Ziran Wang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at Purdue University's College of Engineering, appointed as new faculty in 2022. His research bridges digital twin technologies, autonomous driving systems, and human-machine interaction to advance intelligent transportation solutions. Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Riverside Prior role: Principal Researcher at Toyota North America His work focuses on creating personalized autonomous driving experiences through machine learning, emphasizing safety and efficiency in real-world applications. Key areas include multimodal large language model integration, federated learning for privacy-preserving data sharing, and cooperative perception frameworks. He develops novel approaches for digital twin-based traffic simulation, medical emergency detection in vehicles, and human behavior modeling in complex urban environments. Analysis of his 2024-2025 publications reveals a dominant trend toward generative AI applications in autonomous driving, particularly for perception-prediction-planning integration and real-world validation. His research increasingly incorporates digital twins for safety-critical testing and explores medical applications through in-vehicle health monitoring systems. Dr. Wang advises graduate students including Wenhui Huang and leads the Purdue Digital Twin Lab, which develops advanced simulation and testing platforms for autonomous systems. His lab maintains strong industry partnerships with Toyota for real-world deployment and validation of research成果.
Cristina Bicchieri is the S. J. Patterson Harvie Professor of Social Thought and Comparative Ethics at the University of Pennsylvania , where she also holds appointments as Professor of Philosophy and Psychology and Professor of Legal Studies at the Wharton School. She founded and directs the Penn Center for Social Norms and Behavioral Dynamics , the Philosophy, Politics & Economics Program , and the Master of Behavioral and Decision Sciences . Education : PhD in Philosophy from Cambridge University and a Laurea (Summa cum Laude) from the University of Milano . Her research lies at the intersection of philosophy , game theory , and cognitive psychology , focusing on: Judgment and Decision-Making : Fairness, trust, cooperation, and how expectations influence behavior. Social Norms : Their nature, evolution, measurement, and application in policy (e.g., sanitation, corruption). Epistemic Foundations of Game Theory : Rational choices under bounded knowledge and computational models for game solutions. Her recent articles explore topics like norm stability , language framing effects , and sanitation interventions in India . These works emphasize behavioral dynamics , cognitive psychology , and public policy applications . Scientific Awards : Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2021) Member, German Academy of Sciences (2021) Honorary Fellow, Wolfson College, Cambridge (2016) Pufendorf Medal (2015) Cavaliere Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana (2007) She leads the Behavioral Ethics Lab and collaborates with organizations like UNICEF , the World Bank , and the Gates Foundation to implement norm-based interventions globally.
Jieqiong Zhao is an Assistant Professor in the School of Computer and Cyber Sciences at Augusta University, specializing in visual analytics and human-computer interaction. She holds a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Purdue University and has postdoctoral experience at Arizona State University's VADER lab. Education: Ph.D. Electrical & Computer Engineering, Purdue University (2020) M.S. Computer Science, Tufts University (2013) B.E. Computer Software Engineering, Zhejiang University (2010) Research: Focuses on visual analytics for decision-making in domains like healthcare, cybersecurity, and environmental science. Key projects include ATVis (adversarial training visualization), FeatureExplorer (hyperspectral data analysis), and MetricsVis (law enforcement performance evaluation). Current interests span trustworthy AI, human-AI collaboration, and uncertainty visualization. Service: Organized the IEEE VIS 2024 panel on the future of visual analytics, serves on IEEE Transactions review boards, and mentors the WiCyS student chapter. Active in conference organizing and review roles. Awards: Received the 2020 VAST Mini-Challenge award for ConstellationBuilder's innovative cybersecurity interface design.
Prof. Dr. Andreas Zick is a leading scholar at Bielefeld University, serving as Scientific Director of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Conflict and Violence Research (IKG) and Professor for Socialization and Conflict Research at the Faculty of Education. He also co-leads the ConflictA initiative since 2023 and contributes to migration education through the Faculty of Education. 2008: Professor for Socialization and Conflict Research, Bielefeld University 2013: Director of IKG 2023: Scientific Head of ConflictA His research focuses on intergroup conflicts , group-based antipathy , right-wing extremism , radicalization , and socialization processes . He investigates spatial dimensions of radicalization, societal integration challenges, and prejudice dynamics through comparative studies. Recent publications analyze radicalization spaces (2024-2025) using spatial sociology, democratic conflict perceptions (2025), and cross-cultural prosocial behavior during pandemics. Key methods include ethnography, longitudinal surveys, and multi-perspective comparative analysis. Scientific contributions recognized by: Communicator Award (2016) Nevitt Sanford Lifetime Award (2022) Active in public policy as member of the Federal Agency for Civic Education's advisory board and Federal Commissioner's Antiracism Expert Council. Leads major projects on radicalization prevention and spatial conflict dynamics with national/international partners.
Giuliano Di Baldassarre is a Professor of Hydrology and Environmental Analysis at the Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University , Sweden. He serves as Head of Division for LUVAL (Air, Water and Landscape Sciences) and directs the Centre of Natural Hazards and Disaster Science (CNDS) (2016–2025). His work bridges water, environment, and society through interdisciplinary methods , focusing on disaster risk reduction, climate adaptation, and sustainable development. Education : Details not explicitly provided in the text. His research examines feedbacks between human activities and hydrological processes , including floods, droughts, and reservoir management . Key themes include social-ecological systems , inequalities in water crises , and policy implications of hydrological extremes . He has pioneered sociohydrology and human-water system modeling . Recent articles highlight global drought-flood interactions , urban water inequality , climate service maladaptation , and sociohydrological modeling . His work spans Nature Sustainability , Science Advances , and Hydrological Sciences Journal . Scientific Awards : International Hydrology Prize (Volker Medal) Plinius Medal (EGU) Witherspoon Lecture Award (AGU) European Research Council Consolidator Grant He led Panta Rhei - Everything Flows (2013–2022), IAHS’s global initiative on water-society interactions. Current efforts include transdisciplinary praxis and climate risk reduction frameworks .
Nicholas Feltovich is a Professor of Economics at Monash University, specializing in experimental economics, game theory, and behavioral economics. His research focuses on understanding strategic behavior in markets, bargaining institutions, and decision-making under uncertainty, with notable contributions to schizophrenia-related loss aversion studies and experimental political science. He holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Pittsburgh (1997) and a BS in Mathematics from Virginia Tech (1991). Education PhD in Economics, University of Pittsburgh, 1997 BS in Mathematics, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1991 Research Interests His work explores experimental investigations of market institutions, bargaining power dynamics, and social norms. Key topics include the effects of communication in strategic interactions, the role of fairness perceptions in pricing, and the application of neuroeconomic methods to study decision-making impairments in schizophrenia. He has conducted influential studies on corporate social responsibility, leadership in public goods provision, and the impact of leniency programs on collusion. Grant Activities Posted prices, bargaining and auctions : ARC-funded project (2014–2019) examining experimental economics of market mechanisms. Effect of bargaining power : ARC project (2013–2018) analyzing institutional and normative influences on bargaining outcomes. Collaborations He collaborates internationally on projects spanning behavioral ethics, experimental game theory, and schizophrenia-related economic behavior. His work contributes to the UN Sustainable Development Goal on Quality Education through applied research in decision-making frameworks.
Stephen Leider is the Dale L. Dykema Professor of Business Administration and Professor of Technology and Operations at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan. His research focuses on behavioral economics and operations, exploring contracts, bargaining in supply chains, dynamic decision-making, and technology’s role in productivity. He holds a BA from Case Western Reserve University, and MA and PhD from Harvard University. Leider’s research spans behavioral operations management, including studies on symbolic awards in buyer-supplier relations, innovation sharing in product development, and the impact of decision rights. His work integrates experimental, theoretical, and empirical methods to address operational challenges influenced by human behavior. His recent articles highlight trends in algorithmic decision-making, replication studies in operations research, and the design of enterprise social media platforms. Education: BA in Economics, Case Western Reserve University (2003) MA and PhD in Business Economics, Harvard University (2006, 2009) Leider’s research has been published in top journals like Management Science and Manufacturing & Service Operations Management . He co-authored The Handbook of Behavioral Operations (2018), emphasizing interdisciplinary approaches to operational challenges. His work often bridges theory and practice, offering insights into how behavioral factors shape organizational and supply chain dynamics. Leider’s advising and grants focus on behavioral operations and entrepreneurship. He has collaborated on studies involving field experiments in the Philippines, exploring vote-selling and its implications for institutional trust. His lab focuses on behavioral analysis of strategic interactions and dynamic resource allocation, with ongoing projects on algorithm reliance and human decision-making under uncertainty.
Charles Walter is an Assistant Professor of Computer and Information Science at the University of Mississippi, joining in Fall 2019. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from The University of Tulsa (2018), with prior degrees from the same institution (M.Sc 2016; B.S. 2014). His research focuses on Mobile and Wearable Security, Adversarial Machine Learning, Privacy, Malware Analysis, Fog Computing, and Self-Adaptive Systems. He leads the SPARC Lab, exploring cutting-edge topics like data privacy, malware detection, and security in fog computing environments. Education: B.S. Computer Science, University of Tulsa (2014) M.Sc Computer Science, University of Tulsa (2016) Ph.D. Computer Science, University of Tulsa (2018) Research Interests: His work addresses critical challenges in cybersecurity, including securing low-power wearable devices through fog computing architectures, developing adversarial machine learning defenses, and investigating human factors in code trustworthiness. Recent projects include studying privacy threats in diffusion models and creating frameworks for robust stability estimation in AI systems. Lab Activities: The SPARC Lab actively researches topics such as adversarial ML attacks, privacy-preserving video processing, and adaptive system security. Collaborative efforts focus on real-world applications like improving university transportation systems through smart bike rental programs.
Elizabeth Phelps is the Pershing Square Professor of Human Neuroscience in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences. She directs the Phelps Lab, which investigates how emotions influence learning, memory, and decision-making using multidisciplinary approaches including behavioral studies, neuroimaging (fMRI), physiological measurements, and computational modeling. The lab collaborates widely across psychology, neuroscience, economics, and clinical disciplines. Her research examines: Human neuroscience of affect and cognition interactions Emotional modulation of learning and memory systems Neural mechanisms of decision-making under uncertainty Impact of emotion on social cognition and behavior Translational applications for psychological disorders Contact information: Email: phelps@fas.harvard.edu Lab email: phelpslab@fas.harvard.edu Address: Northwest Lab Building, 52 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 The lab welcomes study participants and research assistant applicants, emphasizing diversity and inclusion in research.
Lucia Savadori is an Associate Professor in Psychology at the Department of Economics and Management, Università degli Studi di Trento. Her research focuses on risk perception, decision-making processes, behavioral economics, and effective communication strategies for risk-related information. She holds a BA and PhD in Psychology from the University of Padua, with postdoctoral research at Padova and visiting scholarships at institutions like the University of Illinois and Decision Research (USA). Education : B.A. in Psychology (1993), University of Padua PhD in Social and Personality Psychology (1999), University of Padua Research Interests : Risk communication in healthcare, technology, and environmental contexts Behavioral economics and decision-making under uncertainty Cognitive processes in judgment and choice Her work has been supported by grants including the Horizon 2020-funded BuildERS project (2019–2022) and the Italian Ministry of Health’s prenatal diagnostics initiative (2010–2012). She has led over a dozen research projects on topics like workplace safety, disaster preparedness, and consumer trust in food systems. Professional Activities : Head of Training and Communication at the Centro di Scienze della Sicurezza e della Criminalità (2021–present) Scientific Committee member for European research networks (e.g., SAFE, SMARTHEALTH) Editorial reviewer for journals like Risk Analysis and Medical Decision Making Her teaching spans courses on general psychology, behavioral economics, decision-making tools, and organizational psychology.
Professor Vinayak Dixit serves as the IAG Chair of Risk in Smart Cities and Director of the Research Centre for Integrated Transport Innovation (rCITI) at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), within the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering. With a distinguished career spanning academia and research leadership, Professor Dixit has established himself as a leading expert in transportation risk analysis and smart city infrastructure. Professor Dixit's research focuses on studying risk in transportation infrastructure systems, with particular emphasis on highway safety, travel time uncertainty, and resilience against natural and man-made disasters. His work integrates cutting-edge approaches including quantum computing applications for transportation network optimization, analysis of connected and automated vehicles, and development of models for transportation resilience. His research interests span multiple disciplines, bridging civil engineering, transportation science, risk analysis, and computational methods. Professor Dixit has secured significant research funding from prestigious organizations including the United States National Science Foundation, Federal Highway Administration, and the Strategic Highway Research Program of the Transportation Research Board. His leadership extends to directing the Research Centre for Integrated Transport Innovation (rCITI), where he oversees a comprehensive research program addressing critical transportation challenges in smart cities through multiple focus areas including Connected Mobility Services, Deep Data and Digitization, Engineering Smart Cities & Logistics, Human-Centred And Automated Systems Design, and Integrated Infrastructure Strategic Planning. Professor Dixit previously served as the Associate Director of Research for the Gulf Coast Centre for Evacuation and Transportation Resiliency at Louisiana State University, where he founded the Driving Simulator Laboratory in collaboration with other faculty members. This demonstrates his longstanding commitment to innovative research infrastructure development and interdisciplinary collaboration across engineering, economics, computer science, and urban planning to address complex transportation challenges in the 21st century.
Matt Nassar is an Associate Professor of Neuroscience and Assistant Professor of Cognitive and Psychological Sciences at Brown University. He leads the Learning, Memory and Decision Lab, which is part of the Department of Neuroscience and the Robert J. & Nancy D. Carney Institute for Brain Science. His research focuses on understanding how the brain flexibly processes information to achieve complex and adaptive behaviors through computational approaches that bridge cognitive psychology and neuroscience. Education: PhD, University of Pennsylvania (2012) BA, Colgate University (2004) Nassar's research examines how different cognitive systems—learning, memory, and perception—leverage common computational principles to optimize decision-making. His work particularly focuses on how the brain balances stability and flexibility in processing information, how uncertainty is represented and utilized in learning, and how neural computations underlie complex behaviors. Through computational modeling and empirical research, he investigates how modular information-processing systems impact decisions and complex behavior in dynamic environments. His research integrates methods from cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and computational modeling to address fundamental questions about human cognition. Analysis of Nassar's recent publications (2020-2024) reveals a strong focus on computational neuroscience applied to decision-making, learning, and psychiatric conditions. His work frequently employs Bayesian modeling approaches to understand belief updating, uncertainty processing, and structure learning. Key themes include the neural basis of flexibility in learning, computational mechanisms underlying psychiatric symptoms, and age-related changes in cognitive processing. His research bridges cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and computational modeling to provide insights into both healthy cognition and disorders such as depression and schizophrenia. Scientific Contributions: Developed computational models of belief updating and learning under uncertainty Investigated neural mechanisms of stability-flexibility tradeoffs in cognition Examined age-related differences in learning and memory processes Explored computational mechanisms underlying psychiatric conditions Studied the role of noise correlations in neural learning systems Investigated how prefrontal cortex representations shape decision processes Nassar actively mentors researchers in his lab, with recent announcements highlighting postdocs joining from prestigious institutions like Max Planck UCL and Freie Universität Berlin. His lab appears to receive significant research funding, supporting multiple postdoctoral positions and research projects. Collaborations span multiple departments at Brown University, particularly with researchers in Cognitive and Psychological Sciences, Neurology, and Psychiatry. The lab has produced numerous high-impact publications in top journals including Nature Human Behaviour, Brain, and eLife. The Learning, Memory and Decision Lab, led by Nassar, is an active research group that uses computational models to understand how the brain represents and stores information for effective decision making. Recent lab announcements (as of February 2025) indicate the lab is expanding with new postdoctoral researchers joining from Harvard, Max Planck UCL, and Freie Universität Berlin, suggesting strong research momentum and funding support. The lab appears to be well-integrated within Brown's neuroscience community, with collaborations spanning multiple departments and research centers.
Reidar Staupe is an Associate Professor in Public Safety at the Department of Technology and Security, UiT The Arctic University of Norway. He previously held a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship (2020-2022) at Roskilde University, Denmark. Research Interests: His work bridges civil security, disaster risk reduction, and anticipatory governance. Key themes include: Temporalities of crisis perception and response Cultural/political impacts of disaster declarations Creeping crises (AMR, climate change) Disaster terminology evolution Wind power development conflicts Polycrisis dynamics Publication Trends: Recent articles (2022-2025) explore the interplay between societal security, slow-onset disasters, and interdisciplinary collaboration. His work appears in journals like Time & Society , Policy & Politics , and International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction , with forthcoming books on doomscrolling and global crisis cooperation. Scientific Awards: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship Teaching: Courses include SVF-3202 Crisis Management SVF-3616 Crisis and Disaster Management His research group The Grey Zone – Secure Societies examines security narratives in crisis contexts.
Jerry Zee is Assistant Professor of Anthropology and the High Meadows Environmental Institute at Princeton University. His research examines environmental emergence through political, meteorological, and geopolitical lenses, with focus on China's ecological transformations and transpacific entanglements. Publications analyze dust governance, aerosol politics, and racialized ecologies, employing interdisciplinary approaches from feminist STS and environmental humanities. Current work investigates planetary-scale infrastructural projects and necrotic politics.
Eshed Ohn-Bar is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at Boston University. He leads the Human-to-Everything (H2X) Lab, focused on developing intelligent systems for assistive and autonomous technologies. His research bridges machine perception, learning, and human-computer interaction, with applications in autonomous driving and accessibility for visually impaired individuals. Educated at UCLA (BS in Mathematics, 2010; MEd, 2011) and UCSD (PhD in Electrical Engineering, 2017), he holds a Humboldt Fellowship and has received the IEEE ITS Society Best PhD Dissertation Award (2017) and the 2025 BU Early Career Excellence in Research Award. His work emphasizes robust autonomy, real-time assistance, and inclusive design, collaborating with industry partners like Motional and receiving NSF grants (e.g., IIS-2152077). Research interests include autonomous systems, computer vision, and assistive technologies. Recent trends in publications highlight advancements in decision-making frameworks, neural volumetric models, and scalable learning for navigation. His lab’s projects address challenges in accessibility, such as blind motion generation and inclusive autonomous vehicle design. Awards: Humboldt Fellowship, IEEE ITS Best Dissertation, BU Early Career Award Grants: NSF IIS-2152077 Labs/Teams: H2X Lab, collaborating on projects with industry and academic partners
