Emmanouel (Manos) Varvarigos is a Professor at the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), where he leads the High Speed Communication Networks Laboratory. He holds a Diploma from NTUA (1988) and an M.S./Ph.D. from MIT (1990/1992). Prior roles include Professorships at UC Santa Barbara (1992-1998) and Delft University (1998-1999), and leadership at the University of Patras (1999-2015). He has coordinated over 30 EU research projects, including H2020 initiatives like ORCHESTRA and FLEXGRID. His research focuses on optical networking, cloud computing, smart energy grids, and high-speed network protocols. He has published over 450 papers and serves on numerous conference committees. Awards include the NSF Research Initiation Award. His lab employs 5 postdocs and 10+ PhD students, addressing challenges in networking, data centers, and grid computing. Education: Ph.D., Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, MIT, 1992 M.S., Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, MIT, 1990 Diploma in Electrical and Computer Engineering, NTUA, 1988 Research Interests: Optical networking, high-speed network protocols, data center architectures, cloud computing, smart energy grids, wireless networks, and distributed systems. Grants & Projects: Coordinated 7 EU projects (e.g., FLEXGRID, ORCHESTRA) and participated in 35+ others. National projects include roles as Scientific Director of the Greek School Network and CTI’s Network Technologies Division. Labs & Teams: Directs the High Speed Communication Networks Lab (HSCNL), collaborating with global institutions on optical networks, edge cloud, and smart grids. The lab’s work includes EU-funded projects on 5G, data centers, and renewable energy integration.
Foundation for research and technology-hellasGreece
Jovan Stojkovic is an incoming Assistant Professor at the Department of Computer Science at the University of Texas at Austin, set to join in Fall 2026. Prior to his appointment at UT Austin, he will spend a year at Meta working with the AI and Systems Co-design group. His research focuses on cloud computing and datacenters, with particular emphasis on cloud-native workloads and machine learning inference. Education: PhD in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, advised by Professor Josep Torrellas Undergraduate studies at the School of Electrical Engineering, University of Belgrade, Serbia, where he was recognized as the best student of the Computer Engineering and Information Theory Department every year from 2017-2020 Research Interests: Jovan's research focuses on cloud computing and datacenters , with two primary domains: Cloud-native workloads , such as microservices and serverless computing. He investigates how to co-design novel hardware platforms and software systems that deliver orders-of-magnitude improvements in performance, energy efficiency, and resource utilization for these emerging workloads. Machine Learning (ML) inference , particularly large language models (LLMs). His work addresses the challenges of ML inference through smart scheduling, workload placement, and system-level configuration tuning to reduce energy, power, and thermal overheads while maintaining performance and accuracy guarantees. Publication Trends: Jovan's publications demonstrate a strong focus on optimizing cloud infrastructure for emerging workloads. His research spans across serverless computing, microservices, and large language model inference. A clear trend emerges in his work: addressing the performance, energy efficiency, and resource utilization challenges of modern cloud workloads through innovative hardware-software co-design approaches. His most recent work shows increasing focus on LLM inference optimization, particularly in the areas of thermal management, power efficiency, and scheduling for many-adapter environments. Awards and Honors: HPCA Best Paper Award (2025) IEEE MICRO Top Picks Honorable Mention (2024) 6 patents with IBM and Microsoft on: Serverless systems, Processor overclocking in the cloud, and Energy-efficient LLM inference W. J. Poppelbaum Memorial Award (2025) for hardware and architecture innovation Mavis Future Faculty Fellowship (2024–2025) Invited to present at 11th Heidelberg Laureate Forum (2024) Kenichi Miura Award (2022) for excellence in High Performance Computing Multiple student travel grants to ISCA, MICRO, ASPLOS, and HPCA Advising and Grants: Jovan is actively seeking prospective PhD students for his research group at UT Austin. His research has been supported through collaborations with major tech companies including IBM, Microsoft, and Meta. His six patents with IBM and Microsoft demonstrate the practical impact of his research in serverless systems, processor overclocking, and energy-efficient LLM inference. His work on serverless computing (MXFaaS, EcoFaaS) and LLM inference optimization has received significant recognition in top-tier computer architecture conferences. Research Groups: During his PhD at UIUC, Jovan worked with Professor Josep Torrellas on cloud infrastructure research. He has collaborated extensively with researchers at IBM Research (particularly Hubertus Franke) and Microsoft (particularly Íñigo Goiri and Ricardo Bianchini). His upcoming position at UT Austin will establish his independent research group focused on cloud computing and datacenter systems. His year at Meta working with the AI and Systems Co-design group will further strengthen his expertise in AI infrastructure.
Anastasios Zafeiropoulos serves as Assistant Professor at Harokopio University of Athens, specializing in Spatial Data Management and Analysis within the Postgraduate Studies Program for “Applied Geography and Spatial Management” (Direction C: Geoinformatics). His academic role encompasses teaching “Spatial Databases” and advancing research at the intersection of geospatial technologies and distributed computing systems. His research program focuses on Spatial Databases, Internet of Things (IoT), Cloud/Edge Computing, and 6G Network Orchestration, with significant extensions into Knowledge Graph applications for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and socio-emotional learning in education. Key innovations include the EduCardia methodology for student competency assessment and frameworks for climate vulnerability analysis using knowledge graphs. Analysis of his 2024-2025 publications reveals three dominant thrusts: (1) AI-driven orchestration of 6G services across the computing continuum using reinforcement learning; (2) Knowledge Graph applications for SDG interlinkage analysis and materials science; (3) EU-funded IoT/Edge Computing project ecosystems. His work consistently bridges theoretical networking concepts with practical sustainability and educational applications. Dr. Zafeiropoulos actively contributes to EU-funded initiatives in IoT and Edge Computing standardization, particularly through AIOTI WG Standardisation. His project portfolio includes NEPHELE multi-cloud ecosystem development and O-RAN slice admission control research, demonstrating strong industry-academia collaboration in next-generation networking. He leads the development of innovative tools including Palindrome.js for distributed system visualization and the EmoSocio open-access emotional intelligence model, reflecting his commitment to translating research into practical educational and environmental solutions.
George Kousiouris is an Associate Professor at the Department of Informatics and Telematics , Harokopio University of Athens . He holds a Ph.D. in Cloud Computing from the National Technical University of Athens (2012) and a Dipl. Eng. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Patras (2005). His research focuses on Cloud Platforms , Serverless Computing (FaaS) , IoT Infrastructure , and Performance Engineering . He has led major EU-funded projects such as H2020 PHYSICS (lead architect), BigDataStack , and CloudPerfect , contributing to cloud service benchmarking, FaaS frameworks, and edge-cloud collaboration. His work emphasizes practical applications in healthcare, smart agriculture, and urban network analysis. Over 70 publications highlight his expertise in cloud resource optimization , service-level agreements , and data-driven infrastructure management . His recent work explores sustainable computing , human-AI collaboration , and conversational AI for MLOps . Key Projects: PHYSICS, BigDataStack, CloudPerfect, SLALOM, COSMOS Research Highlights: FaaS performance benchmarking, IoT event processing, hybrid-cloud workflows Awards/Grants: Multiple EU H2020 and FP7 project leadership roles He advises on cloud migration methodologies (e.g., ARTIST framework) and contributes to regulatory compliance frameworks like GDPR via semantic ontologies.
Foundation for research and technology-hellasGreece
Antony Chazapis is a postdoctoral researcher at the Computer Architecture and VLSI Systems Lab (CARV), Institute of Computer Science, Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas (FORTH-ICS), and a visiting instructor at the Computer Science Department, University of Crete. He holds a PhD from the National Technical University of Athens (2009) and has extensive experience in both industry and academia, focusing on distributed systems, cloud computing, and high-performance computing (HPC). His research interests span Cloud-Native Architectures , Kubernetes , Containerization , Microservices , DevOps , MLOps , and AI/ML acceleration . He actively works on integrating cloud technologies with HPC, aiming to build next-generation European supercomputing and cloud infrastructures. The most recent publications highlight a strong trend in Kubernetes-HPC convergence , cloud-native workflows , and containerized HPC environments . His work explores orchestration, isolation, performance optimization, and runtime frameworks for heterogeneous accelerators, indicating deep engagement in modern distributed system design. He teaches the postgraduate course CS-548: Cloud-native Software Architectures , covering containerization, microservices, serverless computing, and advanced Kubernetes internals. Students engage in hands-on exercises and projects related to scaling, CI/CD, and cloud service integration. Antony Chazapis contributes to European research initiatives focused on unifying cloud and HPC technologies. He is also a creator and contributor to various open-source projects, demonstrating strong community engagement and practical software development skills.
Foundation for research and technology-hellasGreece
Angelos Bilas is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Crete, Greece, and a collaborating researcher at FORTH-ICS (Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas). He received his PhD in Computer Science from Princeton University in 1998 and has held academic positions at the University of Crete since 2002, including Department Chair (2016-2020). His research focuses on systems software for storage systems, computing architectures, and parallel systems with emphasis on flash storage optimization. PhD, Princeton University (1998) MA, Princeton University (1995) BEng, University of Patras (1993) His research interests span computer systems, storage architectures, and parallel computing , with notable contributions in memory-mapped I/O optimization, LSM key-value store design, and heterogeneous accelerator integration. He has developed frameworks like TeraHeap for DRAM pressure mitigation in big data systems and Arax for decoupling applications from accelerators. Prominent trends in his recent publications include flash storage optimization (TeraHeap), LSM tree efficiency (Tebis), and cloud-HPC convergence (EVOLVE, KNoC). His work appears in top venues like ASPLOS, USENIX ATC, and ACM Transactions on Storage. Scientific recognitions include: Marie Curie Excellent Teams Award (2005-2009) Best Presentation Award, USENIX HotStorage'20 He has served on editorial boards (ACM Transactions on Storage) and program committees (ACM HotStorage, HPCA). His research involves 35 master’s and 8 PhD students, with 45+ EU/national projects and 4 patents licensed to industry.
Dimitrios Soudris is a Professor at the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), leading the Microprocessor and Digital Systems Lab (MicroLab). Previously, he served as Lecturer, Assistant, and Associate Professor at Democritus University of Thrace from 1995 to 2008. Diploma in Electrical Engineering (1987), University of Patras PhD in Electrical Engineering (1992), University of Patras His research focuses on Embedded Systems , Reconfigurable Architectures (FPGAs) , Hardware Accelerators for data centers/space/cloud, Edge Computing , and Low Power VLSI Design . Recent publications highlight trends in: AI/ML acceleration for edge and space applications Secure FPGA architectures for 6G networks Energy-efficient heterogeneous memory systems Approximate computing techniques Transformer optimization for low-power contexts Scientific Awards: INTEL and IBM awards (project LPGD #25256) HiPEAC, DAC, and ISCA awards (2010–2024) XILINX Open Hardware Design Contest (2017, 2019, 2021) He has coordinated >70 R&D projects funded by the European Commission, ENIAC-JU, ESA, and industry partners. As Associate Editor of ACM TODAES and conference chair (PATMOS, VLSI-SOC), he contributes to academic leadership. His lab, MicroLab, specializes in hardware-software co-design for emerging computing paradigms.
