Dr. Kai Gong is an Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rice University, with affiliations at the Rice Advanced Materials Institute and Ken Kennedy Institute. His research focuses on sustainable infrastructure materials, environmental sustainability, and materials science. He holds a Ph.D. in Civil & Environmental Engineering and Materials Science from Princeton University, an MEngSci from Monash University (Australia), and dual B.S. degrees from Monash University and Central South University (China). Research Interests: Development of durable, sustainable infrastructure materials Waste encapsulation and conversion to value-added products Carbon mineralization and utilization Advanced characterization techniques (synchrotron/neutron scattering) Data-driven modeling and atomistic simulations Notable Awards: 2023 Le Chatelier Medal (Cement and Concrete Research) 2024 Giatec Award for Best Paper in Sustainability Walbridge Fund Graduate Award (2019) His work integrates computational methods (e.g., molecular dynamics) with experimental techniques to address decarbonization challenges in infrastructure. The Gong Research Group actively seeks motivated researchers for opportunities in sustainable materials innovation.
Hossam Hassanein is a Professor and Director of the School of Computing at Queen's University. He received his B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from Kuwait University in 1984, M.Sc. in Computer Engineering from the University of Toronto in 1986, and Ph.D. in Computing Science from the University of Alberta in 1990. He joined Queen's University School of Computing in 1999 and has established himself as a leading researcher in telecommunications and networking. Dr. Hassanein's research interests span wireless sensor networks, mobile ad hoc networks, edge computing, Internet of Things (IoT), radio resource management, and data-centric networks. His seminal contributions include pioneering work on WSN planning, load-balanced routing protocols, and energy-efficient network designs. He has championed research in IoT, developing frameworks for smart spaces that use contextual information to enhance IoT applications in healthcare, transportation, and infrastructure. His recent publications (2023-2025) demonstrate a strong focus on cutting-edge areas including extreme edge computing, vehicular networks, and AI/ML integration in networking. Research trends show increasing emphasis on practical applications in telesurgery, digital twins, and industrial IoT, addressing challenges in resource allocation, task offloading, and real-time processing in constrained environments. Dr. Hassanein has received numerous recognitions for his work: Fellow of the IEEE Queen's University School of Graduate Studies Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Supervision (2015) Multiple best paper awards from top international conferences As founder and director of the Telecommunications Research Lab (TRL), Dr. Hassanein has supervised over 75 students who have made substantial contributions in academia and industry. The TRL is one of Queen's largest research groups with extensive international collaborations. Dr. Hassanein has successfully attracted significant research funding from government and industry sources in the competitive telecommunications field. The Telecommunications Research Lab has developed innovative platforms including SPROUTS, a rugged sensor platform used in mining, steel manufacturing, and smart-grid monitoring. TRL's work has had significant impact in WSN planning, data dissemination, and resource reuse in wireless networks, with contributions featured in IEEE Wireless Communications Magazine.
Dr. Muhammad Abdul-Mageed is an Associate Professor in the School of Information at The University of British Columbia, with joint appointments in Linguistics and an associate membership in Computer Science. He holds the Canada Research Chair in Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning. His research focuses on deep learning, socio-pragmatics, and speech/language technologies, particularly for Arabic and African languages. He leads the UBC Deep Learning & NLP Group and co-directs SSHRC-funded grants like I Trust AI and Ensuring Full Literacy. He is a founding member of the Center for Artificial Intelligence Decision making and Action and a member of the Institute for Computing, Information, and Cognitive Systems. His work spans automatic speech recognition, machine translation, computational socio-pragmatics, and low-resource language technologies. Notable projects include developing Arabic speech recognition systems, multidialectal Arabic benchmarks, and tools for African language processing. He has authored over 100 peer-reviewed papers and leads initiatives like the NADI Arabic Dialect Identification shared task and the NileChat project for culturally-aware LLMs. His research aims to create equitable, socially-aware AI systems for health, social media, and information management.
Dr. Zhenman Fang is an Associate Professor at the School of Engineering Science , Simon Fraser University (SFU) , where he founded and directs the HiAccel Lab . He also holds an associate membership in the School of Computing Science at SFU. His research focuses on customizable computing with software-defined hardware acceleration , addressing performance, energy-efficiency, and reliability in post-Moore’s law computing across domains like machine learning , big data analytics , quantum chemistry , and precision medicine . Education: Ph.D. in Computer Science from Fudan University (2014), with a visit to University of Minnesota during his studies. Postdoctoral Work: University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) (2014-2017). Industry Experience: Staff Software Engineer at Xilinx (2017-2019). Dr. Fang’s research spans the entire computing stack , including application characterization , accelerator-rich architecture design , and programming/tool support . He has developed frameworks like HiSpMV , SyncNN , and SQL2FPGA , emphasizing FPGA acceleration for vision transformers , quantum chemistry , and spiking neural networks . His work has been recognized with 3 best paper awards (FPL 2024, TCAD 2019, MEMSYS 2017) and 3 best paper nominees (FCCM 2025, HPCA 2017, ISPASS 2018). Recent publications highlight trends in low-precision machine learning ( ShiftQuant , ESRU ), quantum chemistry acceleration ( SERI ), and vision transformer optimization ( Quasar-ViT ). His HiAccel Lab actively mentors PhD and MASc students , with notable graduates like Alec Lu (PhD 2024, now at Meta) and Philip Stachura (MASc, now with BC Graduate Scholarship). Scientific Awards: Inaugural SFU Research Excellence Award - Horizon Award (2025) FPL 2024 Stamatis Vassiliadis Best Paper NSERC Alliance Award (2020) CFI JELF Award (2019) Xilinx University Program Award (2019) IEEE Senior Member (2023) Grants: NSERC Discovery Grant (2019) CFI JELF Funding (2019) Huawei and Xilinx sponsorships Dr. Fang leads open-source initiatives like SyncNN , PASTA , and SQL2FPGA , and serves as General Chair for ASAP 2025 and Program Co-Chair for RAW 2025 . His lab collaborates globally with institutions such as UCLA , Northeastern University , and Xidian University .
Max Simchowitz is an Assistant Professor in the Machine Learning Department at Carnegie Mellon University, joining in January 2025. His research focuses on sequential learning, reinforcement learning, control systems, and robotics, with a particular interest in how large AI models influence these fields. He holds a PhD from UC Berkeley (2021) and conducted postdoctoral research in MIT's Robot Locomotion Group. His work bridges theoretical foundations and practical applications, emphasizing adaptive sampling, optimization, and fairness in machine learning. Education: Bachelor's in Mathematics, Princeton University (2015) PhD in EECS, UC Berkeley (2021), advised by Ben Recht and Michael Jordan Research Interests: Reinforcement learning and control systems Generative models (diffusion models, video prediction) Robot learning and policy optimization Mathematical foundations of sequential decision-making Articles Trends: Recent work emphasizes diffusion models, imitation learning pitfalls, and robot policy optimization. Earlier contributions include theoretical analyses of system identification, exploration strategies, and fairness in AI systems. Awards: Outstanding Paper Award (ICML 2022) Best Paper Finalist (ICRA 2024) Best Paper Award (ICML 2018) Advising & Grants: Actively recruiting PhD/Master’s students in CMU’s Machine Learning Department and Robotics Institute. Prior teaching includes UC Berkeley’s Convex Optimization and Machine Learning courses. Research supported by grants exploring robot learning, generative models, and control theory.
Özgür Atalay (ORCID: 0000-0003-1050-0685) is an Associate Professor at the Department of Textile Engineering , Istanbul Technical University . His research focuses on Textile-based Engineering with emphasis on Capacitive , Actuator , and Soft Robotics Engineering . Current projects include TexSoRVA (Textile-Based Soft Robotics for VR Applications), SMARTWASTE (Agricultural/Natural Waste Textiles), and TEXWEAROTS (Self-powered Wearable Soft Robotics). Collaborations span EU-funded initiatives, Turkish Scientific and Technological Research Council (TUBITAK), and industrial partnerships. His work integrates Internet of Things (IoT) with Electronic Textiles (E-textiles) , focusing on applications in Telerehabilitation , Wearable Robotics , and Smart Textiles . Key technologies include Capacitive Sensors , Conductive Yarns , and Fog Computing Frameworks . Recent publications highlight advancements in auxetic sensor design , cloud-controlled textile gloves , and self-powered wearable systems . His research output (58 publications) demonstrates a focus on practical implementations in Therapeutic Applications and Human-Machine Interaction . Özgür leads 6 active research projects, including: TexSoRVA : 04/2025-09/2026, EU-funded SMARTWASTE : 01/2023-12/2026, TTO-funded TEXWEAROTS : 11/2022-10/2027, EU-funded With over 1623 citations (h-index 15), his work contributes to Textile Electronics , Soft Robotics , and Wearable Technology fields.
Dr. Joey Paquet is a Tenured Associate Professor and Department Chair in the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. He holds a PhD and specializes in research areas including Design and Implementation of Programming Languages, Context-Driven Computing, and Demand-Driven Computing. His work focuses on advancing programming paradigms and their applications in cybersecurity, distributed systems, and autonomic computing. Dr. Paquet is actively involved in thesis supervision across Computer Science and Software Engineering programs at both master's and doctoral levels. Research interests are centered around programming language design, particularly in demand-driven and context-aware systems. His contributions include frameworks like GIPSY and OpenISS, enabling scalable data processing and forensic computing. Recent work explores autonomic intent-driven networking, real-time gesture recognition, and IoT forensics. These efforts highlight his expertise in both theoretical constructs and practical implementations. His advising role supports students in MCompSc, MASc, and PhD programs. While specific grants are not detailed, his projects often involve interdisciplinary collaboration. Dr. Paquet is affiliated with platforms like LinkedIn and ResearchGate, reflecting an active academic presence. Key technical contributions include pioneering work on forensic computing backends, intent expression languages, and multimodal interaction systems. His research addresses challenges in cybersecurity, distributed systems, and service composition, with a focus on resilience and scalability.
Peter K. Kitanidis is a Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Institute for Computational and Mathematical Engineering at Stanford University . His research focuses on groundwater flow , hydrologic forecasting , and stochastic inverse modeling , with applications to pollutant remediation and CO₂ storage monitoring . Education : Diploma, National Technical University of Athens (1974) M.S., MIT (1976) Ph.D., MIT (1978) Research Interests : Groundwater modeling and contaminant transport Hydraulic tomography and aquifer characterization Stochastic methods for uncertainty quantification Bioremediation and enhanced in-situ pollutant decay Dilution and mixing processes in heterogeneous media Real-time river flow forecasting Scientific Awards : L.G. Straub Award (1979) W.L. Huber Research Prize (1994) ISI Highly Cited Researcher (2001) AGU Hydrologic Sciences Award (2011) ASCE Pioneers in Groundwater Lecturer (2011) Advising and Grants : Advised 20+ PhD and MS students (1978–2018) Principal investigator on NSF, EPA, and DOE-funded projects Developed software for groundwater data analysis and CO₂ monitoring Contributed to bioremediation protocols and hydraulic tomography algorithms Labs and Teams : Kitanidis Laboratory for groundwater crisis solutions Collaborated with Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Stanford Hydrogeology Group Mentored postdocs (2000–2017) in reactive transport and inverse modeling
Amilcare Porporato is the Thomas J. Wu '94 Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Princeton University, with joint appointment at High Meadows Environmental Institute. His research integrates hydrology, ecology, and thermodynamics to study soil-water interactions and sustainable resource management. Education includes: Ph.D. Polytechnic of Milan (1996) M.S. Civil Engineering, Polytechnic of Milan (1992) Research explores nonlinear hydrologic systems, soil moisture dynamics, ecohydrology, and environmental complexity using theoretical and experimental approaches. His work advances understanding of water-biota interactions across scales from pore-level processes to landscape evolution. Honors and Awards: Hydrologic Sciences Award, AGU Borland Lecturer American Geophysical Union Fellow Inaugural Landolt Chair, EPFL Teaches courses on Environmental Thermodynamics (ENV 385/CEE 385) and Ecohydrology (CEE 587/ENV 587).
Na Du is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Informatics and Networked Systems at the University of Pittsburgh's School of Computing and Information. She holds a PhD in Industrial & Operations Engineering from the University of Michigan (2021) and a Graduate Certificate in Data Science. Her research focuses on human factors in smart cities, human-centered computing, and user experience design. She is affiliated with the Intelligent Systems Program, Pitt Cyber, and the Center for Governance and Markets. Education: PhD in Industrial & Operations Engineering (University of Michigan, 2021); Undergraduate in Psychology (Zhejiang University). Research emphasizes explainable AI, human-AI teaming, and smart technologies. Recent grants include funding from Honda Research Institute and Pitt Cyber Accelerator for projects on emotions in Human-AI interaction and Metaverse privacy awareness. Her work has been recognized with awards like the HFES Best Paper Award and the IOE Outstanding Student Award. Advising includes PhD students and researchers in human factors and UX design. The HAT Lab under her leadership explores interdisciplinary challenges in human-computer interaction and smart systems.
Veronika Eyring serves as Head of the Earth System Model Evaluation and Analysis Department at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) Institute of Atmospheric Physics and Professor of Climate Modelling at the University of Bremen. She holds dual appointments at these leading institutions, directing cutting-edge research at the intersection of climate science and artificial intelligence. Education: 2008: Habilitation in Environmental Physics at the University of Bremen 1999: PhD in Physics from the University of Bremen 1994: Diploma in Physics from the University of Erlangen Professor Eyring's research program focuses on improving climate models and projections through innovative integration of machine learning techniques and spaceborne Earth observations. Her work spans process-oriented modeling, development of observationally-based performance metrics, and understanding systematic biases in climate models. She has pioneered approaches to weighting model projections based on their performance using machine learning, significantly advancing the field of climate model evaluation. Her research has critical applications across multiple sectors including aeronautics, space research, transportation, and energy systems. Analysis of her recent publications reveals a clear trajectory toward deeper integration of machine learning with traditional climate modeling approaches. Her work has increasingly focused on developing community tools like the Earth System Model Evaluation Tool (ESMValTool) and leading major international initiatives such as the USMILE project (Understanding and Modelling the Earth System with Machine Learning). The publications span climate science, machine learning, Earth system modeling, and remote sensing, with specific emphasis on climate model evaluation, parameterization techniques, and improved climate projections. Scientific Awards: AGU Ambassador Award (2024) TUM Distinguished Affiliated Professor (2024) Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize (2021) ERC Synergy Grant (2019) Thomson Reuters Highly Cited Researcher (2016-2021) Top female researchers award, Helmholtz-Society (2015) Professor Eyring actively supervises a large research group comprising PhD students working on ML-based sea ice parameterizations, causal model evaluation for air-sea interactions, and machine learning-based detection of droughts in climate projections. She leads the prestigious ERC Synergy Grant USMILE and secured significant funding through the DFG Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize. Her research group at DLR includes multiple postdocs, research scientists, and software engineers working collaboratively on climate informatics projects. Professor Eyring leads the Earth System Model Evaluation and Analysis Department at DLR, which encompasses research groups focused on CMIP model evaluation, ESMValTool development, and machine learning applications in climate science. She founded and supervises the 'Climate Informatics' Group at the DLR Institute for Data Science in Jena. Her department maintains strong international collaborations, particularly with the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado, where she serves as an Affiliate Scientist.
Professor Knut Reinert is a leading figure in algorithmic bioinformatics at the Free University of Berlin, where he holds a professorship in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science. He also maintains a significant affiliation with the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin, where he leads the Efficient Algorithms for Omics Data group. His research spans both institutions through the Reinert Lab, which focuses on developing novel computational approaches for biological data analysis. Reinert's educational background includes a Diploma in Computer Science (1994) and a Doctorate (Dr. Ing./Ph.D., 1999, with honors) from the Max-Planck-Institut for Computer Science and Universität des Saarlandes in Saarbrücken. Prior to his professorship, he worked as a computer scientist under Prof. Gene Myers at Celera Genomics in Rockville, USA (1999-2002). His primary research interests center on algorithmic bioinformatics with specific focus on developing novel algorithms and data structures for biomedical mass data analysis. This includes creating mathematical models for genomic sequence analysis and algorithms for mass spectrometry data to detect differential protein expression between normal and diseased samples. His work bridges the gap between computational tool development and practical biological applications, with particular emphasis on NGS and proteomics data. The publications and projects led by Prof. Reinert demonstrate a consistent focus on advancing computational methods in bioinformatics. His research spans genomic sequence analysis, RNA research (particularly long non-coding RNAs), parallel computing applications, and GPU acceleration for biological data processing. The work shows increasing sophistication in handling large-scale biological datasets through innovative algorithmic approaches. Intel® Parallel Computing Center designation for his lab CUDA Research Center status DFG funding of 530 thousand Euros for RNA research de.NBI funding of 2 million Euros BMBF funded projects 'LIVE-DREAM' and 'EssBar' Prof. Reinert leads multiple significant research projects and has established strong collaborations with international partners including Texas A&M, Kings College London, Eberhardt-Karls Universität Tübingen, Robert-Koch-Institute, and various Turkish institutions. His lab receives funding from major organizations including DFG, BMBF, and Intel. The Reinert Lab maintains active teaching responsibilities at FU Berlin, offering courses at BSc, MSc, and PhD levels using both traditional and innovative learning concepts like e-learning and inverted classrooms. The Reinert Lab consists of two interconnected research groups that work closely with experimental biologists and medical researchers to develop practical computational solutions for real-world biological problems. The lab has established itself as a key player in the German and international bioinformatics community through its development of the widely-used SeqAn library and participation in national infrastructure initiatives.
Ali Vakilian is a Research Assistant Professor at the Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago (TTIC), with a strong academic background in theoretical computer science and algorithms. He will join the Department of Computer Science at Virginia Tech as an Assistant Professor in Fall 2025. His research bridges algorithmic theory and machine learning, focusing on scalable, fair, and efficient algorithms for massive data. Education: Ph.D. in EECS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), advisors: Erik Demaine and Piotr Indyk M.S. in Computer Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), advisor: Chandra Chekuri B.S. in Computer Engineering, Sharif University of Technology Research Interests: Ali Vakilian's work centers on the algorithmic foundations of machine learning and data science. He develops streaming, sketching, and sublinear-time algorithms for massive datasets, and pioneers learning-augmented algorithms that use machine learning predictions to improve performance while maintaining worst-case guarantees. His research in trustworthy ML includes algorithmic fairness, fair clustering, and learning with strategic agents. He also contributes to combinatorial optimization and approximation algorithms for network design, set cover, and low-rank approximation. His recent publications (2023–2025) show a consistent focus on fair clustering (individual and group fairness), streaming graph algorithms , learning-augmented methods , and frequency estimation . These works appear in top venues such as NeurIPS, ICML, SODA, and ICALP, often with recognitions like oral or spotlight presentations. Scientific Awards: Outstanding Student Paper Highlight Award, AISTATS 2024 Notable-top-25% paper, ICLR 2023 Oral presentation, AISTATS 2024 Spotlight presentation, NeurIPS 2023 Advising and Grants: Ali Vakilian mentors several students and interns, including summer interns at TTIC and Fatima Fellows. His research is supported by the National Science Foundation (TRIPODS program), as noted in the press coverage of his work on LearnedSketch. He actively contributes to the academic community through advising, organizing workshops (e.g., Algorithms with Predictions, Learning-Augmented Algorithms), and serving on program committees (e.g., NeurIPS, ICML, AISTATS). Labs and Teams: He is affiliated with the theory and algorithms group at TTIC and collaborates with researchers at MIT, UIUC, and other institutions. His work on learning-augmented algorithms has led to influential workshops and collaborations with leading figures such as Piotr Indyk and Erik Demaine.
Shafiul Monir serves as Senior Lecturer in Engineering, Associate Dean (International and Partnerships), and Programme Leader for the MSc in Engineering at Wrexham University, with contact details including Room D30, phone 01978 293151, and email s.monir@wrexham.ac.uk. His academic qualifications include: BEng (Hons) in Aeronautical Mechanical Engineering from Wrexham University (2008) MSc in Aeronautical Engineering specializing in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modelling PhD in Low Carbon Research from University of Wales (awarded 2018) under Wrexham University's auspices Monir's research centers on solar photovoltaic technology development, particularly applying computational fluid dynamics to optimize thin-film deposition processes for Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) solar cells. His expertise spans atmospheric pressure metalorganic chemical vapour deposition (AP-MOCVD), thin-film uniformity challenges, and renewable energy systems engineering, with significant contributions to advancing sustainable photovoltaic manufacturing techniques. He is a core member of the Centre for Solar Energy Research (CSER), participating in the Solar Photovoltaic Academic Research Consortium (SPARC) Cymru project funded by the Lower Carbon Research Institute (LCRI). His doctoral research received support through the Knowledge Economy Skills Scholarships (KESS) program, European Social Fund (ESF), and Scanwel Ltd sponsorship.
Janne Lindqvist is an Associate Professor at the Department of Computer Science, Aalto University. His research bridges security engineering, human-computer interaction (HCI), and privacy, with a focus on making security systems usable and user-centric. University: Aalto University Department: Department of Computer Science Rank: Associate Professor Email: janne.lindqvist@aalto.fi Lindqvist’s work spans security engineering , privacy systems , and user research , emphasizing practical authentication methods, password management, and human behavior in security contexts. He explores how users interact with systems like TPM APIs, gesture passwords, and mobile authentication mechanisms. Recent publications highlight trends in authentication systems , ubiquitous computing security , and mobile user behavior . Key themes include biometric authentication, gesture-based security, and balancing usability with cryptographic robustness. CHI'25 Honorable Mention Award CHI'24 Best Paper Award His research integrates empirical studies with technical implementations, such as analyzing password forgetting patterns and developing acoustic sensing for vehicle detection (e.g., Auto++, BO-Ear). Collaborative efforts span machine learning, psychology, and embedded systems.
