Prof. Dr. Marcello Romano is a Professor at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) , holding the Chair of Astrodynamics since January 2025. With a career spanning over two decades, he has served as a founding director of the Spacecraft Robotics Lab at the Naval Postgraduate School and held visiting professorships at TUM, NASA Ames, and Stanford University. Doctorate in Aerospace Engineering - Politecnico di Milano (2001) National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow His research focuses on spaceflight mechanics , integrating theoretical analysis, simulation, and flight testing to advance: Rotational and orbital maneuvering of satellites Autonomous GNC systems Orbital robotics for debris removal Space-enabled sustainability initiatives Recent publications highlight his work in convex programming for orbital capture , aerodynamic attitude stabilization , and multi-spacecraft rendezvous maneuvers . He has received prestigious awards including the Patti Grace Smith Award and AIAA Associate Fellowship . Prof. Romano contributes to the field through: Leadership in the International Academy of Astronautics Development of advanced space systems Technology transfer and innovation projects
Gregory D. Hager is the Mandell Bellmore Professor of Computer Science at Johns Hopkins University, with joint appointments in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and the Department of Surgery at the School of Medicine. He serves as the head of the NSF's Computer and Information Science and Engineering Directorate (as of 2024) and is the founding director of the Johns Hopkins Malone Center for Engineering in Healthcare. Previously, he chaired the Department of Computer Science from 2010-2015 and served as deputy director of the NSF Engineering Research Center for Computer-Integrated Surgical Systems and Technology. Hager's research focuses on collaborative and vision-based robotics, time-series analysis of image data, and medical applications of image analysis and robotics. His work spans surgical robotics, human-machine collaboration, and computer vision with applications in healthcare. As director of the Computational Interaction and Robotics Lab (CIRL), he investigates dynamic spatial interaction at the intersection of imaging, robotics, and human-computer interaction. His research has led to real-world applications in surgical training, medical imaging, diagnostics, and computer-enhanced interventional medicine. Hager's publications demonstrate consistent advancement in surgical data science, with recent work focusing on 3D reconstruction from endoscopic video, surgical skill assessment using AI, and robotic assistance in neurosurgery. His research trajectory shows increasing integration of deep learning with surgical robotics, particularly in real-time guidance systems and objective skill assessment metrics. IEEE Fellow MICCAI Fellow ACM Fellow AIMBE Fellow AAAS Fellow MICCAI Best Paper Award (2006) Fulbright Junior Faculty Award (1988) Morris Ruben Outstanding Dissertation Award (1988) Hager has advised numerous PhD students who have become leaders in computer vision and medical robotics. His lab has secured significant research funding, including NSF Engineering Research Center support. He co-founded two successful startups: Clear Guide Medical (ultrasound-guided procedures) and Ready Robotics (industrial robot usability). As chair of the Computing Community Consortium and member of the International Federation of Robotics Research board, he has shaped national research agendas in computing and robotics. Hager leads the Computational Interaction and Robotics Lab (CIRL), which is associated with the NSF Engineering Research Center for Computer-Integrated Surgical Systems and Technology (ERC-CISST) and the Laboratory for Computational Sensing and Robotics (LCSR). His team collaborates extensively with clinicians at Johns Hopkins Hospital to translate robotics research into clinical practice.
Prof. Dr. Christian Breitsamter is a Professor at the Technische Universität München (TUM), leading the Chair of Aerodynamics and Fluid Mechanics within the TUM School of Engineering and Design. He has held this position since 2007 and has been a member of key committees such as the ICAS Programme Committee and STAB-Programmleitung. His research focuses on aerodynamics of aircraft and rotorcraft configurations, including vortex dynamics, aeroelasticity, and fluid-structure interaction. Education: PhD in Aerodynamics (1997) Master’s in Aerospace Engineering (1989) Research Interests: Prof. Breitsamter’s work spans experimental and numerical studies of high-agility aircraft, helicopter aerodynamics, and advanced wing designs. Key areas include leading-edge vortices, gust load mitigation using flexible wings, and flow control techniques. His group investigates cutting-edge topics like deep learning for buffet prediction and hybrid neural networks for aerodynamic modeling. Awards: Willy Messerschmitt Preis (1999) AIAA Associate Fellow (2007) Advising & Grants: While specific student names are not listed, his research involves collaborative projects with industry partners (e.g., RACER Compound Helicopter) and EU initiatives like the FURADO program. His team contributes to the NFDI4ING infrastructure for engineering data. Labs/Teams: Active in the Aerodynamics Wind Tunnel facilities (Windkanäle A/B/C) and leads the SAGITTA flying wing demonstrator project. His group also explores membrane wings and elasto-flexible morphing technologies.
Anders Rantzer is a Professor of Automatic Control at the Department of Control Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Lund University, Sweden. He has held visiting positions at Caltech (2004–2005) and the University of Minnesota (2015–2016) as the Taylor Family Distinguished Visiting Professor. His academic journey began with a PhD from KTH Stockholm in 1991, followed by a postdoc at the Institute for Mathematics and its Applications (IMA), University of Minnesota. His research interests center on modeling, analysis, and synthesis of control systems , with a strong focus on scalability, adaptation, and applications in energy networks . He is particularly known for foundational work in positive systems and integral quadratic constraints (IQCs) . These theoretical frameworks are critical in analyzing stability and robustness of large-scale interconnected systems. His work bridges mathematical rigor with practical engineering applications, especially in sustainable energy and networked systems. The recent publications and lecture materials reflect a consistent trajectory in scalable and robust control, optimization, and distributed systems. Themes such as large-scale convex optimization , nonlinear and stochastic control , and network dynamics dominate his scholarly output, indicating a sustained commitment to advancing control theory for complex, real-world systems. Scientific honors include: Fellow of IEEE Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA) Chairman of the Swedish Scientific Council for Natural and Engineering Sciences Chairman of the Royal Physiographic Society of Lund Rantzer has supervised numerous students and contributed extensively to academic leadership and education. He has been involved in major national and international research initiatives such as WASP (Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program) and ELLIIT. His work includes developing educational tools and courses in control, optimization, and machine learning. He leads and contributes to research projects on autonomous systems, cloud control, and smart energy networks. He is affiliated with the Control Lab at LTH and participates in collaborative efforts such as the Nordic University Hub on Industrial Internet of Things (HI2OT). His work integrates theoretical advances with practical implementations in robotics, biomedical systems, and industrial automation.
Matthias Parey is a Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Surrey. He holds additional roles as a Research Fellow at the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) and the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), a Researcher at the ESRC Research Centre on Micro-Social Change (MiSoC), and a Research Associate at ZEW. His research spans Labour economics Economics of education Micro-econometrics Inequality Economics of innovation . His recent publications analyze high-skilled migration selection, trade shocks, cannabis market size estimation, and gasoline demand elasticity. He has contributed to journals like Review of Economics and Statistics , Economica , and Journal of the European Economic Association . Scientific awards include fellowships at IFS and IZA. His work on trade shocks examines gender-specific labor supply responses to Chinese import competition, while his cannabis market research introduces a forensic economics approach using legal inputs. Earlier studies focus on maternal education impacts on child development and the long-term labor market effects of Erasmus student exchanges.
Dr. Yolanda Gil is a Research Professor in Computer Science and Spatial Sciences at the University of Southern California, where she serves as Principal Scientist and Senior Director for Strategic Initiatives in Artificial Intelligence and Data Science at the Information Sciences Institute (ISI). She is also the Director of AI and Data Science Initiatives in the Viterbi School of Engineering and leads the USC Center for Knowledge-Guided Interdisciplinary Data Science (CKIDS). Dr. Gil received her Licenciatura in Computer Science from the Polytechnic University of Madrid and her M.S. and Ph.D. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University, with a focus on artificial intelligence and cognitive science. Her research focuses on developing AI approaches that use knowledge to accelerate scientific discovery processes. Her key research interests include knowledge capture and representation, semantic workflows, ontology tools, scientific discovery methods, task-based collaboration, provenance tracking, knowledge networks, reproducibility in science, and machine learning for data analysis. She collaborates with scientists across multiple domains to improve how scientific knowledge is created, shared, and used. Dr. Gil's work has significant impact across multiple scientific domains including climate science, neuroscience, and omics research. Her projects demonstrate her commitment to building knowledge-guided systems that transform how scientists conduct research. She has pioneered approaches to capture the provenance of scientific experiments and to automate the analysis of complex scientific data. Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) 24th President of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence Co-chair of the CRA/AAAI 20-Year Artificial Intelligence Research Roadmap for the US Initiator and leader of the W3C Provenance Group that resulted in a widely-used standard for web trust As an educator and leader, Dr. Gil directs the Data Science Program in Computer Science and serves as Co-Director of multiple joint MSc programs including Communication Data Science, Spatial Data Science, Environmental Data Science, Public Policy Data Science, and Healthcare Data Science. She also leads the new dual degree USC-Tsinghua University on Communication Data Science. Her leadership extends to mentoring numerous students and researchers in AI and data science. Through the USC Center for Knowledge-Guided Interdisciplinary Data Science (CKIDS), Dr. Gil organizes DataFest events each semester, fostering collaboration and innovation in data science across disciplines.
Vijay Laxmi is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Malaviya National Institute of Technology (MNIT) Jaipur, India. With over a decade of active research publication from 2014-2024, Dr. Laxmi has established themselves as a prominent researcher in network security, Android security systems, and Network-on-Chip architectures. Their work demonstrates consistent collaboration with Manoj Singh Gaur and numerous doctoral students at MNIT Jaipur. Dr. Laxmi's research interests span Network Security, Android Security, Malware Analysis, Network-on-Chip Architectures, Routing Protocols, Side-Channel Attacks, Wireless Networks, and Mobile Security. Their work bridges theoretical security frameworks with practical implementations, particularly in mobile and embedded systems. Recent publications indicate a growing focus on AI-based security approaches including GAN applications for fuzzing and deep learning for image dehazing. The research trajectory shows increasing sophistication in security analysis techniques, evolving from basic malware detection to advanced side-channel attack analysis and sophisticated network security protocols. Recent publications demonstrate expertise in both theoretical frameworks and practical implementations with applications in real-world security challenges. Dr. Laxmi has mentored numerous graduate students including Vineeta Jain, Anugrah Jain, Sonal Yadav, Mohit Singh, and Gaurav Singal, who appear as co-authors across multiple publications. Their collaborative network extends to researchers at international institutions, indicating strong academic connections beyond their home institution.
Prof. Martin Boeker is a Professor of Medical Informatics at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), affiliated with the TUM School of Medicine and Health. His work focuses on advancing healthcare through AI-driven solutions, interoperability frameworks, and precision medicine initiatives. Key projects include the German Medical Text Corpus (GeMTeX) and the MIRACUM DIFUTURE Alignment Hub. Expertise: Medical Informatics, AI in Healthcare, Federated Learning, Health Data Integration Key Contributions: FHIR-based systems, clinical decision support, patient-centered outcomes research Leadership: Director of the Institute for AI and Informatics in Medicine at TUM Hospital Right of the Isar Research emphasizes bridging clinical practice and data science through projects like modular health crawlers, automated guideline adherence monitoring, and cross-institutional medical NLP solutions. His work spans oncology informatics, rare disease management, and pandemic response data ecosystems. Recent articles highlight innovations in digital twins for precision oncology, federated analysis in oncology, and German-language medical NLP challenges. He collaborates internationally on EHR standardization and healthcare interoperability, contributing to the Medical Informatics Initiative (MII) and pandemic evidence ecosystems. Grants and collaborations involve the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, European initiatives, and industry partnerships. Educational efforts focus on training future medical informatics professionals through MII competency programs.
Ghazal Aarabi is an Associate Professor at the Department of Periodontology, Preventive Dentistry and Dental Conservation within the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE). She actively participates in clinical research projects and publications focusing on oral-systemic health connections. Researcher in periodontal epidemiology Key contributor to the Hamburg City Health Study (HCHS) Principal investigator in migration health research (MuMi Study) Research Focus spans three main areas: Periodontal-Brain Interactions through inflammatory pathways Oral Health Literacy among migrant populations Oral-Cardiovascular Links in aging populations Selected Publications (2018-2022) demonstrate her work in: Periodontal disease and cerebral microangiopathy Dental care utilization during pandemics Oral health disparities in migration contexts Current Projects include: PAROCARD : Oral health and cardiovascular surrogate markers MuMi : Migrant oral health promotion Cerebral Microangiopathy study in periodontitis patients
Carlos Cinelli is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Statistics at the University of Washington, where he conducts research at the intersection of causal inference, statistical methodology, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. He is also a data science fellow at the eScience Institute and affiliate faculty of the Center for Statistics and the Social Sciences, demonstrating his interdisciplinary approach to causal methodology. Dr. Cinelli received his Ph.D. in Statistics from the University of California, Los Angeles, advised by Chad Hazlett and Judea Pearl, two prominent figures in causal inference. His research focuses on developing new causal and statistical methods for transparent and robust causal claims in empirical sciences, with particular attention to challenges faced by social and health scientists. His work spans theoretical developments in causal identification, sensitivity analysis frameworks, and practical software implementations that enable researchers to assess the robustness of their causal conclusions. Cinelli's research program addresses fundamental questions about how unobserved confounding affects causal estimates and develops tools to quantify how sensitive findings are to potential violations of causal assumptions. His work on omitted variable bias frameworks has been particularly influential across multiple disciplines. Through his publications, Cinelli has established himself as a leading researcher in causal inference methodology, with papers appearing in top journals across statistics, machine learning, epidemiology, and social sciences. His work demonstrates both theoretical rigor and practical relevance, often accompanied by open-source software implementations that make his methods accessible to applied researchers. Best paper award at SBE 2024 in Econometrics Royalty Research Fund (RRF) Award recipient NSF/MMS research support As an advisor, Cinelli has successfully guided PhD students like Nick Irons to dissertation completion. He actively seeks new students with strong interests in causal inference. His research is supported by multiple funding sources including the National Science Foundation and the University of Washington's Royalty Research Fund. Cinelli contributes to the academic community through editorial work for the Journal of Causal Inference and by developing widely used software packages like sensemakr for sensitivity analysis.
Prof. Dr. Evi Hartmann holds the Chair of Business Administration, especially Supply Chain Management at Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU) within the Department of Business, Economics, and Social Sciences. She is actively involved in multiple research focus areas including sustainability, energy markets and energy system analysis, and insurance and risk. Her academic leadership extends across interdisciplinary collaborations with engineering, mathematics, and industry partners. Dr. Hartmann studied industrial engineering at the University of Karlsruhe (TH), received her doctorate in 2002 from the Institute of Technology and Management at the Technical University of Berlin, and completed her habilitation in business administration in 2008. Prior to her academic career, she worked as a consultant at AT Kearney from 1998 to 2005, followed by a junior professorship for 'Purchasing and Supply Management' at the Supply Chain Management Institute at the European Business School. Her research program focuses on supply chain management, purchasing, and strategic foresight, with particular emphasis on application-oriented approaches that bridge theory and practice. Current research trajectories include supply chain resilience in crisis situations (including pandemic response), digital transformation through Industry 4.0 technologies, sustainable and low-carbon supply chains, and the integration of strategic foresight methodologies in logistics decision-making. Her work frequently employs Delphi studies, bibliometric analyses, and multi-tier case studies to examine complex supply chain phenomena. Analysis of her recent publications reveals a strong trend toward interdisciplinary research that combines supply chain management with digital transformation, sustainability, and crisis response. Her work increasingly examines the intersection of technology adoption (particularly Industry 4.0), organizational culture, and supply chain resilience across multiple industries including automotive, food, and maritime logistics. Prof. Hartmann is recognized as the author of two academic bestsellers in her field, though specific awards are not detailed in available materials. Her research has been published in top-tier journals including IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, International Journal of Production Research, and Journal of Cleaner Production. Her research program demonstrates extensive industry collaboration, with numerous projects involving real-world implementations and close partnerships with companies. She leads research initiatives examining the practical implications of digital transformation, sustainability challenges, and resilience strategies in supply chain operations. Current projects include studies on digital ecosystems, physical internet applications, and the future of freight forwarding technologies. Prof. Hartmann participates in several research networks including the Energy Campus Nuremberg (EnCN) and collaborates with the Department of Mathematics on gas networks and markets research. She is also involved with the Nuremberg Energy Region (Energieregion Nürnberg eV) and contributes to interdisciplinary research centers focused on sustainable development and digital transformation in supply chains.
Klaus Hurrelmann is a Senior Professor of Public Health and Education at the Hertie School. Previously, he served as the founding dean of the first Faculty of Health Sciences in Germany at Bielefeld University and directed the SFB 227 research center for twelve years. His research emphasizes health and education policy, prevention strategies in childhood and adolescence, and the governance of healthcare systems. He has coordinated major studies such as the HBSC for the WHO and leads ongoing national studies on family and youth development. He studied at the University of Münster and the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned a doctorate focusing on educational systems and society. His work spans multidisciplinary collaborations, including leadership roles in longitudinal studies like the COPSY project analyzing youth mental health during the pandemic. Research interests include health literacy, systemic crisis response in education, and the interplay between societal trends and youth development. His recent publications highlight generational shifts in responsibility, pandemic impacts on mental health, and policy reforms in healthcare governance. He advises government agencies on youth policy and health system reforms, leveraging his expertise in evidence-based strategies. His current focus includes digital health literacy and the role of schools in addressing societal polarization.
Andreas Bulling is a Full Professor (W3) of Computer Science at the University of Stuttgart and leads the Collaborative Artificial Intelligence research group at the Institute for Visualisation and Interactive Systems. He is also an ELLIS Fellow and Founding Director of the Stuttgart ELLIS unit, a Member of the Executive Board of the International Max Planck Research School for Intelligent Systems (IMPRS-IS), and a member of the Cluster of Excellence SimTech and the IRIS Forum. His research focuses on AI, computer vision, and human-computer interaction, particularly leveraging eye tracking and wearable systems. His work spans gaze interaction, ubiquitous computing, and multimodal interfaces, with publications in top venues like NeurIPS, CVPR, ICCV, SIGCHI, and UIST. He has received numerous accolades including an ERC Starting Grant and recognition as a top 2% HCI scientist globally. He serves on editorial boards for the IEEE Transactions on Visualisation and Computer Graphics, ACM Transactions on Interactive Intelligent Systems, and the Journal of Eye Movement Research. He has chaired major conferences such as ACM ETRA and ACM UbiComp, and organized workshops on privacy in eye tracking and multimodal group behavior analysis. Education : MSc in Computer Science from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT); PhD from ETH Zurich. Awards : ERC Starting Grant (2018), Henriette Herz Scout (2024), multiple best paper awards at ACM ETRA, UIST, CHI, and others. Leadership : General Chair for ETRA 2020/2021, Technical Program Co-Chair for ACM UbiComp 2016, IEEE PerCom 2015, and others.
Prof. Dr. Birgit Eickelmann is a Professor of School Pedagogy at the Institute of Educational Science within the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at Paderborn University. She has held this position since October 2012, initially as a W2 professor until January 2014, and then as a W3 professor (full professor) from February 2014 onward. Her research focuses on school and lesson development in the digital age, school pedagogy under digital transformation conditions, empirical school research, teacher education, and school leadership with emphasis on digital learning leadership. Her educational background includes a habilitation in Educational Science in May 2012, a PhD in Educational Science with summa cum laude in July 2009, and state examinations for teaching Mathematics and Physics in December 1996 and January 1999. Prof. Eickelmann's research centers on the digital transformation of educational systems, particularly examining how schools develop digital competencies among students and teachers. Her work emphasizes equitable access to digital learning opportunities, the role of school leadership in digital transformation, and the development of computational thinking skills. She investigates how schools can become resilient in the face of digital challenges, with special attention to organizational factors that support successful digital integration. Her publication record reveals a strong focus on international comparative studies, particularly the IEA's ICILS (International Computer and Information Literacy Study) across multiple cycles (2013, 2018, 2023). Her research spans digital literacy assessment, school-level factors influencing digital competence development, and policy implications for educational systems undergoing digital transformation. Prof. Eickelmann leads several major research initiatives including the National Research Center for the IEA Study ICILS 2023 (2021-2026), the German coordination of the Horizon-2020 project 'DigiGen' (2019-2022), and previous leadership of ICILS 2018 (2015-2021) and ICILS 2013 (2012-2015). She is actively involved in policy advising regarding digital education in Germany. She is a member of numerous scholarly organizations including the World Educational Research Association (since 2021), the Society for Empirical Educational Research (since 2016), and the German Society for Educational Science (since 2014), among others. Her work bridges academic research with practical implementation in schools through projects like 'Navigator Bildung Digitalisierung' and 'schultransformNEXT'.
Thomas S. Lontzek is Professor of Economics at RWTH Aachen University, holding the Chair of Computational Economics within the School of Business and Economics since October 2016. His research develops numerical methods for economic decision-making with focus on climate change and environmental risks. His educational background includes economics studies at Maastricht University and UC San Diego (1999-2003), followed by PhD from University of Kiel (2009). Prior positions include Assistant/Senior Assistant at University of Zurich (2010-2016) and visiting scholar at Stanford's Hoover Institution (2012). Lontzek's research spans Economic Growth, Quantitative Macroeconomics, Resource and Energy Economics, Computational Economics, Climate Risk Management, and Decision Making under Uncertainty. His work emphasizes unconventional methods for analyzing economic processes through multidimensional, nonlinear stochastic optimization while incorporating ethical principles into economic analysis for sustainability challenges. His publication record reveals a consistent focus on climate economics, particularly the social cost of carbon, climate tipping points, and integrated assessment modeling. These works demonstrate how accounting for economic and climate risks, especially potential tipping points, necessitates more aggressive climate policies than traditional models suggest, often requiring sophisticated computational techniques to handle high-dimensional uncertainty. 2021 Erik Kempe Award for work on calculating an optimal CO2 tax Lontzek actively mentors students through research seminars and teaching, emphasizing methodological diversity and interdisciplinary approaches. He leads the Global Challenges Research Seminar through the Global Challenges Lab, providing students with opportunities to conduct innovative research using quantitative decision-making techniques for sustainable development challenges. His teaching portfolio for Summer Semester 2025 includes Quantitative Macroeconomics, Sustainable Finance, and specialized research seminars. He heads the Chair of Computational Economics, which includes scientific staff members Dr. Marco Thalhammer, Dr. Yifan Zhao, and Philipp Olivier, M.Sc., working collaboratively on climate economics and computational methods. The chair's research bridges theoretical economic modeling with practical policy applications, developing dynamic stochastic integrated assessment models capable of handling complex climate-economy interactions under uncertainty.
