Hans-Peter Seidel is a leading academic in computer graphics, serving as Director of the Max Planck Institute for Informatics and Full Professor at Saarland University since 1999. Previously held roles include Full Professor at University of Erlangen (1992–1999) and Assistant Professor at University of Waterloo (1989–1992). Holds a PhD in Mathematics (1987) and Habilitation in Informatics (1989) from University of Tübingen. Research focuses on 3D image analysis, digital geometry processing, visual computing, and free viewpoint rendering. Key achievements include pioneering work in surface editing, motion capture, and multi-view video processing. Has organized major conferences like Eurographics and SIGGRAPH, serving as editor for journals including IEEE TVCG and Computer Aided Geometric Design. Recipient of the Eurographics Distinguished Career Award (2012), Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize (2003), and numerous fellowships. Led initiatives such as the Cluster of Excellence on Multimodal Computing and Interaction (M2CI) and the Max Planck Center for Visual Computing and Communication (MPC-VCC). Active in academic leadership roles including Eurographics Chair and DFG committees. Publications span over 30 SIGGRAPH and 50 Eurographics contributions, with an h-index of 62 and 14,000+ citations. Recognized as a top-cited researcher in computer graphics. Current research explores advanced visualization techniques and geometric modeling innovations.
Prof. Peter Purgathofer is an Associate Professor at TU Wien's Department of Human Computer Interaction within the Faculty of Informatics. His work focuses on interdisciplinary research at the intersection of technology, design, and society. He leads projects such as 'Gesture controlled computer game for dementia prevention' and 'Haptic e-learning instrument for handicapped pupils,' demonstrating expertise in healthcare technologies and inclusive design. His research emphasizes ethical AI, game design for education, and human-centered interaction paradigms. Education background includes advanced degrees in engineering and informatics, reflected in his dual role as educator and researcher. Notable contributions include co-creating flipped classroom models for large cohorts, integrating adversarial chatbots into AI ethics curricula, and developing peer-review frameworks for large university courses. Over 20 student theses supervised span topics from AI ethics to gamified health interventions. Publications highlight his work in design-based research, educational technology, and healthcare applications. Projects often involve co-creation with students and end-users, emphasizing participatory design principles. Ongoing interests include responsible innovation in technology and bridging societal challenges through interactive systems.
Eduard Gröller is a Full Professor of Visualization at the Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien), leading the Research Unit of Computer Graphics and the Visualization Group within the Institute of Visual Computing & Human-Centered Technology (VC&HCT). He holds adjunct professorships at the University of Bergen, Norway, and chairs several academic committees. His academic journey began with a PhD in 1993 from TU Wien, followed by extensive contributions to visualization research. His research focuses on visual computing, scientific visualization, and medical imaging, with applications in energy modeling, climate analysis, and molecular biology. Gröller has pioneered methods like BEMTrace for BIM-based energy models and HORA 3D for flood risk visualization. He co-authored over 300 publications, including foundational work in IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics and Computer Graphics Forum . Gröller's awards include the IEEE VGTC Technical Achievement Award (2019), Eurographics 2015 Outstanding Technical Contributions Award, and Fellow of the Eurographics Association (2009). He actively contributes to conferences like EuroVis and IEEE Visualization as program chair and reviewer. His educational efforts span courses in visual computing, graphics, and data analysis, with a focus on immersive tools like ImNDT for material data exploration. Current projects include Climate-Sensitive Adaptive Planning for Resilient Cities, Visual Analytics in Radiation Therapy, and scalable web-based visualization techniques. He leads teams in VRVis, a research center for applied visualization, and collaborates internationally on medical imaging and environmental data challenges.
Florian Grassinger is a Junior Researcher at the Institute of Creative Media/Technologies, Department of Media and Digital Technologies at Fachhochschule St. Pölten (University of Applied Sciences St. Pölten). He has been working in the Media Computing Research Group since July 2016, focusing on data visualization, visual analytics, and interactive systems. His educational background includes: Bachelor's degree in Industrial Simulation (2010-2014) from FH St. Pölten Master's degree in Digital Healthcare (2014-2016) from FH St. Pölten Grassinger's research focuses on making data more accessible and understandable through innovative visualization techniques. His work spans data visualization, visual analytics, and visualization onboarding, with particular emphasis on multimodal data representation (making data visible, audible, and tangible). He explores how to effectively guide users in understanding complex visualizations through educational theories and interactive systems design. His research has applications in diverse domains including healthcare (particularly dementia care), facility management, and data journalism. His publication record shows a strong focus on visualization onboarding techniques, data physicalization, and multimodal data representation. Over the past several years, his work has increasingly addressed practical applications of visualization in real-world contexts such as dementia care counseling and facility management systems. He frequently collaborates with researchers like Wolfgang Aigner and Christina Stoiber on advancing visualization literacy and developing more intuitive visualization interfaces. Grassinger is actively involved in numerous research projects including the Josef Ressel Center Industrial Data Lab, IoT4LAC, Dataskop, and SEVA (Self-Explanatory Visual Analytics). These projects focus on applying visualization techniques to solve practical problems in domains ranging from community IoT applications to data-driven journalism.
Camille Schreck is a researcher in Computer Graphics currently holding an Inria Starting Faculty Position (ISFP) at Inria Nancy within the MFX Team. She has been actively contributing to the field of computer graphics with a focus on physics-based simulation and geometric modeling since completing her PhD in 2016. Her educational background includes an engineering degree from ENSIMAG (Grenoble INP) in 2013, followed by a PhD at the University of Grenoble-Alpes supervised by Stefanie Hahmann and Damien Rohmer. Between 2016 and 2020, she conducted postdoctoral research at IST Austria in Chris Wojtan's group. Dr. Schreck's research spans physics-based simulation of natural phenomena, geometric modeling, and computational fabrication techniques. Her work demonstrates particular expertise in simulating deformable materials like paper, water dynamics, and developing novel methods for 3D printing and shape manipulation. She has successfully bridged theoretical computer graphics with practical applications in digital fabrication. Her publication record shows consistent high-impact contributions to top computer graphics venues including SIGGRAPH, Eurographics, and Computer Graphics Forum, with recent work focusing on star-shaped particle simulation, self-shaping 3D printed structures, and efficient mesh processing techniques. The progression of her research demonstrates a clear trajectory from fundamental paper simulation to increasingly complex physical phenomena and fabrication methods. Young Research Fellow of Eurographics France (YFR EGFR) - 2024 Dr. Schreck serves on numerous program committees including SIGGRAPH, Eurographics, and Shape Modeling International. She teaches courses in computer graphics and parallelism at ENSG-GeoRessources and Telecom Nancy, both part of Université de Lorraine. Her teaching spans from 2020 to the current 2024-2025 academic year. As a member of the MFX research team at LORIA (Inria Nancy), she collaborates on advancing the state of the art in physics-based animation and geometric modeling, with her StarDEM project representing a significant contribution to particle simulation methods.
Cansu Demir is a Researcher at the University of Salzburg within the Artificial Intelligence and Human Interfaces department. She holds a Dr. technical and M.Sc. in Human-Computer Interaction alongside a B.Sc. in Computer Science, with research centered on human-AI interaction in automated vehicles and emergency response systems. Education Dr. technical in Human-Computer Interaction M.Sc. in Human-Computer Interaction B.Sc. in Computer Science Her work investigates trust dynamics in autonomous systems, mode awareness transitions via ambient interfaces, and empathic communication to mitigate bystander effects in accidents. She designs and evaluates in-vehicle agents that enhance driver-vehicle collaboration through innovative sensory feedback mechanisms. Recent publications (2021-2024) reveal consistent focus on automotive human factors, with growing emphasis on empathic AI for crisis scenarios and SAE Level 5 autonomy challenges. Her research bridges theoretical HCI frameworks with real-world vehicle interface implementations. Scientific Awards Best paper award in AUI'21 (2021) Exclusive Salzburg AG Scholarship (2022) Performance Scholarship for Master’s excellence (2023) Marie Andeßner Prize for Master's Thesis (2024) World EXPO 2025 Travel Grant (2025) As a core contributor to the EXDIGIT project (2022-2028), she secures interdisciplinary funding while mentoring junior researchers. Her grant portfolio emphasizes European collaborative frameworks for digital innovation. She operates within Salzburg’s AI and Human Interfaces research cluster, collaborating with international teams across the EXDIGIT consortium on long-term automated vehicle studies.
Jakob Doppler is a full-time Professor at the St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences , where he leads the Center for Digital Health and Social Innovation and the Department of Media and Digital Technologies . He spearheads master's programs in Citizen-Centered Digital Health and Social Care and Digital Healthcare , integrating technology with social care solutions. His research focuses on context computing , human activity recognition , and music information retrieval , with applications in elderly care, rehabilitation technology, and digital innovation. Projects like Smart Companion , EyeQTrack , and SONIGait demonstrate his work in AI-assisted living, XR training, and wearable sonification devices for Parkinson's patients. Publications span digital health frameworks , gait rehabilitation systems , and user-centered design for aging populations. His work bridges computer science and health sciences , emphasizing interdisciplinary collaboration and real-time feedback mechanisms . He actively contributes to ambient assisted living through multi-device platforms and smart home environments .
Roderick Bloem is Full Professor of Computer Science at Graz University of Technology, heading the Institute of Information Security. He holds MSc from Leiden University (1996) and PhD from University of Colorado Boulder (2001). His research develops formal methods for verification, reactive synthesis, and hardware security. Current projects include: adaptive simplex architectures for safety-critical systems, controller synthesis for blackbox systems, provably secure cryptographic implementations, and threat model repair frameworks. Bloem edited the Handbook of Model Checking and organized premier conferences including Computer Aided Verification (CAV) and Formal Methods in Computer Aided Design (FMCAD). He leads Austrian National Research Network on Rigorous Systems Engineering.
Thomas A. Henzinger is a distinguished academic and current President of the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (IST Austria) since 2009. He previously held professorial positions at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) from 2004, University of California, Berkeley (1996-2004) as Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, and served as Director at the Max Planck Institute for Computer Science (1999-2000). His academic career spans leadership roles in theoretical computer science and systems biology. Education: PhD in Computer Science, Stanford University (1991) Research Interests focus on computer-aided verification , model checking , concurrency theory , real-time systems , and embedded software . These areas address the formal analysis and design of complex software systems. Scientific Awards include: ACM Fellow IEEE Fellow Wittgenstein Award (2012) Foreign Member, Royal Society, UK (2024) Henzinger has been actively involved in academic governance, serving as President of IST Austria and contributing to numerous professional societies. His work bridges theoretical foundations with practical applications in software engineering and systems biology.
Bernd Becker is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Freiburg, where he has led the Chair of Computer Architecture until 2021. He previously served as Dean of the Faculty of Engineering (2010–2012) and held roles at institutions like the University of Tokyo (Visiting Professor, 2009/2010) and J.W. Goethe University Frankfurt (Professor of Complexity Theory, 1989–1995). His research focuses on VLSI CAD, algorithm optimization for circuit testing, and reliability of embedded systems. He has authored over 350 peer-reviewed publications and holds patents in VLSI design. Education: He earned his PhD in Computer Science from the University of Saarland (1982) and completed Habilitation (1988) under Prof. G. Hotz. His doctoral thesis addressed graph embedding, while his habilitation focused on Boolean circuit design and testing. Research Interests: Becker specializes in symbolic methods for circuit verification, formal safety protocols, and nanoelectronics testing. His work bridges academic and industrial applications, emphasizing efficient algorithms for CAD tools. Recent projects include reliability frameworks for embedded systems and advanced test methodologies for emerging nanoelectronics. Awards: Recognized as an IEEE Fellow (2008), he has received multiple teaching awards (2012–2013) and the EDA Medal (2021). He actively contributes to academic governance, serving on steering committees for conferences like DATE and ETS, and co-led the Transregional Collaborative Research Center AVACS (2003–2015). Professional Roles: He has been a member of the Scientific Directorate at Schloss Dagstuhl (2011–2019), the Board of Directors for the Centre for Security and Society (since 2010), and has organized major international symposia including ISMVL 1999 and ETS 2007.
Peter Hehenberger is a Professor and Research Group Head of the 'Smart Mechatronics Engineering' group at the University of Applied Sciences Wels . His primary affiliation is with the Department of Smart Mechatronics Engineering. He specializes in model-based mechatronic system design, computer-aided production systems, and product lifecycle management. Research Interests: Cyber-physical systems, agile product-service systems, energy-efficient manufacturing, and sustainable industrial processes. Key Projects: EnerMan (energy-efficient manufacturing), BF-APPSDe (agile product-service systems), SmaPro2 (smart production networks), and MoCy (model-based design for cyber-physical systems). He actively collaborates on international research initiatives focusing on sustainable manufacturing and smart production systems. His work integrates digital twin technology, lifecycle assessment, and systems engineering methodologies. He serves as an editorial board member for International Journal of Product Lifecycle Management and IFAC Mechatronics Journal . He has presented at conferences such as ERFA Kreislaufwirtschaft and organized events like CAD'24. His research outputs span over 180 publications with an h-index of 13, emphasizing energy management, mechatronics, and industrial sustainability.
Prof. Daniel Müller-Gritschneder is a Full Professor of Computer Architecture at TU Wien's Institute of Computer Engineering (Faculty of Informatics) since 2024. Previously, he held roles as research group leader at TU Munich's Chair of Electronic Design Automation and acting professor for Real-Time Systems at TU Munich. He earned his Dipl.-Ing. (2003), Dr.-Ing. (2009), and Habilitation (2019) from TU Munich. His research focuses on Electronic System Level Design, RISC-V domain-specific architectures, embedded ML compiler toolchains, functional safety, and hardware security. He collaborates extensively with industry partners like Infineon, Bosch, BMW, and Mercedes. Active in the RISC-V community, he co-initiated the RISC-V Summit Europe and serves on steering committees for conferences such as DAC, ICCAD, and DATE. Key Research Themes: RISC-V ISA extensions and toolchain development Edge AI/ML on embedded systems Secure and safety-critical processor design High-level synthesis and performance simulation Awards: Best Student Paper Award (2024), IEEE Winter Conference on Computer Vision Habilitationspreis (2019), TU Munich Alumni Association Senior IEEE Member (2019) Teaching includes courses like 'High-Level Synthesis', 'Computer Organization', and 'Embedded Systems Design'. Current projects involve lightweight software for IoT devices and pre-silicon validation of safety-critical RISC-V systems. His work bridges academic research with industrial application through collaborative projects and open-source tool development.
Orna Grumberg is a Leumi Chair Professor in the Computer Science Department at the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology. She has held this professorship since 2005 and was awarded the Leumi Chair in Science in 2011. Professor Grumberg serves on the Steering Committee of the Computer-Aided Verification (CAV) conference and has been actively involved in the academic community through editorial boards and conference committees. Her educational background is deeply rooted at the Technion, where she received her B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D. in Computer Science. Professor Grumberg's research spans several critical areas in computer science, with a primary focus on formal verification methods. Her work has significantly advanced the field of model checking and automated verification systems. She has made substantial contributions to abstraction techniques, refinement methods, and counterexample analysis in verification processes. Her research extends to compositional model checking, SAT-based approaches, distributed verification systems, and applications to security vulnerability detection. Her theoretical work on temporal logics and automata on infinite objects provides the mathematical foundation for many practical verification tools. The publication record of Professor Grumberg demonstrates a consistent research trajectory focused on improving model checking techniques. Her work shows evolution from foundational model checking approaches to more specialized techniques like abstraction-refinement, SAT-based solving, and security applications. The research spans theoretical computer science, practical software engineering applications, and hardware verification, reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of formal methods. Professor Grumberg has received recognition through her leadership roles in the field, including serving on the Steering Committee of the CAV conference and editorial boards of prestigious journals like "Information and Computation" and "Formal Methods in System Design". Her book "Model Checking" co-authored with E.M. Clarke and D. Peled has become the standard reference in the field. As an educator and mentor, Professor Grumberg has shaped the verification landscape in Israel. She served as Associate Dean for Graduate Studies at the Technion and established the software engineering track with a strong verification component. Her introductory model checking course attracts approximately 100 students annually. Her students now hold prominent positions in academia (Hebrew University, Tel-Aviv University) and industry (particularly at IBM). She maintains strong industry collaborations, with ongoing projects with IBM on UML Verification and with Rafael on Finding Security Vulnerabilities in Network Protocols. Professor Grumberg leads research groups that form the foundation for verification teams in major Israeli technology companies like IBM and Intel, demonstrating the practical impact of her academic work.
Thomas-Peter Fries is a Professor at the Institute of Structural Analysis, TU Graz. His research focuses on computational mechanics, fluid-structure interaction (FSI), and biomedical engineering, particularly in modeling aortic dissection and hydraulic fracturing. He develops advanced numerical methods like the Trace Finite Element Method (TraceFEM), XFEM, and higher-order meshing techniques for complex geometries. Fries leads projects funded by FWF and EU, collaborating internationally on cardiovascular simulations and material science. His work bridges CAD integration, patient-specific modeling, and multiphysics problems, emphasizing accuracy and efficiency in FSI simulations. Education and affiliations: PhD and habilitation in engineering, with extensive contributions to computational methods for structural analysis and fluid dynamics. Active in conferences and editorial roles, he has over 140 publications and 20+ projects since 2005. Research areas include fracture mechanics, numerical mathematics, and CFD applications in biomedical systems. Key Projects : Embedded Manifolds : Continuously embedded manifold models in mechanics (FWF-funded, 2025–2029) Aortic Dissection : Simulating fluid-structure-crack interactions and thrombus formation (2018–2020) VEGA : CAD-based virtual prototyping with boundary element methods (2021–2025) Scientific Contributions : Pioneered level-set-based methods for embedded substructures and FSI Developed high-order meshing schemes for implicit geometries Advanced patient-specific models for hemodynamics and aortic pathology Labs/Teams : Part of TU Graz’s interdisciplinary teams in computational biomechanics and structural analysis. Collaborates with experts in cardiovascular medicine, materials science, and computer science.
Urs Hirschberg is Professor of Representation of Architecture and New Media at the Faculty of Architecture, Graz University of Technology (TU Graz). He has led the Institute of Architecture and Media (IAM) at TU Graz since its founding in 2004 and heads the TU Graz Field of Expertise 'Sustainable Systems.' Previously, he served as Dean of the Faculty of Architecture for nine years. His research focuses on augmented architecture , exploring how digital technologies enhance architectural design and production, and how new media integrates into built environments. He has contributed to foundational works like the Atlas of Digital Architecture (2020), a key reference on digital methods in architecture. He co-founded and edits Graz Architecture Magazine (GAM) and the ARENA Journal of Architectural Research (AJAR) , and is a founding member of the Architectural Informatics Working Group (ak:ai). He held leadership roles in the European Association for Architectural Education (EAAE), including President (2012–2013).
