Dr. Vikram Nanda is the O.P. Jindal Distinguished Chair Professor of Finance at the Naveen Jindal School of Management, University of Texas at Dallas. He holds a PhD in Finance from the University of Chicago, MBA from Yale University, and a Bachelor of Technology from Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. His research focuses on corporate finance, financial institutions, and behavioral finance, with emphasis on topics like hedge fund strategies, managerial overconfidence, and corruption's economic impacts. Key research highlights include studies on multi-market trading (best paper award), litigation risk effects on contracting, and cryptocurrency bubble detection. He has served on editorial boards for Journal of Financial Research and Financial Letters , and contributed to non-academic publications like Barron’s . His work spans 30+ years across top-tier institutions including USC, University of Michigan, and Georgia Tech. Current research explores AI's role in investment management, gender diversity in executive roles, and legal frameworks affecting corporate behavior. Awards include Smith Breeden Prize nominations and Q-Group research grants. Educations: PhD (Chicago), MBA (Yale), B.Tech (IIT Kanpur) Affiliations: Financial Intermediation Research Society, European Finance Association Labs/Teams: Behavioral Finance Research Group, Corporate Governance Initiative He advises on strategic financial decisions and has authored/coauthored over 50 publications. Recent work examines environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investment strategies and the impact of trade secret laws on financial opacity.
Dr. Jonathan Cale is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Forest Ecology and Management at the University of Northern British Columbia, affiliated with the NRES Graduate Program. His research program merges basic and applied approaches to investigate fungal ecology and forest pathology, focusing on how fungus-tree interactions influence forest health challenges. Specializes in forest fungi roles across disturbance stages: development, impact, and recovery Key interests: emerging forest diseases, climate change impacts on fungi, bark beetle-fungus interactions, chemical defense mechanisms Supervises graduate students in Biology and Forestry (MSc NRES) and serves as a media-contactable expert in Forest Pathology His recent publications address topics such as fungal community dynamics in disturbed forests, chemical defense responses in pines, and bark beetle-fungus coevolutionary mechanisms. No scientific awards are mentioned in the provided text.
Federico Toschi is a Full Professor at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), holding joint appointments in Applied Physics and Mathematics and Computer Science departments. His research focuses on multi-scale transport phenomena, combining statistical physics, fluid dynamics, and computational methods. He leads projects in the 4TU Centre for Multiscale Phenomena and EAISI. Education: PhD in Physics (University of Pisa, 1998) and academic background at Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa. Interdisciplinary expertise in fluid dynamics turbulence, Lagrangian turbulence, crowd dynamics, and Lattice Boltzmann methods. Recipient of APS Fellow (2015), Euromech Fluid Mechanics Fellow (2012), and Ig Nobel Prize for Physics (2021). Research emphasizes turbulence modeling, pedestrian dynamics, and active matter, with applications in environmental flows and crowd management. His work bridges computational innovations with experimental validations. Recent articles explore kinetic data-driven turbulence modeling, pedestrian flow optimization, and turbulence effects in biological systems. Projects include digital twins for seismicity modeling and rarefied gas dynamics. Teaches fluid mechanics, computational physics, and chaos theory courses. Founded Flow Matters Holding BV, applying research to practical solutions.
Laurie Mook is an Associate Professor and Associate Director in the School of Community Resources and Development (CRD) at Arizona State University (ASU). She is also affiliated with the Lodestar Center for Philanthropy & Nonprofit Innovation and the Center for Organization Research and Design (CORD). Her research focuses on the social economy, including nonprofits, cooperatives, social enterprises, volunteerism, and social accounting. She holds a Ph.D. in Adult Education and Community Development from the University of Toronto, along with an M.Ed. and B.A. from Canadian institutions. Dr. Mook’s academic contributions include co-authoring influential books such as Understanding the Social Economy: A Canadian Perspective (2018) and editing the Canadian Journal for Nonprofit and Social Economy Research . Her teaching spans courses like Social Marketing and Strategic HR Management, emphasizing online pedagogy and curriculum design. Her awards include the 2021 Distinguished Service Award from ANSER and multiple Outstanding Faculty Awards at ASU. She has been a leader in professional associations like ANSER and ARNOVA, contributing to conference organization, editorial roles, and policy discussions. Her work bridges academic research, nonprofit practice, and social innovation, addressing topics like volunteer management, impact measurement, and the role of technology in the social economy.
Professor Tan Hun Tong is a Professor in the Division of Accounting at the Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), holding the UOB Chair in Banking. He is also Director of the Centre for Accounting & Auditing Research (CAAR). His academic journey includes a B. Acc (Honors) from NUS, M.A. in Psychology, and Ph.D. in Business Administration (Accounting) from the University of Michigan. Research focuses on judgment and decision-making in accounting, leveraging psychological theories and experimentation. Key interests include preparers, users, and intermediaries of accounting information, and institutional/environmental influences on financial judgments. His editorial roles include Editor-in-Chief of Accounting, Organizations and Society , and Editor of Journal of International Accounting Research . Recent work spans critical audit matters, investor decision-making, and auditing standards, reflecting themes in behavioral accounting and regulatory impact. Awards: 2021 ABO Notable Lifetime Contribution Award Public Administration Medal (Silver, 2016) Nanyang Award for Research (2008) Long Service Awards (2015, 2019) Advising and grants: No formal advisee list provided. Active in editorial and AAA committees, emphasizing professional standards and research advocacy. Labs/Teams: Leads CAAR, focusing on accounting and auditing research. Engaged in interdisciplinary projects merging psychology with financial decision-making.
Dr. Vahid Hosseini is an Associate Professor and Graduate Program Chair in the School of Sustainable Energy Engineering at Simon Fraser University (SFU). His research focuses on sustainable energy systems, urban air pollution, and clean mobility solutions. He holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Alberta (2008), and M.A.Sc. and B.Eng. degrees from Sharif University of Technology (Iran). His academic roles include leadership in graduate academic programs and engineering education. Key research areas include thermo-fluid systems analysis, vehicle emissions reduction, and urban air quality modeling. He is actively involved in projects addressing real-world driving emissions, emission inventory development, and the impact of cold climates on transportation energy consumption and pollution. Notable contributions include studies on retrofit emission control devices for motorcycles, high-emitter vehicle identification, and policy recommendations for emission reduction. His work integrates experimental methods, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and machine learning to tackle complex environmental challenges. Teaching interests span thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and air pollution control engineering. Current courses include SEE 325 D100 Mechanical Design and Finite Element Analysis . Research highlights include collaborations on Tehran’s air quality management, particulate matter (PM2.5) source apportionment, and the development of high-resolution emission inventories. He contributes to international conferences and journals, with a focus on practical solutions for sustainable urban transportation systems.
Dr. Hongli (Julie) Zhu is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at Northeastern University's College of Engineering. Her research focuses on sustainable energy storage, multifunctional materials, and advanced manufacturing, with emphasis on developing environmentally friendly biomass-derived materials, all solid-state batteries, and flow batteries. She leads the ZHU Lab at Northeastern University, which is dedicated to creating safer, cheaper, and higher performance energy storage solutions while exploring multifunctional materials derived from nature. Dr. Zhu received her PhD from South China University of Technology and Western Michigan University (2004-2009). She conducted postdoctoral research at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden (2009-2011), focusing on biodegradable and renewable biomaterials from natural wood, followed by additional postdoctoral work at the University of Maryland (2012-2015), where she researched nanocellulose and energy storage. Dr. Zhu's research spans multiple disciplines at the intersection of materials science, energy storage, and sustainable manufacturing. Her work addresses critical challenges in energy storage technology, including developing all solid-state batteries, flow batteries, and high energy density battery systems. She has pioneered research in sustainable biomass-derived materials, particularly investigating cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin for applications in bendable, implantable, and biocompatible electronics. Her lab also focuses on advanced manufacturing techniques, including high-speed roll-to-roll processing for emerging advanced materials and devices. Analysis of Dr. Zhu's publication record reveals a strong focus on next-generation battery technologies, particularly solid-state systems. Her research demonstrates significant contributions to understanding and improving lithium dendrite suppression, electrode architecture optimization, and interface stabilization in solid-state batteries. She has also made substantial advances in sustainable materials derived from natural resources, developing applications for cellulose nanostructured fibers, paper, and aerogel/hydrogel systems. MRS Communications Early Career Distinguished Presenters and JMR Distinguished Invited Speakers (2024) Selected in Stanford University List of Top 2% Scientists Worldwide (2021-2024) College of Engineering Faculty Fellow (2023) Soren Buus Outstanding Research Award (2022) Women in Materials Science, Advanced Materials (2021 and 2022) Women Scientists at the Forefront of Energy Research, ACS Energy Letters (2020) Innovator of the Year 2013, Maryland Jakob Wallenberg Scholarship, Sweden Dr. Zhu has secured significant research funding from various sources, including the National Science Foundation and Department of Energy. Her current projects include "Uncovering the mechano-electro-chemo mechanism of fresh Li in sulfide based all solid-state batteries through operando studies" (NSF), "Enabling Advanced Electrode Architecture through Printing Technique" (DOE), and "Engineering the Metal Sulfide Interface in All Solid State Batteries through Operando Study" (NSF). She collaborates with industry partners including Rogers Corporation and has developed patented technologies related to sustainable materials and energy storage. Dr. Zhu serves as Codirector of Advanced & Intelligent Manufacturing, Editor of Progress in Materials Science, and on the Editorial Advisory Board of Chemical Society Reviews. The ZHU Lab at Northeastern University is a highly interdisciplinary research group that bridges scales from the nanoscopic to macroscopic and system level. The lab's work has led to numerous patents, including "Natural fiber composites as a low-cost plastic alternative" and "Fire-retardant Nanocellulose Aerogel, and Methods of Preparation and Uses Thereof." The group focuses on making energy storage safer, cheaper, and higher performing while exploring multifunctional materials derived from nature, with particular emphasis on applying high-speed roll-to-roll manufacturing to emerging advanced materials and devices.
Taskin Padir is a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Northeastern University and concurrently serves as an Amazon Scholar. He holds a PhD and MS from Purdue University and a BS from Middle East Technical University. His research focuses on experiential robotics, human-robot teaming, and embodied AI, with leadership roles in the Robotics and Intelligent Vehicles Research Laboratory (RIVeR Lab) and the Institute for Experiential Robotics. Padir has led projects for DARPA, NASA, and industry partners, advancing autonomous systems for extreme environments and human-robot collaboration. Education: PhD, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University (2004) MS, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University (1997) BS, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Middle East Technical University (1993) Research Interests: Shared autonomy and human-in-the-loop robotics Embodied artificial intelligence Human-robot teaming in extreme environments (e.g., space, disaster zones) Collaborative robotics for industrial applications His work bridges robotics, AI, and real-world challenges, with recent projects addressing seafood processing automation, robotic navigation in unstructured terrains, and spectroscopy-based environmental monitoring. Awards: Recipient of the 2024 Faculty Research Team Award, 2023 Impact Award, and 2022 Amazon Scholar distinction. His research has been funded by NSF, DARPA, NASA, and industry collaborators like Amazon Robotics and Intel. Labs: Director of the RIVeR Lab and Institute for Experiential Robotics, fostering interdisciplinary research in autonomous systems and intelligent vehicles. Current projects include CRISP (Co-worker Robots for Seafood Processing) and PROSPECT (robotic spectroscopy tools).
Professor Chin Hoong Chor is a Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the National University of Singapore (NUS), affiliated with the Faculty of Engineering. He specializes in transportation systems modeling, safety assessment, and congestion management. As a registered professional engineer and road safety auditor, he has contributed to numerous projects with Singapore’s land authorities and private companies. He holds leadership roles including Vice Chairman of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport and Editorial Board membership for the International Journal of Transport Management. Qualifications include a BEng and MEng from NUS and a PhD in Transportation Engineering from the University of Southampton. His research interests span vehicle detection using image processing, traffic conflict analysis, and public transport optimization. Notable awards include the NUS Faculty Innovative Teaching (Gold) Award (2001/2002) and the UK Institution of Civil Engineers Webb Prize (2003). Education: BEng in Civil Engineering, National University of Singapore MEng in Civil Engineering, National University of Singapore PhD in Transportation Engineering, University of Southampton His research focuses on quantitative safety analysis, traffic flow modeling, and smart city initiatives. Recent work explores maritime collision risk modeling and sentiment analysis for transportation planning. He actively contributes to government committees and has authored over 40 peer-reviewed papers on traffic management and safety. Awards: Faculty Innovative Teaching (Gold) Award, 2001/2002 UK Institution of Civil Engineers Webb Prize 2003 Prof Chin has undertaken traffic impact studies and road safety reviews in Singapore, collaborating with public and private sectors. His work bridges academic research and practical policy implementation, emphasizing sustainable urban mobility solutions.
Anant Nyshadham is an Associate Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan. He holds positions as a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), Affiliate of BREAD, Research Affiliate of the International Growth Centre (IGC), and J-PAL affiliated professor. He also serves as co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of the Good Business Lab, a nonprofit promoting worker welfare initiatives. Education: BSc in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania (2006), PhD in Economics from Yale University (2012). Research focuses on enterprise dynamics, labor markets, managerial quality, and health outcomes in developing economies. Key themes include worker training, labor contracting, and the impact of environmental factors on productivity. His fieldwork spans countries like India, Kenya, Colombia, and Mexico. Recent publications analyze topics such as relational contracts in firms, health costs of energy policies, and the long-term effects of early-life interventions. He has received grants and awards for projects addressing organizational behavior and worker welfare. Labs/Initiatives: Leads research collaborations through the Good Business Lab and Ross School of Business, focusing on scalable solutions for improving labor practices and worker well-being.
Associate Professor Sunghoon Kim holds a position at the University of Sydney Business School's Discipline of Work and Organisational Studies. He previously taught at UNSW Business School, Cornell University, and Peking University. His PhD is from Cornell University, with MBA and BBA degrees from Seoul National University. His research focuses on strategic HRM, employment relations, and the impact of technological changes like AI on workplaces. He has edited major works including the Routledge Handbook of Human Resource Management in Asia and contributes to the APRU project on 21st-century work transformations. Kim serves as Associate Editor for journals like Human Resource Management and Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources . His recent work addresses algorithmic management, employee well-being in AI contexts, and cross-border labor dynamics. He has advised students researching migrant worker choices and voice processes in organizations. Media engagements include commentary on workplace perks and work-life balance in South Korea. Teaching responsibilities include courses on performance management, strategic HRM, and international HR practices. His research highlights the intersection of technology, culture, and organizational sustainability.
Pablo Durango-Cohen is an Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Northwestern University, located in Evanston, IL. He holds a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from UC Berkeley, following an M.S. from the same program and a B.S. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the University of Southern California. His research focuses on developing and analyzing optimization and econometric models for transportation infrastructure systems, integrating environmental design, life-cycle assessment, and policy analysis to address decarbonization challenges in freight systems. He also explores dynamic segmentation models for nonprofit fundraising strategies. Education: Ph.D. Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, University of California, Berkeley (2006) M.S. Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, University of California, Berkeley B.S. Industrial and Systems Engineering, University of Southern California Research Interests: Prof. Durango-Cohen’s work bridges transportation engineering, environmental science, and operations research. He emphasizes infrastructure management through data-driven frameworks, including statistical process control for condition monitoring and predictive maintenance. His recent projects address decarbonization of freight rail systems, electric vehicle impacts on road infrastructure, and optimal auction designs for road concessions. He also applies mathematical models to analyze donor behavior and fundraising efficiency in universities, aiming to improve nonprofit resource allocation strategies. Awards: NSF Faculty Early CAREER Development Award (2006) Young Author Prize, 2007 World Congress on Transport Research Matthew G. Karlaftis Best Paper Awards (2020–2025) Advising & Grants: He advises current PhD candidates including Jing Yu, Adrian Hernandez, and Callahan Skiles, while mentoring former students across sustainability, infrastructure, and fundraising analytics. His research is supported by agencies like the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy (through ARPA-E), and Department of Transportation. He co-leads the LOCOMOTIVES project with ANL researchers, focusing on decarbonizing rail networks, and founded the Virtual Inter-university Symposium on Infrastructure Management (VISIM) to foster academic collaboration. Labs & Teams: As Principal Investigator (PI) on major initiatives like LOCOMOTIVES and VISIM, he collaborates with multidisciplinary teams at Northwestern and Argonne National Laboratory. His group develops tools such as the Locomotives interactive dashboard and a computational framework for input-output lifecycle assessments, accessible via repositories like CivEnv304 .
Dae-Jin Lee is an Assistant Professor at IE University’s School of Science and Technology, specializing in statistical modeling and data science. Previously, he served as a Research Line Leader at the Basque Centre for Applied Mathematics (BCAM) and coordinated the Knowledge Transfer Unit in Data Science/AI. His academic background includes a Ph.D. in Mathematical Engineering (2010) from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid and postdoctoral research at CSIRO (Australia). His research focuses on statistical methods for complex data, including penalized splines, tensor product smooths, and applications in biomedicine, epidemiology, environmental science, and sports analytics. He has led multidisciplinary projects funded by public and industry grants, collaborating globally with experts across fields like engineering, medicine, and biology. Key research themes include predictive modeling for health outcomes (e.g., SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia severity), sports injury prevention, and AI in healthcare. His work integrates machine learning with traditional statistical techniques, addressing real-world challenges like pedestrian dynamics simulations and automated medical diagnostics. He is actively involved in scientific organizations, including the Spanish Biostatistics Society and the Statistical Modelling Society. His recent publications highlight innovations in growth curve modeling, AI ethics, and spatiotemporal data analysis, reflecting his commitment to advancing both theoretical and applied statistics.
Ryan Giordano is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Statistics at the University of California, Berkeley. He holds a PhD in Statistics from UC Berkeley (2019), advised by Michael Jordan, Tamara Broderick, and Jon McAuliffe, an MSc in Econometrics and Mathematical Economics from the London School of Economics (2009), and undergraduate degrees in Mathematics and Theoretical/Applied Mechanics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Prior to academia, he worked as an engineer at Google and HP and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kazakhstan. His research focuses on variational methods , Bayesian robustness , sensitivity analysis , and statistical computing , with applications in machine learning, environmental science, and astronomy. He is particularly known for developing scalable Bayesian inference techniques and quantifying the robustness of statistical models to data perturbations. Giordano’s recent work includes studies on Laplace approximation accuracy, MCMC sensitivity to data removal, and robustness metrics for differential expression analysis. He has contributed to open-source statistical software and collaborates with Tamara Broderick’s group at MIT on postdoctoral work (pre-2019 position). His academic trajectory combines theoretical innovation with practical applications, emphasizing reproducibility and computational efficiency in statistical methodology.
Steven Devleminck is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at KU Leuven's Faculty of Engineering Technology, concurrently serving as coordinator of the School of Arts (Associated Faculty) in Brussels. His dual appointment bridges engineering and arts through the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) group at Group T Leuven Campus and Unit Art & Technology in Brussels, with active membership in DigiSoc – KU Leuven Digital Society Institute. His research centers on human-centered computing and speculative design methodologies , with core expertise in tangible interaction for emotion regulation and multispecies futures. Key themes include biofuturing as co-creative response to climate crises, squeeze-based interfaces for workplace stress, and artistic AI collaborations. His work uniquely integrates computer science with choreography, film studies, and anthropology through projects like “Youth TikTok production as public pedagogy” and “Imagining the Post-Anthropocene in BioFutures Living Lab”. Analysis of recent publications reveals three dominant trajectories: (1) Advancement of squeeze interaction techniques for affective computing, (2) Development of biofuturing frameworks for multispecies speculation, and (3) Critical examinations of AI's role in artistic mediumship. Cross-cutting themes include post-anthropocentric design, climate-responsive technologies, and decolonial approaches to digital pedagogy. Devleminck actively mentors doctoral candidates including Ula Sickle (choreographic exhibitions) and J. Verbesselt (cinema studies), while leading major funded projects such as: Living Corpora (2025-2029): Pioneering human-AI collaboration in digital humanities as Co-promotor Experiential Futuring (2022-2026): Co-creative methodology for social media outage response as Co-promotor Deradicalizing the City (2021-2025): Urban intervention research as Promotor He serves on the Computer Science Department Council and Doctoral Committee for the Associated Faculty of Arts. His laboratory ecosystem spans the HCI Group T Leuven Campus for technical development, Brussels-based Unit Art & Technology for artistic integration, and BioFutures Living Lab for participatory multispecies experimentation. This tripartite structure enables transdisciplinary work connecting squeeze sensor engineering with climate futures speculation and museum interface design.
