Professor Sangbae Kim is the Jerry McAfee (1940) Professor in Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), School of Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering. His research focuses on bio-inspired robotics, extracting principles from animal biomechanics to develop high-performance robotic systems. Education: B.S. from Yonsei University (2001), M.S. (2004) and Ph.D. (2008) from Stanford University. Research Interests: Bio-inspired Robotics, Robotic Actuators, Locomotion Dynamics, Composite Sensor Fabrication, and Minimally Invasive Surgical Robotics. His notable achievements include the MIT Cheetah robot capable of 13mph outdoor running and autonomous obstacle jumping, and Stickybot, a climbing robot featured in TIME's Best Inventions (2006). Recent publications emphasize soft robotics, energy-efficient legged locomotion, and bio-inspired actuator design. Kim has received prestigious awards including the NSF CAREER Award (2014), DARPA Young Faculty Award (2013), and Ruth and Joel Spira Award for Distinguished Teaching (2015). Scientific Awards: NSF CAREER (2014), DARPA YFA (2013), TIME Best Invention (2006), multiple best paper awards. Professional Service: Associate Editor roles, NSF review panels, and leadership in IEEE and ASME organizations.
Lucas Janson is an Associate Professor of Statistics and Affiliate in Computer Science at Harvard University. He leads the Harvard Statistical Consulting Service, supervising PhD students advising hundreds of researchers annually. His research focuses on high-dimensional inference, statistical machine learning, and applications in genetics, political science, and climatology. He teaches courses such as Statistical Inference I, Reinforcement Learning, and Statistical Machine Learning. His work bridges theoretical advancements with practical applications, including contributions to robotics motion planning and microbiome data analysis. Key research areas include variable importance inference, safe reinforcement learning, compositional data analysis, and robust paleoclimate reconstructions. His methodologies are implemented in software packages like Floodgate, EigenPrism, and Fast Marching Tree (FMT*). He advises a dynamic group of PhD students and has mentored alumni now in academia and industry roles. Notable contributions include the development of model-X knockoffs for controlled variable selection, conditional randomization tests, and optimization algorithms for adaptive control systems. His work emphasizes statistical rigor while addressing real-world challenges in healthcare, environmental science, and robotics.
Dr. Dahlia El-Manstrly is an Associate Professor (Senior Lecturer) in Marketing and Director of Research for the Marketing and Creative & Cultural Industries (MCCI) group at the University of Sheffield Management School. She previously served as Co-Director of the Center for Service Excellence at the University of Edinburgh. Her expertise spans services marketing, with a focus on service recovery, customer loyalty, and international marketing. Education: BSc (First Class Honours) MSc (Huddersfield University) MRes PhD (Glasgow University) AHEA (Advanced HE Academy) Research Interests: Service Recovery and Complaint Management Customer Loyalty and Satisfaction International Marketing in Services Transformative Services and Well-being Tourism Services and Online Travel Communities Awards and Recognition: Highly Recommended Paper Award (AMA SERVSIG, 2014) Three Teaching Excellence Awards (University of Edinburgh) Grants and Supervision: Supervises PhD students on topics like sustainability in fashion and elderly adoption of self-service technology. Recipient of grants including the British Academy Quantitative Skills Award and ESRC Seminar Series funding. Labs/Teams: Leads the MCCI research group at the University of Sheffield Management School.
Camillo J. Taylor is the Raymond S. Markowitz President’s Distinguished Professor in the Department of Computer and Information Science at the University of Pennsylvania , where he has been a faculty member since 1997. He also serves as Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the School of Engineering and Applied Science. His research focuses on Computer Vision and Robotics , particularly in 3D reconstruction, semantic mapping, and autonomous navigation. Education: A.B. in Electrical Computer and Systems Engineering, Harvard College (1988) M.S. and Ph.D. in Computer Science, Yale University (1990, 1994) Research Interests: Dr. Taylor’s work bridges Computer Vision and Robotics to enable autonomous systems to perceive and navigate complex environments. Key themes include semantic SLAM, event camera applications, and meta-learning for adaptive controllers. His projects often integrate vision, physics, and multi-agent collaboration, as seen in systems like EvMAPPER and OCCAM . Recent Article Trends: His 2024–2025 publications focus on semantic mapping , event-based vision , and multi-agent LLM systems , reflecting his lab’s emphasis on real-time perception, physics-informed reconstruction, and rational decision-making in robotics. These works span applications from solar eclipse imaging to wildfire analysis and natural hazard resilience. Awards: NSF CAREER Award (1998) Lindback Minority Junior Faculty Award (2001) IEEE WACV Best Paper Award (2012) Lindback Distinguished Teaching Award (2012) Advising and Service: Dr. Taylor has advised numerous PhD students, including Jason Hughes and Bowen Jiang. He has served as a Program Chair for CVPR (2006, 2017) and General Chair for ICCV (2021). His contributions to the GRASP Laboratory have advanced autonomous micro-UAVs and semantic SLAM.
Rosemary Monahan is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Maynooth University and an affiliate of the Hamilton Institute. She holds BSc and MSc degrees from University College Dublin and a PhD from Dublin City University. As Maynooth University's institutional lead for ADAPT (SFI Research Centre for AI-Driven Digital Content Technology), she focuses on advancing software dependability through formal methods and AI integration. Her research interests include safety-critical systems, dependable software, formal verification, and computational thinking education. She co-founded the VerifyThis competition series and leads projects such as MAIVV (Modular AI Verification and Visualisation) funded by SFI, and VALU3S (Verification and Validation of Automated Systems) funded by Horizon 2020. She has secured over €2.5M in EU funding for the Erasmus Mundus programs in dependable software systems. Monahan’s educational contributions include pioneering computational thinking resources (CoCoA and InSPECT projects) and teaching modules on software verification and rigorous software processes. She supervises PhD students in data science and advanced networks and collaborates with institutions like INRIA, Microsoft Research, and Amazon Web Services. Her professional roles include editorships in journals like Science of Computer Programming and leadership in conferences like iFM and FMICS. She actively promotes gender equality in computing through initiatives like INGENIC and TechMate toolkits.
Oya Celiktutan is a Reader (Associate Professor) at King’s College London in the Department of Engineering, leading the Social AI & Robotics (SAIR) Lab within the Centre for Robotics Research. She holds a BSc in Electronics Engineering from Uludag University, and an MSc and PhD in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Bogazici University, Turkey. Her doctoral work included a visiting research period at the National Institute of Applied Sciences in Lyon, France. She has held postdoctoral positions at Queen Mary University London, the University of Cambridge, and Imperial College London before joining King’s College in 2018. Her research focuses on multimodal machine learning for autonomous agents, addressing challenges in human-robot interaction, social awareness, and navigation. Key areas include human behavior analysis, generative models, and continual learning. Her work is supported by EPSRC, The Royal Society, EU Horizon, and industry partners like Toyota and NVIDIA. Notable awards include the EPSRC New Investigator Award (2021) and a Best Paper Award at IEEE Ro-Man 2022. Dr. Celiktutan’s lab explores socially assistive robotics, extended reality systems, and ethical AI. Recent projects include the LISI initiative to enable robots to learn social interactions from human-human data and the CL-HRI project advancing continual learning in human-centric robotics. Her research has led to datasets like MHHRI and RICA, and collaborations with companies like SoftBank Robotics. She teaches modules on Sensing and Perception, and Sensors and Actuators, emphasizing practical applications in robotics and mechatronics. Current research interests span socially-aware navigation, algorithmic fairness, and multimodal data fusion for robotics in healthcare and urban environments.
Clémence Poirier is a Senior Researcher in the Cyberdefense Project within the Risk and Resilience Team at the Center for Security Studies (CSS) at ETH Zurich. She previously served as a Research Fellow at the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI) in Vienna and as a Researcher for Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia. She also holds the position of Space Generation Advocacy and Policy Platform's Lead on Responsible Space Behavior at the Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC). Her educational background includes a Master's degree in International Relations, International Security and Defense and a Bachelor's degree in Foreign Applied Languages (English, Russian, Spanish), both from University Jean Moulin Lyon III, France. Dr. Poirier is multilingual, which supports her international research collaborations. Dr. Poirier's research focuses on the critical intersection of space operations and cybersecurity, with particular emphasis on geopolitical implications of cyber conflict in outer space. Her work examines how terrestrial conflicts like the Ukraine war impact space security architecture and explores policy frameworks for protecting space infrastructure from cyber threats. She has conducted extensive research on space cybersecurity policy across multiple jurisdictions including Australia, Europe, and the United States. Analysis of her publication record reveals a clear progression from foundational space policy research toward increasingly specialized work on space cybersecurity. Her recent publications demonstrate growing attention to practical policy implementation challenges, with several papers addressing specific national and regional approaches to space cybersecurity governance. There's also a notable trend toward multidisciplinary collaboration, particularly with technical experts in space systems engineering. Dr. Poirier has established significant research partnerships with major space institutions including the European Space Agency, with whom she collaborated on climate policy research examining the integration of space-based data in European environmental policies. Her work with SmartSat CRC in Australia demonstrates international research coordination on space infrastructure security. She leads research initiatives focused on responsible space behavior and has contributed to policy development through her work with the European Economic and Social Committee. Her current Cyberdefense Project at ETH Zurich's CSS represents the culmination of her expertise in space security policy development.
Dr. Tan Viet Tuyen Nguyen is a New Frontiers Fellow (Lecturer) in AI at the University of Southampton, specializing in Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence and Social Human-Robot Interaction. His research focuses on multimodal learning for robots to adapt their behavior to human social needs, with applications in healthcare, education, and service environments. Prior to this role, he was a Research Associate at King’s College London and a Research Assistant on the EU-funded CARESSES project, developing culturally-aware assistive robots for elderly support. Education: PhD in Information Science (Robotics) from Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. He has organized conferences such as the IEEE RO-MAN 2022 special session on nonverbal communication and served as a reviewer for top-tier robotics and AI conferences. Research Interests include: Human-Robot Collaboration, Multimodal Perception, Generative AI for Social Interaction, and Context-Aware Robot Behavior Generation. His work has been recognized with awards including the Best Paper Award at ROMAN 2022 and the Prospective Research Award at ICServ 2023. Teaching Responsibilities include courses on Biologically Inspired Robotics, High-Level Programming, and MSc/Undergraduate project supervision. He currently oversees two PhD students and collaborates on projects like 'Exploring the impact of AI-driven writing of engagement in climate change' and 'Bridging Generations and Cultures through Generative AI.' Labs/Teams: Member of the Agents, Interaction and Complexity Centre and the Centre for Robotics Research at Southampton.
Prof. Ivan Cole is an Adjunct Professor at RMIT University's School of Engineering, specializing in rapid materials discovery for corrosion protection, nanostructures, and additive manufacturing. His work integrates computational modeling with high-throughput experimentation, focusing on corrosion inhibitors, biocompatible surfaces, and additive manufacturing process optimization. With over 30 years of experience across academia and industry (including leadership roles at CSIRO and Centro-Svilluppo Materiali), he leads the Rapid Discovery & Fabrication Team (RDF) to advance these research areas. Research Interests: Corrosion science, microbially induced corrosion (MIC), additive manufacturing surfaces, nanostructure sensing, multiscale modeling, and green materials discovery. His team addresses challenges in corrosion protection, biomedical implants, and environmental remediation through innovative methodologies. Awards: 2019 Australian Corrosion Medal 2016 CSIRO Lifetime Achievement Award 2013 Best Paper in NACE Corrosion Supervision & Projects: Active in mentoring PhD/Master’s students across corrosion inhibition, additive manufacturing, and nanostructure design. Notable projects include developing quorum sensing inhibitors for biofilm control, in-situ monitoring for metal AM, and eco-friendly corrosion inhibitors. Labs & Collaborations: Leads the Rapid Discovery & Fabrication Team and collaborates with industry partners to translate research into practical solutions for materials durability and sustainability.
Robert Fletcher is a Researcher at the University of Cambridge, affiliated with the Department of Zoology and the C-CLEAR Doctoral Training Partnership . His work focuses on applied ecology and conservation science, utilizing landscape and population ecology to address biodiversity challenges globally. Research Areas : Conservation biology, population ecology, landscape ecology, environmental informatics Collaborations : Partners in North America, Europe, Africa, and Southeast Asia Key Themes : Species extinction prevention, landscape conservation prioritization, and rapid biodiversity data delivery Email : rf497@cam.ac.uk Fletcher's interdisciplinary approach integrates fieldwork (e.g., Everglades endangered species, African elephants) with advanced modeling of habitat loss, fragmentation, invasive species, and climate change impacts. His recent work emphasizes: Drivers of species decline and recovery strategies Landscape management and restoration techniques Interdisciplinary collaborations with engineers, social scientists, and computer scientists His publications span topics like savanna ecosystem dynamics, community science applications, and conservation forecasting, reflecting a commitment to actionable science for global biodiversity preservation.
Karen Panetta is a Professor at Tufts University School of Engineering with appointments in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, and Academic Services. She currently serves as Dean of Graduate Education for the School of Engineering and holds the title of Distinguished Professor. Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, Northeastern University M.S. in Electrical Engineering, Northeastern University B.S. in Computer Engineering, Boston University Dr. Panetta's research focuses on developing efficient algorithms for simulation, modeling, and signal and image processing for security and biomedical applications. Her work brings together artificial intelligence, machine learning, and visual sensing systems to create solutions for robot vision and biomedical imaging. She develops algorithms inspired by the human visual system to enable machines to 'see' like humans, with applications in homeland security, biomedicine, facial recognition, and search and rescue operations. Her research has significant humanitarian applications, addressing global challenges facing women and children. Dr. Panetta has received numerous prestigious awards including induction into the National Academy of Engineering (2023), the Presidential Award for Science and Engineering Education and Mentoring (2011), and the IEEE Award for Distinguished Ethical Practices (2013). She is a fellow of multiple prestigious academies including the National Academy of Inventors, European Academy of Sciences and the Arts, and IEEE. Member, National Academy of Engineering (2023) Presidential Award for Science and Engineering Education and Mentoring (2011) IEEE Award for Distinguished Ethical Practices (2013) Fellow, National Academy of Inventors Fellow, European Academy of Sciences and the Arts Fellow, Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association As an educator and mentor, Dr. Panetta founded the nationally acclaimed Nerd Girls program to promote engineering to young students, particularly women. She previously served as worldwide director for IEEE Women in Engineering and editor-in-chief of the IEEE Women in Engineering magazine. Her approach to graduate education emphasizes the importance of building strong collaborative relationships between faculty and students, with a focus on proactive communication and documentation of research progress. Dr. Panetta's humanitarian research applies engineering solutions to global challenges, including developing technology to help doctors find cancerous tumors, security screeners find concealed weapons, and law enforcement agencies find criminals and missing children. Her work demonstrates a commitment to 'Doing The Right Thing' by addressing issues affecting populations with limited resources or 'voice' in society.
Adam Marcus is an Associate Professor of Architecture at Tulane University School of Architecture and serves as Research Director of the Center on Climate Change and Urbanism. He directs Variable Projects, an award-winning design and research studio operating at the intersection of architecture, computation, and fabrication, and is a partner in Futures North, a public art collaborative dedicated to exploring data aesthetics. His educational background includes: Master of Architecture from Columbia University Bachelor of Arts from Brown University Adam's research focuses on critical approaches to design computation, digital fabrication, and robotics, exploring how these technologies enable new modes of ecological, material, and public engagement. His work particularly emphasizes climate adaptation, buoyant ecologies for sea level rise, computational representation, and multispecies architecture. He integrates these interests through practical design-build projects that address ecological challenges while advancing architectural representation and fabrication techniques. His recent publications demonstrate a strong emphasis on computational approaches to architectural representation and ecological design. The works consistently explore the intersection of digital technologies with ecological imperatives, particularly focusing on climate adaptation strategies, multispecies collaborations, and innovative drawing protocols that bridge analog and computational paradigms. His book 'Drawing Codes' represents a significant contribution to rethinking architectural drawing in the computational age. Notable awards include: Selected as one of the '30 Most Admired Educators' by Design Intelligence (2013) Recipient of the New Faculty Teaching Award from the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (2016) Adam has served on ACADIA's Board of Directors from 2015 to 2021 and currently serves on the editorial board of the International Journal of Architectural Computing. His teaching at Tulane includes design studios and courses in computational design and digital fabrication with ecological applications, building on his decade of experience at California College of the Arts where he co-founded the Architectural Ecologies Lab. He leads research initiatives through Tulane's Center on Climate Change and Urbanism, developing practical design solutions for ecological challenges, particularly those related to climate change and sea level rise. His Buoyant Ecologies Float Lab project exemplifies this approach, creating 'optimized upside-down benthos for sea level rise adaptation' that has received attention from major media outlets including Smithsonian Magazine and Architectural Record.
Lerrel Pinto is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at New York University's Courant Institute, where he leads the General-purpose Robotics and AI Lab (GRAIL). His research focuses on enabling robots to generalize and adapt in unstructured environments through advancements in robot learning, decision making, and multimodal sensing. Before joining NYU, he completed a postdoc at UC Berkeley, a PhD in Robotics at Carnegie Mellon University, and an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering at IIT Guwahati. Key research areas include large-scale robot learning, representation learning for sensory data, reinforcement learning for adaptability, and open-source robotics hardware. Notable achievements include the Sloan Fellowship (2025), NSF CAREER Award (2024), and Best Paper Awards at multiple robotics conferences. Pinto's lab has developed influential systems such as the AnySkin tactile sensing framework and the OPEN TEACH teleoperation system. Education highlights include a PhD from CMU (2019) under Abhinav Gupta, a postdoctoral stint with Alexei Efros and Pieter Abbeel at Berkeley, and undergraduate studies at IIT Guwahati. He has authored over 65 publications in top conferences like ICRA, NeurIPS, and CVPR. Pinto teaches courses on robotics, reinforcement learning, and AI at NYU. His service contributions include roles on program committees for ICML, NeurIPS, and IROS, as well as organizing workshops on topics like Dexterous Manipulation and Vision-Language Models for Robotics. His team actively collaborates through the GRAIL lab, with current projects exploring tactile sensing, zero-shot policy deployment, and multimodal robot learning systems. Ongoing research emphasizes bridging the gap between human and robotic dexterity through novel reward structures and adaptive control frameworks.
Zhong-Ping Jiang is an Institute Professor at New York University Tandon School of Engineering, affiliated with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and holds cross appointments in Civil and Urban Engineering. He leads the Control and Network (CAN) Lab and contributes to research centers like the Center for Advanced Technology in Telecommunications (CATT) and C2SMARTER. His work focuses on nonlinear control, adaptive dynamic programming, and learning-based control with applications to autonomous systems, urban mobility, and computational neuroscience. He serves as Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE/CAA Journal of Automatica Sinica and has held editorial roles in multiple journals. Research interests include model-based and learning-based control for network systems, with emphasis on robotics, connected vehicles, and urban infrastructure. His contributions to nonlinear small-gain theory and robust reinforcement learning have advanced control methodologies for complex systems. Recent publications highlight trends in resilient control under cyberattacks, data-driven optimal control, and reinforcement learning applications in traffic signal optimization and autonomous driving. His work bridges theoretical advancements with real-world challenges in transportation and cyber-physical systems. Awards: Elected to the European Academy of Sciences and Arts (2024). Grants/Projects: Includes RAPID-funded studies on high-resolution agent-based modeling of epidemic spread and NSF-supported research on urban traffic networks. Labs/Teams: CAN Lab (focusing on control theory and networked systems), CATT (telecommunications innovations), and C2SMARTER (urban mobility solutions).
Steve Whittaker is Professor of Human-Computer Interaction at the University of California at Santa Cruz. He conducts interdisciplinary research at the intersection of social science and computer science, focusing on how technology affects human memory, communication, and personal information management. His current research explores human-centric AI systems, mental health technologies, and digital identity. His research interests center on designing interactive systems that support human needs in digital environments. He investigates how people manage digital information, remember personal experiences through lifelogging, and interact with conversational agents and social robots. His work emphasizes computational well-being, affective computing, and the social implications of technology use. He has made foundational contributions to the fields of personal information management (PIM), computer-mediated communication (CMC), and human-robot interaction. The recent publications reflect a strong trend toward mental health technology, human-AI interaction, and digital well-being. His work spans from theoretical models of emotion and memory to practical systems for mental health apps, chatbots, and immersive visualization. He frequently publishes in top-tier venues such as CHI, CSCW, and IUI, often in collaboration with researchers across disciplines. Lifetime Research Achievement Award from SIGCHI Fellow of the Association for Computational Machinery (ACM) Member of the CHI Academy Lasting Impact Award from ACM CSCW Best Paper Award at CSCW10 Best Paper Award at CHI07 Honourable Mention at ACM CHI 2020 Multiple best paper nominations at CHI, CSCW, and IUI MIT Siegel Prize Steve Whittaker has supervised numerous PhD and Master’s students, though specific names are not listed in the provided text. His research has been funded by major grants from NSF, NIH, and industry partners, enabling long-term studies on digital behavior and system development. He is Editor of the journal Human Computer Interaction and has authored over 200 peer-reviewed publications. His most recent book, The Science of Managing Our Digital Stuff (MIT Press), co-authored with Ofer Bergman, synthesizes decades of research on personal information management. He leads a vibrant research lab at UC Santa Cruz that focuses on human-centered computing, where students and collaborators work on projects involving AI, mental health, digital memory, and social interaction. The lab has produced influential work on lifelogging, email management, telepresence robots, and algorithmic transparency. The team employs mixed methods, combining qualitative studies with system design and evaluation.
