Dr. Gabriel Wainer is a Professor in the Department of Systems and Computer Engineering at Carleton University's Faculty of Engineering and Design. He leads the Advanced Real-Time Simulation Lab and specializes in modeling and simulation methodologies, particularly focusing on discrete event systems, real-time modeling, cellular automata, and DEVS formalism. Research Interests: Discrete event systems, DEVS formalism, cellular automata, real-time simulation, IoT applications, and parallel/distributed simulation Affiliation: Carleton University Recent publications highlight his work in advanced simulation frameworks, energy-efficient 5G systems using deep reinforcement learning, and pandemic modeling with cellular automata. His lab develops tools like PROMETHEUS and Devsmap for standardized DEVS model representation, while also exploring applications in wireless communication, building energy systems, and behavioral epidemiology.
Nicola Nicolici is a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at McMaster University. His research focuses on methods and algorithms for the design of digital integrated circuits and systems, with significant contributions in manufacturing test, post-silicon validation and debug. His work has expanded to include embedded systems, low-energy computing, and custom hardware-accelerated computing systems. Professor Nicolici's research interests span multiple areas of digital system design and validation. His early work focused on manufacturing test methodologies and power-aware testing strategies for integrated circuits. More recently, he has made significant contributions to post-silicon validation techniques, including constrained-random stimuli generation, trace signal selection, and bit-flip detection. His research has evolved to address emerging challenges in embedded computing systems, low-energy design, and specialized hardware acceleration for various applications including deep neural networks and signal processing. His recent publications reveal a strong trend toward hardware acceleration for specialized computing tasks. The research spans matrix multiplication algorithms (Strassen and Karatsuba), memory system optimization (DDR5 calibration), FPGA-based radar processing, and neural network acceleration. His work consistently bridges theoretical algorithm development with practical hardware implementation considerations, particularly focusing on precision analysis, fault tolerance, and energy efficiency. The research demonstrates a clear progression from traditional digital circuit testing to more complex system-level validation and acceleration techniques. Professor Nicolici has been actively involved in teaching courses related to system-on-chip design and test, digital systems, and embedded systems. His teaching portfolio includes advanced courses such as System-on-Chip (SOC) Design and Test and Digital Systems Design , reflecting his expertise in the field. While specific grant information isn't detailed in the provided text, his extensive publication record suggests ongoing research funding support. His research has contributed significantly to the fields of digital circuit testing, post-silicon validation, and hardware acceleration. The work has practical applications in semiconductor manufacturing, embedded systems design, and specialized computing architectures. His recent focus on neural network acceleration and memory system optimization reflects the evolving landscape of computer architecture research.
Lev Kirischian is an Associate Professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering , Toronto Metropolitan University. He established the Embedded and Reconfigurable Systems Laboratory in 1999 for research and graduate studies. His expertise spans reconfigurable computing, parallel systems, and embedded design. BSc/MASc in Aerospace Control Systems, Moscow Institute of Aviation Technology (MAI) PhD in Parallel and Reconfigurable Computing Systems, Moscow Power Engineering Institute (MPEI) Research Interests : Task-adaptive reconfigurable computing systems Automated architectural synthesis of data-flow parallel computers FPGA-based stream processors Article Trends : His recent research focuses on reconfigurable computing architectures, modular system optimization, and FPGA applications in aerospace and industrial systems. Work includes radiation protection for FPGAs, multi-parametric architecture optimization, and frameworks for parallel multi-tasking environments.
Yoshua Bengio is a Full Professor at the Université de Montréal, affiliated with the Department of Computer Science and Operations Research at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. He is a pioneer of deep learning and a leading figure in AI safety. He co-founded Mila – Quebec Institute of Artificial Intelligence and serves as its scientific director. His work focuses on advancing AI technology while addressing ethical and safety challenges, including AI governance and catastrophic risk mitigation. Education: Ph.D. in Computer Science from McGill University (1991), postdoctoral studies at MIT. Research interests include deep learning, causal inference, AI ethics, and responsible AI development. He contributed to the Montreal Declaration for Responsible AI and leads the International Scientific Report on AI Safety. Recent articles emphasize AI safety frameworks, governance, and technical advancements in machine learning. Awards include the Turing Award (2018), Killam Prize (2019), and recognition as TIME's Most Influential Person (2024). He holds prestigious fellowships and is a member of the UN Scientific Advisory Board for Breakthrough Science and Technology. Affiliations include Mila, IVADO (as founding scientific director), and CIFAR programs. His work bridges academia, industry, and policy to ensure AI benefits humanity while minimizing existential risks.
Francesco Ambrogi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Queen's University, where he leads the Fluids, Energy, and Bio-inspired Unsteady Simulations (FEBUS) lab. His research focuses on computational and theoretical studies of turbulent boundary layers under pressure gradients, with applications in unsteady aerodynamics (turbine blades, rotor blades) and biomimicry (swimming/flying animals) for flow control. Dr. Ambrogi received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Queen's University in 2024, following a MASc in Energy and Nuclear Engineering from the University of Bologna, Italy (2019), and a BAsc in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy (2015). He previously served as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Queen's University in 2024 and completed a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the University of Waterloo in Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering. His research program centers on advancing the understanding of turbulent boundary layer physics under unsteady pressure gradients. Dr. Ambrogi's team leverages modern computational tools, particularly large-eddy simulations, to investigate separated turbulent boundary layers and large-scale coherent structures. These structures are pivotal for the transport of mass, momentum, energy, and contaminants in turbulent flows. His work has significant implications for engineering applications such as turbulent mixing, heat diffusion, and contaminant transport in the atmosphere, with direct relevance to turbine blades, rotor blades, and biomimetic systems for flow control. Dr. Ambrogi's recent publications demonstrate a consistent research trajectory focused on unsteady boundary layer separation phenomena, showing increasing sophistication in handling complex unsteady flow physics. His work combines rigorous computational methods with practical applications in aerodynamics and flow control, particularly examining how time-varying freestream conditions affect boundary layer separation and how turbulent kinetic energy is advected in these complex flows. Dr. Ambrogi has secured funding through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC-CRNSG) under the Discovery Grant Program, with computational support provided by the Digital Research Alliance of Canada. His educational initiatives include ARC4CFD, an open-source course designed to bridge the gap between small-scale CFD simulations and large-scale computations on high-performance computing systems. As director of the FEBUS lab at Queen's University, Dr. Ambrogi leads research that combines fundamental fluid dynamics with practical engineering applications. The lab's work spans from theoretical investigations of flow separation mechanisms to the development of computational tools for practical engineering problems in aerospace and bio-inspired systems.
Andrew Rau-Chaplin is a Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Computer Science at Dalhousie University, where he leads the Risk Analytics Lab and contributes significantly to research in high performance computing, parallel algorithms, and risk analytics. He is affiliated with the Institute for Big Data Analytics and has a strong academic and administrative presence. Education: Postdoc - DIMCS (Princeton, Rutgers, Bell Labs) PhD - Carleton University (1993) MCS - Carleton University (1990) BCS - York University (1986) His research focuses on applying parallel and high performance computing to data-intensive domains such as data warehousing, OLAP, catastrophe modeling, and risk analytics. He emphasizes both algorithmic design and practical system implementation, with a strong grounding in experimental evaluation. His work spans theoretical studies and real-world applications in finance, bioinformatics, and geospatial systems. The 15 most recent publications reflect a consistent focus on parallel data processing, OLAP optimization, indexing techniques (e.g., Hilbert curves), and risk modeling. Key themes include scalable data cube computation, view selection, adaptive coding, and spatial analytics, demonstrating expertise in both algorithmic innovation and systems-level performance. He has served on numerous scientific committees and grant panels, including NSERC and Compute Canada, and has been a journal editor for JPDC and DMTCS. Dr. Rau-Chaplin has supervised a wide range of graduate students in areas including risk analytics, GPU computing, text analytics, and parallel algorithms. His lab has received funding for postdoctoral, graduate, and undergraduate research positions. He teaches courses such as Parallel Computing, Software Engineering, Data Structures, and Risk Analytics, and has developed software tools like LaHave, Clustal XP, and Digital Coliseum. His lab, the Risk Analytics Lab, focuses on integrating analytics, risk management, and HPC for challenges in catastrophe modeling and financial risk. The lab leverages technologies such as stochastic simulation, optimization, and spatial OLAP.
Trevor Brown is an Associate Professor in the Computer Science department at the University of Waterloo, affiliated with the Cheriton School of Computer Science. He leads the Multicore Lab and specializes in concurrent data structures, non-blocking algorithms, and memory management. His research bridges theory and systems, focusing on practical implementations of lock-free trees, transactional memory, and techniques for non-uniform memory architectures. Education includes a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Toronto and a B.Sc. in Computer Science and Mathematics from York University. Research interests center on concurrent systems, with recent work exploring hardware-accelerated indexing, memory reclamation techniques, and performance anomalies in microbenchmarks. His publications demonstrate consistent innovation in parallel computing, with articles frequently appearing at top conferences like PPoPP, SPAA, and DISC. Sustainable energy research includes optimizing hybrid power systems and battery storage solutions. Awards include multiple best paper/artifact recognitions at SPAA and PPoPP, teaching excellence honors, and nominations for the Governor General’s Gold Medal. Extensive advising includes 13+ graduate students and PDFs, with research grants exceeding $965K from NSERC, Huawei, and CFI. He directs the Multicore Lab, developing open-source tools like SetBench for rigorous performance benchmarking.
Mohamed Hefeeda is a Professor in the School of Computing Science at Simon Fraser University (SFU), Canada. He leads the Network and Multimedia Systems Lab (NMSL) and previously served as Director of the School from 2018 to 2023. His research focuses on multimedia networking, mobile computing, cloud systems, and hyperspectral imaging. He holds an ACM Distinguished Member designation and has received prestigious awards including the NSERC Discovery Accelerator Supplements (2011) and multiple best paper awards at top conferences like ACM MM and IEEE Infocom. Education: Ph.D., Purdue University, 2004 M.Sc., University of Connecticut, 2001 B.Sc., Mansoura University, Egypt, 1994 Research Interests: Design of efficient multimedia systems and protocols for wired/wireless networks Cloud gaming optimization and video encoding techniques Hyperspectral imaging for healthcare and mobile applications AI-driven multimedia systems and mobile computing innovations Grants & Industry Collaborations: Funded by NSERC, CFI, and companies like AMD, Huawei, and CBC Co-founded Video Semantics (acquired by tech firm) Partnered with CBC on peer-assisted content distribution systems Awards Highlights: 2025: ACM Distinguished Member 2019: Best Student Paper Award at ACM MMSys 2015: NSERC Discovery Accelerator Supplements Labs & Leadership: Network and Multimedia Systems Lab (NMSL) at SFU Contributed to creation of Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI)
Wagdi George Habashi is a Professor and NSERC-Industrial Research Chair at McGill University's Faculty of Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering. He leads the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Lab, focusing on aerodynamics, fluid mechanics, and icing-related simulations. His research emphasizes in-flight icing prediction, computational wind engineering, and CFD-driven optimization of aircraft and jet engine systems. Education: Ph.D., Cornell University M.Eng., McGill University B.Eng., McGill University Research Interests: Habashi's work bridges analytical and computational methods to address multi-physics/multi-scale engineering challenges. Key areas include in-flight ice crystal ingestion in jet engines, ice surface roughness modeling, supercooled droplet dynamics, and CFD-based risk management for icing. His team develops tools like FENSAP-ICE for real-time aero-icing simulations and explores mesh adaptation, parallel computing, and reduced-order modeling. Labs/Teams: Computational Fluid Dynamics Lab (CFD Lab).
Mark R. Greenstreet is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of British Columbia (UBC). He holds a BSc from Caltech (1981), MA (1988), and PhD (1993) in Computer Science from Princeton University. His primary research focuses on formal verification of analog and mixed-signal (AMS) circuits, VLSI design, and hybrid systems. Notable contributions include the STARI signaling technique, tools like Coho for reachability analysis, and PReach for parallel model checking. He has advised numerous graduate students and collaborators, including Brad Bingham, Chao Yan, and Yan Peng. His work has been recognized with a Best Paper Award at the ASYNC Symposium. Supported by NSERC, Intel, and Oracle, his research bridges theoretical foundations and practical challenges in circuit design and verification. He teaches courses on formal methods, computer architecture, and automata theory at UBC.
Stephen Brown is a Professor at the University of Toronto within the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering under the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering. He earned his B.A.Sc and M.A.Sc in Electrical Engineering from the University of Toronto and New Brunswick, respectively, and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Toronto (1992). His career spans over two decades in academia and industry collaboration. Education : B.A.Sc, University of New Brunswick M.A.Sc, University of Toronto Ph.D, University of Toronto Professor Brown’s research focuses on field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) , CAD algorithms , and computer architecture , with applications in machine learning and high-level synthesis . He is a principal investigator in the LegUp project , an open-source high-level synthesis framework that bridges software and hardware design. His work also extends to optimizing FPGA interconnect delays, physical synthesis, and logic block architectures. Key trends in his publications include advancements in high-level synthesis tools, FPGA architecture evaluation, and timing-driven design methodologies. His contributions often intersect with design automation , resource sharing , and embedded systems . Scientific Awards : NSERC 1992 Doctoral Prize Hart Professorship for Innovation in Teaching (2017) Multiple teaching excellence awards Best Paper Award at ICCAD 1990 Best Paper Award nomination at Canadian Conference on VLSI (1989) As Director of the FPGA University Program at Intel Corporation, he leads industry-academia initiatives. His teaching portfolio includes courses like ECE253 (Digital Logic) and ECE1733F (Switching Theory).
Hesham ElSawy is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Systems and Networks at the School of Computing, Faculty of Arts and Science, Queen's University. His work focuses on advancing next-generation wireless systems, with particular emphasis on federated learning, IoT networks, and edge computing. He is affiliated with Ingenuity Labs Research Institute, Queen's University, and contributes to interdisciplinary research at the intersection of communication theory and network optimization. His research interests span stochastic geometry modeling, energy-efficient protocols for massive IoT deployments, and resilient federated learning frameworks. ElSawy explores novel paradigms in aerial wireless networks, UAV-assisted communication, and network security through percolation theory applications. Recent publications highlight his contributions to system-level analysis of parallel computing at extreme edges, UAV-enabled federated learning architectures, and energy-as-a-service models for RF-powered networks. His work emphasizes practical implementations and large-scale network validation. ElSawy holds no listed awards or grants in the provided text but maintains active collaborations through Ingenuity Labs. His research addresses critical challenges in 5G/6G networks, including latency optimization, resource allocation, and heterogeneous network integration.
Steven Livingstone is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Ontario Tech University, Faculty of Science. His research focuses on affective data science, applying machine learning and statistical modeling to understand emotion and its disorders. He leads the Affective Data Science Lab (ADSL), specializing in emotion recognition technologies using physiological data like EEG and motion capture. Livingstone holds a PhD from The University of Queensland (2008) and has published over 70 peer-reviewed papers, with over 2,400 citations. His RAVDESS dataset is widely used in speech emotion recognition research. His research interests span data science, affective computing, and music's role in emotion. Recent work emphasizes data provisioning for deep learning applications. Livingstone teaches courses including Scientific Data Analysis and Information Visualization. He actively mentors undergraduate and graduate students in his lab, focusing on research assistantships in emotion technology development. Key contributions include studies on musical tempo’s physiological effects, Parkinson’s disease facial mimicry deficits, and ensemble performance dynamics. His work has been featured in The Atlantic, NBC Today, and on the cover of Informatik Spektrum. The ADSL lab collaborates on projects combining data analytics with human-computer interaction to advance emotion-aware systems.
Ismail Ben Ayed is an Associate Professor at École de technologie supérieure (ETS) in Montreal, Canada, holding the ETS Research Chair on Artificial Intelligence in Medical Imaging. His research bridges computer vision, optimization, and medical image analysis to develop advanced algorithms for clinical applications, with particular focus on cardiac and neurological imaging. His research program centers on medical image segmentation using novel optimization techniques, graph-based methods, and deep learning models. He pioneers approaches for handling volumetric bias, shape compactness, and distribution matching in MRI and cardiac imaging, directly addressing clinical challenges in spine labeling, ventricle segmentation, and tumor detection. His work emphasizes mathematical rigor combined with practical medical relevance. Analysis of his 15 most recent publications (2014-2017) reveals dominant themes in medical image segmentation (80% of works), particularly for cardiac MRI (35%) and neurological applications (25%). Key methodological contributions include distributed optimization frameworks (20%), advanced graph cut techniques (30%), and deep learning architectures (25%), published consistently in top-tier venues including CVPR, MICCAI, and TPAMI. His scientific recognition includes: MICCAI travel award (2017) Outstanding Reviewer Award at CVPR (2015) GE innovation award (2010) He actively mentors researchers as evidenced by his recruitment of PhD students and postdocs, with research supported by the ETS Research Chair and multiple patents. His service includes chairing MICCAI 2017/2015 and IPTA 2017, plus continuous program committee roles at CVPR, ICCV, and MICCAI since 2011. Leading the ETS Research Chair on AI in Medical Imaging, he directs a collaborative team working on clinical translation of computer vision techniques. Current projects focus on cardiac motion analysis, brain tumor segmentation, and spine labeling systems with direct applications in radiology workflows.
Carl Tropper is Professor Emeritus of Computer Science at McGill University, specializing in parallel discrete-event simulation. His research develops synchronization algorithms for large-scale systems including VLSI circuits, gravitational N-body simulations, and neuronal reaction-diffusion models. Education: BSc, McGill University PhD, Polytechnic Institute of New York Professional Experience: Former positions at Boeing, MITRE, and Caltech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
