Benjamin Mangrum is Associate Professor of Literature at MIT's School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, specializing in 20th/21st-century literature, digital humanities, and environmental humanities. His scholarship examines literature's engagement with technology, environmental crisis, and political liberalism. Dr. Mangrum's research analyzes computational obsolescence, environmental rights discourse, and the intersections of literary form with political thought. His publications demonstrate interdisciplinary approaches combining literary criticism with philosophy, digital studies, and environmental theory. Recent publications show growing engagement with energy humanities, data visualization ecologies, and artificial intelligence's cultural implications. His work consistently examines how literary forms mediate technological change and environmental consciousness. Awards: Levitan Prize (2023) Fellowships: Michigan Society of Fellows Professor Mangrum teaches courses on comedy, science fiction, environmental literature, and AI at both undergraduate and graduate levels.
Professor Garg Vikas holds the position of Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the School of Science. His research spans quantum computing, artificial intelligence, and machine learning with applications in computational biology, healthcare, and drug design. He leads the HEALED/Garg project focused on human-steered machine learning for drug discovery and collaborates with institutions like MIT and industry partners. He co-founded YaiYai Oy, providing AI/ML solutions to global sectors. Education: PhD from MIT CSAIL under Tommi Jaakkola, with postdoctoral and industry experience at Amazon, Microsoft, and IBM. His work aligns with UN SDGs, particularly in healthcare and sustainable energy. Research interests include graph neural networks, generative models, and quantum AI. Recent projects involve climate modeling via physics-informed neural ODEs and optimizing quantum circuits using graph autoencoders. Key collaborations include MIT’s MLPDS Consortium and the Finnish Center for Artificial Intelligence. He supervises doctoral researchers like Yogesh Verma and postdocs such as Kogkalidis.
Dr. Toni Rouhana is a Research Fellow and Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of York’s Centre for the Comparative Study of Civil War. His work examines sectarian identities in Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon across pre-, during, and post-war periods. He holds a PhD in Sociology from UC Santa Cruz, alongside an MS in Computer Engineering and MA in Sociology. PhD: University of California, Santa Cruz (Sociology) MS: University of California, Santa Cruz (Computer Engineering) MA: University of California, Santa Cruz (Sociology) Rouhana’s research integrates ethnography, computational methods (machine learning, NLP), and social movement theory. His interdisciplinary focus spans Peace Studies, Middle East Studies, and Religious Studies. He analyzes over 500 million social media posts and conducted 18 months of fieldwork in Syria and Lebanon. His work emphasizes how ordinary people mobilize religious identities during conflict. Publications highlight mixed-methods approaches to conflict analysis, with recent work exploring Lebanon’s Cedar Revolution and Palestinian geopolitical symbolism. Awards include the Regents’ Fellowship and GRRI Dissertation-Year Fellowship. Key Project: “Understanding Civil War from Pre- to Post-War Stages: A Comparative Approach” (2021–2024) Rouhana collaborates with the Centre for the Comparative Study of Civil War, advancing methodologies at the intersection of digital humanities and conflict studies.
Jianxi Gao is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). His research focuses on network science, particularly network resilience, robustness, and control, integrating network theory, control theory, statistical physics, and operations research. He also explores the intersection of network science and AI, including applications of AI to network analysis and vice versa. His work aims to understand, predict, and control the resilience of complex systems against cascading failures. Key research areas include network resilience in transportation systems, quantum networks, and biological systems, with applications to pandemic response and infrastructure optimization. Gao's contributions span theoretical frameworks and computational tools, such as the NuRsE MATLAB package for network resilience analysis. His GitHub repositories (e.g., NuRsE and NON) showcase his open-source contributions to network science and computational methods. His recent publications address topics like AI-driven network analysis, quantum network percolation, and pandemic-induced healthcare system stress. He actively collaborates on interdisciplinary projects, emphasizing real-world applications of network science principles.
Samuel Burry is a Procter Fellow in Politics at Princeton University, having recently completed his DPhil in Politics at the University of Oxford under supervisors Sophie Smith and Cécile Laborde. His doctoral research was fully funded by the Rothermere American Institute. He earned a BA in History and Politics and an MPhil in Political Thought and Intellectual History from the University of Cambridge, graduating with a starred first and receiving the History and Politics Prize for top performance. Burry specializes in twentieth-century American and African American political thought, with deep expertise in legal theory, intellectual history, and American political development. His work critically examines figures like Derrick Bell, Thomas Paine, and Thomas Jefferson, exploring intergenerational obligations, judicial decision-making frameworks, and the intersection of ordinary language philosophy with legal principles. His publications in leading journals reveal a consistent trajectory analyzing the evolution of American political-legal thought across the 20th century, with particular focus on foundational jurisprudential debates and the conceptual underpinnings of rights discourse. Key recognitions include: Cambridge University History and Politics Prize Rothermere American Institute Fellowship Procter Fellowship at Princeton University As a postdoctoral fellow, Burry does not currently supervise graduate students but contributes significantly through his editorial role at Anthroposphere: The Oxford Climate Review, where he bridges political theory with contemporary climate discourse.
Professor Siegfried Handschuh holds dual academic appointments as Associate Professor at the University of Passau and Ordinary Professor for Data Science at the University of St. Gallen. His research spans semantic technologies, information linguistics, and artificial intelligence applications in the humanities, with significant funding from the EU, Science Foundation Ireland, and Enterprise Ireland. His research focuses on making big data workable for humanities scholars through innovative AI approaches. Handschuh's work addresses critical challenges in digital humanities including inconsistent and non-integrated data with varying quality. His research interests encompass semantic technologies, information linguistics, information extraction, and distributional semantics, with particular emphasis on applying AI to art history and cultural heritage. Handschuh has coordinated numerous international research projects including the Digital Aristotle project initiated by Microsoft founder Paul Allen, which aimed to develop AI-powered educational tools. His Neoclassica project teaches machines to recognize neoclassical objects through formal language processing, while the PACE initiative establishes the Passau Centre for eHumanities as a research hub. Other significant projects include EU-Project MARIO for healthy aging with care robots and various studies on human-machine interaction. His scientific contributions focus on developing new tools for humanities researchers that leverage artificial intelligence to uncover novel contexts and relationships in cultural data. Handschuh's work bridges computer science with humanities disciplines, creating practical applications for semantic technologies in cultural heritage analysis.
Aldo Todaro is an Associate Professor of Food Science and Technology at the University of Catania since October 1, 2024. Previously, he worked as a University Researcher (2007–2011) and Associate Professor (2019–2024) at the University of Palermo. His research focuses on enzymatic activity in food processing, brewing innovation (malting processes and beer production), and sustainable food technology. Education: PhD in Food Science and Technology (University of Catania, 2006); Laurea in Food Science and Technology (University of Catania, 2001). His research has resulted in over 100 publications (74 ISI/SCOPUS-indexed) and an H-index of 24. He has participated in national and international projects (PRIN, PON, HORIZON 2020) and collaborated with food companies. Currently, he teaches Fundamentals of Unit Operations and has previously taught Unit Operations in Food Technology , Technology and Quality in the Food Supply System , and Food Processing . Scientific Awards: National Scientific Qualification for first-tier professorships (2021) Open badges for digital competence and language proficiency courses Ordinary member of SISTAl since 2012 International Engagement: Visiting professor at the University of Burgundy (2021) Visiting scientist at Hohenheim University (2009) He serves as a referee for journals like the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry and is on the editorial board of three open-access journals. His work spans sustainability assessments (LCA in agrofood), technological innovation in citrus derivatives (via CRA-ITIDA), and digital pedagogy in food science education.
David L. Howell is the Robert K. and Dale J. Weary Professor of Japanese History and Professor of History at Harvard University, holding a joint appointment in the History Department. He serves as Acting Director of the Program on US-Japan Relations at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs and is currently Department Chair of East Asian Languages and Civilizations. On leave during the 2025-2026 academic year, he has been a Harvard faculty member since 2010 after teaching at the University of Texas at Austin and Princeton University. His educational background includes: B.A. from the University of Hawai'i at Hilo Ph.D. in History from Princeton University Studies at Hokkaido University in Sapporo Howell specializes in Japanese social history during the Tokugawa (1603-1868) and Meiji (1868-1912) periods, examining how political and economic transformations impacted ordinary citizens. His current research investigates the Meiji Restoration's societal continuity and urban waste management systems in pre-modern Japan, revealing intricate connections between institutional change and daily life. His publications from 1995-2014 demonstrate evolving scholarly focus from economic structures in fisheries to cultural identity and diplomatic practices, consistently centered on nineteenth-century Japan. Key thematic threads include spatial identity formation, urban development, and the intersection of local customs with national modernization efforts. Howell served as editor of the Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies (2014-2024) and co-edited The New Cambridge History of Japan volume on Early Modern Japan (2024), significantly shaping contemporary scholarship in Japanese historical studies.
Ana Ros Matturro is an Associate Professor in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures at Binghamton University, where she has been a faculty member since 2008. She also holds a Courtesy Title with the Translation Research and Instruction Program (TRIP). Her academic work focuses on the Southern Cone of Latin America, particularly examining how collective memory of dictatorial pasts has been formed and transmitted across generations. Dr. Ros Matturro's educational background includes: Ph.D. in Romance Languages and Literatures from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (2008) B.A. in Literary Studies from the College of Humanities and Education, University of Uruguay, Montevideo (2000) B.A. in Secondary Education Literature Teaching from Instituto de Profesores Artigas, Montevideo, Uruguay (1999) Her research centers on post-dictatorial societies in Latin America, with particular emphasis on the construction and transmission of collective memory, civil-military relations, and individual responsibility in oppressive systems. She examines how obedience and resistance function in both authoritarian and democratic contexts, analyzing the complex ways in which historical trauma shapes contemporary social relations. Her work bridges literature, cinema, political science, and memory studies to provide nuanced understandings of how societies process and learn from traumatic pasts. Dr. Ros Matturro's scholarly output reveals a consistent focus on how artistic and cultural productions contribute to collective memory formation in post-dictatorship contexts. Her work increasingly examines perpetrator perspectives and the complexities of complicity, showing how these elements shape transitional justice processes. Rather than focusing solely on victims' narratives, her research explores the gray areas of political participation and the ways ordinary citizens navigate authoritarian regimes. Her notable recognitions include: Provost's Individual Development Award from Binghamton University (2024, 2015) College Finish Line Grant from Binghamton University for advancing her second book project (2022) Harpur Dean's Conference Funds for co-organizing the symposium "The Military Industrial Complex in the Americas" at John Jay College of Criminal Justice (2020) Fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (2011, 2010) In 2022, Dr. Ros founded GIMUR, a collaborative research group of female academics from different countries and disciplines who study the formation and transmission of collective memory in Uruguay. Her work has been supported by multiple grants that have enabled her to advance her research on civil-military relations in post-dictatorship Chile and Uruguay, as well as to organize academic symposia that bring together scholars from across the Americas to examine the legacy of authoritarian regimes. Dr. Ros Matturro maintains active scholarly relationships with researchers across Latin America, the United States, and Europe who are examining similar phenomena in other post-conflict contexts. Her interdisciplinary approach creates comparative frameworks that deepen our understanding of how memory functions across different cultural and political landscapes, with particular attention to the connections between historical analysis and contemporary social issues.
Adnan Mahmutovic is a Professor at the Department of English, Faculty of Humanities, Stockholm University. He has been lecturing at the department since 2007 and holds a PhD in English Literature from Stockholm University, as well as an MFA in Creative Writing from City University of Hong Kong. His academic expertise spans multiple areas: World Literature and Transnational Writing Postcolonial and Diasporic Literature Comics and Graphic Narrative Studies Creative Writing and Literary Editing Muslim and Islamic Cultural Studies Professor Mahmutovic's research focuses on the intersections of literature, space, and identity, particularly examining how writers navigate cultural and linguistic borders. His work explores how literary works claim space through dynamic relations between locations and orientations, as seen in his book "Claiming Space: Locations and Orientations in World Literatures" (2021). He has also made significant contributions to comics studies with "Visions of the Future in Comics" (2017) and "The Craft of Editing" (2018), which explores editorial practices in contemporary literature. His academic publications demonstrate a consistent engagement with postcolonial theory, particularly examining works by authors like Michael Ondaatje, Salman Rushdie, and Ben Okri. His early scholarly work "Ways of Being Free" (2012) established his interest in how migrant writers articulate existential conditions through their fictional worlds. More recent publications show an expansion into contemporary topics like Muslim-American writing, transnational superhero narratives, and Bosnian refugee experiences. Professor Mahmutovic has received numerous awards for his fiction writing and has served as a judge for prestigious literary prizes including the Neustadt Prize for Literature. He has also acted as fiction editor for "Two Thirds North," a journal of transnational writing, since 2010. His creative work complements his academic pursuits, with publications including "Thinner than a Hair" (2010), "How to Fare Well and Stay Fair" (2012), and "At the Feet of Mothers" (2020). His essay "Comics, War and Ordinary Miracles" has been adapted for BBC Radio, demonstrating the broader cultural impact of his work.
Ottmar Ette is Chair of Romance Literature at the University of Potsdam, Germany, where he has held a professorship since 1995. A leading scholar of Alexander von Humboldt and comparative literature, Ette has established himself as a major intellectual figure through his development of TransArea Studies and the conceptual framework of 'Lebenswissenschaft' (science of life). His academic career spans multiple continents with significant contributions to understanding the intersections of literature, globalization, and cross-cultural knowledge. Ette's research interests form a rich interdisciplinary tapestry exploring literary studies as life science , conviviality (living together), and the poetics of movement within TransArea Studies. His work examines how literary knowledge functions as essential repository of human experience, particularly regarding ethically relevant themes such as migration, belonging, and survival. The scholar has pioneered approaches to understanding literature beyond national boundaries, focusing on 'literatures without fixed abode' and the 'vectorial imagination' that transcends traditional dichotomies between national and world literature. His extensive publication record reveals consistent engagement with globalization processes across historical periods, with particular emphasis on the works of Alexander von Humboldt as a lens for understanding interconnected knowledge systems. Ette's scholarship demonstrates remarkable breadth, spanning from 18th century francophone literature to contemporary transareal literary phenomena, while maintaining focus on how literary texts generate knowledge for living in increasingly interconnected worlds. 2014 Research Award Escuela Nacional de Altos Estudios from UNAM 2014 Honorary Member of the Modern Language Association of America 2013 Ordinary Member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences 2012 Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques (France) 2010 Ordinary Member of the Academia Europaea 2001 Hugo Friedrich/Erich Köhler Research Award 1991 Young Scholars Award for Romance Literature 1987 Heinz-Maier-Leibnitz Award Ette has directed significant research projects including the 3-year Research Project on Humboldt's American Travel Diaries (2014-2017) and the 18-year project 'Travelling Humboldt - Science on the Move' at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences. He co-founded multiple DFG-funded Research Training Groups including 'lebensformen + lebenswissen' (2006), 'Zwischen Räume' (2009), and 'Sichtbarkeit und Sichtbarmachung' (2011). His editorial work encompasses founding the electronic journal HiN - Alexander von Humboldt in the Net and serving as co-editor of Iberoamericana and Istmo. As co-founder of the ForLaBB (Research Network Latin America Berlin-Brandenburg), Ette has created important institutional frameworks for transnational scholarly exchange. His academic leadership extends through organizing numerous international conferences on topics ranging from 'Caribbean(s) on the Move' to 'Conviviality in Difference,' fostering collaborative research environments that bridge disciplinary and geographical boundaries.
Shixiang (Woody) Zhu is an Assistant Professor in Data Analytics at the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University. He holds a PhD in Machine Learning from Georgia Institute of Technology (2022) and B.S./M.S. in Computer Science from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications (2017). His research bridges machine learning, operations research, and statistics, focusing on sequential modeling, human-AI collaboration, and energy systems operations. He has received awards including the IEEE Power & Energy Society Best Paper Award (2025) and was a finalist for the INFORMS Wagner Prize (2021). Education : PhD in Machine Learning, Georgia Tech (2017–2022) B.S./M.S. in Computer Science, BUPT (2010–2017) His research emphasizes spatio-temporal data analysis , decision making under uncertainty , and applications to energy systems, healthcare, and public policy. Notable projects include optimizing police zone design (Wagner Prize finalist) and enhancing grid resilience through robust optimization. He actively collaborates with institutions like Argonne National Laboratory and NSF-funded projects. Awards : Best Paper Award, IEEE Power & Energy Society (2025) Gen-AI Fellows (2024) Finalist, INFORMS Wagner Prize (2021) Advising & Grants : Advises PhD students Zekai Fan, Wenbin Zhou, and others Recipient of Block Center Seed Grant (2024), NSF funding (2024) His work spans energy resilience, public policy optimization, and causal inference in social systems. He co-leads the INFORMS Data Mining Society and reviews for top journals like Operations Research and Management Science.
Eric Le Bourhis is a Senior Lecturer in Latvian language, literature, and civilization at the Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (INALCO) in Paris. He serves as head of the Latvian curriculum in the Europe department and as INALCO's anti-racism and anti-Semitism representative. As a member of the Centre de recherches Europes-Eurasie (CREE), he conducts research focused on urban history in the Soviet Union and Latvia, France, and Paris, employing a social history approach attentive to spatial dimensions and varying observational scales. Le Bourhis's research centers on three major projects: housing construction and urban planning practices in Riga (1945-1990), the history of Jewish persecution under Nazi occupation through the 'Connus à cette adresse' collective (examining Riga and Paris from a housing perspective), and Soviet trials of local Nazi criminals in Soviet Latvia (1957-1974). His methodological approach emphasizes micro-history with intensive archival research, often conducted collaboratively to enable comparative analysis across different contexts. His work reveals how urban spaces functioned under authoritarian regimes, with particular attention to how ordinary people navigated systems of oppression. Le Bourhis's publications demonstrate a consistent focus on the intersection of urban spaces, housing, and historical trauma, particularly during the Holocaust and Soviet era. His recent work increasingly employs comparative frameworks across geographical and political contexts to identify broader historical patterns. A significant portion of his scholarship examines how housing and urban planning served as tools of social engineering and control, while documenting resistance and adaptation by ordinary citizens. Académie d'Architecture, prix de la recherche, premier prix, 2017 Société française d'histoire urbaine, prix de thèse, prix spécial, 2016 As an educator, Le Bourhis teaches undergraduate courses in Latvian grammar, Latvian culture and literature history, Baltic region history from the Middle Ages to Modern Era, and Estonian/Latvian history (19th-20th centuries). At the graduate level, he co-organizes research seminars on Baltic spaces at EHESS, the liberation of Paris, and Soviet Union history and historiography. His commitment to addressing contemporary social issues is reflected in his institutional role as anti-racism and anti-Semitism representative. Le Bourhis actively participates in the 'Connus à cette adresse' research collective examining everyday Jewish persecution under Nazi occupation through housing perspectives. His institutional affiliation with CREE (Centre de recherches Europes-Eurasie) provides a framework for his interdisciplinary work bridging European and Eurasian studies, with particular focus on the Baltic region's complex historical relationship with both Western Europe and the former Soviet Union.
Eret Talviste is a Research Fellow in Contemporary English Literature at the University of Tartu , affiliated with the Faculty of Arts and Humanities and Institute of Foreign Languages and Cultures . She joined Tartu in 2020 as a part-time researcher in Raili Marling’s project Imagining Crisis Ordinariness and received the Estonian Research Council’s postdoctoral fellowship (2022-2024) for her project Women, Nations, and Affect . PhD (2020) from Northumbria University MA (2015) from University of Glasgow BA (2014) from University of Portsmouth Her research bridges transnational modernist women writers and critical theory , focusing on intersections of feminism , posthumanism , affect theory , and postcolonialism . She explores themes like wonder and wander , race and ethnicity , and ecocriticism through works by Elizabeth Bowen, Virginia Woolf, Zora Neale Hurston, and Leida Kibuvits. Recent publications highlight her expertise in Estonian-UK comparative studies and decolonial approaches to English literature. She has contributed to journals such as Feminist Modernist Studies , Journal of Baltic Studies , and Keel ja Kirjandus , with a forthcoming monograph Strange Intimacies (Edinburgh University Press, 2025). Her awards include the Estonian Research Council’s postdoctoral fellowship and a 2016 Northumbria scholarship. Eret is keen to supervise BA and MA theses on comparative studies between Estonia and Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Canada, or England. She has served in administrative roles, including organizing conferences like BodyWorks and editing The Kelvingrove Review .
Professor Alexandra Shepard is a Professor of Gender History in the History department at the University of Glasgow. Her research addresses the social, cultural and economic history of early modern Britain, with a particular emphasis on gender relations and the relationship between gender and class. She has published extensively in this field, including two major monographs: Meanings of Manhood in Early Modern England (2003) and Accounting for Oneself: Worth, Status and the Social Order in Early Modern England (2015), which won the prestigious Leo Gershoy Award. Professor Shepard's research interests focus on the intersection of gender, class, and social status in early modern England. She has pioneered approaches that examine how individuals, particularly women, navigated social structures and legal systems. Her work often analyzes language of self-description deployed by witnesses in court to understand creditworthiness and social order. She is particularly interested in women's agency before the law and gender dynamics in the early modern economy. Current research includes a book project on childcare, family and economy in Britain, 1650-1850. Her recent publications reveal a consistent focus on women's economic agency, legal status, and social roles in early modern society. The articles demonstrate a methodological approach that combines social, legal, and gender history to uncover how ordinary people, especially women, participated in and shaped economic and legal systems. There is a clear trajectory from her earlier work on masculinity to her more recent focus on women's experiences and agency. Leo Gershoy Award - for Accounting for Oneself: Worth, Status and the Social Order in Early Modern England Philip Leverhulme Prize (2004) Professor Shepard is actively involved in supervising PhD students and has secured significant research funding for her projects. She is currently Co-Investigator on an AHRC funded project on 'Women Negotiating the Boundaries of Justice: Britain and Ireland, c.1100-c.1750' and leader of a Leverhulme International Network Grant on 'Producing Change: Gender and Work in Early Modern Europe'. Her current PhD students are working on diverse topics including violent men and masculinity in Scotland, radical manhood in the English Revolution, married women and the law in Scotland, and women's rebellion in the Tudor period.
