Dr. Kaya de Barbaro is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin (College of Liberal Arts). She holds a Ph.D. from the University of California San Diego. Her research focuses on bridging computer science and developmental/clinical psychology, particularly maternal mental health and infant social-emotional development. She directs the Daily Activity Lab, which uses mobile/wearable sensors and machine learning to analyze real-world interactions, aiming to develop just-in-time interventions for new mothers. Key research areas include maternal-infant dynamics, physiological synchronization, and the impact of environmental chaos on development. She has pioneered methods for analyzing high-density data, such as Granger causality and machine learning algorithms to detect behaviors like crying and holding. Recent work emphasizes leveraging ecological momentary assessment surveys and 24-hour LENA audio recordings to understand proximal mechanisms of development. Dr. de Barbaro teaches Psychology 333D (Introduction to Developmental Psychology) and has developed curricula for both in-person and online formats. She is actively involved in training students through the Eureka program at UT Austin. Her lab collaborates on tools like chatbots for postpartum mental health and has published extensively on sensor-based methodologies in developmental science.
Michael O'Boyle is a Professor at the University of Edinburgh's School of Informatics, where he serves as Director of the ARM Research Centre of Excellence and the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Pervasive Parallelism. Holding an EPSRC Established Career Research Fellowship, he leads pioneering work in compiler technology for heterogeneous architectures, bridging theoretical advances with practical high-performance computing applications. Professor O'Boyle's research spans multiple cutting-edge areas including heterogeneous code discovery and optimization, neural machine translation for program synthesis, deep neural network system stack optimization, software-defined hardware, and compiler/architecture co-design. His approach integrates constraint analysis, program synthesis, and machine learning to address complex challenges in high-performance computing across diverse hardware platforms. His recent publications reveal a strong trend toward integrating machine learning with traditional compiler techniques, particularly in neural program synthesis, tensor optimization, and architecture-aware compilation. This work represents a paradigm shift in compiler design, moving from rule-based systems to learning-based approaches that can automatically adapt to diverse hardware targets. IEEE/ACM CGO 2025 Distinguished Paper Award for 'Tensorize: Fast Synthesis of Tensor Programs from Legacy Code' IEEE/ACM CGO 2024 Test of Time Award ACM GPCE 2023 Best Paper Award for 'C2TACO: Lifting Tensor Code to TACOM' ACM ASPLOS 2021 Distinguished Paper Award IEEE HPCA 2021 Best Paper Award for 'Prodigy: Improving the Memory Latency of Data-Indirect Irregular Workloads' Professor O'Boyle has successfully mentored numerous PhD students who have secured prominent positions in academia (including at Cambridge, Edinburgh, Leeds, and McGill) and industry (including Meta, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, Huawei, and Microsoft). His research is supported by significant funding from EPSRC, ARM, and European projects including Bonseyes and Transmuter, demonstrating strong international recognition and industry impact. He leads the influential Compiler and Architecture Design (CArD) Group at the University of Edinburgh and is a founder of the HiPEAC Network of Excellence, which has grown into a major European initiative connecting researchers and practitioners in high-performance and embedded computing.
London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)United Kingdom
Dr Alison Powell is an Associate Professor in the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), serving as Programme Director for the MSc Media and Communications (Data and Society). Her research focuses on technology design, public sector technology, and digital futures. She is known for her book Undoing Optimization: Civic Action in Smart Cities (2021) and her participatory research method, data walking. From 2019–2023, she directed the JUST AI network, supported by the Ada Lovelace Institute and UKRI, advancing AI ethics research. Her work integrates critical theory, participatory methods, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Education: PhD in Communication from Concordia University (Canada), MA in Media Studies from Toronto Metropolitan University, and postdoctoral research at the Oxford Internet Institute. Prior to academia, she worked in the film and TV industry. Research interests include civic engagement in data-driven governance, ethical AI, and participatory urbanism. She has advised projects like Africa Just AI and Operationalising Ethics for AI, funded by Horizon Europe, AHRC, and the Open Society Foundations. Her articles address topics such as AI governance, urban light ecology, feminist research praxis, and the ethical implications of technology for marginalized communities. She contributes to blogs like Media@LSE and leads initiatives at Polis and the LSE’s Digital Futures for Children project. Grants and collaborations include work with Projects by IF, Open Rights Group, and the Human Data Interactions Network (EPSRC). She explores intersections of technology, justice, and sustainability, emphasizing equitable and inclusive innovation.
Clio Andris is an Associate Professor at Georgia Tech, jointly appointed in the School of City and Regional Planning and the School of Interactive Computing. She directs the Friendly Cities Lab, focusing on mathematical models of social networks applied to urban planning, transportation, and geography. Her work integrates spatial analysis with visualization, emphasizing interdisciplinary collaboration. Education and Career: Andris earned a PhD in Urban Information Systems from MIT (2011), where she was an NDSEG Fellow. She held postdoctoral positions at Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology and the Santa Fe Institute. Prior to Georgia Tech, she was a faculty member at Penn State’s Department of Geography, affiliated with the GeoVISTA Center. Research Focus: Her research bridges social networks, geovisualization, and urban informatics. Key areas include spatial social network analysis, GIS applications for urban policy, and the impact of digital tools on civic engagement. She has developed innovative visual analytics tools like SNoMaN and ROBIN to democratize spatial data exploration. Awards: She received the NSF CAREER Award (2021) and NDSEG Fellowship (2011). Her lab is affiliated with the Center for Spatial Planning Analytics and Visualization (CSPAV) and the Information Visualization Lab. Labs and Collaborations: The Friendly Cities Lab focuses on socially just urban design through computational methods. Her work addresses issues like food security networks, pandemic impacts on biodiversity, and community mapping for activism. Grants and Outreach: Her NSF-funded projects emphasize public good applications, such as real-time pandemic risk communication and educational tools for migration data. She actively collaborates with non-profits and policymakers to translate research into actionable urban strategies.
Susan A. Murphy is the Mallinckrodt Professor of Statistics and of Computer Science at Harvard University, with affiliations to the Kempner Institute. She leads the Statistical Reinforcement Learning Lab, focusing on developing algorithms to inform sequential decision-making in health, particularly for Just-in-Time Adaptive Interventions (JITAIs) and micro-randomized trials (MRTs). Her work is funded by NIH institutes, including NIDA, NHLBI, and NIBIB. Dr. Murphy has been awarded a MacArthur Fellowship (2013) and is a member of the National Academy of Medicine (2014) and the National Academy of Sciences (2016). Her research integrates statistical methods with computer science techniques to optimize mobile health interventions. She collaborates with d3Lab and mDOT on projects like HeartSteps and Sense2Stop, evaluating real-time treatment policies. Notable contributions include advancing MRT designs, sample size calculations, and reinforcement learning algorithms for personalized healthcare. Dr. Murphy advises a large team of postdocs, graduate students, and undergraduates, many of whom hold academic and industry roles globally. She emphasizes engagement in digital interventions, balancing personalization with ethical considerations. Her lab’s work spans algorithm development, clinical trial design, and causal inference, aiming to improve health outcomes through adaptive interventions.
Michelle Kuchera is the Keiser Family Associate Professor of Physics at Davidson College, with affiliations in both the Physics and Mathematics & Computer Science departments. She is a computational physicist specializing in machine learning, nuclear physics, and particle physics. Education: Ph.D., Florida State University M.S., Florida State University B.S., Florida State University Her research focuses on applying machine learning and algorithm development to analyze data from accelerator-based experiments at facilities like the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB), Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, and CERN. She leads the ALPhA (Algorithms for Learning in Physics Applications) research group, addressing computational challenges such as processing massive datasets from detectors like the AT-TPC, which generates data equivalent to the Library of Congress print collection in just two weeks. As an educator, she shares her deep learning expertise with undergraduates and international scientists, emphasizing collaboration as central to scientific progress. She has been involved in interdisciplinary research since her undergraduate work at the John D. Fox Laboratory in 2004.
Michal Kolesár is a Professor in the Department of Economics at Princeton University , holding this position since July 2020. Previously, he served as Assistant Professor (2014-2020) with dual appointments in Economics and the Woodrow Wilson School (2018-2020), and as Visiting Assistant Professor at MIT (2016-2017). His research focuses on econometrics , particularly causal inference , instrumental variables , nonparametric regression , and robust statistical methods . His work addresses fundamental challenges in high-dimensional data analysis, treatment effect heterogeneity, and finite-sample inference validity. Current projects include developing bias-aware methods for regularized regression and analyzing dynamic causal effects in nonlinear systems. Kolesár's recent publications reveal a strong emphasis on methodological rigor with practical applications. His work spans instrumental variable techniques (addressing contamination bias, weak identification), regression discontinuity designs (discrete running variables, measurement error), and high-dimensional inference (sparsity fragility, honest confidence intervals). Key recurring themes include finite-sample optimality, coverage probability guarantees, and robustness to model misspecification. Fellow of the International Association for Applied Econometrics (2023) Journal of Econometrics best associate editor award (2023) Sloan Research Fellowship (2019) NSF grants for high-dimensional data inference (2021-2025) and nonparametric regression (2016-2019) Graduate Economics Club teaching awards (2017, 2018) As an educator, Kolesár teaches advanced econometrics courses at both undergraduate (ECO 312, ECO 313) and graduate levels (ECO 517, ECO 519, ECO 539b). He serves as Co-editor of the Journal of Business & Economic Statistics (2024-2027) and sits on editorial boards of Econometrica , American Economic Journal: Applied Economics , and others. His professional activities include extensive peer review for top journals and organization of major econometrics conferences including the 2026 Econometric Society Winter Meeting.
Nabil Alshurafa is an Associate Professor at Northwestern University, holding joint appointments in the McCormick School of Engineering (Computer Science and Electrical and Computer Engineering) and the Feinberg School of Medicine (Preventive Medicine). He directs the HABits Lab, which focuses on developing mHealth systems to address health behaviors such as overeating, stress, and UV exposure. His work integrates wearable sensors, machine learning, and behavioral science to create passive sensing solutions. Education: PhD in Computer Science and Wireless Health (UCLA), MS and BS in Computer Science (UCLA). Research Interests: Body sensor networks, activity recognition, embedded systems, and health informatics. His lab designs wearable devices (e.g., neck-worn sensors, UV patches) and AI frameworks to detect behaviors like eating patterns and stress levels. Collaborations include domain experts in medicine and engineering to translate technical innovations into clinical interventions. Recent Projects: Developing systems for stress monitoring via ECG-PPG patches, UV exposure tracking, and just-in-time interventions for overeating. The lab emphasizes ethical design, privacy preservation, and user-centered technology. Students and Lab Team: Supervises PhD, MS, and undergraduate researchers in areas like machine learning, embedded systems, and health data analytics. Notable advisees include Rawan Alharbi (PhD candidate), Shibo Zhang (PhD student), and Wilson Wang (MS student). Labs/Teams: HABits Lab collaborates with experts in Preventive Medicine, Psychiatry, and Dermatology to advance interdisciplinary health research. Current projects include predictive analytics for weight loss and interventions targeting maternal stress during pregnancy.
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in LausanneSwitzerland
Dima Damen is a Professor of Computer Vision at the School of Computer Science, University of Bristol, where she leads the Machine Learning and Computer Vision Group. She also serves as a Senior Research Scientist at Google DeepMind. As an EPSRC Early Career Fellow (2020-2025) and a Fellow of ELLIS for Europe, her research focuses on advancing computer vision, particularly in egocentric (first-person) vision, video understanding, and action recognition. Her educational background and professional journey have positioned her as a leader in the field of computer vision, with a particular emphasis on understanding human activities from wearable cameras. She has received numerous awards including Best Paper at ACCV 2024 and Outstanding Paper at ICASSP 2021. Professor Damen's research interests span multiple areas of computer vision and machine learning. She specializes in egocentric vision, where she has made significant contributions to understanding human activities from first-person perspectives. Her work explores video understanding, action recognition, hand-object interactions, and the development of vision-language models that can interpret and generate instructions from visual data. She has pioneered approaches to unique video captioning, long video understanding through active memory representations, and spatial reasoning from egocentric videos. Her research often bridges the gap between theoretical computer vision and practical applications in human-centered AI. Her recent publications demonstrate a strong focus on egocentric vision, with papers like "AMEGO: Active Memory from long EGOcentric videos" (ECCV 2024) and "HOI-Ref: Hand-Object Interaction Referral in Egocentric Vision" (2024) advancing the state of the art in understanding long-form first-person videos. She has also contributed to vision-language models with works like "ShowHowTo: Generating Scene-Conditioned Step-by-Step Visual Instructions" (CVPR 2025) and "It's Just Another Day: Unique Video Captioning by Discriminitave Prompting" (ACCV 2024, Best Paper). Her research shows a consistent trajectory toward building systems that can understand human activities in natural environments with human-like capabilities. Professor Damen has received significant recognition for her work, including: EPSRC Early Career Fellow (2020-2025) ELLIS Fellow for Europe (Nov 2024) Best Paper at ACCV 2024 Outstanding Paper at ICASSP 2021 (awarded to only 3 out of 1700 papers) Outstanding Reviewer for CVPR 2020 and 2021 Program Chair for ICCV 2021 She has successfully advised numerous PhD students and postdoctoral researchers, many of whom have gone on to prestigious positions in academia and industry. Her group has secured significant research funding including the EPSRC Programme Grant Visual AI and the EPSRC UMPIRE grant. She actively collaborates with industry partners including Google DeepMind, Adobe, and Meta, ensuring her research has practical impact. Professor Damen leads the Machine Learning and Computer Vision Group at the University of Bristol, which focuses on egocentric vision, video understanding, and the development of vision-language models. The group has created influential datasets like EPIC-KITCHENS, which has become a standard benchmark in egocentric vision research. Her team regularly participates in and organizes workshops at major computer vision conferences including CVPR, ICCV, and ECCV.
Kenneth Ross is a Professor in the Computer Science Department at Columbia University in New York City. His primary appointment is within the Department of Computer Science, with affiliations including the Foundations of Data Science Committee. His work bridges theoretical database research and practical system implementation. His research focuses on database systems with particular expertise in query processing, query language design, data warehousing, and architecture-sensitive database system design. Additional research spans computational biology, especially analysis of large genomic data sets. Current projects include Linear Algebra Operators in Databases for machine learning workloads and Repeats and Somatic Mutation analysis in genomics. His work consistently addresses the intersection of hardware capabilities and database system design. Ross leads the Database Research Lab at Columbia, which has produced significant work on query optimization, GPU database processing, and hardware-conscious database systems. His recent publications demonstrate strong focus on adapting database systems to modern hardware including GPUs, SIMD processors, and persistent memory. His scientific recognition includes: Packard Foundation Fellowship Sloan Foundation Fellowship NSF Young Investigator Award Distinguished Faculty Teaching Award (2008) Ross actively advises undergraduate engineering students (juniors with last names P-Z) and has taught foundational courses including Introduction to Databases and Programming and Problem Solving for over two decades. His teaching portfolio shows consistent engagement with both theoretical concepts and practical implementation challenges in computer science education.
Olivia Di Matteo serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering within UBC's Faculty of Applied Science, leading the Quantum Software and Algorithms Research (QSAR) group since her January 2022 appointment. Her academic foundation includes a BSc from Lakehead University and MSc/PhD in Physics (Quantum Information) from the University of Waterloo, completed in 2019. Dr. Di Matteo's research centers on quantum software engineering , with pioneering work in quantum compilation , circuit optimization , and debugging tools . She champions open-source quantum frameworks and develops accessible educational resources to democratize quantum computing. Analysis of her 15 most recent publications (2021-2025) reveals dominant trends in quantum programming infrastructure, particularly circuit analysis (33%), bug classification (20%), and qubit network optimization (15%), with strong emphasis on practical software tooling over theoretical physics. No scientific awards were documented in the source materials. She advises graduate students in the QSAR group while contributing to open-source quantum ecosystems through projects like PennyLane and The Ionizer transpiler, and teaches courses including CPEN 400Q (Gate-model quantum computing) and ELEC 221 (Signals and Systems). The QSAR group operates at the intersection of quantum software development and education, focusing on making quantum programming accessible through visual tools, real-time debugging environments, and hardware-agnostic compilation techniques.
Tina Eliassi-Rad is Professor and the Inaugural Joseph E. Aoun Chair at Khoury College of Computer Sciences, Northeastern University in Boston. She serves as Core Faculty at the Network Science Institute and holds External Faculty positions at both the Santa Fe Institute and Vermont Complex Systems Institute. Additionally, she maintains Affiliated Faculty status across six Northeastern University institutes including the NULab for Digital Humanities and Computational Social Science, Global Resilience Institute, Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute, Institute for Experiential AI, and Internet Democracy Initiative. Her research spans: Data Mining & Machine Learning Network Science & Complex Systems Artificial Intelligence & Society She leads two major research initiatives: Trustworthy Network Science , which addresses explainability, transparency, stability, and robustness in network science ML algorithms; and Just Machine Learning , which examines broader complex systems where ML operates to understand and mitigate risks. Her work bridges theoretical foundations with societal applications. Dr. Eliassi-Rad's publication record demonstrates consistent focus on applying network science to critical societal challenges. Her recent research examines pandemic mobility patterns and cybersecurity threats using network-based approaches that combine epidemiological modeling with network analysis techniques. She actively mentors doctoral students through her RADLAB research group, currently advising PhD candidates Wan He (Network Science) and David Liu (Computer Science), along with PhD students Zohair Shafi and Samantha Dies (Computer Science). Her research has secured funding from prestigious organizations including the National Science Foundation, Department of Defense, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Army Research Lab, and others. As leader of RADLAB, she directs research at the intersection of data science, network analysis, and societal impact, with particular emphasis on ensuring that technical advances in AI and network science serve societal needs responsibly and equitably.
Roel C.G.M. Loonen is an Associate Professor at the Unit Building Physics and Services within the Department of the Built Environment at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), Netherlands. He holds joint appointments with EAISI High Tech Systems and EIRES Research groups, focusing on building performance simulation and energy systems. His work bridges academic research with practical applications through collaborations with SMEs in the building industry. Loonen received his BSc and MSc (cum laude) in Building Services from Eindhoven University of Technology, followed by a PhD in 2018 with a dissertation on 'Approaches for computational performance optimization of innovative adaptive facade concepts.' His educational background has positioned him as a leading expert in building performance simulation and sustainable building technologies. His research interests center on developing and applying modeling and simulation strategies to support decision-making for designing buildings that combine high indoor quality with minimal environmental impact. Key areas include adaptive facades, building-integrated renewable energy systems, and energy-efficient building envelopes. He specializes in creating and validating new building performance simulation models to advance innovative building technologies. His recent publications demonstrate a strong focus on practical applications of building performance simulation, with emphasis on residential energy efficiency, photovoltaic systems, and occupant-centered approaches to building design. The work shows increasing integration of machine learning techniques with traditional building simulation methods, particularly for sensitivity analysis and optimization of building performance. REHVA Young Scientist Award (2021) Best PhD supervisor award from Department of the Built Environment, TU/e (2018) First prize - REHVA International student competition (2011) Smart daylight control for optimal building performance (NWO Take-off award, 2018) Best paper award (2021) Loonen actively supervises PhD and Master's students, evidenced by his Best PhD Supervisor Award in 2018. He manages multiple research projects including Sustainable Summer Comfort (2024-2027), Modeling Innovative Use Scenarios for Future Domestic Comfort (2023-2026), and Just Prepare (2022-2026), with funding from sources including the Dutch Research Council (NWO). His professional service includes being a board member of the Dutch-Flemish IBPSA affiliate and co-chair of IBPSA World's website committee, plus reviewing for 35 academic journals. He leads research within the Building Performance group, focusing on creating practical tools and methodologies that bridge the gap between theoretical building performance models and real-world implementation in the construction industry. His work particularly emphasizes the integration of occupant behavior and practices into building performance models, recognizing that human factors are critical to achieving sustainable building performance in practice.
Professor Daniel Oron is affiliated with the University of Sydney, where he joined in 2004 after completing his PhD in Operations Research at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His research focuses on Combinatorial Optimization, particularly Scheduling Theory, addressing challenges like batch scheduling with setups, customer delivery models, and scheduling under deteriorating conditions. He teaches courses such as Quantitative Business Analysis, Management Science, and Business Analytics Honours. His editorial role includes serving on the board of the Journal of Industrial & Management Optimization . Recent research contributions span multi-agent scheduling, energy recharging in scheduling, and coupled task optimization. He advises two current PhD students: Johnson (Two-agent scheduling problems) and Renjie Yu (Multi-agent scheduling with parallel batching). Publications highlight advancements in scheduling algorithms, resource allocation, and optimization under constraints. Notable works include minimizing late jobs with step-learning models and analyzing parameterized complexity in single-machine scheduling.
Niall Winters is a Visiting Fellow at the University of Oxford's Department of Education, previously serving as Professor of Education and Technology and an Official Fellow. His research focuses on socially-just technology innovations, particularly in healthcare and education, supported by over €7 million in funding. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from Trinity College Dublin. Key roles include co-convenor of the Critical Digital Education Research Group, director of the MSc Education (Digital and Social Change), and mentor to Kellogg students. Prior to Oxford, he was a Reader in Learning Technologies at UCL Institute of Education and Deputy Head of the Department of Culture, Communication and Media. His research integrates global health challenges with digital solutions, emphasizing community health workers' training in low-resource settings. Collaborations include the Global Centre on Healthcare and Urbanisation at Kellogg and projects with UNESCO, WHO, and the NHS. He has held fellowships at institutions like Sciences Po and MIT Media Lab Europe. Publications span mobile health technologies, gamification in medical education, and policy frameworks for digital equity. His work bridges theory and practice, advocating for ethical technology design that addresses systemic inequalities in education and healthcare systems.
