Associate Professor Adam Irwin is an NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow and Associate Professor in Infectious Diseases at the University of Queensland (UQ) and Queensland Children’s Hospital. He holds positions within the UQ Centre for Clinical Research, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences. His work focuses on early sepsis recognition, antimicrobial stewardship, and pediatric infectious diseases. Dr. Irwin completed his medical degree at the University of Birmingham and his PhD in 2016 from the University of Liverpool’s Institute of Infection and Global Health. He has led initiatives like the Queensland Paediatric Sepsis Program, recognized with a Global Sepsis Alliance Award and Queensland Health Excellence Awards. His research spans sepsis pathway implementation, antimicrobial resistance trends, and rapid diagnostic tools. Notable grants include NHMRC funding for studies on multi-drug resistant infections and Children’s Hospital Foundation support for genomics and antimicrobial stewardship projects. He supervises PhD candidates in areas like bloodstream infections and molecular diagnostics. Dr. Irwin collaborates across institutions, contributing to projects such as the RAPIDS Study Group and the PAEDS surveillance network. Awards include the NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellowship and recognition for sepsis program excellence. His work emphasizes translating research into clinical practice, improving outcomes for critically ill children through evidence-based protocols and innovative diagnostics.
Sujaya Maiyya is an Assistant Professor at the Cheriton School of Computer Science, University of Waterloo. Prior to this, she completed a postdoc at Cornell University and earned her PhD from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her research focuses on distributed systems, databases, and privacy/security, particularly in designing secure and efficient data management systems. She leads projects on oblivious databases, trusted execution environments (TEEs), and scalable privacy-preserving systems. Education: PhD in Computer Science, University of California, Santa Barbara (2018) MSc in Computer Science, University of California, Santa Barbara (2017) BE in Information Science, PESIT Bangalore (2014) Research Interests: Distributed systems, database privacy, oblivious datastores, genomics data security, and secure computation using TEEs. Her work emphasizes practical solutions for privacy-preserving storage and query processing, including tunable-privacy mechanisms and fault-tolerant ORAM systems. Awards and Grants: CFI/ORF Infrastructure Grant (2024-2029) NCC Research Awards (2024-2028) NSERC Discovery Grant (2023-2027) MIT EECS Rising Stars (2021) Teaching: Courses include CS348 (Introduction to Databases) and CS848 (Privacy Enhancing Data Systems). She emphasizes foundational concepts and system internals in database design and secure systems. Professional Service: Chair of Ontario Database Day (2024), PC member for SIGMOD, EDBT, VLDB, and ICDE. Frequent reviewer for journals like TKDE and DKE.
Pierre Vandergheynst is a Full Professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) in the Department of Electrical Engineering, with a courtesy appointment in Computer and Communication Sciences. He serves as EPFL’s Vice-Provost for Education since 2015 and leads the Signal Processing Laboratory 2 (LTS2). His research spans harmonic analysis, sparse approximations, mathematical data processing, and applications in signal/image processing, computer vision, machine learning, and graph-based data analysis. PhD in Mathematical Physics (1998), Université catholique de Louvain Postdoctoral Researcher at EPFL (1998-2001) Assistant Professor at EPFL (2002-2007) His research explores geometry/symmetry in high-dimensional data, redundant dictionaries for dimensionality reduction, and computational harmonic analysis on manifolds. Recent work focuses on protein structure modeling, geometric deep learning, and graph-based signal processing. Key article trends include graph neural networks for protein analysis, geometric deep learning in neuroscience, and structured knowledge priors in neural models. His 2023-2025 publications emphasize interpretable AI, long-range dependencies in graphs, and molecular representation learning. Scientific Awards: IEEE Signal Processing Magazine Best Paper Award (2023) Signal Processing Society Best Paper Award (2022) Apple ARTS Award (2007) De Boelpaepe Prize, Royal Academy of Sciences of Belgium (2009-2010) He has supervised over 30 PhD theses and contributed to foundational work in graph signal processing, compressive sensing, and geometric deep learning. His lab develops tools for data science on non-Euclidean structures, with applications in medicine, astronomy, and wireless systems.
Alexis Battle is an Associate Professor at Johns Hopkins University with appointments in Biomedical Engineering , Computer Science , and Genetic Medicine (secondary). She directs the Malone Center for Engineering in Healthcare and serves as Deputy Director of the Data Science and AI Institute . Educated at Stanford University (PhD in Computer Science, 2013), Battle transitioned to academia after leadership roles at Google. Research Focus: Battle’s work bridges genomics and machine learning , emphasizing the impact of genetic variation on human health. Her lab develops tools like Watershed to predict functional effects of rare variants, aiming to enhance rare disease diagnosis. Key themes include non-coding DNA analysis , personalized genomics , and systems biology , with applications in cardiovascular disease and neurodegenerative disorders . Publications & Awards: Over 60 peer-reviewed articles in journals like Nature , Science , and Genome Biology , with recent emphasis on single-cell transcriptomics , multiomics integration , and telomere biology . Recipient of the President’s Frontier Award (2022), Microsoft Investigator Fellowship (2019), and Searle Scholar (2016). Scientific Awards: 2022 President’s Frontier Award 2019 Microsoft Investigator Fellowship 2019 Johns Hopkins Discovery Award 2017 Johns Hopkins Catalyst Award 2016 Searle Scholar Advising & Funding: Mentors 11 PhD students, 3 undergraduates, and postdoctoral fellows. Her research is funded by NIH, Searle Scholars, and institutional grants. The Battle Lab collaborates on projects like the GTEx Consortium , focusing on gene regulation and clinical genomics .
Liping Liu is a Professor in the Department of Management at The University of Akron's College of Business. He holds a Ph.D. in Business from the University of Kansas (1995), Master of Engineering in Systems Engineering (1991), and dual bachelor's degrees in Applied Mathematics (1986) and River Dynamics (1987). Ph.D., University of Kansas MS, Huazhong University of Science and Technology B.E., Wuhan University BS, Huazhong University of Science and Technology His research spans Artificial Intelligence , Electronic Business , Systems Analysis , Data Quality , and Belief Function Theory . He pioneered coarse utility theory and linear belief functions , now taught in top Ph.D. programs across multiple disciplines. Key trends in his publications include Belief Function Applications (2012-2024), Medical Data Systems (2003-2015), and Decision Theory (2004-2014). Recent works focus on Gamma Belief Functions (2024) and computational improvements in linear belief function operations (2019-2016). Scientific contributions recognized via: Microsoft Azure Educator Grant (2014-2016) Inclusion in Who's Who in America (2010-2013) and Who's Who in the World (2011-2013) As an editor and committee member for major conferences (INFORMS, AMCIS, Belief Functions conferences), he bridges academic research with practical systems implementation in e-business and healthcare domains.
Gail E. Kaiser is a Professor of Computer Science and the Director of the Programming Systems Laboratory (PSL) in the Computer Science Department at Columbia University. She has been with Columbia University since 1985, becoming a full Professor in 1998. Prof. Kaiser's research spans software engineering, program analysis, software testing, and software security, with recent focus on addressing challenges in AI/ML systems testing and security. Prof. Kaiser received her PhD in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University in 1985 and her ScB in Computer Science and Engineering from MIT in 1979. Her dissertation at CMU was titled "Semantics for Structure Editing Environments" under advisor Nico Habermann, and at MIT she completed "Automatic Extension of an Augmented Transition Network Grammar for Morse Code Conversations" under advisor Al Vezza. Prof. Kaiser's research interests primarily focus on software engineering following a systems building approach, with recent emphasis on static and dynamic program analysis techniques to improve software reliability and security. Since 2005, she has investigated testing "non-testable" programs, particularly in machine learning, data mining, and scientific computing applications where traditional testing oracles are insufficient. She has developed novel techniques and tools for detecting bugs and verifying repairs in complex systems. Concurrently, she has worked on collaboration environments for computational scientists, creating knowledge sharing and domain-aware environments to support scientific workflows. Prof. Kaiser's recent publications demonstrate a strong focus on the intersection of software engineering and artificial intelligence. Her work addresses critical challenges in testing AI systems, code understanding through deep learning, vulnerability detection, and educational tools for computational thinking. There's a clear evolution from traditional software engineering topics toward AI/ML applications, with particular emphasis on metamorphic testing for non-testable systems, code similarity analysis, and educational applications. Prof. Kaiser has received numerous prestigious awards throughout her career: Distinguished Journal Award (10 Years) from 18th IEEE International Conference on Software Testing, Verification and Validation (ICST), April 2025 Best Research Paper Award at 24th IEEE International Conference on Source Code Analysis & Manipulation (SCAM), October 2024 Distinguished Reviewer Awards for ASE 2024 and FSE 2024 ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Award for "CONCORD: Clone-aware Contrastive Learning for Source Code", July 2023 Best Student Paper Award at ICCE 2021 Multiple ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Awards dating back to 2014 Presidential Young Investigator in Software Engineering and Software Systems from NSF (1988-1993) Prof. Kaiser has chaired Columbia's doctoral program since 1997 and served on editorial boards including IEEE Internet Computing and as a founding associate editor of ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology. Her lab has been continuously funded by major agencies including NSF, NIH, DARPA, ONR, NASA, and numerous companies. Current grants include significant NSF funding for secure containers architecture, learning semantics of code for software assurance, and finding semantic security bugs. As Director of the Programming Systems Laboratory (PSL), Prof. Kaiser leads research in software systems, program analysis, and software testing. The lab has developed numerous tools and techniques for software reliability and security, with recent focus on challenges in AI/ML systems. Her work bridges theoretical foundations with practical applications, often resulting in deployable tools that address real-world software engineering challenges.
Alexandre Bouchard-Côté is a Professor of Statistics at the University of British Columbia (UBC), affiliated with the Department of Statistics within the Faculty of Science. His research focuses on computational statistics, Bayesian methods, and Monte Carlo techniques, with applications in evolutionary biology, cancer genomics, and computational linguistics. Education : PhD in Computer Science (with Designated Emphasis in Statistics) from UC Berkeley (2010), BSc in Mathematics and Computer Science from McGill University (2005). Affiliations : Director of the Blang probabilistic programming project and leader of the Bouncy Particle Sampler research group. Research Interests : Bouchard-Côté develops scalable Bayesian computational methods, including non-reversible Monte Carlo algorithms like the Bouncy Particle Sampler, and applies these to problems in cancer phylogenetics, evolutionary dynamics, and historical linguistics. His work emphasizes bridging theoretical foundations with practical tools for data science. Publications Trends : Recent work spans distributed sampling frameworks (e.g., Pigeons.jl), variational phylogenetic inference, and cancer clonal evolution modeling. His articles often address algorithmic scalability and interdisciplinary applications in biology and astronomy. Awards : CRM-SSC Prize in Statistics (2024) PIMS-UBC Mathematical Sciences Young Faculty Award (2018) Tweedie New Researcher Award (2016) Advising & Grants : Supervises graduate students (e.g., Son Luu, Nikola Surjanovic) and leads funded projects on distributed MCMC and cancer genomics. Collaborates with institutions like the Simons Foundation and the Canadian Statistical Sciences Institute (CANSSI). Labs/Teams : Core member of the UBC Statistical Machine Learning group, contributing to open-source tools like Blang and the Bouncy Particle Sampler implementation.
Laura Elo serves as Professor of Computational Medicine and Head of the Medical Bioinformatics Centre at the University of Turku, Finland. She concurrently holds the position of Research Director at Turku Bioscience Centre and acts as InFLAMES Flagship Contact, driving interdisciplinary biomedical research initiatives. Her academic foundation includes a PhD in Applied Mathematics (2007) and Adjunct Professorship in Biomathematics (2011), establishing her quantitative expertise before transitioning into biomedical applications. Her research program focuses on transforming molecular and clinical datasets through statistical modeling and advanced machine learning . Key thrusts include robust computational tools for proteome/epigenome analysis, AI-driven digital health diagnostics, and computational systems immunology for immune-mediated diseases. This work directly addresses challenges in reproducibility and scalability of high-throughput biotechnology data. Analysis of her recent publications reveals dominant themes in type 1 diabetes biomarker discovery , multi-omics integration , and immune system modeling , with strong emphasis on clinical translation through collaborations with experimental and medical teams. Her scientific recognition includes: JDRF Career Development Award Professor Elo actively trains MSc/PhD students and postdoctoral fellows while leading major research initiatives including ERC grants. Her teaching portfolio spans Bioinformatics Journal Club, AI in Diagnostics, and Systems Biology courses. The Elo Lab (https://elolab.utu.fi) operates as a hub for computational biomedicine, developing open-source tools like CellRomeR while maintaining close ties with Turku Bioscience Centre's experimental facilities for validating computational predictions in immunology and metabolic disease contexts.
Ron Steinfeld is an Associate Professor in the Department of Software Systems & Cybersecurity at Monash University, Australia. He holds editorial roles in Designs Codes and Cryptography (since 2017) and has served on technical committees for top-tier conferences like ASIACRYPT, CRYPTO, and EUROCRYPT. His research focuses on quantum-safe cryptography, lattice-based cryptography, and blockchain security, with over 80 refereed publications and AUD$4M+ in research funding. Education: BSc Mathematics and Physics (Monash University, 1998) BE (Hons., First Class) Electrical and Computer Systems (Monash University, 2000) PhD Computer Science (Monash University, 2003) Research Interests: Design and analysis of cryptographic algorithms, quantum-safe protocols, lattice-based security foundations, and blockchain applications. His work underpins NIST standard algorithms like Kyber and Dilithium through structured lattice problem research. Recent Articles Trends: Focus on privacy-preserving blockchain protocols, post-quantum signature schemes, encrypted data search, and cryptographic applications in adversarial AI. Recent work includes fair Bitcoin watchtower schemes and genomic database privacy solutions. Awards: ASIACRYPT 2015 Best Paper Award Advising & Grants: Supervises PhD projects on quantum-safe cryptography and blockchain security. Leads initiatives like the AUD$4M ARC-funded Quantum Information Technology project. Collaborates with industry partners including CSIRO/Data61. Labs/Teams: Key contributor to Monash’s cybersecurity and cryptography research groups, involving interdisciplinary projects on materials discovery ( Æinstein initiative) and post-quantum blockchain security.
Christopher Kanan is a tenured Associate Professor of Computer Science at the University of Rochester, leading the AI Initiative within the Hajim School of Engineering & Applied Sciences. He holds secondary appointments in Brain and Cognitive Sciences, the Goergen Institute for Data Science and AI (GIDS-AI), and the Center for Visual Science. His research focuses on deep learning systems for artificial general intelligence (AGI), including continual learning, medical computer vision, and visual question answering. Previously, he was an Associate Professor at RIT’s Carlson Center for Imaging Science and a leader at Paige.AI, contributing to the FDA-cleared Paige Prostate system. Kanan earned his PhD from UC San Diego, completed postdoctoral work at Caltech, and worked at NASA JPL. Education: PhD in Computer Science, UC San Diego MS in Computer Science, University of Southern California Bachelor’s in Philosophy and Computer Science, Oklahoma State University Research Interests: Kanan’s work spans foundational AI capabilities like continual learning, medical imaging (pathology and radiology), multi-modal reasoning, and cognitive science-inspired models. His lab develops bias-robust AI systems and applies deep learning to healthcare and fusion research. Articles Trends: His recent work emphasizes out-of-distribution generalization, foundation models in pathology, and stability in continual learning. Key themes include AI applications in healthcare, model robustness, and neuroscience-inspired algorithms. Awards: NSF CAREER Award Senior Member, AAAI and IEEE DoE and NSF grants totaling $5M+ DARPA/ARL awards Advising & Grants: Mentored over 10 PhD students, including Robik Shrestha and Usman Mahmood. Secured grants for AI in nuclear fusion and medical imaging. Led RIT’s Center for Human-aware AI (CHAI) as Associate Director. Labs & Teams: Heads the University of Rochester AI Initiative, collaborates with Paige.AI, and leads teams advancing AI in pathology and robotics. His lab’s KLab (klab.cis.rit.edu) focuses on vision and learning systems.
Mikael Thollesson is a Senior Lecturer at Uppsala University, affiliated with the Department of Organismal Biology; Systematic Biology and Klubban’s Biological Station. His research focuses on evolutionary biology, phylogenetics, taxonomy, and molecular biology, particularly in marine and freshwater sponges (Porifera), bacterial pathogens, and computational methods in evolutionary analysis. Evolutionary Biology Marine Biology Taxonomy His recent publications highlight trends in sponge biodiversity, phylogeography, bacterial horizontal gene transfer, and mitochondrial gene evolution. Key articles include studies on Swedish demosponge faunas, Silene sect. Arenosae systematics, and computational tools like SPRIT for detecting gene transfers. No explicit awards or grants are mentioned.
Mikhail (Misha) Belkin is a Professor at the Halicioglu Data Science Institute (HDSI) at the University of California San Diego , with an affiliated appointment in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering . He is also an Amazon Scholar , reflecting his impactful industry collaboration. Since January 2024, he has served as the Editor-in-Chief of the SIAM Journal on Mathematics of Data Science (SIMODS) . Research Interests: Belkin's research centers on the theoretical foundations of machine learning, particularly the mathematical understanding of modern deep learning. His work investigates interpolation , over-parameterization , and feature learning in neural networks. He is renowned for introducing the double descent risk curve, which reconciles classical bias-variance trade-offs with the success of overfitted models. His recent work identifies the Average Gradient Outer Product (AGOP) as a fundamental mechanism of feature learning, applicable across architectures like CNNs and transformers. Scientific Contributions and Trends: His recent publications, appearing in Science , PNAS , and NeurIPS , demonstrate a strong trend toward unifying theories of generalization and optimization in over-parameterized systems. He explores how interpolating models can be statistically optimal, how gradient descent converges in non-convex landscapes via the PL* condition, and how kernel methods can be enhanced to perform feature learning. ACM Fellow (2023) Editor-in-Chief, SIAM Journal on Mathematics of Data Science (2024–present) Advising and Grants: Belkin actively mentors students and collaborators such as Adityanarayanan Radhakrishnan , Daniel Beaglehole , and Chaoyue Liu , who are frequent co-authors. He is a Principal Investigator (PI) in the Collaboration on the Theoretical Foundations of Deep Learning , funded by the NSF and Simons Foundation. He is also an external collaborator with the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Center at the Broad Institute and part of the NSF-funded TILOS AI Institute . Laboratories and Teams: While not explicitly named, his research group at UCSD is deeply involved in theoretical machine learning, focusing on the intersection of statistics, optimization, and deep learning. His work often involves large-scale collaborations and is closely tied to initiatives like SIMODS and TILOS.
James Briscoe is a Senior Group Leader at The Francis Crick Institute in London, where he leads a research group focused on developmental biology and morphogen signaling. He previously held positions at the Medical Research Council's National Institute for Medical Research, which later became part of the Francis Crick Institute. Education: BSc in Microbiology and Virology from the University of Warwick, UK PhD from Imperial Cancer Research Fund/King's College London Postdoctoral training at Columbia University with Thomas Jessell Dr. Briscoe's research focuses on the molecular and cellular mechanisms of graded signaling by morphogens and the role of transcriptional networks in cell fate specification. His laboratory employs a range of experimental and computational techniques using model systems including mouse and chick embryos and embryonic stem cells. His work has significant implications for understanding developmental processes and their relationship to disease. His recent publications demonstrate a continued focus on morphogen gradients, neural tube development, and computational approaches to understanding cell fate decisions. His research increasingly integrates single-cell technologies and computational modeling to unravel the complexities of developmental patterning. Scientific Awards and Honors: EMBO Young Investigator (2001) EMBO Gold Medal (2008) Elected to EMBO (2009) Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (2019) Fellow of the Royal Society (2019) As Editor-in-Chief of the journal Development since 2018, Dr. Briscoe plays a significant role in shaping the field of developmental biology. His leadership extends to mentoring researchers and contributing to scientific policy discussions, as evidenced by his recent publication 'Science under siege: protecting scientific progress in turbulent times.' Dr. Briscoe's laboratory at the Crick Institute is well-equipped with access to advanced facilities including light microscopy, flow cytometry, genomics, and computational resources, enabling a multidisciplinary approach to developmental biology questions.
Wengong Jin is an Assistant Professor at the Khoury College of Computer Sciences, Northeastern University, and a visiting research scientist at the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Center at the Broad Institute. He holds a PhD from MIT CSAIL, advised by Prof. Regina Barzilay and Prof. Tommi Jaakkola. Research Interests: His work focuses on geometric and generative AI models for drug discovery, biology, and chemical engineering. Key areas include equivariant neural networks (e.g., FAFormer), diffusion models for binding energy prediction, antibody/enzyme design (RefineGNN, SurfPro), and molecular design through graph neural networks (Junction Tree VAE). He also explores domain generalization and systems for autonomous molecular discovery. Publications: His research has been published in top venues like NeurIPS, ICLR, ICML, Nature, Science, and Cell. Recent breakthroughs include discovering novel antibiotics using explainable AI and designing synergistic drug combinations for cancer treatment. Awards: He has received the BroadIgnite Award, Dimitris N. Chorafas Prize, and MIT EECS Outstanding Thesis Award for his contributions to computational biology and AI-driven drug discovery. Teaching: Currently teaches a PhD seminar on AI for Science, focusing on integrating machine learning into scientific discovery processes.
Anthony Rollett is a Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University , where he has been a faculty member since 1995. He serves as the Principal Investigator and Co-Director of the NASA-supported Institute for Model-Based Qualification & Certification of Additive Manufacturing (IMQCAM) and co-director of the Next Manufacturing Center . Prior to CMU, he held leadership roles at Los Alamos National Laboratory (1991-1995). Education: Ph.D., Materials Engineering, Drexel University (1987) MA, Metallurgy and Materials Science, Cambridge University (1977) Research Interests: Rollett’s work focuses on microstructural evolution and microstructure-property relationships in 3D using experiments and simulations. His expertise spans additive manufacturing , metal 3D printing , materials for energy systems , grain growth , recrystallization , and stereology , with techniques like high-energy diffraction microscopy (HEDM) and dynamic x-ray radiography (DXR) . Scientific Contributions: He has over 320 peer-reviewed publications and an h-index >80 . His recent articles highlight machine learning for laser processing , fatigue analysis of additively manufactured alloys, and design optimization for heat exchangers in supercritical CO2 and solar thermal applications . Scientific Awards: Fellow of ASM International (1996) Fellow of the Institute of Physics (UK) (2004) Fellow of The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS) (2011) Cyril Stanley Smith Award (TMS, 2014) Member of Honor, French Metallurgical Society (2015) US Steel Professor (2017) Francqui International Professor (2020-2021) International FAME Award (2023) Leadership & Impact: Rollett co-led the development of a NASA Space Technology Research Institute for additive manufacturing and established a new master’s program in additive manufacturing (2018). His research group is funded by industry , federal agencies , and Pennsylvania state grants . He also serves on the Basic Energy Science Advisory Committee and Defense Programs Advisory Committee for the Department of Energy.
