Jenna Wiens is an Associate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Michigan's College of Engineering. She serves as Associate Director of the Artificial Intelligence Lab and co-Director of AI & Digital Health Innovation. Leading the MLD3 research group, her work focuses on machine learning and AI applications for healthcare data. PhD from MIT (2014) under John Guttag NSF CAREER Award recipient (2016) Humboldt Foundation Carl Friedrich von Siemens Award (2024) Her research addresses four key technical thrusts: Time-series analysis for predicting clinical outcomes Robust machine learning against spurious correlations Decision-making with causal inference and offline reinforcement learning Human-AI collaboration frameworks Notable methodological contributions include the FIDDLE preprocessing pipeline for clinical time-series data, foundational work on survival analysis, and novel approaches to model selection in healthcare reinforcement learning. Her work has led to real-world AI deployments in infection prevention and patient risk stratification. Scientific honors include: Forbes 30 Under 30 (2015) MIT Tech Review 35 Innovators Under 35 (2017) Sloan Research Fellowship in Computer Science (2020) Sarah Goddard Power Award (2023) Wiens collaborates with clinicians across disciplines, emphasizing clinician-in-the-loop AI systems and ethical implementation in healthcare workflows.
Dr Andrew Rhead is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Bath, specializing in aerospace composites and damage tolerance analysis. His research focuses on impact damage detection, failure mechanism modeling, and Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) techniques for composite structures. MSci in Mathematical Sciences (Dynamical Systems) - University of Bristol (2006) PhD in Composite Damage Tolerance - University of Bath (2009) His work develops computationally efficient analytical models for compression after impact (CAI) strength prediction in composite laminates, surpassing traditional finite element methods. Key projects include hydrogen storage systems for aircraft, cryogenic composite testing, and steered fiber manufacturing optimization. Active in 10 projects including ASPIRE and HyFIVE Collaborates with Airbus, GKN Aerospace, and EPSRC Research trends show emphasis on sustainable aviation materials, structural battery integration, and advanced testing methodologies. Current affiliations include the Institute for Mathematical Innovation (IMI) and Centre for Integrated Materials, Processes & Structures (IMPS).
Anders Søgaard is a Professor at the University of Copenhagen , affiliated with both the Department of Computer Science and the Department of Communication. His research bridges Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning with a focus on AI ethics , explainability , and human-AI interaction . Primary Affiliation: Department of Computer Science, University of Copenhagen Secondary Affiliation: Department of Communication, University of Copenhagen Email: soegaard@di.ku.dk, soegaard@hum.ku.dk Research Interests His work spans Natural Language Processing , Machine Learning , and AI ethics , with recent studies addressing: Trustworthiness in AI systems Explainable AI (XAI) frameworks Multilingual model fairness and alignment Human-AI collaboration in reasoning tasks Ethical implications of social robots Mental health analytics using ML Recent Publications His 2025 output highlights trends in: AI ethics (e.g., fairness metrics, trustworthy systems) Multilingual model analysis (knowledge retention, cross-lingual transfer) Human-centric AI (gaze data, cultural considerations) Applications in healthcare and social good
Fatma Kılınç-Karzan is an Associate Professor of Operations Research at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business, with a courtesy appointment as Associate Professor of Computer Science. She is also affiliated with the Algorithms Combinatorics and Optimization (ACO) PhD Program and was a Visiting Scientist at Berkeley's Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing during Fall 2017. Her educational background includes a PhD from Georgia Institute of Technology's H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial & Systems Engineering with a minor in Mathematics, supervised by Prof. Arkadi Nemirovski. She earned her B.S. and M.S. degrees from the Industrial Engineering Department of Middle East Technical University with a minor in Information Systems. Dr. Kılınç-Karzan's research spans mathematical optimization with emphasis on convex and non-convex optimization theory, algorithms, and applications. Her work bridges theoretical foundations with practical implementations in optimization under uncertainty (robust optimization, chance constraints, distributionally robust optimization), machine learning (preference learning from limited data), and business analytics. She develops foundational theory for large-scale optimization problems with applications in decision making under uncertainty and high-dimensional statistical inference. Analysis of her recent publications reveals a strong focus on convex hull characterizations, semidefinite programming relaxations, distributionally robust optimization, and online convex optimization frameworks. Her work demonstrates increasing integration of optimization theory with machine learning applications, particularly in developing data-driven approaches for decision making under uncertainty. NSF CAREER Award (2015) INFORMS Optimization Society Young Researcher Prize (2015) INFORMS Junior Faculty Interest Group (JFIG) Best Paper Award (2014) BP Junior Faculty Chair (2014-2015) Faculty Giving Chair (2012-2013) Wimmer Fellowship (2012-2013) Dr. Kılınç-Karzan has successfully mentored numerous PhD students who have received prestigious awards, including the 2021 INFORMS Optimization Society Best Student Paper (1st prize) and multiple honorable mentions. Her research has been supported by significant grants including an NSF CAREER Award, an ONR grant (with S. Küçükyavuz), and an AFOSR grant. She serves on editorial boards for Mathematical Programming, Operations Research, Mathematics of Operations Research, and other leading journals, and has held leadership positions in professional societies including the Mathematical Optimization Society and INFORMS Computing Society. Through her affiliations with CMU's Tepper School, Computer Science Department, and ACO Program, she collaborates across disciplines to advance optimization theory and its applications. Her professional service includes committee chair roles for major INFORMS competitions and program committee leadership for international optimization conferences.
Prof. Dr. Dennis Säring is a faculty member at the University of Applied Sciences Wedel , specifically affiliated with the School of Engineering. His academic and research activities focus on Deep Learning , Medical Image Analysis , and applications of Artificial Intelligence in healthcare and biomedical imaging. He has led seminars on Deep Learning topics and supervised student projects in Autonomous Driving at Audi's AADC 2018 competition. Research Highlights : Cardiovascular imaging, forensic age estimation via MRI, neural network-based bone segmentation, and cerebrovascular aneurysm analysis. Technical Expertise : Cardiac MRI, 3D/4D image processing, parametric mapping, and spatiotemporal data fusion. His recent publications (2018-2023) emphasize 3D MR segmentation for age assessment, CMR strain analysis in athletes, and T1/T2 mapping for myocarditis. Key collaborations include institutions like the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf and Wedler Hochschulbund, with funding for autonomous vehicle research. While no explicit scientific awards are listed, his work spans clinical cardiology, forensic radiology, and AI-driven medical diagnostics.
Susan Davidson is the Weiss Professor in the Department of Computer and Information Science at the University of Pennsylvania, where she co-directs the Data Science Program. She currently serves as Deputy Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science and chairs the Computing Research Association's Board of Directors. Her research focuses on databases, bioinformatics, data management, and provenance-based systems. Co-founder, Greater Philadelphia Bioinformatics Alliance Founding co-director, Center for Bioinformatics Fulbright Scholar and Hitachi Chair, INRIA-GEMO Key research areas include data citation, trust management in collaborative systems, workflow provenance, and privacy in data analysis. Her recent publications explore explainability frameworks, sub-table selection for data exploration, and security in distributed training systems. 2023 Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching 2021 VLDB Women in Databases Award 2021 AAAS Fellow 2020 Spira Award for Teaching & Mentoring 2017 IEEE TCDE Impact Award She has advised numerous PhD students and postdocs, including Sudeepa Roy (Duke University) and Julia Stoyanovich (NYU). Courses taught recently include CIS550 (Database Systems) and CIS545 (Big Data Analytics).
Gustavo Alonso is Full Professor at the Department of Computer Science (D-INFK) of ETH Zurich and Head of the Institute for Computing Platforms . He has been at ETH since 1995, first as a post-doc, then as Assistant Professor from April 1998, and promoted to Full Professor in October 2001. Within the Systems Group he leads the Information and Communication Systems Research Group . Education: 1989 – Telecommunications Engineering (undergraduate), Madrid Technical University (UPM-ETSIT), Spain 1992 – M.S. Computer Science, University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) 1994 – Ph.D. Computer Science, University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) Research Interests: His work spans databases, distributed systems, cloud-computing architecture, FPGAs, hardware acceleration for data science, parallel and reconfigurable computing . The group investigates how modern heterogeneous hardware—from GPUs to SmartNICs—can be integrated into data-processing systems to achieve orders-of-magnitude performance gains, energy savings, and new functionality such as in-network computation and serverless acceleration. Scientific Awards & Honors: Fellow of the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) Fellow of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Distinguished Alumnus, Department of Computer Science, UC Santa Barbara Four Test-of-Time / Most Influential Paper Awards across databases, programming languages, cloud computing, and software engineering Labs & Projects: He directs the Information and Communication Systems Research Group within the Systems Group ( systems.ethz.ch ). The lab develops open-source platforms such as Coyote v2 for FPGA abstractions, Shuhai for HBM benchmarking, and MicroRec for micro-second recommendation serving, while collaborating with industry on SmartNICs, serverless analytics, and cloud-scale data analytics.
Ron Steinfeld is an Associate Professor in the Department of Software Systems & Cybersecurity at Monash University, Australia. He holds editorial roles in Designs Codes and Cryptography (since 2017) and has served on technical committees for top-tier conferences like ASIACRYPT, CRYPTO, and EUROCRYPT. His research focuses on quantum-safe cryptography, lattice-based cryptography, and blockchain security, with over 80 refereed publications and AUD$4M+ in research funding. Education: BSc Mathematics and Physics (Monash University, 1998) BE (Hons., First Class) Electrical and Computer Systems (Monash University, 2000) PhD Computer Science (Monash University, 2003) Research Interests: Design and analysis of cryptographic algorithms, quantum-safe protocols, lattice-based security foundations, and blockchain applications. His work underpins NIST standard algorithms like Kyber and Dilithium through structured lattice problem research. Recent Articles Trends: Focus on privacy-preserving blockchain protocols, post-quantum signature schemes, encrypted data search, and cryptographic applications in adversarial AI. Recent work includes fair Bitcoin watchtower schemes and genomic database privacy solutions. Awards: ASIACRYPT 2015 Best Paper Award Advising & Grants: Supervises PhD projects on quantum-safe cryptography and blockchain security. Leads initiatives like the AUD$4M ARC-funded Quantum Information Technology project. Collaborates with industry partners including CSIRO/Data61. Labs/Teams: Key contributor to Monash’s cybersecurity and cryptography research groups, involving interdisciplinary projects on materials discovery ( Æinstein initiative) and post-quantum blockchain security.
Mark Crowley is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Waterloo, with a cross-appointment in the Cheriton School of Computer Science. He is a member of the Waterloo Artificial Intelligence Institute (WAII) and the Waterloo Institute for Complexity and Innovation (WICI), and serves as National Secretary of the Canadian Artificial Intelligence Association (CAIAC). His educational background includes a Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Computer Science from the University of British Columbia, where he worked in the Laboratory for Computational Intelligence, and a B.A. in Computer Science from York University. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Oregon State University working with Tom Dietterich's machine learning group. Crowley's research focuses on developing dependable and transparent algorithms to augment human decision-making in complex domains with multiple agents, spatial structure, or uncertainty. His work spans Reinforcement Learning , Deep Learning , Ensemble Methods , and Manifold Learning . He frequently collaborates with researchers in applied fields including Computational Sustainability, Sustainable Forest Management, Autonomous Driving, Medical Imaging, and Material Design. His research is motivated by both theoretical opportunities and real-world challenges such as forest fire management, automotive applications, and medical imaging. His recent publications demonstrate a strong focus on addressing challenges in reinforcement learning, particularly around observation costs, multi-agent systems, and causal representation learning. His work on ChemGymRL provides a significant contribution to digital chemistry and material design through reinforcement learning frameworks. The textbook Elements of Dimensionality Reduction and Manifold Learning represents a major contribution to the theoretical foundations of machine learning. Crowley actively supervises graduate students, with recent thesis completions including Shayan Shirahmadi Gale Bagi (PhD, Feb 2025) and Oleksandra Nahorna (MASc, Dec 2024). His lab, UWECEML (Waterloo ECE Machine Learning Lab), focuses on developing new algorithms at the intersection of Machine Learning, Optimization, and Probabilistic Modeling. He teaches courses including ECE 457C (Reinforcement Learning), ECE 657A (Data & Knowledge Modelling & Analysis), and ECE 457B (Fundamentals of Computational Intelligence). His blog Computationally Thinking explores AI, machine learning, and the societal impact of these technologies.
Khuzaima Daudjee is a Professor and David R. Cheriton Faculty Fellow in the Cheriton School of Computer Science at the University of Waterloo. His research focuses on systems-oriented problems at the intersection of systems and data management, particularly building large-scale systems, storage infrastructure in the cloud, and modern hardware applications. He leads projects in distributed database systems, elastic scaling, and resource optimization. His recent work includes Caerus (geo-replicated transactions), Tiresias (predictive storage), and MorphoSys (automatic physical design metamorphosis). Daudjee has chaired major conferences including ICDE 2026 and serves on editorial boards for VLDB, SIGMOD, and IEEE TKDE journals. His awards include ACM Distinguished Scientist and multiple best paper awards. Educational initiatives include developing distributed systems teaching materials and supervising graduate students across database and distributed systems domains. His industry collaborations involve cloud infrastructure optimization and scalable data processing frameworks.
Bradley D. Olsen is a full professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he leads research at the intersection of polymer science, soft matter physics, and bioengineering. His work focuses on designing materials for critical applications in biotechnology, hemostasis, and sustainable polymer development while advancing fundamental understanding of polymer network mechanics and self-assembly. Education: Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering, University of California Berkeley (2007) S.B. in Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2003) Olsen's research spans protein-based materials, block copolymer phase behavior, and mechanochemical hydrogels. He has pioneered methods for quantifying polymer network topology, developing hemostatic nanoparticles, and creating bio-inspired materials for selective biomolecular transport and medical applications. His recent publications emphasize data-driven approaches to polymer characterization and educational outreach in materials science. Scientific Awards: American Physical Society (APS) Fellow (2023) Fulbright Amazonia Scholar (2023) Alexander and I. Michael Kasser Chair in Chemical Engineering (2021) ACS Macro Letters Young Investigator Award (2021) MIT Committed to Caring Honor (2019) AIChE Owens Corning Early Career Award (2019) APS Dillon Medal (2018) Kavli Emerging Leader in Chemistry (2017) ACS Polymer Division Fellow (2016) Camille Dreyfus-Teacher Scholar (2015) Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow (2014) NSF Career Grant (2013) NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship (2008-2009) Hertz Fellow (2003-2007) Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship (2002) Olsen has received significant grant support including NSF Career (2013) and AFOSR (2012) awards. His teaching activities include innovative international outreach like the 2025 soccer-themed science camp in Brazil. The Olsen Group at MIT explores advanced materials with applications ranging from trauma care to sustainable polymers.
Andy Pavlo is an Associate Professor with Indefinite Tenure in the Computer Science Department at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science. He is an active member of the CMU Database Group and the Parallel Data Laboratory, where he leads research in database management systems with a focus on self-driving architectures, transaction processing, and large-scale analytics. His work bridges academic research and industry applications through projects like NoisePage, OtterTune (which he co-founded and served as CEO before it ceased operations), and Peloton. Dr. Pavlo's research interests span database management systems with particular emphasis on autonomous database architectures that can self-tune and optimize without human intervention. His work explores transaction processing systems that can handle high-throughput workloads while maintaining consistency, and large-scale data analytics techniques that efficiently process massive datasets. He has made significant contributions to query optimization, database extensibility, and automatic database tuning using machine learning techniques. His recent work on database extensibility revealed critical issues in PostgreSQL's extension ecosystem, showing that approximately 16% of extensions are incompatible with at least one other extension due to API violations and memory errors. His research output demonstrates a consistent focus on practical database systems challenges, with recent publications examining database extensibility, user-defined function optimization, and the cyclical nature of database research. The articles show a strong trend toward making database systems more autonomous, with increasing integration of machine learning techniques for automatic tuning and optimization. His work often combines deep theoretical analysis with practical implementation in open-source systems. Dijkstra Award 2024 for contributions to database systems research Dr. Pavlo actively mentors graduate students, with current advisees including Wan Shen Lim, William Zhang, and Sam Arch (co-advised with Todd Mowry). His former students have gone on to successful careers in both industry and academia. He has secured significant research funding through CMU's affiliate program with major database companies including ClickHouse, DataStax, dbt, Firebolt, MotherDuck, RelationalAI, SingleStore, Spiral, PingCAP/TiDB, Yellowbrick, and Yugabyte. His research is supported by these industry partnerships and likely includes NSF funding given his active participation in the database research community. At CMU, Dr. Pavlo leads the Database Group and organizes several seminar series including "SQL or Death," "Database Building Blocks," and "ML⇄DB Technical Talks." These seminars bring together researchers and practitioners to discuss cutting-edge developments in database systems. He also runs a summer research internship program that has attracted students for multiple consecutive years, indicating a strong research group with ongoing projects and funding.
Zhi Da is the Howard J. and Geraldine F. Korth Chair in Finance and Professor of Finance at the University of Notre Dame , Mendoza College of Business, Department of Finance. He completed his Ph.D. in Finance at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management (2006), preceded by an M.Sc. in Financial Engineering from the National University of Singapore (2001) and a B.B.A. with First-Class Honors (1999) from the same institution. Holding editorial roles at Journal of Finance , Management Science , Review of Financial Studies and several other top journals, he is a leading voice in empirical finance research. Education Ph.D. in Finance, 2006 – Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University M.Sc. in Financial Engineering, 2001 – National University of Singapore B.B.A. (1st Class Honors), 1999 – National University of Singapore Research Interests Zhi Da’s scholarship sits at the intersection of asset pricing , behavioral finance , and market microstructure . He investigates how investor attention, institutional trading, liquidity frictions, and information flows jointly determine the cross-section of expected returns. His work delves into retail margin trading, the role of pension-fund flows in exchange-rate dynamics, the informational content of SEC filings, and the efficiency of short-selling mechanisms. By combining large-scale data analytics, textual analysis, and structural modeling, he uncovers novel predictors of returns ranging from presidential approval ratings to real-time attention measures. Recent projects explore fractional trading ’s impact on price efficiency, hedging demand as a driver of intraday momentum, and the hidden effort problem in delegated portfolio management. These themes collectively advance our understanding of limits to arbitrage and the formation of extrapolative beliefs. Publication Landscape Spanning 2025 back to 2009, his 15 most recent articles in Journal of Finance , Review of Financial Studies , Management Science , Journal of Financial Economics , and Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis converge on three broad motifs: (1) micro-level trading frictions—liquidity costs, margin requirements, and short-selling constraints; (2) macro-finance linkages—exchange rates, fiscal policy, and global capital flows; and (3) information economics—attention allocation, media analytics, and regulatory disclosures. The collective evidence demonstrates that seemingly small trading or informational frictions aggregate into large, persistent cross-sectional return predictability. Honors and Awards 2017 William F. Sharpe Award for Best Paper, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis Lead-article distinctions in Journal of Finance , Review of Financial Studies , and Management Science Featured coverage in SmartMoney and CNBC Teaching & Mentorship At Notre Dame’s Mendoza College, Professor Da teaches Investments (undergraduate and MBA) and Fixed Income Securities , integrating cutting-edge research insights into the curriculum. While specific advisees are not listed, his extensive co-author network (22+ recurring collaborators) attests to a vibrant mentoring environment. Laboratory & Data Resources He publicly distributes the NAT (Net Arbitrage Trading) dataset, a stock-quarter panel of arbitrage positions used in Chen, Da & Huang (2019). This resource has become a standard tool for researchers studying arbitrage capital movements.
Elena Maria Baralis is a Full Professor at the Department of Control and Computer Science (DAUIN) at the Polytechnic University of Turin. She serves as Pro-Rector, member of the Board of Directors (without voting rights), member of the Academic Senate (without voting rights), and coordinator of the University's Permanent Observatory for Monitoring the Academic Sector. She chairs the Control and Computer Engineering Department and previously chaired the Computer Engineering School from October 2012 to October 2018. Her research interests focus on database systems and data mining, specifically explainable AI, bias detection in data analytics, and machine learning algorithms for big data. Her work spans various application domains including predictive maintenance, Industry 4.0, and healthcare. Recent publications demonstrate her expertise in speech processing, bias mitigation, and innovative neural network architectures like Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks. Her research output shows a clear trend toward addressing fairness and explainability in AI systems while exploring novel approaches to speech and language understanding. Professor Baralis has received significant recognition including becoming a Fellow of the Academy of Sciences of Turin in 2017. She has served as Editor-in-Chief for IEEE Internet of Things Journal (2016-2019) and Knowledge and Information Systems (2014-present). She actively mentors doctoral students including Claudio Savelli (researching Machine Unlearning), Eleonora Poeta, Giuseppe Gallipoli, Alkis Koudounas, and others. Her research is supported by numerous projects including AI4CTI (Artificial Intelligence for Cyber Threat Intelligence, 2025-2028), Smart manufacturing driven by Machine Learning in Industry 4.0 (2019-2020), and I-REACT (2016-2019).
Lyle Ungar is a Professor at the Department of Computer and Information Science at the University of Pennsylvania . He is affiliated with multiple graduate groups, including Genomics and Computational Biology in the School of Medicine , Operations, Information and Decisions in the Wharton School , and Psychology in the School of Arts and Sciences . His research focuses on explainable machine learning , deep learning , and natural language processing for psychology and medical research , analyzing social media and sensor data to understand well-being, empathy, and stress. His work spans bioinformatics , applied economics , and group decision-making . Recent publications examine LLM-based tutoring , cross-cultural translation , and AI in palliative care , showing trends in reinforcement learning , mobile health , and health data analytics . He has contributed to Google Scholar , PubMed , and DBLP with over 15 papers since 2023. Scientific Awards : 2019 Alan I. Leshner Leadership Institute Public Engagement Fellow His students include Vitoria Aquino Guardieiro , Yihao Li , and co-advised researchers like Shreya Havaldar with Eric Wong. He leads projects at interdisciplinary centers such as the Annenberg Public Policy Center , Center for Cognitive Neuroscience , and Institute for Translational Medicine .
