Qiongxiu Li is a Tenure-Track Assistant Professor in the Cyber Security group at Aalborg University's Copenhagen campus, part of the Technical Faculty of IT and Design. Her research focuses on cybersecurity, distributed optimization, privacy/security, and federated learning. She has authored/co-authored 38 papers in top-tier venues including IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security, ICLR, and EUSIPCO. Education: PhD in Privacy and Security from Aalborg University (2018-2021). Notable achievements include winning the EUSIPCO 2020 3MT Contest and co-delivering a tutorial on privacy-preserving distributed optimization at EUSIPCO 2024. She actively reviews for conferences like NeurIPS, ICLR, and journals such as TPAMI and TIFS. Research Themes: Privacy-preserving distributed algorithms, federated learning security, differential privacy, and adversarial machine learning. Recent Trends: Focus on securing AI systems (e.g., LLM vulnerabilities, federated clustering privacy), quantization for privacy, and theoretical bounds in decentralized learning. Awards: 2020 EUSIPCO 3MT Winner (outstanding finalist in EURASIP's annual doctoral research competition). Grants/Projects: Co-PI of the AI:SECURITY project (2025-2029) addressing AI security threats like phishing and malicious actors. Labs/Teams: Leads the Cyber Security group at Aalborg's Copenhagen campus, focusing on theoretical and applied research in secure distributed systems.
Robert G. Bland is a Professor at Cornell University's School of Operations Research and Information Engineering (ORIE). He joined Cornell in 1978 after roles at SUNY Binghamton and research fellowships in Belgium. He is affiliated with the Center for Applied Mathematics and specializes in linear programming, combinatorial optimization, and network flow theory. His research emphasizes algorithmic efficiency, duality theory, and applications in scheduling and resource allocation. Education: B.S. (1969), Cornell University M.S. (1972), Cornell University Ph.D. (1974), Cornell University Research Interests: Focuses on linear programming duality, combinatorial abstractions, computational methods for optimization, and applications in logistics, scheduling, and scientific computing. Notable work includes the development of new pivoting rules for the simplex method and empirical studies of network flow algorithms. Publications Insight: His work spans foundational LP theory, combinatorial optimization, and algorithmic analysis. Key themes include duality frameworks, Camion bases, and large-scale TSP applications in crystallography. Recent publications address abstract dualities and historical perspectives on pioneers like D. Ray Fulkerson. Awards: Recipient of Cornell's prestigious Merrill Outstanding Educator Award (3 times) and twice recognized as ORIE's best teacher. Member of the Mathematical Optimization Society and American Society for Engineering Education. Grants & Projects: Conducted service projects on vehicle routing and examination scheduling. Collaborated on computational studies of min cost flow algorithms and network flow performance. Labs/Teams: Active in ORIE's research groups, particularly those focused on optimization theory and computational methods.
Dr. Difan Zou is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Hong Kong's School of Computing and Data Science. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from UCLA and degrees in Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC). His research focuses on machine learning theory, optimization, and learning structured data such as time-series and graph data, with an emphasis on understanding deep learning's theoretical underpinnings like optimization trajectories and generalization properties. Dr. Zou's academic background includes a B.S. from USTC's School of Gifted Young (Applied Physics) and a M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the same institution. His work bridges theoretical foundations and practical applications, addressing challenges in adversarial robustness, algorithm design for deep neural networks, and explainable machine learning systems in healthcare and finance. His research projects aim to establish rigorous frameworks for deep learning optimization, develop efficient training algorithms, and integrate conventional statistical models with machine learning for improved interpretability. He has received the Bloomberg Data Science Ph.D. Fellowship and has contributed to top-tier conferences like ICML, NeurIPS, and ICLR.
Luís B. Elvas is an Assistant Professor at ISCTE-University Institute of Lisbon's Department of Social and Business Sciences (SINTRA) and a Research Assistant at ISTAR-Iscte Research Center. He holds qualifications including a Technical Specialization in TensorFlow for AI (Coursera, 2021) and certifications in IoT/Blockchain from ISCTE and cybersecurity from Palo Alto Networks. His research spans artificial intelligence, healthcare informatics, smart cities, and blockchain, with applied work in medical imaging, data sharing, and urban analytics. Research interests include: Healthcare AI : Developing deep learning models for cardiac diagnostics, medical imaging analysis, and blockchain-based health data systems Smart Cities : Implementing IoT solutions for urban mobility optimization, disaster management, and sustainable transportation Data Science : Creating predictive analytics frameworks for clinical decision support and urban planning His publications demonstrate a strong focus on AI-driven healthcare solutions (67% of recent works) and smart city technologies (33%), with emerging interests in blockchain and NLP. Research consistently targets real-world applications in clinical settings and urban environments. Awards: Award for best internship, Order of Engineers (2022) Distinction for best internship, Order of Engineers (2021) He leads/contributes to multiple EU research consortia including AMR-EDUCare (antimicrobial resistance education), NEEM (e-health in Nepal), and Blockchain.PT. Coordinates the IEEE Computational Intelligence Society Student Branch Chapter at ISCTE and developed the ManagiDiTH master's program in digital health transformation.
Venkatesan Guruswami is a Chancellor's Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences and Professor in the Department of Mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley. He previously served as faculty at Carnegie Mellon University for 13 years and held a Miller Research Fellowship at UC Berkeley. His research focuses on Theoretical Computer Science , particularly in Error-Correcting Codes , Approximation Algorithms , Quantum Computing , and Hardness of Approximation . Guruswami has made groundbreaking contributions to list decoding and quantum code constructions, with works featured in Science Magazine and the Journal of the ACM (where he serves as Editor-in-Chief). Education : B.Tech (1997, IIT Madras), Ph.D. (2001, MIT), Miller Research Fellowship (2001-02, UC Berkeley) Research Areas : Theory of error-correcting codes, approximation algorithms, pseudorandomness, probabilistically checkable proofs, and quantum coding theory Guruswami's recent work explores quantum LDPC codes , parameterized inapproximability , and stream decodable codes . He has received prestigious awards including the NSF CAREER award , David and Lucile Packard Fellowship , and Sloan Research Fellowship . His advising spans a wide range of students and postdocs, with notable contributions to coding theory and computational complexity .
Xiaoning Qian is a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University, where he also serves on the Faculty Advisory Committee for the Texas A&M Institute of Data Science (TAMIDS) and the Executive Committee for the Texas A&M TRIPODS Research Institute for Foundations of Interdisciplinary Data Science (FIDS). He holds a joint appointment in the Applied Math group within the Computational Science Initiative at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). Previously, he was an Associate Professor (2018-2022) and Assistant Professor (2013-2018) at Texas A&M, and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of South Florida (2009-2013). Dr. Qian received his B.S.E. and M.S.E. degrees from Shanghai Jiaotong University, China, and his M.Ph. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Yale University. Dr. Qian's research focuses on developing mathematical models and computational algorithms in signal processing, machine learning, and Bayesian methods, particularly in learning, uncertainty quantification, and experimental design. His work spans multiple disciplines, with applications in life sciences and materials science. His research group, the Biomedical Imaging, Sensing, and Genomic Signal Processing Group, actively applies probabilistic models and optimization algorithms to solve complex problems in interdisciplinary domains. His research has evolved from foundational work in bioinformatics and biomedical image processing to more recent applications in materials science and broader AI for science initiatives. Dr. Qian has received numerous scientific awards and recognitions including: National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award Segers Family Dean's Excellence Professorship II in the College of Engineering TEES (Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station) Senior Faculty Fellow Montague-Center for Teaching Excellence Scholar J. T. Oden Faculty Fellow at the University of Texas, Austin Finalist of the 2023 INFORMS QSR Best Paper Faculty Impact Fellow from the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering As an advisor , Dr. Qian has mentored numerous graduate students through their PhD and MS programs, with many of his alumni securing positions at prestigious institutions and companies including NIH/NCBI, Microsoft, Baidu Research Lab, and Qualcomm. His research has been supported by multiple grants, including an NSF CAREER award and collaborative research funding from the Information Integration and Informatics program. He is actively recruiting postdoc and graduate student research assistants for projects in machine learning and optimization methods with applications in bioinformatics and materials science. Dr. Qian is involved with several research initiatives including the Objective-Based Uncertainty Quantification (ObjectiveUQ) project, which provides a mathematical framework for integrating prior knowledge and data while enabling effective operational and experimental design under uncertainty. He also co-organizes the Bio-Seminar series for the Biomedical Imaging, Sensing & Genomic Signal Processing group at Texas A&M.
Wenjing Rao is an Associate Professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Her research focuses on VLSI test, fault-tolerance, reliability, and hardware security in emerging nanoelectronic systems. Education: Ph.D. in Computer Science from University of California, San Diego (2008) B.S. in Computer Science from Peking University (2001) Her work explores novel computation paradigms through physical unclonable functions (PUFs), defect-tolerant logic implementation, and scalable fault tolerance in many-processor arrays. Publications emphasize hardware security, reconfiguration strategies, and reliability challenges in nanoscale architectures. Notable honors include the 2017 Harold A. Simon Award for Excellence in Teaching and the 2012 NSF CAREER Award. She has contributed to key journals like IEEE Transactions on Computer-Aided Design and conferences including DATE, ASPDAC, and NANOARCH.
Thierry Badard is an Associate Professor at the Department of Geomatics Sciences , Université Laval, where he also serves as Director of the Center for Research in Geospatial Data and Intelligence (CRDIG) . With over 28 years of experience in geospatial science, he leads research initiatives at the intersection of GeoAI , LiDAR processing , and smart city technologies . Director, CRDIG (2016-2022) Steering Committee Member, Big Data Research Centre (CRDM) Researcher, Institute for Intelligence and Data (IID) Research Expertise spans geospatial big data, GeoNLP, and IoT applications for digital twins. His work addresses flood risk modeling , 3D urban analytics , and environmental monitoring through AI-driven solutions. Recent publications focus on contrastive learning for LiDAR segmentation and geospatial ontologies for early warning systems. Grant Leadership includes collaborative projects on smart insurance analytics (2018-2025), Arctic bioaerosol research (2019-2025), and Quebec-Morocco digital twin partnerships (2022-2023). He has advised 15+ graduate students in geomatics and related fields.
Yuan Zhong is an Associate Professor of Operations Management at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business . He previously held positions as an Assistant Professor at Columbia University’s Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research and was a Postdoctoral Scholar at UC Berkeley’s Computer Science Department. Education: PhD in Operations Research, MIT (2012) MA in Mathematics, Caltech (2008) BA in Mathematics, University of Cambridge (2006) His research focuses on applied probability and stochastic system design , with applications in cloud computing , supply chain management , and e-commerce logistics . Recent work explores multi-period production systems and dynamic resource allocation in data centers and healthcare operations . Recent publications analyze cloud value chains , sparse graph design for delivery networks, and process flexibility in manufacturing. He has contributed to journals like Operations Research , Annals of Applied Probability , and Stochastic Systems . Scientific Awards: 2012 Kenneth C. Sevcik Outstanding Student Paper Award Best Student Paper Award at ACM Sigmetrics (2012) He teaches courses in business process fundamentals and queueing theory , with a future schedule including Operations Management: Business Process Fundamentals (2025–2026). No explicit student advising list was provided.
Dr. Tim Conrad is a researcher at the Zuse Institute Berlin in the Visual and data-centric computing department under the Mathematics of Complex Systems division. He leads projects at the intersection of computational biology, AI, and medical data analysis. Projects: Geometric Learning for Single-Cell RNA Velocity Modeling, MODAL MedLab, Sparse Compressed Sensing in -Omics Data, BIFOLD (Big Data and Machine Learning) Research Networks: Affiliated with MATH+ and MODAL Research Campus His research focuses on applying machine learning , network optimization , and sparse data analysis to biological and medical challenges including disease modeling, microbiome dynamics, and ECG classification. Recent work explores hybrid PDE-ODE epidemic models and federated learning in healthcare. 2023-2025 publications highlight trends in AI for biological networks , temporal community detection , and medical signal processing . He co-authored studies on SARS-CoV-2 simulations, proteomics feature selection, and multi-label ECG analysis. His 2004 doctoral thesis at Monash University laid foundations for later work in metabolic pathway analysis. Awarded as a Zuse Fellow , he contributes to open science initiatives like FAIR data sharing . Collaborations span institutions including Freie Universität Berlin and Charité in medical informatics and clinical applications.
Lisa Wills serves as Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Duke University's Trinity College of Arts & Sciences and holds a joint appointment in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Pratt School of Engineering since 2019. Her research bridges computer architecture and domain-specific applications, with a focus on hardware acceleration for computationally intensive fields. Dr. Wills earned her Ph.D. from Columbia University in 2014. Her academic journey reflects a deep commitment to advancing hardware-software co-design methodologies for real-world computational challenges. Her research centers on developing efficient hardware accelerators for big data analytics, particularly in genomics, graph processing, and database systems. She pioneers frameworks that simplify accelerator deployment while tackling critical bottlenecks in genomic data analysis, protein structure prediction, and privacy-preserving computing. Current work focuses on hardware-aware machine learning systems and energy-efficient architectures for emerging AI applications. Analysis of her publication record reveals a clear trajectory: from foundational work in database processing units (2014-2016) to specialized genomic accelerators (2019-2021), then evolving toward ML-enhanced design automation (2022-2023) and cutting-edge architectural abstractions (2024-2025). Her research consistently targets the intersection of hardware efficiency and domain-specific computational demands, with increasing emphasis on AI/ML workloads. Google ML and Systems Junior Faculty Award (2025) Dr. Wills actively mentors doctoral students including Chris Kjellqvist (lead architect of Beethoven accelerator framework), Mason Ma (PyTFHE FHE framework), and Mansi Choudhary (COCOSSim accelerator simulator). Her research is supported by significant grants including the NSF AI Institute: Athena ($20M, 2021-2027), Meta-funded ProSE accelerator project (2023-2026), and NSF CAREER award (2021-2026), totaling over $25M in active funding. She directs the APEX Lab (Application-driven Programmable Efficient Accelerated Systems), which develops open-source frameworks like Beethoven for FPGA/ASIC accelerator deployment and focuses on lowering barriers for non-hardware researchers to leverage custom acceleration in genomics, AI, and big data applications.
David Zhigang Pan is a Professor in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. He also holds the Silicon Laboratories Endowed Chair. Prior to joining UT Austin, he was a Research Staff Member at IBM T. J. Watson Research Center from 2000 to 2003. His academic journey began with a B.S. from Peking University, followed by M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from UCLA. Research Areas: Electronic Design Automation (EDA), Machine Learning Hardware, FPGA Prototyping, Optical Computing, Hardware Security, and CAD for Emerging Technologies Academic Timeline: Assistant Professor (2003-2008), Associate Professor (2008-2013), Full Professor (2013-present) His research focuses on design automation for mixed-signal circuits , GPU-accelerated EDA tools , and hardware-software co-design for AI . Recent work explores FFT-based optical neural networks and deobfuscation techniques for integrated circuits , reflecting his interdisciplinary approach at the intersection of machine learning , computer architecture , and semiconductor manufacturing . Key publication trends reveal expertise in: VLSI design , lithography optimization , and deep learning applications for EDA tools. His work has been recognized with multiple Best Paper Awards at top conferences including DAC , ASP-DAC , and HOST . Awards: IEEE Fellow (2014), SPIE Fellow (2017), ACM SRC Graduate Category Honors for students Patents: 8 U.S. Patents in electronic design and hardware optimization Prof. Pan has mentored 40 PhDs and postdocs who now hold key positions in academia and industry. He leads research initiatives involving GPU acceleration frameworks and optical computing architectures . His lab focuses on vertical integration of architecture, CAD tools, and fabrication technologies for next-generation hardware solutions.
Tao Hou is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Oregon, where he conducts research at the intersection of computational topology and machine learning. His academic journey includes a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Purdue University, a M.E. in Software Engineering from Tsinghua University, and a B.E. in Software Engineering from Beijing Institute of Technology. His research focuses on improving computational methods for topological data analysis, particularly through efficient algorithms for zigzag persistence and its applications across domains like neuroscience and materials science. Interdisciplinary applications in neuroscience (MICCAI 2024) and computational materials science (Comp. Mat. Sci. 2022) Developed open-source Python software packages for persistent cycle computation Contributed to advancements in zigzag persistence computational complexity Current research explores topological machine learning through projects like FastZigzag and LvlsetPersCyc . He teaches graduate courses on topological data analysis and algorithms theory, and actively seeks PhD students interested in combining mathematics with computer science.
Rob Patro is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Maryland, with an appointment at the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies. His work bridges computational biology and computer science, focusing on algorithm design and data structures for genomics applications. Education: Ph.D. in Computer Science, University of Maryland, College Park (2012) B.S. in Computer Science, University of Maryland, College Park (2006) with academic and departmental honors Patro’s research centers on developing computational methods for analyzing high-throughput genomics data, combining algorithmic innovation with statistical inference. His work extends to programming languages, parallel computing, and machine learning applications in biology. His publications at ISMB, RECOMB, and in journals like Nature Methods and Cell Systems highlight advancements in RNA-seq quantification, metagenomic analysis, and compressed genomic representations. These contributions emphasize efficiency and scalability in genomic data processing.
Adjunct Professor Evgeny Osipov is affiliated with La Trobe University's Business Analytics department. His research spans artificial intelligence, hyperdimensional computing, and neural network architectures. Academic Rank: Adjunct Professor Department: Business Analytics Email: E.Osipov@latrobe.edu.au Research interests include: Hyperdimensional computing and vector symbolic architectures Spiking neural networks and reservoir computing Hardware-efficient AI implementations Causal reasoning in large language models Self-organizing maps and spatiotemporal sequence learning Applications in smart cities and robotic navigation Recent research outputs demonstrate expertise in: Developing unsupervised learning frameworks using hypervectors Optimizing reservoir computing with cellular automata Creating memory-efficient neural network models Advancing hyperdimensional classification techniques Exploring causal graph integration in language models
