Subhransu Maji is an Associate Professor in the Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and the co-director of the Computer Vision Lab. He is also affiliated with the Center for Data Science and holds a part-time role as an Amazon Scholar. His research focuses on high-level visual recognition algorithms and interdisciplinary applications in ecology and astronomy. He has received prestigious awards including the NSF CAREER Award (2018), Best Paper at WACV 2015, and the Google Graduate Fellowship (2008). Education: PhD in Computer Science from UC Berkeley (2011), BTech from IIT Kanpur (2006). Prior roles include Research Assistant Professor at Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago (2012-2014). Research Interests: Computer Vision Machine Learning AI Applications in Ecology and Astronomy 3D Shape Understanding Climate Science Grants and Funding: Supported by NSF, NASA, Climate Change AI, and industry grants from Facebook, NVIDIA, Adobe, and Dolby. Current projects include satellite imagery analysis for ecology and material science applications using deep learning. Labs and Teams: Leads the Computer Vision Lab, collaborates with interdisciplinary teams on ecological monitoring (e.g., bird migration tracking via radar data) and material property prediction (e.g., zeolite adsorption modeling).
Rana Hanocka is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of Chicago, leading the 3DL research group focused on AI-driven 3D geometry processing. She earned her Ph.D. in 2021 from Tel Aviv University under Professors Daniel Cohen-Or and Raja Giryes. Her work explores neural networks for unstructured 3D data, including mesh convolutional networks and self-priors for shape reconstruction. Key research areas include geometric deep learning, human-AI collaboration in 3D modeling, and interpretable neural networks. Notable contributions include MeshCNN (SIGGRAPH 2019) and Point2Mesh (NeurIPS 2020), advancing mesh analysis and point cloud processing. Awards include the 2023 Pazy Research Award and 2020 Rising Star in EECS. Education : Ph.D. Computer Science, Tel Aviv University (2021) Labs/Groups : 3DL Group at UChicago Grants : NSF Grant for AI-driven 3D modeling tools (2023) Research directions emphasize creative human-AI partnerships, unsupervised learning from shape collections, and explainable 3D neural networks. Ongoing projects include style-aware 3D synthesis, interactive segmentation, and multimodal shape interfaces.
Tapio Schneider is the Theodore Y. Wu Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering at the California Institute of Technology. His research focuses on atmospheric dynamics across Earth and other planets, climate modeling innovations, and geophysical turbulence analysis. He contributes to the Climate Modeling Alliance (CliMA) and develops advanced computational tools for climate prediction. Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg (Vordiplom, 1993) Princeton University (M.Sc. 1997, Ph.D. 2001) University of Washington, Seattle (Visiting Graduate Student, 1994-1995) His research spans climate dynamics , atmospheric turbulence , and AI-enhanced climate modeling , addressing challenges in cloud dynamics, extreme weather patterns, and planetary climate systems. Current work emphasizes hybrid machine learning-physical models and computational acceleration for high-resolution simulations. Recent publications highlight trends in AI integration for climate science, with applications in hydrology , cloud microphysics , ocean circulation , snowpack modeling , and climate tipping points . His team develops open-source tools like ClimateMachine for GPU-accelerated simulations. Scientific Recognition: Fellow, American Geophysical Union (2022) Rosenstiel Award (2019) World Economic Forum Young Scientist (2012) David and Lucile Packard Fellow (2005-2010) Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow (2004-2006) Tapio leads climate dynamics research at Caltech, directs the Linde Center for Global Environmental Science (2011-2012), and serves as Editor for the Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems . His group collaborates with NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (2016-2024) and Google Research (2022-present).
Cyrill Stachniss is a Full Professor at the University of Bonn , where he heads the Lab for Photogrammetry and Robotics and is affiliated with the Lamarr Institute for Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence . He was previously a Visiting Professor in Engineering at the University of Oxford until 2025. His academic journey includes positions at the University of Freiburg, University of Zaragoza, and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. University: University of Bonn School: Faculty of Engineering Department: Department of Photogrammetry Academic Rank: Professor His research spans robotics, photogrammetry, SLAM, autonomous navigation, perception systems, agricultural robotics, and unmanned aerial vehicles . He emphasizes probabilistic techniques for mobile robots and has made significant contributions to visual and LiDAR-based localization, scene understanding, and 3D reconstruction. The recent publications highlight a strong trend toward neural implicit representations, agricultural phenotyping, radar-based perception, and active learning . His team develops robust systems for real-world deployment in dynamic and unstructured environments, particularly in precision farming and autonomous vehicles. Scientific Awards: IEEE RAS Early Career Award (2013) Microsoft Research Faculty Fellow (2010) 7th EURON Georges Giralt Award (2008) Multiple Best Paper Awards at ICRA, IROS, RSS, and RAL Faculty Teaching Award, University of Freiburg He has advised numerous students and leads the DFG Cluster of Excellence PhenoRob and Research Unit FOR 1505 Mapping on Demand . His lab has co-founded three startups, reflecting strong industry and societal impact. He also runs the educational video series 5 Minutes with Cyrill , explaining key robotics concepts.
Dr Henry Moss is a Researcher at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics within the School of Physical Sciences at the University of Cambridge. His work focuses on machine learning applications in climate modeling, Bayesian optimization, and Gaussian processes, bridging computational mathematics with environmental science and chemistry. His research interests include: Bayesian optimization for environmental and chemical systems Reinforcement learning in climate modeling Gaussian processes for molecular property prediction High-throughput machine learning in scientific domains Interpretable AI for coastal flooding prediction Hybrid ML-physics modeling Dr Moss's publications highlight his contributions to federated learning for climate models, sparse Gaussian process techniques, and multi-objective optimization frameworks. These works span applications in weather prediction, chemical engineering, and oceanography. Email: hwm26@cam.ac.uk
Hyunghoon Cho is an Assistant Professor at Yale School of Medicine in the Department of Biomedical Informatics & Data Science, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Computer Science. He received his PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT (2019) and MS/BS in Computer Science from Stanford University (2013). His research focuses on computational challenges in biomedical data privacy, single-cell genomics, and network biology. Assistant Professor (Primary): Biomedical Informatics & Data Science Assistant Professor (Secondary): Computer Science Appointments: Yale School of Medicine | Broad Institute (Schmidt Fellow) Research Themes: Privacy-Enhancing Technologies for genomic and health data Scalable AI/ML tools for omics data analysis Structured biological modeling for system-level discovery His work includes secure GWAS, transcriptomic privacy assessment, and sfkit - a federated genomic analysis toolkit. He received the NIH Director's Early Independence Award and leads NSF-funded projects on confidential genome analytics. Awards: NIH Director's Early Independence Award Lab Members: Haris Smajlović (Postdoc), Vincent Angelo (CBB MS), Denis Loginov (Senior Software Engineer), Lucy Zheng (CBB PhD)
Rebecca Schulman is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the Whiting School of Engineering, Johns Hopkins University. She holds secondary appointments in Chemistry and Computer Science and is affiliated with multiple interdisciplinary institutes, including the Institute for NanoBioTechnology, the Hopkins Extreme Materials Institute, the Chemistry-Biology Interface Program, the Center for Cell Dynamics, and the Laboratory for Computational Sensing and Robotics. She currently co-directs the Passport to Future Technology Leadership program for PhD students. Research Interests: Schulman's research lies at the intersection of DNA nanotechnology, synthetic biology, and smart materials. Her group develops intelligent, adaptive biomolecular materials and nanostructures by integrating concepts from materials science, biochemistry, circuit design, and soft matter physics. The team focuses on engineering dynamic self-assembly processes using DNA to create reconfigurable materials, molecular circuits, and autonomous soft micro-robots. Key themes include self-healing nanostructures, feedback-regulated crystallization, programmable hydrogels, and synthetic genetic networks for materials control. Publication Trends: Her recent publications demonstrate a consistent focus on using DNA-based chemical reaction networks to program spatial and temporal behavior in materials. The work spans from fundamental mechanisms like catalytic polymerization and crystal growth regulation to applications in soft robotics, self-wiring circuits, and synthetic pattern formation. The research is highly interdisciplinary, combining synthetic biology with materials engineering to achieve life-like functionalities in non-living systems. Scientific Awards: AIMBE Fellowship Award Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship Award Hartwell Individual Biomolecular Research Award President’s Early Career Award in Science and Engineering (PECASE) DARPA Young Faculty Award DARPA Directors Fellowship NSF CAREER Award Turing Scholar Award DOE Early Career Award Advising and Grants: Schulman mentors graduate students and leads a vibrant research group focused on next-generation biomolecular engineering. Her work is supported by major federal grants, including the NSF CAREER, DOE Early Career, DARPA, and the Vannevar Bush Fellowship—a prestigious Department of Defense award for basic research. She is actively involved in training future leaders through programs like the Passport to Future Technology Leadership. Labs and Teams: The Schulman Lab at Johns Hopkins is a multidisciplinary team working on DNA-powered materials and molecular programming. The lab is embedded within several collaborative centers, enabling strong cross-departmental and cross-institutional research. Their work combines experimental biochemistry with theoretical modeling to design and implement complex molecular systems.
Subhashis Ghoshal is a Goodnight Distinguished Professor in the Department of Statistics at North Carolina State University (NCSU). He holds a Ph.D. in Statistics from the Indian Statistical Institute (1995). His research focuses on Bayesian nonparametrics, high-dimensional models, asymptotic theory, and functional data analysis. He has authored influential books like *Fundamentals of Nonparametric Bayesian Inference* (2017) and contributed to methodologies in image processing and statistical inference. Key awards include the Goodnight Distinguished Professorship (2021), Dr. Cavell Brownie Mentoring Award (2014-15), and the De Groot Prize (2019). He has held editorial roles in journals like *Statistical Science* and *Annals of Statistics*. His work bridges theory and applications, addressing challenges in modern statistical problems such as uncertainty quantification and causal inference. He advises on graduate programs and actively contributes to academic leadership at NCSU.
Brooke Hudspeth, PharmD, is an Associate Professor and Chief Practice Officer at the University of Kentucky (UK) College of Pharmacy. She oversees community pharmacy initiatives and serves as acting President of the Kentucky Pharmacists Association (KPhA). Her roles include mentoring pharmacy students and residents as a preceptor, and leading collaborative projects with organizations like the American Pharmacists Association Foundation, Kroger Co., and the CDC. Educationally, she holds a Doctor of Pharmacy from the UK College of Pharmacy, alongside PGY1/PGY2 Community-based Pharmacy Practice Residencies from the same institution. Her research focuses on diabetes prevention, obesity, and pharmacist-driven clinical services, particularly through expanding the National Diabetes Prevention Program (NDPP) to five U.S. states via a $7.5M CDC grant. Research interests emphasize health disparities, vaccine accessibility, and optimizing pharmacist roles in self-care conditions. Notable projects include influenza point-of-care testing and pharmacy partnerships during the pandemic. Her work bridges academic innovation with real-world healthcare challenges, advocating for policy changes to enhance pharmacist payment for clinical services. Despite no explicitly listed awards, her impactful grant-funded projects reflect significant contributions to public health. She advises students and residents while leading residency expansion initiatives. Collaborations with major institutions underscore her role in advancing pharmacy practice and education nationally. Hudspeth’s lab/team is embedded within UK’s College of Pharmacy, focusing on translational research to improve patient care through pharmacist-led interventions. Future work includes expanding telehealth pharmacy services and addressing healthcare workforce shortages.
Roles & Affiliations: Daniel J. Jacob is the Vasco McCoy Family Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry and Environmental Engineering at Harvard University. He leads the Atmospheric Chemistry Modeling Group at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, part of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. He has held academic ranks including Gordon McKay Professor (1994-2004) and Associate/Assistant Professor (1991-1994), and was a postdoc at Harvard (1985-1987). Education: Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering Science from Caltech (1985), Ingenieur Chimiste from École Supérieure de Physique et Chimie Industrielles (1981), and earlier studies at Lycee du Parc (Lyon). Research Interests: Jacob's work focuses on atmospheric chemistry, climate modeling, and air quality. Key areas include methane emissions, tropospheric ozone, satellite remote sensing, and global biogeochemical cycles. His research integrates field campaigns (e.g., SEAC4RS, ARCTAS) and chemical transport models (GEOS-Chem) to address environmental challenges like pollution and climate change. Publications & Awards: Jacob has authored over 550 peer-reviewed publications, with an H-index of 145 (ISI) and 184 (Google Scholar). Notable awards include the Haagen-Smit Prize (2010), Macelwane Medal (1994), and recognition for teaching and climate science leadership. His work on methane emissions and air quality has been featured in Nature , Science , and AGU journals. Grants & Advising: Jacob advises numerous PhD students and postdocs, many of whom hold academic or research roles globally. He leads international initiatives like the Carbon Mapper project and chairs committees for NASA and the National Academies. His grants support studies on methane detection, aerosol chemistry, and climate policy. Labs & Collaborations: The Atmospheric Chemistry Modeling Group collaborates with NASA, NOAA, and institutions worldwide. Key projects include the GEOS-Chem model, TROPOMI satellite inversion analyses, and the Integrated Methane Inversion (IMI) tool for emissions monitoring.
Mary Silber is a Professor in the Department of Statistics and the College at the University of Chicago, and serves on the Executive Committee of the Committee on Computational and Applied Mathematics (CCAM). Her research focuses on dynamical systems and bifurcation theory, with applications to climate science, ecological dynamics, and pattern formation. She investigates tipping points in climate systems and self-organized vegetation patterns in drylands, exploring mathematical mechanisms behind abrupt transitions and noise-driven instability. Her work bridges theoretical mathematics with real-world phenomena, including Arctic sea ice melt processes and feedback mechanisms in ecosystems. Notable grants include a $50M interdisciplinary initiative between Northwestern and UChicago for life sciences data science and a collaborative Institute for Foundational Data Science. Silber’s contributions span bifurcation theory, spatio-temporal chaos, and control of unstable dynamical systems, with a focus on symmetry-breaking and model reduction techniques. Her recent research emphasizes resilience in dryland ecosystems under climate variability and the role of percolation thresholds in Arctic melt pond dynamics. Despite no formal student listings, her work is supported by interdisciplinary collaborations and federal grants in applied mathematics and environmental science.
Jason M. LaBelle is a Professor of Anthropology at Colorado State University (CSU), affiliated with the College of Liberal Arts. He serves as Director of the Center for Mountain and Plains Archaeology (CMPA) and Curator of the Archaeological Repository of CSU (AR-CSU). His research focuses on hunter-gatherer societies, particularly in the Intermountain West, emphasizing subsistence, mobility, and pre/post-contact Native American cultures. His work spans environments from the Great Plains to high alpine regions, with specialties in Clovis/Folsom cultures, communal hunting practices, and lithic technology. LaBelle teaches courses in archaeology, lithic technology, and public archaeology. He oversees CMPA projects funded by federal agencies like the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management, supporting student training in fieldwork, lab analysis (lithics, faunal studies), and report writing. His lab houses extensive collections from Colorado’s South Platte and Colorado River Basins, including alpine artifacts. He actively engages with tribal partners and the public through outreach, conferences, and NAGPRA coordination. LaBelle’s recent research includes studies on lithic quarries, ice patch archaeology, and Bayesian chronology modeling. His publications address prehistoric mobility, site chronology, and cultural resource management. He values interdisciplinary collaboration and student mentorship, aiming to bridge academic and applied archaeology.
Ilker Yildirim is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Yale University, where he leads the Cognitive and Neural Computation Lab (CNCL). He received his Ph.D. from the University of Rochester in 2014. His research focuses on understanding how perception transforms raw sensory signals into meaningful representations of objects and scenes through computational modeling approaches. His research interests include: Computational modeling of visual perception and cognition Intuitive physics and physical reasoning Bayesian inference and probabilistic models in cognition Integration of graphics and physics engines in cognitive modeling Neural mechanisms of object representation Attention and resource allocation in dynamic scenes Yildirim's lab develops computational frameworks that bridge cognitive processes with neural mechanisms, using tools including probabilistic models, simulation engines, and deep learning. His work often involves testing these models through behavioral and neural experiments to create unified accounts of perception and cognition. His recent publications reveal a strong focus on how humans perceive physical properties of objects, particularly soft materials and liquids, and how attention dynamically allocates resources during scene perception. Among his notable achievements is receiving an NSF CAREER award for his project "CAREER: CompCog: Reverse-engineering neural mechanisms of object cognition with multilevel computational modeling," which will run from 2025 to 2030. His Nature Human Behaviour paper by Qi Lin was featured on CBS News, Germany's NZZ, and Wired Italy. Yildirim mentors a diverse group of graduate students and postdocs working on various aspects of perception, cognition, and computational modeling. His students have received prestigious awards including the Jane Olejarczyk Award and the Leonard J. Savage Prize.
Claudia R. Binder is Full Professor at EPFL's School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering, leading the Laboratory for Human-Environment Relations in Urban Systems (HERUS) since 2016. Previously, she held professorships at the University of Munich (2011-2016), University of Graz (2009-2011), and University of Zurich (2006-2009). She served as Dean of EPFL's ENAC School from 2020-2023 and holds advisory roles with Swiss federal institutions including the Mercator Foundation since 2024. Her academic foundation includes a Biochemistry degree and PhD in Environmental Sciences from ETH Zurich, followed by postdoctoral research at the University of Maryland. This interdisciplinary background underpins her research approach spanning natural and social sciences. Professor Binder's work centers on urban sustainability transitions, examining urban metabolism dynamics through systems science frameworks. She investigates energy-food-transport interdependencies in cities using transdisciplinary methods that integrate material flow analysis, spatial modeling, and socio-technical assessments. Her research particularly emphasizes regulatory mechanisms and transformation drivers in human-environment systems, with case studies across Swiss and global urban contexts. Recent publications reveal evolving focus from foundational urban metabolism studies toward actionable transition strategies. Her 2024-2025 work increasingly addresses social tipping dynamics, circular decarbonization, and spatially explicit waste management, demonstrating methodological innovation through geo-referenced material flow analysis and participatory backcasting frameworks. Key thematic clusters include energy innovation diffusion, plastic waste governance, and demand-side flexibility in residential systems. She actively mentors 7 current PhD candidates while supervising 11 graduates since 2018, with research spanning urban metabolism modeling, sustainability assessment, and transition governance. Her leadership extends to Swiss National Science Foundation committees and National Research Program 71 on energy consumption management. At EPFL, she directs the HERUS laboratory which develops the Sustainability Solution Space methodology for urban assessment. The lab operates at the intersection of data science, environmental engineering, and social theory, maintaining strong field connections in Switzerland, Indonesia, and Germany for empirical validation of transition models.
Associate Professor Mohsen Kalantari is a Geospatial Engineering academic at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) School of Civil and Environmental Engineering , with concurrent roles as co-founder of the startup Faramoon . His career spans roles at the University of Melbourne's Department of Infrastructure Engineering and Victorian government's land administration initiatives through DELWP. Education : PhD in Geomatics Engineering (2008, University of Melbourne), Master of GIS Engineering (2004), Bachelor of Surveying Engineering (2001) His research bridges geospatial engineering with construction automation , focusing on 3D cadastre , BIM-GIS integration , and smart cities . Recent publications show trends in underground land administration , digital twins , and LADM standard implementations . Scientific Awards : National educational recognition (2019), Victorian educational grants (2018), and prestigious fellowships (2012) As a supervisor , he guides PhD candidates in topics ranging from BIM for waste management to underground cadastral systems . His industry engagement includes partnerships with the United Nations , Open Geospatial Consortium , and Singapore Land Authority .
