Allen J. Scott is a Distinguished Research Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, with a joint appointment in the Department of Public Policy (School of Public Affairs) and Department of Geography. He has held prestigious positions at UCLA since 1994 and previously at the University of Toronto (1969–1994). His career spans over five decades, focusing on urban geography, regional development, and cultural economy. Education : BA (1961) from Oxford University; MA and PhD (1962, 1965) from Northwestern University. Research Interests include: Creative cities and cognitive-cultural capitalism Political economy of urbanization and globalization Industrial clusters and labor-intensive economies Human capital distribution in metropolitan areas Cultural landscapes and peripheral development Publication Trends (2005–2014) emphasize: Globalization's impact on low-technology industries Cognitive-cultural capitalism in urban contexts Human capital dynamics in metropolitan hierarchies Celebrity culture and urban glamour Creative field theories and urban policy implications Scientific Awards : 1986 Guggenheim Fellow 2003 Vautrin Lud Prize 2005 Meridian Book Prize 1999–2013: Chaires d’Excellence, Fellowships, and Doctor Honoris Causa 2008 Carol and Bruce Mallen Lifetime Achievement Award 2003 ISI Highly Cited Author
Lorraine (Xiang) Li is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Computing and Information (SCI). Her research focuses on the intersection of natural language processing, commonsense reasoning, knowledge representation, and machine learning, particularly in designing probabilistic models and evaluation methods for implicit commonsense knowledge in language. Li holds a PhD from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and previously worked as a young investigator with the Mosaic team at AI2. She has an M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Chicago, where she conducted research at TTIC. Her work emphasizes advancing AI’s ability to reason contextually and generate robust, human-like understanding through probabilistic frameworks. Key research themes include bias detection in reasoning models, iterative model editing, domain adaptation with LLMs, and evaluating commonsense through probabilistic measures. Her recent publications explore challenges like confirmation bias in chain-of-thought reasoning and geographical robustness in object recognition. Li actively contributes to the NLP community, serving on program committees for ACL, EMNLP, NAACL, and ARR. Though no formal awards are listed, her prolific publication record reflects her impact in AI research. She currently leads research in procedural knowledge models (e.g., Plasma) and long-tail knowledge generation, advancing foundational AI methodologies.
Paulo Blikstein serves as Associate Professor of Communications, Media and Learning Technology Design at Columbia University. Previously, he was Assistant Professor of Education and (by courtesy) Computer Science at Stanford University and co-founded the Lemann Center for Brazilian Education (2008-2018). Education: Ph.D. in Learning Sciences, Northwestern University (2009) M.A. in Media Arts & Sciences, MIT Media Lab (2002) M.Eng. in Electronic Engineering, University of São Paulo (2000) B.S. in Metallurgical Engineering, University of São Paulo (1998) His research pioneers constructionist learning environments through digital fabrication, educational robotics, and tangible interfaces—focusing on equitable access for underserved communities. Inspired by Paulo Freire and Seymour Papert, he develops open-source tools like the GoGo Board robotics platform and leads the global FabLab@School initiative establishing fabrication labs in schools across four continents. Current work emphasizes multimodal learning analytics to study student interactions in maker-centered classrooms. Publications reveal strong focus on democratizing invention through maker education, with recurring themes in constructionist theory application, multimodal assessment, and context-specific technology adaptation. Brazilian education reform and low-cost computational solutions form significant threads, particularly in 2016-2017 publications. Scientific Awards: Two Google Faculty Awards National Science Foundation Early Career Award (highest U.S. government honor for early-career scientists) Blikstein directs the Transformative Learning Technologies Lab (TLTL) and co-founded Stanford's Center for Educational Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Brazil. His FabLearn conference established the first academic forum on Maker Movement applications in education. While specific grant details aren't listed, the NSF CAREER Award signifies major federal research funding. He spearheads the FabLab@School project deploying advanced fabrication labs in K-12 institutions worldwide and founded the FabLearn conference series. His work integrates teams of engineers, educators, and designers to create scalable solutions for resource-constrained learning environments.
Ranjay Krishna is an Assistant Professor at the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington, where he co-directs the RAIVN lab and leads the computer vision team at the Allen Institute for AI (Ai2). His research intersects computer vision , natural language processing , robotics , and human-computer interaction . PhD in Computer Science from Stanford University (2021) Bachelor's and Master's degrees from Stanford and Cornell His work has received best paper , outstanding paper , and orals at top conferences like CVPR, ACL, CSCW, NeurIPS, UIST, and ECCV. Media outlets including Science , Forbes , and PBS NOVA have covered his research. He has been supported by grants from Google , Apple , NFS , and others. Ranjay advises a diverse group of 15 PhD and postdoctoral researchers , including Jieyu Zhang, Benlin Liu, and Cheng-Yu Hsieh. His teams have developed benchmarks like MemoryBench and The Colosseum , and his PathFinder framework achieved 74% accuracy in skin melanoma diagnosis—surpassing human experts by 9%. Notable contributions include: Perception Tokens for visual reasoning in MLMs SAM2Act for robotic manipulation with memory Synthetic Visual Genome dataset with 5.6M relationships
Jeff B Murray serves as Professor and Department Chair in the Department of Marketing at the Sam M. Walton College of Business, University of Arkansas, teaching in the full-time MBA, Executive MBA, and Marketing Doctoral programs. His leadership extends to international doctoral seminars across Europe and Australia, reflecting his scholarly influence. His academic foundation includes a Ph.D. from Virginia Tech. His research program examines critical marketing, interpretive consumer research, and philosophy of science through frameworks like Consumer Culture Theory and Transformative Consumer Research. Murray's scholarly contributions reveal a trajectory from foundational critical theory toward contemporary applications in arts markets, sustainable fashion, and digital consumption. His work consistently bridges philosophical inquiry with empirical consumer phenomena, emphasizing emancipatory interests and societal transformation. Recent publications demonstrate growing interdisciplinary engagement with sociology, anthropology, and sustainability studies. Outstanding All-Around Professor Award (2002) Charles and Nadine Baum Faculty Teaching Award (2002) Editorial board service for leading journals including Journal of Consumer Research He mentors doctoral students now holding faculty positions globally, with recent workshops in Germany, France, and Scandinavia highlighting his international impact. His professional engagements span the American Marketing Association, Association for Consumer Research, and American Sociological Association, where he contributes to critical theory development through initiatives like Consumer Culture Theory. Murray maintains active scholarly networks through Transformative Consumer Research and regularly presents at international conferences, advancing critical perspectives on marketing's societal role.
Toby Jia-Jun Li is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Notre Dame, where he leads the SaNDwich Lab. He also serves as the Director of the Human-Centered Responsible AI Lab in the Lucy Family Institute for Data & Society and is a Faculty Fellow at the Institute for Educational Initiatives (IEI). Previously, he was affiliated with Carnegie Mellon University's Human-Computer Interaction Institute (HCII) and GroupLens Research. Dr. Li's research spans the intersection of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), End-User Software Engineering, Machine Learning (ML), and Natural Language Processing (NLP), with recent work focusing on addressing societal challenges in the future of work through human-AI collaborative approaches. His work has resulted in over 40 publications at premier venues including CHI, UIST, CSCW, ACL, and ICSE, with 8 papers winning Best Paper or Honorable Mention awards. His recent publications demonstrate a strong focus on human-AI collaboration across various domains, including code understanding, privacy, accessibility, and creative tools. The work shows a trajectory toward increasingly sophisticated integration of human-centered design with AI capabilities, particularly using large language models to enhance human productivity and address societal challenges. Google Research Scholar Award recipient Recipient of Yahoo! Fellowship ($100,000/year) Best Paper Award at UIST 2020 Best Paper Honorable Mention Award at CHI 2021 Best Paper Award at CSCW 2024 Best Paper Award at CHI 2025 Dr. Li actively mentors Ph.D. students and has established collaborations with Google, Microsoft Research, IBM Research, Adobe, Verizon, and J.P. Morgan. His research has been supported by NSF, Google Research Scholar Program, AnalytiXIN Initiative, Yahoo! InMind project, and J.P. Morgan. He is currently recruiting Ph.D. students and undergraduate researchers for his SaNDwich Lab, which focuses on developing interactive systems to empower individuals to create, configure, and extend AI-powered computing systems.
Dr. Farha Sattar is a Lecturer in Education (Mathematics) at the Faculty of Arts and Society, Charles Darwin University. With over thirty years of teaching experience in Mathematics, Science education, GIS, Remote Sensing, and e-Learning technologies at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, Dr. Sattar brings extensive expertise to her academic role. She holds a PhD in Geospatial Science from Charles Darwin University, focusing on Spatial Mathematical Modelling for 3D Gully Mapping and Erosion Quantification. Her educational background includes: PhD in Geospatial Science (Three Dimensional Gully Mapping and Erosion Quantification within a Geoinformatics Framework), Charles Darwin University (2012) Prior academic experience at several Asian and European universities Dr. Sattar's research spans multiple interdisciplinary fields with a strong focus on the intersection of education and technology. Her primary research interests include Mathematics Education, STEM Education, Geoscience Education, Spatial Mathematical Modelling, Drone Technology, Remote Sensing, Geographic Information Systems, and Innovative Pedagogies such as experiential learning and inquiry-based approaches. She has developed expertise in cognitive development, particularly in fostering critical and creative thinking skills through iSTEM approaches. An analysis of Dr. Sattar's recent publications reveals a consistent trajectory toward integrating emerging technologies like drones, augmented reality, and geospatial artificial intelligence into educational contexts. Her work demonstrates a progression from foundational geospatial research on erosion mapping to innovative applications in STEM education. Recent publications increasingly focus on drone technology for educational purposes, spatial data infrastructure for policy development, and computational thinking development through technology-enhanced learning. Dr. Sattar has received numerous accolades for her contributions to education and research: NT Science Week Awards – Inspired NT STEM Hero of the Year award (2021) Long Service Recognition Award (2023) Finalist, CDU Alumni Award (2023) Multiple Best Presentation Awards (2008, 2010, 2017) Australian College of Educators - 2021 College Medal Nominee As a supervisor, Dr. Sattar mentors postgraduate research students including Ayesha Farhan, who is working on "A Framework for Cognitive Development: Fostering Critical and Creative Thinking Skills, Using iSTEM Approach." She actively secures research funding through various projects such as "DBELaSTEM: Drone-Based Experiential Learning and STEM Education," "STEM_D & VR: Youth STEM Learning and Empowerment with Drones and VR," and "CodProg Drone Lab." Her research is supported by grants from NT Government projects and other external funding sources. Dr. Sattar leads the CodProg Drone Lab, an innovative research space exploring drone technology applications in education. She is a certified drone pilot and aeronautical radio operator, which enables her to bridge theoretical knowledge with practical applications. Her work with the "Flying Forward: Drones, STEM Equity, and Indigenous Empowerment" initiative demonstrates her commitment to community engagement and addressing educational disparities through technology.
Prof. Anya Belz is Full Professor of Computer Science at Dublin City University's School of Computing and Science Lead at ADAPT Research Centre. A leading NLP researcher with PhD-level expertise, she specializes in natural language generation, evaluation methodologies, and multimodal systems. Recipient of multiple best paper awards and NAACL Test of Time Award nomination. Research innovations include foundational work on statistical language generation (deployed in weather forecasting systems), comparative evaluation frameworks, vision-language integration, and reproducibility quantification. Current EPSRC-funded ReproHum project coordinates 20 global labs studying evaluation consistency. Achievements : Developed industry-deployed generation systems for accessibility applications Pioneered cross-modal alignment techniques for image description Authored 100+ publications spanning generation, evaluation, and reproducibility
Sanjit A. Seshia is the Cadence Founders Chair Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley . He is affiliated with the Group in Logic and the Methodology of Science and participates in centers like the Industrial Cyber-Physical Systems Center , Berkeley AI Research , and the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing . Research interests include formal methods for automated verification and synthesis of dependable systems, with applications to cyber-physical systems , AI-based autonomy , and computer security . His work spans SMT solving, model counting, syntax-guided synthesis, and algorithmic improvisation, with tools like UCLID5 , VerifAI , and Scenic for verifying autonomous systems and educational platforms like CPSGrader . Students and collaborators include notable researchers such as Dorsa Sadigh (Stanford), Daniel Fremont (UC Santa Cruz), and Hazem Torfah (Chalmers). He has co-founded startups like Decyphir and 20ⁿ Labs based on his research.
Constantinos Daskalakis is the Armen Avanessians (1982) Professor in the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing and the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS). He joined MIT in 2009 and is a member of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), affiliated with the Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems (LIDS) and the Operations Research Center (ORC). His research focuses on theoretical computer science, with emphasis on game theory, machine learning, and high-dimensional statistics. Education: Ph.D. in Computer Science (not explicitly stated, but implied by tenure and awards). Research interests include computational complexity of Nash equilibria, multi-item auctions, machine learning algorithms, and causal inference. His work bridges game theory, economics, probability, and statistics, with applications in AI and healthcare. Key contributions include resolving long-standing problems in computational game theory and developing efficient methods for statistical hypothesis testing. He has been recognized with the 2018 Nevanlinna Prize, ACM Grace Murray Hopper Award, and the Kalai Game Theory Prize. Affiliations: CSAIL, LIDS, ORC, and the Foundations of Data Science Institute. Active in multi-agent learning, bias mitigation in data, and generative models.
Marc-Antoine Dilhac serves as Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Montreal's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, where he also directs governance and international collaboration initiatives. He holds leadership roles as Scientific Director of Algora Lab and leads the Ethics and Politics research axis at the Centre de recherche en éthique (CRÉ). His academic affiliations extend to the Centre d'études et de recherches internationales (CÉRIUM) and the Canada Research Chair in Public Ethics and Political Theory (2014-2019). Education: PhD in Philosophy and Political Science, University of Paris I: Panthéon-Sorbonne (2009) Master 2 in Philosophy and Political Science, University of Paris I: Panthéon-Sorbonne (2003) Agrégation in Philosophy, University of Paris I: Panthéon-Sorbonne (2002) Dilhac's research spans ethics, political philosophy, and AI governance, with particular focus on democratic tolerance, multiculturalism, and the ethical implications of artificial intelligence. His work bridges theoretical political philosophy with practical applications in AI policy development, sustainable finance, and democratic institutions. He has contributed significantly to UNESCO's Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence and leads initiatives examining AI's impact on French-speaking culture and democratic values. His recent publications reveal a clear trajectory from foundational work on tolerance and justice theory toward contemporary AI ethics challenges. The thematic evolution shows increasing engagement with practical governance frameworks, particularly in finance and education sectors, while maintaining strong philosophical grounding in democratic theory and institutional design. Key Awards and Recognition: Canada Research Chair in Public Ethics and Political Theory (2014-2019) Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship (2011) Contributor to UNESCO's Recommendation on AI Ethics (2021) Dilhac has supervised over 15 graduate students across philosophy, political science, and interdisciplinary AI ethics programs. His research is supported by multiple grants from FRQSC, FRQNT, SSHRC, and MITACS, totaling over $2 million CAD. Current projects include the Generative AI Ethics Framework for Educational Technology (2024-2025) and the Sustainable Finance AI Tools project examining ESG/DEI disclosure analysis. He co-founded and leads the CORDÉ research group on corruption and democracy, and directs Algora Lab's work on AI governance. His upcoming February 2025 panel at Université Laval will address AI and Francophone cultural perspectives ahead of the Paris AI Action Summit.
Professor Heather Ferguson is a distinguished cognitive psychologist at the University of Kent's School of Psychology, where she has built an impressive academic career since her appointment as Lecturer in 2009. Promoted to Professor in 2018, she leads groundbreaking research examining the cognitive basis of social communication across the lifespan. Her work bridges cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and social cognition, with particular expertise in perspective-taking, theory of mind, and the interface between cognitive processes and social interaction. Her research primarily investigates how we access and represent other people's perspectives during communication, using methodologies including eye-tracking, EEG, and reaction time measurements. Key questions driving her work include: How do people understand and predict events based on others' mental states? What happens when these conflict with our own knowledge? How do social abilities relate to cognitive skills like memory and inhibitory control? How does aging affect social cognition? Her work has significant implications for understanding autism spectrum disorder, social development, and cognitive aging. Professor Ferguson's recent publications reveal a strong focus on perspective-taking across the lifespan, social cognition in autism, the cognitive effects of fiction reading, and the neural mechanisms underlying empathy. Her research demonstrates consistent methodological rigor through pre-registered studies and meta-analyses, with particular attention to developmental trajectories from adolescence through older adulthood. Psychonomic Society Early Career Award (2019) Open Science Framework Pre-registration Challenge award (2018) Cognitive Neuroscience Society Postdoctoral Fellow Award (2018) University of Kent Prize for Research (2016) Kent Union Teaching Award for 'Best Teacher' (2012) Professor Ferguson actively supervises multiple PhD students and has secured substantial research funding, including a €1.5 million ERC Starting Grant and multiple Leverhulme Trust grants. Her work with the Cognitive basis of Social Communication and Ageing (COGSOCOAGE) research group has produced influential findings on social cognition across the lifespan. She serves as Associate Editor for the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory & Cognition and on the editorial board of Cognition, while also mentoring early-career researchers through the Eastern Arc Mentoring Scheme.
Roberta Sinatra is a Professor in Social Data Science at the University of Copenhagen, with part-time affiliations at ITU Copenhagen, ISI Foundation (Italy), and CSH (Austria). She co-founded the NERDS Research Group at ITU and co-leads the Pioneer Centre for AI in Copenhagen. Research Interests: Her work spans computational social science, network science, and data science, focusing on fairness in AI, scientific careers, and human mobility. Recent projects include analyzing child protection algorithms and modeling urban bicycle networks. Scientific Awards: ERC Consolidator Grant Villum Young Investigator Grant Complex Systems Society Junior Prize DPG Young Scientist Award for Socio- and Econophysics Sapere Aude: Starting Grant Publications: Her research, often in top-tier venues like Nature and Science , explores interdisciplinary themes, including AI ethics, gender disparities in science, and social network dynamics. Labs & Teams: She leads research initiatives at the Center for Social Data Science (KU) and co-founded the NERDS Research Group at ITU, fostering international collaboration in network science and AI ethics.
Aapo Hyvärinen is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Helsinki , affiliated with the Helsinki Institute for Information Technology and the Helsinki Probabilistic Machine Learning Lab . He previously held the position of Professor of Machine Learning at the Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit, University College London (2016-2019). Education : Undergraduate Mathematics at University of Helsinki, Vienna, and Paris; Ph.D. in Information Science from Helsinki University of Technology (1997) His research focuses on machine learning and computational neuroscience , particularly: Independent Component Analysis (ICA) Natural Image Statistics Causal Representation Learning Neural Signal Processing Applications to brain imaging (MEG, CryoEM) Recent publications emphasize causal discovery , identifiable machine learning , and nonlinear ICA . Key projects include: VETURI (AI for health) DIGIMIND (AI in mental health) CIFAR grants (2022-2025) Scientific awards : Highly Cited Researcher (2010) He serves as Action Editor for the Journal of Machine Learning Research and Neural Computation , and has held Area Chair roles at NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, AISTATS, and UAI conferences. His work bridges theoretical machine learning with neuroscience and philosophical implications of artificial intelligence .
Ira Kemelmacher-Shlizerman is a Full Professor of Computer Science at the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington and Director of the UW Reality Lab. She also serves as a Principal Scientist at Google, where she leads the Shopping Gen AI visuals teams focusing on Virtual Try-On, 3D, and product videos. Her research spans computer vision, computer graphics, and Generative AI, with particular contributions to virtual try-on technology, 3D modeling, and augmented reality applications. Professor Kemelmacher-Shlizerman's research interests focus on Generative AI applications in visual computing. Her work bridges the gap between theoretical computer vision and practical applications, particularly in e-commerce and virtual reality. She has made significant contributions to virtual try-on technology, 3D editing with generative models, and AI applications for shopping experiences. Her research combines deep learning with traditional computer vision techniques to solve challenging problems in image and video synthesis. Her recent publications demonstrate a strong trend toward Generative AI applications for visual shopping experiences, virtual try-on technology, and 3D content creation. The work spans multiple top conferences including CVPR, SIGGRAPH, and ICCV, with a focus on practical applications of computer vision and graphics. Her research has evolved from foundational work in face reconstruction and aging to current applications in virtual shopping and 3D content generation. Google faculty award Madrona prize GeekWire Innovation of the Year Award Covers of CACM and SIGGRAPH Best student paper honorable mention at CVPR'21 Best demo runner up MobiSys'22 Senior member of IEEE Distinguished Member of ACM Professor Kemelmacher-Shlizerman has successfully tech-transferred multiple research projects to industry. She founded Dreambit, a startup acquired by Meta, and previously built and launched the Face Movies feature at Google. She currently leads Google's Shopping Gen AI visuals teams, focusing on 10x improvements to shopping journeys. Her UW Reality Lab serves as a hub for AR/VR research with industry partnerships. She has mentored numerous PhD students who have become researchers in both academia and industry, with several publications featuring student co-authors receiving recognition at top conferences. Professor Kemelmacher-Shlizerman leads the Graphics and Imaging Laboratory (GRAIL) and the UW Reality Lab, which focuses on augmented and virtual reality research with industry partnerships including Google. The labs work on cutting-edge projects in virtual try-on, 3D modeling, and immersive experiences, bridging academic research with real-world applications.
