Yu-Ru Lin is an Associate Professor at the School of Computing and Information, University of Pittsburgh, and serves as Research & Academic Director at the Institute for Cyber Law, Policy and Security (Pitt Cyber). She leads the Pitt Computational Social Dynamics Lab (PICSO Lab) and holds secondary appointments in Political Science, Computer Science, and the Intelligent Systems Program. PhD in Computer Science from Arizona State University Postdoctoral research at Harvard University and Northeastern University Her research focuses on computational approaches for: Networked social dynamics High-dimensional social information summarization Trust and distrust propagation Misinformation detection Policy diffusion analysis Recent publications span 2014-2020, covering: Social media crisis response Graph visualization techniques Policy diffusion patterns Misinformation mitigation Temporal topic modeling Scientific support includes: National Science Foundation (NSF) awards Minerva/ONR funding AFOSR grant for distrust modeling DARPA Understanding Group Biases program As director of PICSO Lab, she leads interdisciplinary research teams on: Digital accountability Urban mobility patterns Health informatics via crowdsourcing Trust-influence dynamics
Jens Edlund is a Professor at KTH Royal Institute of Technology's Division of Speech, Music and Hearing. His research focuses on speech technology, dialogue systems, prosody, and evolutionary phonetics. He has contributed to foundational work on speech synthesis, conversational interaction, and multimodal corpora like the D64 corpus. Key projects include the MonAMI Reminder system and analysis of primate vocalizations to understand speech evolution. Edlund has collaborated extensively with global researchers, producing over 150 peer-reviewed works. His work integrates computational methods with linguistic and biological insights, emphasizing human-like dialogue systems and cross-species vocal analysis. Education: Ph.D. in Speech Technology (2011, KTH) Grants: Multiple EU and Swedish Research Council grants for speech technology and interdisciplinary studies Research labs include the KTH Speech, Music and Hearing Lab and collaborations with institutions like Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Current work explores evolutionary origins of speech biomechanics and AI-driven speech synthesis evaluation.
Lucie DE CARVALHO is a Lecturer in British Civilization at the University of Lille, Faculty of Languages, Culture and Societies, Department of English Studies. She is affiliated with ULR 4074 - Center for Studies in Civilizations, Languages and Foreign Literature. Graduated from ENS Cachan Specializes in British Civilization Based at University of Lille (BO.529) Dr. DE CARVALHO's research focuses on contemporary British politics, political discourse studies, British energy policies (particularly nuclear and renewable energy), neoliberalism, historiography of science, and climate governance. Her work demonstrates a consistent engagement with the intersection of political power, energy policy, and media representation in the British context. She has developed a particular expertise in analyzing how the UK state manages controversial technologies like nuclear power within neoliberal frameworks. Her publication record shows a consistent output spanning from 2014 to 2024, with recent work examining twenty-first century UK broadcasting ecology, teaching British history to French students, and contemporary nuclear power policies. The analysis of her articles reveals a strong thematic continuity centered on British governance, energy policy, and the complexities of neoliberal state intervention. Her research employs interdisciplinary approaches drawing from political science, media studies, and science and technology studies. Member of the SAES (Society of Anglicists in Higher Education) Member of CRECIB (Centre for Research on British Civilization) Associate member of the Research Center in British Civilization (CREC) Institute of the Anglophone World, Sorbonne Nouvelle University – Paris 3 Member of the UK Political Studies Association Member of the European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST) Member of UACES Dr. DE CARVALHO has demonstrated sustained research activity across multiple domains related to British studies, with particular emphasis on energy policy and political discourse. Her work bridges academic research with pedagogical practice, as evidenced by publications on teaching British history to French undergraduate students and language learning through television series.
Changxi Zheng is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Columbia University's School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS). He directs Columbia's Computer Graphics Group (C2G2) within the Columbia Vision and Graphics Center (CVGC). After receiving his PhD from Cornell University, he joined the faculty of Computer Science Department at Columbia, where he has established himself as a leading researcher in computer graphics and scientific computing. Dr. Zheng's research spans multiple areas of applied computer science with a particular focus on computer graphics and scientific computing. His work centers around developing numerical models for simulating physical phenomena involving complex motions such as fluids, bubbles, and thin rods, along with their resulting acoustic waves. Leveraging computational insights from these models, he devises methods for improving tangible object creation, enabling novel human-computer interactions, and developing software tools for acoustic and photonic devices. His research has attracted significant public interest and media coverage, including projects like FontCode, AirCode, and Computational Metallophone Design. His recent publications reveal a strong interdisciplinary approach, bridging computer graphics, physics simulation, machine learning, and hardware design. His work demonstrates consistent innovation in computational methods for simulating physical phenomena and applying these techniques to practical problems in 3D printing, acoustic modeling, and interactive systems. The breadth of his research spans from fundamental physics-based simulations to practical applications in industry. Columbia SEAS Dean's Fellow (for advised students) NSF Graduate Research Fellow (for Ruilin Xu) Snap Research Fellow (for Rundi Wu) CKGSB Fellow (for Yun Fei) Adobe Research Fellow (for Gabriel Cirio) Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellow (for Rundi Wu) Best Paper Award at ACM International Conference on Multimedia (ACMMM), 2019 Dr. Zheng actively mentors a diverse group of students, including current PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers. His research group has received support from various sources that enable their innovative work in computational graphics and physics-based simulation. He has supervised numerous successful students who have gone on to positions at leading technology companies including Adobe, Tencent, Facebook, and academic institutions. As director of Columbia's Computer Graphics Group (C2G2) within the Columbia Vision and Graphics Center (CVGC), Dr. Zheng leads a vibrant research team focused on advancing the state of the art in computer graphics, physics-based simulation, and their applications. The group maintains strong collaborations with industry partners and academic institutions worldwide, fostering an environment of innovation and practical application of theoretical concepts.
Richard E. Mayer is a Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, affiliated with the College of Letters & Science. His work bridges cognition, instruction, and technology to advance understanding of how people learn and how to design effective educational interventions. Research focuses on multimedia learning , computer-supported learning environments , and computer games for learning Current projects examine immersive virtual reality, generative learning strategies, and social cues in online instruction Recipient of top honors: Thorndike Award, Scribner Award, and APA’s Distinguished Contribution Award Principal Investigator on grants from the Office of Naval Research , Institute of Education Sciences , and National Science Foundation He leads the Mayer Lab for Research on Learning and Instruction, which emphasizes learning for transfer —ensuring learners apply knowledge in new contexts. His research has established 12 instructional design principles for online learning environments.
Sharat Chandran is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay), where he has been actively engaged in teaching and research for several decades. His office is located in Room KR102 (also known as A202) in the Rekhi Building on the IIT Campus in Mumbai, India. His primary research interests span two major areas in computing: Computer Graphics and Computer Vision . He has extensively worked in these fields with his students and research staff, producing various publications, talks, and research projects over the years. His current teaching focus includes Math for Visual Computing (CS 740), a course designed for postgraduate students new to the IIT system who may have some apprehension about mathematics. Professor Chandran has supervised numerous PhD students whose work covers diverse topics including 3D modeling, efficient computing with tomographic measurements, vision for drones, cancer prognosis, hierarchical visibility, projector-camera systems, arterial pulse analysis, and optimization algorithms for motion factorization. His teaching portfolio is extensive, having offered courses such as Basic Freshman Programming, Software Systems, Parallel Programming Paradigms, Graphics I & II, Multimedia Systems, Computer Vision, Digital Image Processing, Algorithms, and Spatial Data Structures. He has held multiple administrative and service roles at departmental, institutional, and external levels. Departmental roles include PhD Faculty Advisor, Awards Committee Chair, Faculty Search Chair, and Web Team Chair. At the institutional level, he served as Founding PMRF Coordinator, Head of the Application Software Centre, and IIT Research Fellowship Initiative Coordinator. Externally, he has coordinated the DST India Digital Heritage Project and served as Program Co-Chair for conferences like Mysore Park Vision Conference and ICVGIP. Professor Chandran is actively involved in campus community activities including Sanskriti @ IITB, Taekwando @ IITB, and serves as Secretary for Kendriya Vidyalaya PTA. His office hours are from 12:30 PM to 1:00 PM on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, and he emphasizes using Piazza rather than email for student communications.
Ming-Syan Chen is a distinguished academic holding dual roles as a Distinguished Research Fellow and Director of the Research Center for Information Technology Innovation (CITI) at Academia Sinica, Taiwan, and a Distinguished Professor jointly appointed across multiple departments at National Taiwan University (NTU), including Electrical Engineering (EE), Computer Science and Information Engineering (CSIE), and the Graduate Institute of Communication Engineering (GICE). His career spans academia and industry, with prior roles as a research staff member at IBM Watson Research Center and leadership positions in Taiwan's technology sector. Education: He earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from National Taiwan University, followed by M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer, Information, and Control Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Research Interests: Chen's work focuses on databases, data mining, machine learning, multimedia networking, and cloud computing. He has authored over 350 papers and holds numerous patents, contributing to foundational advancements in query processing, data management, and networked systems. Award Highlights: Recipient of ACM and IEEE Fellowships, National Chair Professorship (lifetime honor), Teco Award, Pan Wen Yuan Distinguished Research Award, and IBM's Outstanding Innovation Award. His contributions span research, teaching, and technology commercialization. Leadership & Service: Former Dean of NTU's College of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, CEO of Taiwan's Networked Communication Program, and Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Electrical Engineering. He has chaired international conferences and served on editorial boards of journals like IEEE TKDE and VLDB. Labs & Teams: Leads the Network Database Laboratory and collaborates on national initiatives in information and communication technologies. His research groups focus on data science, distributed systems, and social network analysis.
Susan Davidson is the Weiss Professor in the Department of Computer and Information Science at the University of Pennsylvania, where she co-directs the Data Science Program. She currently serves as Deputy Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science and chairs the Computing Research Association's Board of Directors. Her research focuses on databases, bioinformatics, data management, and provenance-based systems. Co-founder, Greater Philadelphia Bioinformatics Alliance Founding co-director, Center for Bioinformatics Fulbright Scholar and Hitachi Chair, INRIA-GEMO Key research areas include data citation, trust management in collaborative systems, workflow provenance, and privacy in data analysis. Her recent publications explore explainability frameworks, sub-table selection for data exploration, and security in distributed training systems. 2023 Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching 2021 VLDB Women in Databases Award 2021 AAAS Fellow 2020 Spira Award for Teaching & Mentoring 2017 IEEE TCDE Impact Award She has advised numerous PhD students and postdocs, including Sudeepa Roy (Duke University) and Julia Stoyanovich (NYU). Courses taught recently include CIS550 (Database Systems) and CIS545 (Big Data Analytics).
Yi Fang is an Associate Professor of Computer Engineering and an affiliated Associate Professor of Computer Science at New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD), and a Global Network Associate Professor at NYU Tandon. He is a core faculty member in the Division of Engineering, specializing in Electrical and Computer Engineering. His research is centered at the intersection of Embodied AI, Robotics, and AI-driven assistive technologies, with strong support from agencies such as the US NSF, UAE ADEK, and ASPIRE. PhD, Purdue University Yi Fang's research interests span 3D Computer Vision, Multimedia Processing, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, and Embodied AI . He focuses on AI-driven perception, learning, and real-world applications, particularly in engineering, medicine, and accessibility. His lab, the Embodied AI and Robotics (AIR) Lab, develops intelligent robotic systems that integrate perception, learning, and decision-making to solve complex societal challenges. His work emphasizes large-scale visual computing, deep visual learning, and cross-domain/multimodal foundation models , with recent innovations in assistive AI for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing community. The 15 most recent publications reflect a consistent focus on 3D vision, sketch-based 3D retrieval, point cloud learning, and assistive computer vision . His work leverages deep learning, adversarial training, metric learning, and generative models to bridge modalities such as sketches, depth images, and 3D models. There is a clear trend toward cross-modal understanding, unsupervised representation learning, and real-world assistive applications , especially for visually impaired individuals. Yi Fang actively contributes to the academic community as an Area Chair for top-tier conferences including CVPR, ECCV, ICCV, IJCAI, and IROS. He also serves in peer review and mentoring roles, shaping the future of AI and robotics research. As a dedicated educator, he teaches foundational and advanced courses such as Computer Vision, Applied Machine Learning, Data Structures, and Capstone Design . He mentors students through research seminars and honors projects, fostering innovation and technical excellence. His research is supported by major grants from US NSF, UAE ADEK, and ASPIRE, enabling high-impact interdisciplinary collaborations. He founded and directs the Embodied AI and Robotics (AIR) Lab at NYU Abu Dhabi, a dedicated research space for developing intelligent systems that seamlessly integrate perception, learning, and decision-making. The lab promotes interdisciplinary collaboration across engineering, medicine, and social sciences, advancing the frontiers of Embodied AI.
Professor Winston Hsu is a distinguished faculty member in the Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering at National Taiwan University, where he has served as a full professor since 2015. He is the co-director of the Communications and Multimedia Laboratory (CMLab) and founder of the MiRA (Multimedia indexing, Retrieval, and Analysis) research group. Additionally, he serves as the Founding Director for NVIDIA AI Lab at NTU, the first such lab in Asia. Professor Hsu received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University in 2007 under the supervision of Professor Shih-Fu Chang. Prior to his academic career, he was a founding engineer and research manager at CyberLink Corp., now a public image/video software company. National Taiwan University (2007-Present): Professor (2015-Present), Assistant/Associate Professor (2007-2015) MobileDrive (2021-2024): CTO and Vice President (Joint Venture between Foxconn and Stellantis) IBM TJ Watson Research Center (2016-2017): Visiting Scientist Microsoft Research Redmond (2014): Visiting Researcher Columbia University (2007): Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering Professor Hsu's research focuses on machine learning, computer vision, large-scale image and video search and recognition, and embedded AI. His work spans from fundamental research in visual recognition to practical applications in automotive systems, medical imaging, and e-commerce. He has pioneered work in disguised face recognition, low-resolution face hallucination, 3D model search, and virtual try-on systems. His current research emphasizes Embodied AI, integrating perception, action, and learning technologies for applications in automotive and robotics domains. His research group has produced numerous influential publications, particularly in top computer vision and multimedia conferences like CVPR, where they won first place in the Disguised Face Recognition competition in 2018. Their work spans diverse application areas including security, medical diagnostics, automotive systems, and e-commerce solutions, demonstrating strong translation from academic research to real-world impact. IBM Research Pat Goldberg Memorial Best Paper Award (2018) First Place, IARPA Disguised Faces in the Wild Competition (CVPR 2018) Best Brave New Idea Paper Award, ACM Multimedia 2017 NVIDIA AI LAB Award (First in Asia, 2016) First Place, MSR-Bing Image Retrieval Challenge (2013) World's Top 2% Scientists (2023) Professor Hsu actively mentors students and researchers, with his group consistently recruiting PhD students, postdocs, and research assistants. He has successfully bridged academia and industry through multiple collaborations, including his role as CTO at MobileDrive (a joint venture between Foxconn and Stellantis) from 2021-2024. His research has been supported by significant industry partnerships with Microsoft, IBM, and NVIDIA, as well as government grants from Taiwan's Ministry of Science and Technology. His laboratory, the Communications and Multimedia Laboratory (CMLab), maintains strong industry connections and focuses on cutting-edge research in visual AI. The lab has produced numerous award-winning projects and maintains active collaborations with global technology companies, particularly in the automotive and consumer electronics sectors.
Sanjay Purushotham is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Information Systems at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), with a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California (USC) and a postdoctoral background in Computer Science at USC's Integrated Media Systems Center (IMSC). His research focuses on machine learning, data mining, and their applications in biomedical informatics, social network analysis, and multimedia data mining. Key contributions include survival analysis models using pseudo values and federated learning frameworks for healthcare data. He has received awards including the Best Paper Award at SIGSPATIAL 2014 and a Best Poster Runnerup at SCMLS 2016. Education: PhD in Electrical Engineering (USC), Postdoc in Computer Science (USC) His work spans interdisciplinary areas such as domain adaptation for remote sensing, thermal face translation, and interpretable neural networks for medical applications. Recent projects include federated survival analysis models and climate-informatics frameworks for cloud property retrieval. He teaches courses in artificial intelligence, healthcare informatics, and statistical learning at UMBC. Research highlights include developing MedFuseNet for multimodal medical question answering and VDAM for multi-sensor cloud data analysis. His work on fair survival analysis models addresses algorithmic bias in healthcare predictions. Current grants include a NSF CAREER award for trustworthy federated learning in computational healthcare.
Dr. Damien Charrieras is an Associate Professor at the School of Creative Media , City University of Hong Kong, where he serves as Program Leader for the Master of Art in Creative Media and deputy program leader for the PhD in Creative Media. His work bridges cultural studies, new media theory, and the intersection of financial technologies with artistic practices through the ACIM Laboratory for Interventions in Speculative Finance . Doctoral research on digital artists' trajectories in Montreal FRQSC Postdoctoral Fellowship at McGill University Research spans game engine design , datafication of creativity , blockchain in art , and post-anthropocentric creative processes . With over HK$3.14M in grants as Principal Investigator, he explores situated digital creativity in urban contexts, critical worldbuilding pedagogy , and the mediation of technical systems in cultural production. His publications in Cities , Organized Sound , and Human Relations analyze the reconfiguration of artistic practices through software infrastructures and automation paradigms. Scientific awards include: FRQSC Postdoctoral Fellowship
Shiri Azenkot is an Associate Professor at the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech and Cornell University, affiliated with the Information Science Department and Technion’s Computer Science Department. Her research focuses on accessibility innovations in emerging technologies, particularly addressing needs of people with vision impairments and neurodiverse populations. She holds a PhD from the University of Washington, advised by Richard Ladner and Jacob Wobbrock, and has been recognized with prestigious awards including the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Education: PhD in Computer Science & Engineering from University of Washington (advisors: Richard Ladner, Jacob Wobbrock). Research interests include VR/AR accessibility, assistive technology design, inclusive education tools, and ethical AI applications. Current projects explore social VR avatars for invisible disabilities, AR navigation aids, and AI moderation systems against ableist hate speech. Her work is funded by NSF, AOL, Verizon, and Facebook. Recent publications address video accessibility for ADHD users, AI-driven scene descriptions for blind users, and tactile learning materials co-designed with educators. She leads the XR Access initiative promoting inclusive virtual/augmented reality. Awards include the UW Graduate Medal (2020), NSF CRII Award (2017), and AT&T Labs Fellowship (2014). Her research bridges academic innovation with industry impact through collaborations with tech companies and disability advocacy groups.
Zhiyong Huang is an Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore (NUS) School of Computing. He holds multiple leadership roles, including Deputy Director of the NUS Business Analytics Centre, Director of the Computing Translational Research & Development (C-TReND) Centre, and Assistant Dean (Industry Relations). He is also a Senior Principal Investigator at the NUS Chongqing Research Institute. Education: PhD in Computer Science from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), MEng and BEng in Computer Engineering from Tsinghua University. Leadership: Senior Member of ACM and IEEE, Pioneer Member of ACM SIGGRAPH, and Chair of the Singapore ACM SIGGRAPH Chapter. Research Interests: His work spans Data Analytics, Machine Learning, Computer Vision, Human-Robot Interaction, and Computer Graphics. Key projects include the NUS Digital Twin initiative and secure data analytics pipelines. Article Trends: Recent publications focus on time series generation, cryptocurrency benchmarks, medical image registration, and phishing detection. These works integrate machine learning, computer vision, and multimodal systems. Scientific Awards: Finalist, World Technology Summit & Awards (Entertainment, 2010) Bronze, National Science and Technology Progress Award (1992) Tsinghua 12.9 Distinguished Young Teacher Award (1989) Grants & Service: Extensive involvement in Singapore's IT Standards Committee, review panels for EDB SIIRD projects, and editorial roles. He has served as PC co-chair, local chair, and reviewer for numerous conferences and journals.
Professor Helen Kennedy is a leading scholar in digital society at the School of Sociological Studies, Politics and International Relations , University of Sheffield . She holds the title of Professor of Digital Society and is Director of the £4 million ESRC Digital Good Network. A Fellow of the British Academy (FBA) and the Academy of Social Sciences (FacSS), her work bridges academia and public policy through collaborations with the BBC, DWP, and international media organizations. Her educational background includes a BA in English and American Studies from the University of Birmingham, an MA in Cultural Studies from the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS), and a PhD from the University of East London (2002) on digital identity and multimedia. Helen's research centers on digital inequality, datafication, algorithmic culture, data ethics, and public engagement with data . She investigates how non-expert publics experience and interpret data, visualizations, and AI, with a focus on fairness, transparency, and resistance. Her work also examines data visualization in society , particularly in news media, and the emotional and cultural dimensions of data engagement. Her recent publications reveal a consistent trend in exploring public perceptions of data practices , the politics of data visualization , and ethical dimensions of data use across journalism, public services, and digital platforms. Themes include trust, fairness, emotion, and the socio-political shaping of data systems. Fellow of the British Academy (FBA) Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (FacSS) Helen has led numerous major grants from the ESRC, AHRC, Nuffield Foundation, and EPSRC , including projects like Living With Data , Generic Visuals in the News , and Seeing Data . She supervises PhD students on topics ranging from algorithmic bias to digital self-tracking and has completed 13 PhD supervisions. She actively collaborates with policy makers (DWP, BBC, DCMS) , media organizations (Financial Times, Reach PLC) , and NGOs to translate research into impact, particularly in web accessibility and data governance. She leads the Living With Data research programme and is involved in the Everyday Life and Critical Diversities and Science, Technology and Medicine in Society research groups. Her work with the ESRC Digital Good Network brings together academics, practitioners, and civil society to envision equitable digital futures.
