputing. His work focuses on urban-scale energy systems, AI-driven analytics, and high-performance computing applications. Education: Ph.D. in Computer Science (University of Tennessee, 2009), M.S. in Computer Systems, B.S. in Computer Science and Mathematics (Jacksonville State University). His research interests include optimizing building energy efficiency, simulating climate impacts on urban infrastructure, and developing tools like AutoBEM and ModelAmerica to model 122.9 million U.S. buildings. He has over 150 peer-reviewed publications and led 45+ projects involving supercomputing, visual analytics, and AI for big data. Awards include the R&D 100 Award (2016), ASHRAE Distinguished Service Award (2018), and Lab-Corps (2015). His teams prioritize utility use cases and validate models against real-world data. He is a Senior IEEE member, Certified Energy Manager (CEM), and holds certifications in project management and energy efficiency. Key contributions include the Roof Savings Calculator Suite, AutoGen/AutoSim tools, and the ModelAmerica initiative. His work addresses national energy policy, heatwave resilience, and sustainable city design through interdisciplinary collaborations.
Aspy P. Palia is a Professor of Marketing at the Shidler College of Business, University of Hawaii at Manoa. He has held academic roles since 1984, including visiting professorships at institutions such as Singapore Management University, Chulalongkorn University, and the National University of Singapore. His research focuses on Marketing Decision Support Systems, Countertrade in Asia-Pacific, and experiential learning methodologies. He has published extensively in journals like European Journal of Marketing and Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning , with a recent emphasis on virtual scaffolding and engagement in educational simulations. His work has earned multiple best paper awards and nominations. Dr. Palia's education includes a DBA in International Business from Kent State University (1985), an MBA from the University of Hawaii (1976), and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Bangalore (1966). His teaching spans global institutions, emphasizing strategic marketing and decision-making tools. Notable awards include the 2017 Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2011 Fellowship from the Association for Business Simulations and Experiential Learning. His research contributions bridge theoretical marketing frameworks with practical applications, particularly in leveraging technology for pedagogical innovation. Collaborations with organizations like the Japan America Institute of Management Science further underscore his engagement with global academic networks.
Anya L. Brown is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Evolution and Ecology at the University of California, Davis, based at the Bodega Marine Lab. Her research focuses on the community ecology of marine systems, particularly coral reefs, investigating how host-associated microbes and trait variation influence species resilience to stress, ecological interactions, and adaptive plasticity. Education: B.S. (Brown University, 2009), M.S. in Biology (California State University, Northridge, 2012), Ph.D. in Ecology (University of Georgia, 2018). Postdoctoral Experience: Ewel Postdoctoral Fellow in Tropical Ecology (University of Florida, 2018-2020); Postdoctoral Scholar in Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2020-2022). Her recent publications highlight microbial dynamics in coral reefs, antibiotic effects on reef microbiomes, and trait-mediated interactions. She emphasizes interdisciplinary approaches, combining molecular tools with observational and experimental studies. The Brown Lab actively engages students in cross-system marine research, prioritizing inclusivity in scientific communities. Key trends in her work include understanding microbial responses to environmental stressors, coral disease mechanisms, and the role of extended phenotypes in reef ecology. These studies span tropical and temperate marine ecosystems, with implications for conservation and restoration. Scientific Awards: Hellman Fellowship 2024-25 Ewel Postdoctoral Fellowship in Tropical Ecology Dr. Brown's lab fosters research across coral reefs and local coastal systems, integrating ecological and microbial perspectives. She advocates for inclusive teaching and research practices while advancing microbial ecology frameworks in marine conservation.
Norman Sadeh is a Professor in the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), where he has made significant contributions to cybersecurity, privacy, and AI research. He has co-founded and co-directed several groundbreaking graduate programs at CMU, including the Privacy Engineering Program (2012-present), the Ph.D. Program in Societal Computing (2003-2013), and the MBA track in Technology Strategy and Product Management (2005-2017). Carnegie Mellon University, School of Computer Science Software and Societal Systems Department CyLab Security and Privacy Institute Manufacturing Futures Institute Dr. Sadeh received his Ph.D. in Computer Science at CMU with a major in Artificial Intelligence and a minor in Operations Research. He holds an M.Sc. in computer science from the University of Southern California and a BS/MS degree in electrical engineering and applied physics from the Free University of Brussels (Belgium) as 'Ingénieur Civil Physicien.' Professor Sadeh's research spans cybersecurity, online privacy, Human-AI Interaction, AI governance, mobile computing, the Internet of Things, user-oriented machine learning, and language technologies. He is particularly known for his pioneering work on AI-based privacy enhancing technologies, including privacy assistants, automated privacy compliance tools, and NLP-based privacy solutions. His work has influenced the design of privacy features at major technology companies including Apple, Google, and Facebook/Meta, as well as privacy policies at regulatory agencies like the Federal Trade Commission and the California Office of the Attorney General. Analysis of his recent publications shows a strong focus on practical privacy solutions, particularly in mobile and IoT contexts, with an emphasis on making privacy more usable and understandable for end users. His work bridges technical innovation with policy implications, addressing both the technological and human aspects of privacy protection. 2018 Outstanding Entrepreneur of the Year award from the Pittsburgh Venture Capital Association Test of time award by the AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media (ICWSM) Gartner Group's Magic Quadrant leader in Security Awareness Computer-Based Training for 4 consecutive years Deloitte's Technology Fast 500 recognition for 3 consecutive years Professor Sadeh has advised numerous students, including PhD candidates like Aerin (Shikhun) Zhang, whose dissertation focused on understanding diverse privacy attitudes. His research has been funded through various grants, including NSF SaTC projects, and has resulted in technologies that protect tens of millions of users worldwide. He also founded Wombat Security Technologies, which was acquired by Proofpoint in 2018 and whose technologies are used by over 75% of Fortune 100 companies. Professor Sadeh leads several research initiatives including the Privacy Engineering Program, the Usable Privacy Policy Project, the Personalized Privacy Assistant Project, and CMU's Privacy Infrastructure for the Internet of Things. His Mobile Commerce Lab and E-Supply Chain Management Lab have produced influential research that has been commercialized by major organizations including IBM, Raytheon, Boeing, and the U.S. Army.
Cristian Danescu-Niculescu-Mizil is an Associate Professor at the Department of Information Science , Cornell University . His research focuses on computational frameworks for social behavior analysis through large-scale natural language data , particularly in online communities and crisis counseling contexts. Recipient of WWW Best Paper Award (2013) and Yahoo! Key Scientific Challenges Award Co-developer of ConvoKit , a comprehensive conversational analysis toolkit Principal investigator in NLP for mental health , antisocial behavior detection , and linguistic coordination studies His work spans computational social science and human-centered AI , with recent publications in EMNLP 2025 , ACL 2025 , and CSCW 2025 focusing on conversation dynamics modeling , pivotal moment detection , and talk-time equity analysis . He has advised multiple PhD students who became faculty at Harvey Mudd , University of Michigan , and Thompson Reuters . Key scientific contributions : 2013 : WWW Best Paper - Power dynamics through linguistic coordination 2016 : IJCAI NLP & Journalism Best Paper - Gender bias quantification 2017 : ICWSM Best Paper - Trolling behavior analysis He teaches NLP and Social Interaction (INFO/CS 6742) and Language and Information (INFO/CS 4300) , with teaching resources including the Politeness Web App and ConvoWizard interactive tool featured in NPR's Weekend Edition . His work has been covered by New Scientist , NBC Today Show , and New York Times .
Yevgeni Berzak is an Assistant Professor at the Technion and a Research Affiliate at Mit BCS . He directs the Technion Language, Computation and Cognition (LaCC) Lab and leads the Cognitive Science Track in the Data Science and Engineering degree at the Technion. His academic background includes: PhD in Computer Science at Infolab, MIT CSAIL Postdoctoral research with Roger Levy at MIT CPL Lab Masters in Computational Linguistics at Universities of Saarland and Nancy Bachelors in Cognitive Science and Amirim Honors Program at Hebrew University of Jerusalem His research focuses on the intersection of Cognitive Science and Natural Language Processing (NLP) , studying human language acquisition and processing through computational modeling, linguistic theory, and neuroimaging. He develops datasets like OneStopQA and CELER , and explores how human gaze patterns can improve machine language understanding. Recent publications address topics such as: Eyetracking for language proficiency assessment Repetition effects in reading behavior Readability prediction via scrolling interactions Structured annotation schemes for reading comprehension The LaCC Lab under his leadership combines theoretical linguistics with machine learning to bridge human and artificial language processing.
Hasan Davulcu is a Professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence at Arizona State University (ASU). He holds a B.S. in Mathematics from Middle East Technical University (Turkey) and M.S./Ph.D. in Computer Science from Stony Brook University (NY). His research focuses on sociocultural modeling, AI, machine learning, and behavioral analytics for fraud detection. He leads the CIPS-AI Lab, developing data mining tools for semantic information extraction from social media and web data. Affiliations: Senior Global Futures Scientist (Global Futures Scientists and Scholars Program), Co-founder & CIO of ARTIS MAGI (AI-driven behavioral analysis startup). Education: Ph.D. Computer Science (Stony Brook, 2002), M.S. Computer Science (Stony Brook, 1995), B.S. Mathematics (METU, 1993). Research interests include: Sociocultural modeling and persuasive AI. Web/social media mining, information extraction, and database systems. Behavioral analytics for fraud detection and countering extremist influence. Key achievements: 2011 HSCB Focus Exceptional Scientific Achievement Award for work on sociocultural modeling in the DOD Minerva project. Principal Investigator on NSF and DoD grants, including behavioral analytics for financial fraud and social influence analysis of extremist groups. Grants & Projects: NSF PFI:BIC Grant (2014-2019): Behavioral analytics for fraud detection via visual analytics infrastructure. DoD Minerva (2015-2019): Measuring social influence of extremist groups. ONR Projects (2018-2021): Modeling polarization, adversarial framing, and disinformation tracking. Labs/Teams: Cognitive Information Processing Systems (CIPS-AI) Lab, which pioneers data mining techniques for unstructured social media data and semantic representation systems.
Bruce MacDowell Maggs is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Duke University and serves as Vice President of Research at Akamai Technologies. His career bridges academic research and industrial innovation in computer science, particularly in distributed systems and networking. Research Interests: His work spans computer networks , distributed systems , parallel algorithms , content delivery , and fault-tolerant computing . He has made significant contributions to network routing, load balancing, scalability of web applications, and energy efficiency in large-scale systems. His research often combines theoretical rigor with practical system design. The recent publications highlight a consistent focus on scalability , network performance , and security in internet-scale applications. Key themes include query caching , traffic modeling , resilient routing , and energy optimization , reflecting his deep involvement in the infrastructure of modern web services. No scientific awards are mentioned in the provided text. Advising and Teaching: He has advised numerous Ph.D. students, many of whom are now faculty or researchers at top institutions. His former students include Ramesh Sitaraman, Anja Feldmann, and Andrea Richa. He currently advises Anat Talmy at Duke. He has taught a wide range of courses at Duke, Carnegie Mellon, and MIT, including Computer Networks, Operating Systems, Algorithms, and Discrete Mathematics. Labs and Teams: While not explicitly named, his research is closely tied to systems and networking groups at Duke and his industrial work at Akamai, a leader in content delivery networks. His collaborations with Tom Leighton and others at Akamai suggest leadership in research teams developing foundational internet technologies.
Professor Alsayed Algergawy is the substitute for the Chair of Data and Knowledge Engineering at the University of Passau since April 2023. His work bridges semantic web technologies and machine learning to enable heterogeneous data integration across domains. Current focus areas: schema/ontology alignment, entity resolution, knowledge graph construction Active in DFG Collaborative Research Center AquaDiva (data lifecycle management) Domain applications: biodiversity, agriculture, energy His team develops hybrid strategies combining rule-based systems with ML techniques to extract value from both structured and unstructured data sources.
