Robin Jia is an Assistant Professor in the Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science at the University of Southern California (USC) , where he leads the AI, Language, Learning, Generalization, and Robustness (Allegro) Lab . His research focuses on enhancing the reliability and robustness of large language models (LLMs) through mechanistic understanding, benchmarking under distribution shifts, and neurosymbolic integration. Key affiliations include collaborations with the USC Keck School of Medicine and contributions to legal frameworks like the EU's Digital Services Act. Robin's research spans multiple domains, including: Scientific analysis of LLM capabilities in in-context learning , data memorization , and numerical reasoning Advancements in robust NLP systems , emphasizing uncertainty estimation and calibration Development of methods combining LLMs with symbolic solvers for complex reasoning tasks Interdisciplinary applications in medicine and law , such as privacy-preserving synthetic data generation and medical misconception evaluation . His recent publications (2024-2025) address Fourier-based numerical embeddings (NeurIPS), neurosymbolic planning (NAACL), and multimodal benchmarking (COLM), with a strong emphasis on privacy , fairness , and transparency . Scientific awards include the Google Research Scholar Award (2023) , SoCalNLP Symposium Best Paper Awards , and ACL/EMNLP outstanding papers . He advises PhD students like Johnny Wei and Ameya Godbole, and has secured grants from the NSF , USC-Capital One , and USC-Amazon .
Maja J Matarić is the Chan Soon-Shiong Chaired and Distinguished Professor of Computer Science at the University of Southern California's Viterbi School of Engineering, with courtesy appointments in Neuroscience and Pediatrics. She serves as founding director of the USC Robotics and Autonomous Systems Center, co-director of the USC Robotics Research Lab, and Principal Scientist at Google DeepMind. Previously, she held leadership roles as USC's interim Vice President of Research (2020-2021) and Vice Dean for Research (2006-2019). Her educational background includes: PhD in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence from MIT (1994) MS in Computer Science from MIT (1990) BS in Computer Science from University of Kansas (1987) Matarić pioneers Socially Assistive Robotics (SAR) , a field her lab named, focusing on human-robot interaction that provides assistance through social rather than physical support. Her research targets critical health and wellness challenges including post-stroke rehabilitation, autism spectrum disorder therapy, cognitive exercises for Alzheimer's patients, ADHD academic support, and mental health interventions. She develops systems modeling user engagement, personality, and motivation, with extensive real-world deployments in schools, rehabilitation centers, and homes. Analysis of her recent publications reveals dominant themes in cognitive health robotics (2025 CHI paper on LLM-powered elder care), pediatric assistive technology (2025 IDC speech therapy review), and adaptive preference modeling (2025 HRI contrastive learning work). Her research consistently bridges machine learning with human-centered design for vulnerable populations. Major scientific recognition includes: ACM Athena Lecturer Award (2024) ACM Eugene L. Lawler Humanitarian Award (2024) ACM Fellow (2020) Presidential Mentoring Award (2011) Multiple society fellowships (AAAS, IEEE, AAAI) As a dedicated mentor, Matarić has championed underrepresented groups through CRA-W, placing numerous women in faculty positions. She leads USC Viterbi's K-12 STEM Outreach Program serving low-income Los Angeles schools and authored The Robotics Prime for student education. Her research has secured significant funding enabling real-world technology transfer, with documented impact in rehabilitation centers and homes through deployable SAR systems. Her Robotics Research Lab at USC drives innovation in embodied AI, with current projects spanning LLM-integrated elder care robots, ADHD academic companions, and autism therapy systems. The lab emphasizes co-design with end-users and rigorous real-world validation across diverse populations.
Professor Ihab Ilyas is a leading figure in data management and machine learning at the Cheriton School of Computer Science , University of Waterloo , where he holds the Thomson Reuters Research Chair in Data Quality . He is currently on leave from the university, serving as a Distinguished Engineer, Proactive Intelligence at Apple Inc . His research focuses on data cleaning , large-scale data integration , knowledge graphs , and machine learning applications in data quality . He has pioneered systems like HoloClean and Saga , with commercial impacts through co-founded startups Inductiv (acquired by Apple) and Tamr . PhD in Computer Science from Purdue University Co-founder of Inductiv (acquired by Apple) Co-founder of Tamr Research Interests include: Probabilistic and uncertain data management Machine learning for data quality and enrichment Big data systems and information extraction Knowledge graph construction and optimization Scientific Awards and Recognitions include: Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (2024) C.C. Gotlieb Computer Award (2024) IEEE Fellow (2021) ACM Fellow (2020) Cheriton Faculty Fellowship (2013-2016) Ontario Early Researcher Award
Aniket (Niki) Kittur is a Professor in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute (HCII) at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science. His research focuses on AI-augmented cognition, exploring how humans and computational systems can partner to accelerate knowledge acquisition and innovation. With over 100 peer-reviewed publications and 17 best paper awards or honorable mentions, Dr. Kittur has established himself as a leader in human-computer interaction and social computing. Dr. Kittur's research spans multiple interconnected areas focused on enhancing human cognition through technology. His work on crowd-augmented cognition examines how crowds and computation can collectively enhance human intellect. In social computing, he investigates how sociotechnical architectures can motivate and coordinate large groups for complex tasks. His research in data visualization and sensemaking explores how people collect, organize, and make decisions with online information. Most recently, his work has shifted toward LLM-augmented cognition, investigating how humans and large language models can work together in partnership to achieve better decisions and greater creativity than either could alone. Dr. Kittur's publications reveal a consistent trajectory toward increasingly sophisticated human-AI collaboration systems. Early work focused on crowdsourcing complex tasks (CrowdForge, CrowdSynthesis), then evolved to knowledge acceleration systems (Knowledge Accelerator, Fuse), and has recently centered on LLM-integrated cognition (Selenite, InkSpire, BioSpark). His research consistently demonstrates practical impact, with systems influencing products used by millions and receiving coverage in major media outlets including Nature News, The Economist, and The Wall Street Journal. Kavli fellow NSF CAREER award recipient Allen Newell Award for Research Excellence Inductee into the CHI Academy 17 best paper awards or honorable mentions across his publications Dr. Kittur has advised numerous students, including Andrew Kuznetsov, and has secured major research funding from NSF, NIH, Google, Microsoft, Bosch, Toyota, and other organizations. His Skeema browser extension project, which addresses tab overload through innovative project-based organization, has shown remarkable user retention and represents a practical application of his research on knowledge acceleration. His work with industry partners has influenced products used by millions, including Semantic Reader, Google Shopping, and Wikipedia features.
Halil Ali is a Lecturer in Data Science (Education Focused) at the School of Computing Technologies, RMIT University. His research spans privacy-preserving machine learning, blockchain technologies, and cybersecurity. Key research areas include federated learning , quantum-enhanced AI , secure biometrics , edge unlearning , and privacy in healthcare data . His recent publications focus on resilient AI systems , blockchain applications , and ethical data handling in emerging technologies. His work demonstrates expertise in integrating machine learning with blockchain security across domains like IoT, smart grids, and metaverse healthcare. He contributes to practical frameworks for zero-trust architectures , lightweight consensus protocols , and quantum-classical hybrid models .
Anca Dragan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley, where she runs the InterACT Lab focused on algorithms for human-AI and human-robot interaction. Currently on leave from Berkeley, she leads AI Safety and Alignment at Google DeepMind, overseeing safety for Gemini models and preparing for future advancements. Dragan has been a co-PI of the Center for Human-Compatible AI and served on the steering committee for the Berkeley AI Research (BAIR) Lab. B.Sc. in Computer Science from Jacobs University Bremen, Germany Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University Dr. Dragan's research focuses on enabling AI agents to work effectively with, around, and in support of people. Her work bridges robotics, machine learning, and game theory to create systems that better understand human preferences and coordinate with users. Key areas include AI alignment (ensuring AI does what people actually want), learning reward functions from diverse human feedback forms, and developing algorithms for human-AI collaboration across domains like autonomous vehicles, brain-machine interfaces, and recommender systems. Her research emphasizes maintaining uncertainty about human preferences and accounting for the plurality of human values. Dr. Dragan's recent publications reveal a strong focus on addressing fundamental challenges in AI safety and alignment. Her work spans theoretical foundations of reward learning, practical implementations for human-AI coordination, and critical examinations of limitations in current approaches. There's a clear trajectory toward more robust, safe, and value-aligned AI systems that can handle complex human preferences while avoiding both present-day harms and potential catastrophic risks. IEEE RAS Early Academic Career Award in Robotics and Automation (2021) McEntyre Award for Excellence in Teaching (2020) PECASE (Presidential Early Career Award for Science and Engineering) (2019) Sloan Fellowship (2018) NSF CAREER Award (2017) Okawa Foundation Award (2017) MIT Tech Review 35 Innovators Under 35 (2017) Multiple best paper awards at top robotics and AI conferences Dr. Dragan has mentored numerous successful students who have gone on to faculty positions at MIT, Stanford, CMU, and Princeton, as well as industry roles at DeepMind, Waymo, and Meta. Her advising philosophy emphasizes both technical rigor and consideration of broader societal impacts. She has secured significant research funding including NSF CAREER, ONR Young Investigator, and Okawa Foundation awards, supporting work on human-AI interaction and alignment. Dragan has also consulted for Waymo for six years, helping develop roadmaps for deploying increasingly learning-based safety-critical systems. Dr. Dragan leads the InterACT Lab at UC Berkeley, which has produced influential work on Cooperative Inverse Reinforcement Learning, Inverse Reward Design, and other foundational concepts in human-AI interaction. The lab's research has significantly shaped the field of AI alignment, with applications spanning autonomous vehicles that coordinate with human drivers, brain-machine interfaces that adapt to user needs, and language models that better understand human preferences. Current work focuses on scaling safety approaches as AI capabilities advance, ensuring alignment keeps pace with technological progress.
Derek W Hoiem is a Professor in the Siebel School for Computing and Data Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he has been a faculty member since 2009. His research focuses on computer vision and related areas, and he is also the co-founder and Chief Science Officer of Reconstruct, an AI-based construction technology company. His educational background includes: PhD in Robotics, Carnegie Mellon University (2007) Beckman Postdoctoral Fellowship (2008) Prof. Hoiem's research spans computer vision, with a focus on object recognition, scene understanding, and graphics. His work also extends to mobile robotics and 3D scene reconstruction. He has made significant contributions in areas such as visual recognition, 3D modeling, and the application of computer vision in construction monitoring. His recent publications (2023-2025) demonstrate a strong focus on advancing multimodal understanding, particularly in region-based representations, 3D vision, and neural radiance fields. There is a clear trend towards integrating language and vision, improving efficiency in neural networks, and applying computer vision to real-world problems such as construction progress monitoring. His scientific awards and honors are extensive and include: IEEE Fellow (2022) University Scholar (2022) Koendrink Prize (2022) Dean's Award for Excellence in Research, Associate Professor (2021) Campus Distinguished Promotion Award (2015) Best Paper Award: IEEE Winter Conference on Applications in Computer Vision (WACV) (2015) CW Gear Junior Faculty Award (2014) IEEE PAMI Young Researcher Award (2014) Dean's Award for Excellence in Research, Assistant Professor (2014) Sloan Research Fellowship (2013) Intel Early Career Faculty Honor Program Award (2012) NSF CAREER Award (2011) ACM Doctoral Dissertation Award, Honorable Mention (2008) Carnegie Mellon University SCS Distinguished Dissertation Award (2008) Best Paper Award: IEEE Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR) (2006) Prof. Hoiem has secured significant research funding, including an NSF CAREER award and an Intel Early Career Faculty award. He is also actively involved in technology transfer, having co-founded Reconstruct where he serves as Chief Science Officer. His teaching excellence is reflected in multiple "List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent" awards spanning from 2010 to 2021. Prof. Hoiem leads a research group at UIUC focused on computer vision and 3D scene understanding. Additionally, he co-founded and serves as Chief Science Officer at Reconstruct, which develops AI-based solutions for construction monitoring.
Han Liu is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Northwestern University's McCormick School of Engineering. He directs the MAGICS (Modern Artificial General Intelligible and Computer Systems) Lab and the Center for Foundation Models and Generative AI at Northwestern, with prior roles as director of the Deep Reinforcement Learning Center at Tencent AI Lab and professor at Princeton and Johns Hopkins Universities. PhD in Machine Learning and Statistics from Carnegie Mellon University (2012), advised by John Lafferty and Larry Wasserman Han Liu's research focuses on integrating artificial intelligence with computer systems, particularly through foundation models and probabilistic graphical models. His work aims to revolutionize science, engineering, and business by deploying statistical machine learning methods in edge and cloud computing environments. Recent research trends include transformer-based models, modern Hopfield networks, genomic foundation models, and theoretical analysis of attention mechanisms. His 2025 publications explore topics like species differentiation with DNA embeddings, universal approximation capabilities of transformers, and metaverse spatial reasoning. Alfred P Sloan Fellowship in Mathematics IMS Tweedie New Researcher Award ASA Noether Young Scholar Award NSF CAREER Award Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers Han Liu serves as associate editor for the Journal of American Statistical Association, Electronic Journal of Statistics, Technometrics, and the Journal of Portfolio Management. He has directed research centers at Northwestern and contributed to major conferences as area chair (NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR).
Dr. Jimeng Sun is a Health Innovation Professor at the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science and Carle Illinois College of Medicine at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Co-founder of Keiji AI , he leads groundbreaking research at the intersection of artificial intelligence and healthcare, actively deploying clinical AI systems and developing frameworks like PyHealth and Therapeutics Data Commons . His research spans four major areas: Clinical AI Systems : Developing interpretable models (e.g., RETAIN) for patient similarity, temporal event prediction, medication recommendation, and clinical outcome forecasting Drug Discovery : Creating molecular optimization frameworks, drug-target interaction models, and AI-driven platforms Clinical Trials : Pioneering patient-trial matching, outcome prediction, and optimization frameworks using deep learning and graph neural networks Biosignal Analysis : Advancing sleep staging, seizure classification, and automated EEG/Cardiac monitoring systems With over 500 top-tier publications (including in Nature , NEJM AI , and leading AI conferences) and an h-index of 99, his work has been recognized with the Top 100 AI Leaders in Drug Discovery and Advanced Healthcare award. He maintains active collaborations with institutions like Massachusetts General Hospital , Medidata Solutions , and OSF Healthcare . His recent publications reveal a strong focus on: Reinforcement learning applications in medical data analysis Large language model adaptation for clinical tasks Knowledge graph integration with AI systems Synthetic data generation for healthcare Multi-modal learning in clinical contexts Explainable AI for medical applications Dr. Sun's lab ( Sunlab ) emphasizes practical impact over theoretical work, actively collaborating with hospitals and healthtech companies. He welcomes contributions from clinicians, researchers, and industry partners through initiatives like his AI for Health webinar series .
Olga Russakovsky is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Princeton University and Associate Director of the Princeton Laboratory for Artificial Intelligence. Her research focuses on computer vision , machine learning , human-computer interaction , and fairness, accountability, and transparency in AI systems. Princeton University faculty member since 2025 Affiliated with Princeton's Center for Statistics and Machine Learning and Center for Information Technology Policy Scientific Recognition: Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (2025) PAMI Young Researcher Award (2022) AnitaB.org Emerging Leader Abie Award (2020) CRA-WP Anita Borg Early Career Award (2020) MIT Technology Review 35-under-35 Innovator (2017) PAMI Everingham Prize (2016) As a co-founder and current Board Chair of AI4ALL , she drives initiatives to expand diversity in AI. Her recent publications demonstrate expertise in vision-language models , deepfake detection , and ethical AI systems .
Philip S. Yu is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Chicago and holds the Wexler Chair in Information Technology. Previously, he led the Software Tools and Techniques department at IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center. Education: B.S. in Electrical Engineering, National Taiwan University M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, Stanford University M.B.A., New York University His research spans data mining , big data , social networks , privacy-preserving data publishing , graph/network mining , recommender systems , and deep learning . He has authored over 970 papers with 74,500+ citations and an H-index of 127. Recent work focuses on heterogeneous graph representation, quantum walks in network analysis, and federated unlearning. Scientific Honors: ACM SIGKDD 2016 Innovation Award IEEE Computer Society 2013 Technical Achievement Award IEEE ICDM 2003 Research Contributions Award IEEE Region 1 Award (1999) UIC Research of the Year (2013) IBM Master Inventor with 300+ patents AI 2000 Most Influential Scholar Honorable Mentions (2024-2025) He served as Editor-in-Chief for ACM Transactions on Knowledge Discovery from Data and IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering , and on steering committees for ACM KDD and IEEE Data Mining. His work bridges theoretical advances in graph neural networks , deep learning , and privacy-preserving systems with applications in healthcare, social media, and enterprise analytics.
Osman Yağan is a Research Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), with affiliate faculty status in the School of Computer Science. He is also a core member of CyLab Security and Privacy Institute. Prior to joining CMU in 2013, he was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at CyLab. He holds a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Maryland (2011) and a B.S. from Middle East Technical University (2007). His research focuses on modeling, analysis, and optimization of computing systems, leveraging applied probability, network science, data science, and machine learning. Key areas include multi-armed bandits, resilient machine learning, contagion processes in networks, and cybersecurity. Research Interests include Machine Learning, Data Science, Network Science, Cybersecurity, and Robustness in Cyber-Physical Systems. He has advised numerous students, including current PhD candidates Yurun Tian, Orkun İrsoy, and Ishank Juneja, as well as notable alumni such as Mansi Sood (now at MIT) and Jun Zhao (Assistant Professor at Nanyang Technological University). Key Awards include the CIT Dean's Early Career Fellowship, IBM Academic Award, and Best Paper Awards at ICC 2021, IPSN 2022, and ASONAM 2023. His work spans theoretical contributions (e.g., contagion models in multi-layer networks) and applied research (e.g., mitigating cascading failures in power systems). He leads or co-leads grants from ONR, NSF, and ARO, focusing on resilient machine learning, network robustness, and pandemic modeling.
April Yi Wang is a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at ETH Zürich, where she directs the Programming, Education, and Computer-Human Interaction Lab (PEACH Lab). She is a core faculty member at the Institute for Intelligent Interactive Systems and associated with the ETH AI Center. Wang is also an active member of ETH HCI and Swiss CHI communities, contributing significantly to human-computer interaction and educational technology research. Dr. Wang's educational background includes: Ph.D. in Information Science from University of Michigan (2023), advised by Steve Oney and Christopher Brooks M.Sc. in Computer Science from Simon Fraser University (2018), advised by Parmit Chilana B.Eng in Computer Science from Zhejiang University (2016) Dr. Wang's research focuses on human-centered approaches to programming and data science. Her work reimagines programming as a form of literature that communicates with both machines and people, exploring creative representations like text, shapes, animations, and everyday objects. She investigates how to make programming more natural and intuitive through literate programming environments, with applications in professional and educational contexts. Her research spans human-computer interaction, educational technology, and AI-assisted programming tools. Analysis of Dr. Wang's recent publications reveals a strong focus on AI-enhanced educational tools, particularly for programming and data literacy. Her work increasingly integrates large language models to scaffold learning while maintaining user agency. There's a clear trajectory toward developing situated learning approaches that connect abstract concepts to real-world contexts through augmented reality and tangible interfaces. Her research bridges HCI, education, and AI to create more accessible and engaging technical learning experiences. Dr. Wang has received numerous prestigious awards including: 2023 Gary M. Olson Award and Honourable Mention Award at ACM CHI 2022 Rising Stars in EECS and Heidelberg Laureate Forum Young Researcher 2020 Best Short Paper Award at IEEE VL/HCC and Honourable Mention at ACM CHI 2019 Best Paper Award at ACM CSCW Dr. Wang actively mentors students through thesis projects at ETH Zürich, supervising numerous bachelor's and master's students on topics ranging from AI-assisted programming to data literacy tools. Her lab, PEACH Lab, has secured funding including the recent innovedum funding for the Coducate project. She serves on program committees for major conferences including CHI and UIST, and regularly reviews for top HCI and education journals. The PEACH Lab, directed by Dr. Wang, focuses on creating expressive, intelligent, and human-centered systems that make technical topics more accessible. The lab explores textual, visual, and embodied representations for programming, with emphasis on enhancing communication, collaboration, and learning. Current research directions include balancing automation with user agency, supporting diverse learning needs, and developing tools for interdisciplinary technical communication.
Andreas Bulling is a Professor at the Institute for Visualisation and Interactive Systems , University of Stuttgart, Germany. His research focuses on Human-Computer Interaction , Eye Tracking , and Computer Vision , with applications in Machine Learning , Virtual Reality , and Information Visualization . 2025 Publications: HOIGaze (Extended Reality), ChartQC (Data Visualization), HAIFAI (Human-AI Interaction), SummAct (Behavioral Summarization), Chartist (Chart Reading). 2024 Contributions: HumanEYEze (Multimodal AI), HOIMotion (3D Object Detection), MultiMediate'24 (Engagement Estimation), Unified Model of Saliency (Scanpath Prediction). His recent work explores gaze estimation , interactive behavior modeling , and privacy-preserving eye-tracking systems . Key subfields include Extended Reality , Neural Networks , and Behavioral Biometrics . While no explicit scientific awards are mentioned, his research has been widely cited (8,003 total citations) and downloaded (132,740 times). Andreas leads projects in Interactive Systems and collaborates with institutions such as Aalto University , KU Leuven , and National University of Singapore . His lab focuses on eye movement analysis , human motion forecasting , and task-driven input modeling .
Bo Li is an Associate Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, affiliated with the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science. Her research focuses on trustworthy machine learning, emphasizing robustness, privacy, and security in AI systems. She leads the Secure Learning Lab (SL²), exploring adversarial attacks and defenses across digital and physical domains. Key contributions include foundational work on adversarial examples, robust learning frameworks, and privacy-preserving techniques. Her academic roles include advisory board positions at the Center for Artificial Intelligence Innovation (CAII) and membership in the Information Trust Institute (ITI). She collaborates with institutions like the Advanced Digital Science Center (ADSC) and the Quantum Information Science and Technology Center (IQUIST). Notable recognitions include the IJCAI Computers and Thought Award (2022), MIT Technology Review's 35 Innovators Under 35 (2020), and multiple best paper awards. Recent work addresses AI safety through frameworks like ShieldAgent and AutoRedTeamer, aiming to enhance system resilience against adversarial threats. Her research spans theoretical guarantees, practical defenses, and ethical AI deployment. Students advised include Chulin Xie, Linyi Li, and Boxin Wang, who have received prestigious fellowships such as the IBM PhD Fellowship and Rising Stars in ML Awards. Advising: Guides PhD students in adversarial ML, privacy, and security. Labs/Teams: Secure Learning Lab (SL²), collaboration with ALERT program. Grants/Funding: NSF CAREER Award, Amazon/Google Faculty Awards, and industry partnerships.
