Zhi-Xun Shen is the Paul Pigott Professor in Physical Sciences at Stanford University, holding dual appointments in the Physics and Applied Physics Departments. He is a senior fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy and serves on advisory boards for the Knight-Hennessy Scholars and Stanford Science Fellows programs. His research focuses on condensed matter and materials physics, particularly the electronic structures of superconductors, topological insulators, and novel materials. Dr. Shen pioneered advanced spectroscopic techniques, including photon-based imaging and scattering methods, and has authored over 600 publications with significant citation impact. His honors include the Kamerlingh Onnes Prize (2000), E.O. Lawrence Award (2010), and Oliver E. Buckley Prize (2011). He co-founded PrimeNano Inc., commercializing technologies from his lab, such as microwave impedance microscopy. His work bridges fundamental physics with energy-related applications, emphasizing the interplay between electronic structure and material properties. Dr. Shen’s research group explores cutting-edge topics like topological surface states, electron-phonon interactions, and superconductivity mechanisms. His inventions, such as non-resonance microwave imaging, have found applications in materials characterization. He remains active in advancing instrumentation and fostering interdisciplinary collaborations through his academic and industry roles.
Dr. James McDonald serves as a Lecturer and Research Fellow at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) within the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering's Water Research Centre (WRC). His work at the Vallentine Annexe (H22), Room 102, Kensington Campus focuses on advancing water treatment technologies and understanding contaminant behavior in water systems. His position bridges academic instruction with cutting-edge research in environmental engineering. McDonald's research spans multiple critical areas in water science and engineering, with particular emphasis on trace organic contaminants, membrane technologies, and advanced water treatment processes. His work investigates the fate and removal of pharmaceuticals, personal care products, and industrial chemicals in various water treatment systems. He has made significant contributions to understanding disinfection by-product formation, chiral inversion of pharmaceuticals, and the development of novel membrane technologies for improved water purification. His research combines experimental approaches with computational modeling to address complex water quality challenges. Analysis of McDonald's recent publications reveals a strong focus on emerging contaminants, particularly PFAS compounds and chiral pharmaceuticals, and their behavior in water treatment systems. His work demonstrates expertise in both conventional and advanced water treatment technologies, with increasing emphasis on sustainable approaches including green infrastructure and novel membrane processes. The interdisciplinary nature of his research connects environmental engineering, chemistry, microbiology, and materials science to address contemporary water quality challenges. McDonald actively collaborates with researchers across multiple institutions and has contributed to numerous significant studies on water quality and treatment. His work supports the development of more effective water recycling systems and safer drinking water supplies. While specific grant information isn't detailed in the available text, his extensive publication record suggests sustained research funding in water treatment technologies and contaminant fate studies. As part of UNSW's Water Research Centre, McDonald contributes to one of Australia's leading water research facilities. The WRC provides a collaborative environment for addressing complex water challenges through interdisciplinary research that integrates engineering, chemistry, and environmental science perspectives.
Bobak Mortazavi is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science & Engineering at Texas A&M University. His research focuses on medical analytics, machine learning, wearable sensors, and cyber-physical systems. He leads interdisciplinary projects in healthcare technology, including AI-driven diagnostics and predictive modeling for cardiovascular diseases. He has received notable awards such as the Best Demonstration Award at IEEE EMBS 2012 and the Best Paper Award at the Fourth International Conference on Data Analytics 2015. His work bridges machine learning with clinical applications, emphasizing practical solutions for healthcare challenges. Recent research includes developing AI tools for aortic stenosis detection, electrolyte estimation via ECG, and real-time patient monitoring systems. He collaborates with industry and academic partners to advance telemedicine and wearable health technologies. Key contributions include the SMART-LV project for smartphone-based cardiac diagnostics and the ArterialNet framework for blood pressure reconstruction using wearable sensors. His work is published in top journals like IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics and Elsevier's Pervasive and Mobile Computing.
Maja J Matarić is the Chan Soon-Shiong Chaired and Distinguished Professor of Computer Science at the University of Southern California's Viterbi School of Engineering, with courtesy appointments in Neuroscience and Pediatrics. She serves as founding director of the USC Robotics and Autonomous Systems Center, co-director of the USC Robotics Research Lab, and Principal Scientist at Google DeepMind. Previously, she held leadership roles as USC's interim Vice President of Research (2020-2021) and Vice Dean for Research (2006-2019). Her educational background includes: PhD in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence from MIT (1994) MS in Computer Science from MIT (1990) BS in Computer Science from University of Kansas (1987) Matarić pioneers Socially Assistive Robotics (SAR) , a field her lab named, focusing on human-robot interaction that provides assistance through social rather than physical support. Her research targets critical health and wellness challenges including post-stroke rehabilitation, autism spectrum disorder therapy, cognitive exercises for Alzheimer's patients, ADHD academic support, and mental health interventions. She develops systems modeling user engagement, personality, and motivation, with extensive real-world deployments in schools, rehabilitation centers, and homes. Analysis of her recent publications reveals dominant themes in cognitive health robotics (2025 CHI paper on LLM-powered elder care), pediatric assistive technology (2025 IDC speech therapy review), and adaptive preference modeling (2025 HRI contrastive learning work). Her research consistently bridges machine learning with human-centered design for vulnerable populations. Major scientific recognition includes: ACM Athena Lecturer Award (2024) ACM Eugene L. Lawler Humanitarian Award (2024) ACM Fellow (2020) Presidential Mentoring Award (2011) Multiple society fellowships (AAAS, IEEE, AAAI) As a dedicated mentor, Matarić has championed underrepresented groups through CRA-W, placing numerous women in faculty positions. She leads USC Viterbi's K-12 STEM Outreach Program serving low-income Los Angeles schools and authored The Robotics Prime for student education. Her research has secured significant funding enabling real-world technology transfer, with documented impact in rehabilitation centers and homes through deployable SAR systems. Her Robotics Research Lab at USC drives innovation in embodied AI, with current projects spanning LLM-integrated elder care robots, ADHD academic companions, and autism therapy systems. The lab emphasizes co-design with end-users and rigorous real-world validation across diverse populations.
Erik Ketzan is a Lecturer in Digital Humanities and Cultural Computation at King's College London. He holds a PhD in English/Digital Humanities from Birkbeck, University of London, and has held postdoctoral roles at the University of Cologne and Trinity College Dublin, where he coordinated the MA in Digital Humanities and Culture. His research focuses on computational literary studies, legal/ethical issues in digital research, and corpus stylistics. He has published widely on topics such as Thomas Pynchon’s computational stylistics, legal frameworks for digital humanities research, and gender bias in historical texts. His work includes developing tools like Coleto for textual variant analysis and co-authoring the book *Thomas Pynchon and the Digital Humanities* (2022). Ketzan actively engages in policy advocacy, advising on copyright and data protection in DH, and has contributed to projects like CLARIN and the Leibniz Institute for the German Language. Education: PhD in English/Digital Humanities, Birkbeck, University of London Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Cologne (EncycNet Project) Postdoctoral Research and Teaching Fellow, Trinity College Dublin Research Interests: Computational approaches to literary analysis, legal challenges in data-driven research, corpus stylistics, and gender studies in historical corpora. Teaching: Courses include Python for the humanities, computational literary studies, and legal issues in digital humanities.
Ameil Joseph is an Associate Professor at McMaster University's School of Social Work, where they contribute to critical scholarship at the intersection of mental health, race, and social justice. Their work examines how ideas about difference, normalcy, sexuality, eugenics, race, ability and mental 'illness' cohere and perform within policy, law and practice, with over a decade of professional experience in mental health settings including supportive housing, settlement services, crisis respite, and forensic community treatment. Education: Ph.D in Social Work, York University (2009-2014) MSW, Wilfrid Laurier University (2005-2007) BA in Psychology, University of Waterloo (1998-2003) Dr. Joseph's research engages with critical mental health, postcolonial theory, critical race theory, and critical disability studies to examine the historical production of ideas about difference. Their scholarship particularly focuses on how these ideas manifest in mental health systems, immigration policy, and criminal justice, with attention to issues of social justice, violence, ethics, and confluence. Their work bridges theoretical frameworks with practical implications, addressing the complex interplay of colonialism, racism, sanism, and eugenics in contemporary social systems. Analysis of Dr. Joseph's recent publications reveals a sustained focus on colonial and eugenic violence within mental health, immigration, and criminal justice systems. Their scholarship consistently examines how racism, sanism, and ableism intersect to produce particular forms of state violence, particularly against racialized immigrants with mental health conditions. Recent work has expanded to address temporal dimensions of oppression, data colonialism, and community responses to grief and loss during the pandemic, demonstrating both theoretical sophistication and practical relevance to current social issues. Scientific Awards: University Scholar 2025 - Recognized for research leadership and impact among eight McMaster professors honored as University Scholars Dr. Joseph has secured significant research funding, including nearly $75,000 from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) for community-engaged projects addressing social justice issues. Their teaching portfolio includes advanced courses on critical mental health perspectives, race and colonialism in Canadian society, and social justice theory. While specific graduate students aren't listed in available materials, their extensive co-author network suggests active mentorship and collaboration. Dr. Joseph contributes to community-based initiatives in Hamilton addressing racism in healthcare and mental health systems, connecting academic scholarship with practical community responses to systemic issues. Dr. Joseph maintains an active presence in community responses to contemporary challenges, particularly through initiatives addressing grief during the pandemic and systemic racism in healthcare. Their work exemplifies the integration of scholarly rigor with community engagement, demonstrating how academic research can inform and be informed by real-world social justice efforts.
Josh Seim is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Boston College, affiliated with the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences. His work focuses on the sociologies of work, medicine, welfare, punishment, pedagogy, and ethnographic methods. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, and has published widely in top journals including *American Sociological Review* and *Social Problems*. Education: B.A., Gonzaga University M.S., Portland State University Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley Research Interests: His research explores how institutions like healthcare systems, welfare offices, and penal institutions interact with urban poverty. Recent projects include studies on ambulance crews’ labor processes, welfare bureaucracy, and post-prison labor. His writing also emphasizes pedagogical innovation in sociology teaching and ethnographic methodological rigor. Key themes include the governance of suffering, medical labor, and carceral systems. Publications & Books: Bandage, Sort, and Hustle: Ambulance Crews on the Front Lines of Urban Suffering (UC Press, 2020) The Welfare Assembly Line: Public Servants in the Suffering City (forthcoming UC Press, 2026) Teaching: Sociology 7715: Classical Sociological Theory (graduate) Sociology 7716: Contemporary Sociological Theory (graduate)
Maile Arvin is a Kanaka Maoli feminist scholar and Assistant Professor at the Department of Ethnic Studies, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Her research and teaching focus on Indigenous relationships to land, histories of race and settler colonialism in Hawaiʻi, Oceania, and the United States. Previously, she was faculty in History and Gender Studies at the University of Utah and founding director of the Center for Pasifika Indigenous Knowledges. PhD in Ethnic Studies, University of California San Diego (2013) MA in Ethnic Studies, University of California San Diego (2009) BA in English, Swarthmore College (2005) Her research examines: Colonial production of racial categories, particularly Polynesians as an 'almost white race' in historical social science History of incarceration of Native Hawaiian children in government institutions (1865–1960s) Intersection of settler colonialism and Indigenous feminisms Critique of eugenics and genomic studies in the Pacific Community-engaged memorialization projects in Hawaiʻi Recent scholarly trends include analyses of Indigenous sovereignty, critiques of settler colonial whiteness, and interdisciplinary studies of race-gender dynamics. Arvin's publications explore Polynesian racialization, decolonial feminism, and the socioeconomic impacts of colonial institutions. NEH Chair's Grant for Nā Lei Poina ʻOle ACLS Digital Justice Seed Grant Arvin leads Nā Lei Poina ʻOle (Beloved Children Never Forgotten), a community history project about reformatories and industrial schools in Hawaiʻi. In collaboration with Kawela Farrant and the North Shore Community Land Trust, this project uses archival and oral histories to confront the legacy of child incarceration. She also critiques the nonprofit-industrial complex's role in limiting Indigenous sovereignty.
Steven Jackson is a Professor of Information Science and Science and Technology Studies at Cornell University's Bowers College of Computing and Information Science, with additional graduate field appointments in Communication and Public Affairs. Since July 2023, he has served as Vice-Provost for Academic Innovation at Cornell, and previously held leadership positions as Chair of Information Science and Dean of William Keeton House. His work bridges academic research with significant institutional leadership in higher education innovation. Dr. Jackson's research focuses on critical intersections of technology, society, and the environment, with three primary strands: technology ethics, law and policy; maintenance, repair and sustainability; and technology, inequality and global development. His work draws from American pragmatism, political economy, and science and technology studies, integrating methods from sociology, anthropology, philosophy, and media studies. He is particularly interested in how computing practices meet social and material worlds, with implications for infrastructure, collaboration, sustainability, and cultural practice. His recent publications reveal a strong emphasis on repair as both theoretical concept and practical methodology, exploring 'ordinary hope' as a framework for technological engagement and examining unmaking as a necessary counterpart to design. The research spans diverse geographical contexts from the global North to South, addressing caste dynamics in computing, digital authoritarianism, and infrastructure challenges in developing contexts. Dr. Jackson has received significant recognition including an NSF CAREER award and more than twenty paper awards at leading computing and information science venues. His research has been supported by major organizations including the U.S. National Science Foundation, Social Science Research Council, Ford Foundation, Sloan Foundation, World Bank, Intel Research, Atkinson Center for Sustainability, and the Canadian Social Science and Humanities Research Council. As an advisor, Dr. Jackson has mentored numerous graduate students who have gone on to prominent positions at institutions worldwide. He currently advises Jen Liu, Amy Cheatle, Daniel Mwesigwa, Johan Michalove, and Ritik Batra, while his former students include Palashi Vaghela (Assistant Professor at Simon Fraser University), Samir Passi (Responsible AI Researcher at Microsoft), Maggie Jack (Assistant Professor at NYU), and Ranjit Singh (Senior Researcher at Data and Society). Dr. Jackson convenes the Computing On Earth Lab, an experimental collaboration bringing together social scientists, humanists, artists, and engineers to rethink the material and planetary foundations of computing. The lab reflects his commitment to interdisciplinary approaches that address computing's environmental impacts and sustainability challenges.
Oscar Westlund serves as Professor at the Department of Journalism and Media Studies within the Faculty of Social Sciences at Oslo Metropolitan University (OsloMet), where he co-leads the OsloMet Digital Journalism Research Group. He maintains a secondary appointment at the University of Gothenburg and acts as Editor-in-Chief of Digital Journalism . His research spans digital journalism, fact-checking, platform dynamics, media management, news consumption, and mobile media. Westlund's scholarly focus centers on journalism safety in digital environments, sociotechnical dimensions of misinformation combat, and platform-induced challenges for news organizations. His work examines professional fragilities of journalists, epistemological foundations of data journalism, and legitimacy paradoxes in public service media-platform relationships. Current projects address disinformation countermeasures through the SCAM initiative (Source Criticism And Mediated Disinformation). Analysis of his 2022-2024 publications reveals dominant themes: journalism safety frameworks (33%), platform-journalism tensions (27%), and fact-checking as sociotechnical practice (23%). Key methodological approaches include cross-national comparative studies, epistemological analysis, and practice theory applied to digital news production. Westlund actively contributes to academic discourse through editorial leadership at Digital Journalism and special issue guest editing. His research group coordinates interdisciplinary collaboration on digital journalism studies, while the SCAM project develops practical methodologies for disinformation detection in democratic contexts. Recent work demonstrates increasing emphasis on mobile news ecosystems and journalist safety cultures. He co-leads the OsloMet Digital Journalism Research Group, which investigates platform impacts on news production, mobile journalism evolution, and epistemological shifts in data-driven reporting. The group maintains strong international partnerships, particularly with Swedish institutions through his University of Gothenburg affiliation.
Anamaria Crisan is an Assistant Professor at the University of Waterloo, affiliated with the Insight Lab. Her research focuses on interdisciplinary work at the intersection of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Data Visualization, and Applied AI/ML. She explores human-centered approaches to AI/ML systems, visualization design for decision-making, and healthcare data science applications. Dr. Crisan holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of British Columbia (2019), an MSc in Bioinformatics (2010), and a BComp in Biomedical Computing from Queen’s University (2008). Her educational background bridges computer science, biology, and healthcare informatics. Her research interests include responsible AI/ML systems, interactive visualization for data-driven decisions, and leveraging visualization in healthcare to improve outcomes. She emphasizes transparency, trustworthiness, and human alignment in AI technologies. Her work spans diverse applications such as genomic epidemiology, dashboard design, and ethical AI evaluation. Notable contributions include studies on human-AI collaboration, visualization linters, and scalable dashboard census methodologies. She has published widely in top-tier venues like IEEE VIS and ACM CHI. Dr. Crisan’s lab (UW Insight Lab) focuses on human-centered approaches to automating data science and improving visualization practices in critical domains like healthcare and public health.
Dr. Jimeng Sun is a Health Innovation Professor at the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science and Carle Illinois College of Medicine at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Co-founder of Keiji AI , he leads groundbreaking research at the intersection of artificial intelligence and healthcare, actively deploying clinical AI systems and developing frameworks like PyHealth and Therapeutics Data Commons . His research spans four major areas: Clinical AI Systems : Developing interpretable models (e.g., RETAIN) for patient similarity, temporal event prediction, medication recommendation, and clinical outcome forecasting Drug Discovery : Creating molecular optimization frameworks, drug-target interaction models, and AI-driven platforms Clinical Trials : Pioneering patient-trial matching, outcome prediction, and optimization frameworks using deep learning and graph neural networks Biosignal Analysis : Advancing sleep staging, seizure classification, and automated EEG/Cardiac monitoring systems With over 500 top-tier publications (including in Nature , NEJM AI , and leading AI conferences) and an h-index of 99, his work has been recognized with the Top 100 AI Leaders in Drug Discovery and Advanced Healthcare award. He maintains active collaborations with institutions like Massachusetts General Hospital , Medidata Solutions , and OSF Healthcare . His recent publications reveal a strong focus on: Reinforcement learning applications in medical data analysis Large language model adaptation for clinical tasks Knowledge graph integration with AI systems Synthetic data generation for healthcare Multi-modal learning in clinical contexts Explainable AI for medical applications Dr. Sun's lab ( Sunlab ) emphasizes practical impact over theoretical work, actively collaborating with hospitals and healthtech companies. He welcomes contributions from clinicians, researchers, and industry partners through initiatives like his AI for Health webinar series .
Chris Atkeson is a Professor at the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University. His research focuses on achieving human-level competence in machines through humanoid robotics and human-aware environments. He explores machine learning techniques such as reinforcement learning, nonparametric methods, and memory-based learning to develop robots capable of complex tasks like manipulation, locomotion, and perception. His work emphasizes bridging the gap between simulation and real-world applications (sim2real transfer), with contributions to tactile sensing (e.g., FingerVision), dynamic walking control, and human-robot collaboration. Notable projects include participation in the DARPA Robotics Challenge with Team WPI-CMU, where his team developed reliable humanoid behavior for disaster response scenarios. Atkeson’s research spans robotics, computer vision, and control systems, with a focus on enabling robots to perceive, learn, and act in unstructured environments. His recent work includes advancements in 3D scene capture, soft robotics, and energy-based planning for compositional tasks.
Professor Stephen Graham at Newcastle University is a leading scholar in critical urban studies, focusing on the intersections of militarism, surveillance, and urban infrastructure. His work explores how cities are shaped by and become sites of geopolitical conflict, technological control, and social inequality. Research spans urban verticality , military urbanism , and digital surveillance . Key themes include infrastructure disruption , elite spatial practices , and post-conflict urbanism . Recent publications analyze the militarization of urban space , robotic imperialism , and surveillance societies . His "Splintering Urbanism" framework remains foundational for understanding fragmented urban networks. Current work investigates vertical geopolitics , elite bunkering , and smart city security , with a focus on planetary-scale urban systems and their vulnerabilities.
Wendy Ju is an Associate Professor of Information Science at Cornell Tech, with appointments in the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science, the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute, and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. Previously, she served as executive director of interaction design research at Stanford University's Center for Design Research and as an associate professor of interaction design at the California College of the Arts. Her work bridges human-computer interaction, design, and robotics with a focus on how interactive devices can communicate with people without interrupting them. PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University Master's degree in Media Arts and Sciences from MIT Professor Ju's research centers on implicit interactions, human-robot collaboration, and automotive interfaces. She investigates how people interact with automated systems in natural contexts, develops methods for early-stage prototyping of autonomous technologies, and examines the social implications of robotics in urban environments. Her work spans from theoretical frameworks to practical applications, with particular emphasis on designing systems that integrate seamlessly into human activities without demanding constant attention. Her recent publications reveal a strong trajectory toward understanding human-robot interaction in public urban spaces, with increasing focus on robot navigation in city streets, the social implications of autonomous vehicles, and the integration of generative AI in design processes. Her work consistently bridges theoretical HCI frameworks with practical applications in transportation, urban design, and everyday robotics. Inducted into the ACM SIGCHI Academy (2025) Multiple Honorable Mention Awards at ACM CHI and DIS conferences Best Paper Award at Multimodal Technologies and Interaction (2023) Best Student Paper Award at IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Symposium (2017) Best Demonstration Award at HRI (2017) Professor Ju actively mentors numerous PhD and master's students, many of whom have become leading researchers in HCI and robotics. Her research has been supported by significant grants from NSF and industry partners, enabling extensive field studies of human-robot interaction in real-world settings. She has pioneered methodologies for studying autonomous vehicle interactions through both simulated and naturalistic driving environments. Her work with the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute supports interdisciplinary research at the intersection of computing, design, and urban technology. She has established research partnerships with transportation authorities, automotive companies, and urban planning organizations to study how emerging technologies can enhance urban mobility while respecting human needs and social contexts.
