Amy Bruckman is a Regents’ Professor and Senior Associate Chair in the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Institute of Technology. As a Fellow of The ACM and member of the SIGCHI Academy , she contributes to social computing research focusing on online collaboration, cross-cultural understanding, and content moderation. Her 2022 book "Should You Believe Wikipedia? Online Communities and the Construction of Knowledge" explores digital knowledge creation. Education: Ph.D. from MIT Media Lab (1997), B.A. in Physics from Harvard (1987) Research Affiliations: GVU Center, IRI People and Technology Her work addresses social computing challenges including: AI ethics in human-AI interaction Algorithmic bias in content moderation Epistemic justice in online communities Comparative platform analysis (Reddit, Discord, TikTok) Grassroots technology movements Recent publications examine: AI support tools for online counseling Community-driven research frameworks Racial bias mitigation in toxic language detection Designing teachable social media experiences Human trafficking intervention ethics Scientific recognition includes: ACM Fellowship SIGCHI Academy membership She has contributed to: Georgia Tech's Computing Education initiatives Research ethics frameworks for Human-Computer Interaction
Rodney Harrison is a Reader in Archaeology, Heritage and Museum Studies at the UCL Institute of Archaeology, University College London. He serves as the founding editor of the Journal of Contemporary Archaeology and has been Vice President of the Association of Critical Heritage Studies since 2012. His research focuses on critical heritage studies, contemporary archaeology, and future-making practices in heritage contexts. Harrison's work challenges traditional boundaries between past, present, and future in heritage discourse, emphasizing how heritage functions as a future-oriented practice. His research spans cultural and natural heritage, exploring connections between heritage conservation and other material legacy management systems, including nuclear waste disposal. Harrison leads the major international 'Heritage Futures' research program funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council. This project represents one of the largest critical, comparative ethnographic studies of heritage practices, examining how different forms of heritage function as distinctive future-making practices across diverse contexts. His scholarly contributions include more than a dozen books and over 60 peer-reviewed articles. Notable publications include Collecting, Ordering, Governing: Museums, Anthropology and Liberal Government (2016), Heritage: Critical Approaches (2013), Reassembling the Collection (2013), Understanding the Politics of Heritage (2011), and The Heritage Reader (2008). Harrison's work consistently engages with critical theory, challenging conventional heritage frameworks and exploring innovative approaches to understanding how material and cultural legacies shape future possibilities. His research has significant implications for heritage policy, conservation practice, and theoretical developments in critical heritage studies.
Shweta Shinde is an Assistant Professor at ETH Zürich's Department of Computer Science. She leads the Secure & Trustworthy Systems (SECTRS) group and is affiliated with the Institute of Information Security and the ZISC Center. Her research focuses on foundational and practical aspects of trusted computing, system security, and program analysis to protect devices ranging from smartphones to cloud servers. Key areas include AMD SEV-SNP, Arm CCA, Intel SGX, and hardware-software co-design for security. Dr. Shinde has made significant contributions to confidential computing, including frameworks like OpenCCA and tools for analyzing hardware vulnerabilities. Her work has been recognized with Best Paper Awards and Distinguished Paper Awards at top venues. She advises a group of PhD students, including Mark Kuhne, Supraja Sridhara, and Benedict Schlüter. Her service includes program committee roles at IEEE Security & Privacy, USENIX Security, and as Track Co-Chair for AsiaCCS 2026.
Jian Huang is an Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), holding a 100% appointment since August 2024. He is also an affiliated Associate Professor in Computer Science and serves as the Y. T. Lo Faculty Fellow in ECE. Huang leads the Systems Platform Research Group and received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Georgia Institute of Technology in August 2017, where his dissertation earned the College of Computing Dissertation Award. His research focuses on Computer Architecture, Memory and Storage Systems, AI Infrastructure, Distributed Systems, and Systems Security . Huang has pioneered work in sustainable AI infrastructures, modular data centers, neural processing unit virtualization, and ransomware-aware storage systems. His research has been featured in top-tier conferences including ISCA, MICRO, ASPLOS, OSDI, SOSP, and USENIX ATC, with over 50 publications and multiple patents issued worldwide. Huang's research has significant industry impact, with some work transferred into products and featured in popular media outlets including ACM CACM, TechXplore, and Science Daily. His work on non-volatile memory and storage systems has received extensive coverage, with some projects generating over 50 media reports. Among his notable achievements are the ACM SIGMICRO Early Career Award, NSF CAREER Award, IEEE Micro Top Picks (three times), USENIX Best Paper Award, and the MICRO Best Paper Runner Up in 2024. He has secured over $4.01M in grants ($11.12M with collaborators) from NSF, DARPA, Army Research Office, and industry partners. ACM SIGMICRO Early Career Award NSF CAREER Award IEEE Micro Top Picks (three times) USENIX Best Paper Award MICRO Best Paper Runner Up (2024) Google Faculty Research Award NetApp Faculty Fellowship Award Huang actively contributes to the academic community as program co-chair of NVMW'23 and organizer of HotInfra'23. He currently advises 12 Ph.D. students, 1 master student, and multiple undergraduates. His teaching innovations include developing ECE522: Emerging Memory/Storage System and revising ECE511: Computer Architecture with cutting-edge content.
Richard E. Mayer is a Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, affiliated with the College of Letters & Science. His work bridges cognition, instruction, and technology to advance understanding of how people learn and how to design effective educational interventions. Research focuses on multimedia learning , computer-supported learning environments , and computer games for learning Current projects examine immersive virtual reality, generative learning strategies, and social cues in online instruction Recipient of top honors: Thorndike Award, Scribner Award, and APA’s Distinguished Contribution Award Principal Investigator on grants from the Office of Naval Research , Institute of Education Sciences , and National Science Foundation He leads the Mayer Lab for Research on Learning and Instruction, which emphasizes learning for transfer —ensuring learners apply knowledge in new contexts. His research has established 12 instructional design principles for online learning environments.
Muhannad S. Bakir is the Dan Fielder Professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology and serves as the Director of the 3D Systems Packaging Research Center. His research focuses on heterogeneous integration of microsystems, including 2.5D and 3D ICs and packaging technologies, with significant contributions to advanced cooling systems, electrical and photonic interconnects, and biosensor integration with CMOS. Dr. Bakir's research interests span heterogeneous microsystem design and integration, advanced cooling and power delivery for emerging architectures, electrical and photonic interconnect technologies, biosensor technologies, and nanofabrication. His work addresses critical challenges in next-generation electronics, enabling polylithic integration that concatenates heterogeneous ICs of various functionalities while mimicking monolithic-like densities. His research particularly focuses on co-design of thermal technologies, power delivery networks, and signaling networks for silicon nanoelectronic systems. His recent publications demonstrate strong trends in fused-silica stitch-chip technology for heterogeneous integration, with particular emphasis on RF and mm-wave applications, power delivery for AI accelerators, and thermal management solutions. His work bridges electrical engineering, materials science, and thermal management to solve critical bottlenecks in computing performance and efficiency. 2013 Intel Early Career Faculty Honor Award 2012 DARPA Young Faculty Award 2011 IEEE CPMT Society Outstanding Young Engineer Award 2012 National Academy of Engineering Frontiers of Engineering Symposium Invited Participant 2015 IEEE CPMT Society Distinguished Lecturer 2014 Best Paper of the IEEE Transactions on Components Packaging and Manufacturing Technology More than 25 conference and student paper awards Twelve issued US Patents Dr. Bakir leads the Integrated 3D Systems Lab (I3DS) at Georgia Tech, which is actively researching advanced packaging, interconnects, electrical and thermal design, and system integration. His team has received significant recognition for their work, including multiple best paper awards from major conferences like ECTC, IITC, and CICC. The lab is currently seeking postdoctoral researchers and research faculty to advance next-generation electronics through collaborative research. His lab focuses on enabling the next phase of Moore's Law through polylithic integration, which concatenates heterogeneous ICs of various functionalities (digital, analog, photonic, and mm-wave) using advanced off-chip '2.5D' and '3D' heterogeneous interconnects and packaging. This work impacts applications in high-performance computing, machine learning, edge intelligence, autonomous vehicles, augmented/virtual reality, and healthcare.
Mikhail (Misha) Belkin is a Professor at the Halicioglu Data Science Institute (HDSI) at the University of California San Diego , with an affiliated appointment in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering . He is also an Amazon Scholar , reflecting his impactful industry collaboration. Since January 2024, he has served as the Editor-in-Chief of the SIAM Journal on Mathematics of Data Science (SIMODS) . Research Interests: Belkin's research centers on the theoretical foundations of machine learning, particularly the mathematical understanding of modern deep learning. His work investigates interpolation , over-parameterization , and feature learning in neural networks. He is renowned for introducing the double descent risk curve, which reconciles classical bias-variance trade-offs with the success of overfitted models. His recent work identifies the Average Gradient Outer Product (AGOP) as a fundamental mechanism of feature learning, applicable across architectures like CNNs and transformers. Scientific Contributions and Trends: His recent publications, appearing in Science , PNAS , and NeurIPS , demonstrate a strong trend toward unifying theories of generalization and optimization in over-parameterized systems. He explores how interpolating models can be statistically optimal, how gradient descent converges in non-convex landscapes via the PL* condition, and how kernel methods can be enhanced to perform feature learning. ACM Fellow (2023) Editor-in-Chief, SIAM Journal on Mathematics of Data Science (2024–present) Advising and Grants: Belkin actively mentors students and collaborators such as Adityanarayanan Radhakrishnan , Daniel Beaglehole , and Chaoyue Liu , who are frequent co-authors. He is a Principal Investigator (PI) in the Collaboration on the Theoretical Foundations of Deep Learning , funded by the NSF and Simons Foundation. He is also an external collaborator with the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Center at the Broad Institute and part of the NSF-funded TILOS AI Institute . Laboratories and Teams: While not explicitly named, his research group at UCSD is deeply involved in theoretical machine learning, focusing on the intersection of statistics, optimization, and deep learning. His work often involves large-scale collaborations and is closely tied to initiatives like SIMODS and TILOS.
Mayank R. Mehta is a Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), holding joint appointments in the Departments of Physics & Astronomy, Neurology, and Neurobiology. He is a member of the Brain Research Institute and the W. M. Keck Center for Neurophysics at UCLA. His research bridges experimental and theoretical neuroscience, focusing on how neuronal networks encode space-time, the role of brain rhythms in learning and memory, and the impact of sleep and virtual reality on neural dynamics. His recent publications highlight breakthroughs in understanding hippocampal spatiotemporal selectivity, dendritic activity during behavior, and the causal influence of visual cues on memory neurons. Notable findings include the discovery that dendrites generate ten times more spikes than neuronal cell bodies and the modulation of hippocampal theta rhythms in virtual reality. Research Themes: Neurophysics of spatial-temporal coding Dendritic contributions to learning Virtual reality and brain plasticity Neural oscillations in memory consolidation Key Collaborators: Bert Sakmann (Max Planck Florida Institute) Thomas Hahn (Bernstein Center Heidelberg/Mannheim) Maryam Ghorbani (UCLA) Mehta's lab at UCLA trains graduate and postdoctoral researchers in cutting-edge techniques combining hardware development, electrophysiological recordings, and biophysical modeling. His work has significant implications for treating learning and memory disorders like Alzheimer's disease.
Daniel Abadi is the Darnell-Kanal Professor of Computer Science at the University of Maryland, College Park, with an appointment in the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies. He leads the Data Systems Lab at Maryland (DSLAM) and has made significant contributions to database system architecture and implementation, particularly in scalable and distributed systems. Prof. Abadi's research focuses on database system architecture, especially at the intersection with scalable and distributed systems. He is best-known for the development of the storage and query execution engines of the C-Store (column-oriented database) prototype, which was commercialized by Vertica and eventually acquired by Hewlett-Packard, and for his HadoopDB research on fault tolerant scalable analytical database systems which was commercialized by Hadapt and acquired by Teradata. His current work includes deterministic distributed systems like Calvin and SLOG, which provide strictly serializable, low-latency, geographically replicated database transactions. Analysis of his recent publications reveals a strong focus on modern database challenges including transaction processing, distributed systems architecture, data mesh concepts, schema evolution, and IoT data management. His work consistently addresses the tension between consistency, availability, and performance in distributed database systems, with recent emphasis on moving beyond traditional two-phase commit protocols and exploring novel approaches to data architecture like data mesh. ACM Fellow Sloan Research Fellowship Churchill Scholarship NSF CAREER Award VLDB Best Paper Award Two VLDB Test of Time Awards (for C-Store and HadoopDB) 2008 SIGMOD Jim Gray Doctoral Dissertation Award 2013-2014 Yale Provost's Teaching Prize 2013 VLDB Early Career Researcher Award PhD dissertation advisor for Alexander Thomson and Jose Falerio, whose dissertations won SIGMOD Jim Gray Doctoral Dissertation Awards in 2015 and 2020 respectively Prof. Abadi has advised multiple PhD students, including Alexander Thomson and Jose Falerio, both of whom received the prestigious SIGMOD Jim Gray Doctoral Dissertation Award. His research has been supported by numerous grants including NSF funding for projects like SLOG. He maintains an active presence in the database community through his widely-read blog DBMS Musings and through service on program committees for major conferences including SIGMOD, VLDB, and CIDR. He leads the DSLAM research group at the University of Maryland, which focuses on cutting-edge database system research with strong industry connections and practical impact.
Andrea Korda, PhD (University of California, Santa Barbara), is an Associate Professor of Fine Arts & Humanities and Associate Dean (Research) at the Augustana Campus of the University of Alberta. Her academic career bridges art history, material culture studies, and pedagogical innovation. Educations: BA in Fine Arts, Queen's University MA in Art History, Concordia University PhD in Art History, University of California, Santa Barbara Research Focus: Dr. Korda specializes in 19th-century visual and material culture, with a focus on education's visual dimensions, children's literature, and community-engaged projects like the award-winning Crafting Communities initiative. She co-curated the virtual exhibition Photographies (Bruce Peel Special Collections) and explores hands-on learning through historical crafts. Teaching: Courses include modern art history (AUART 220), photography theory (AUART 225), and special topics in visual culture (AUART 382). She emphasizes experiential learning and digital humanities integration, as seen in her work with the Getty Museum Challenge and OER projects. Collaborations: Leads interdisciplinary teams on projects like Crafting Communities , blending scholarship with public engagement. Her research bridges historical methodologies with contemporary pedagogical practices, fostering connections between academia and communities.
Babak Falsafi is a Full Professor at the School of Computer and Communication Sciences (IC) at EPFL, leading the Parallel Systems Architecture Laboratory (PARSA). He is a renowned expert in computer architecture, datacenter systems, and cloud-native server design. His research focuses on post-Moore era computing, emphasizing heterogeneous architectures, energy efficiency, and scalable IT infrastructure. Falsafi is the founder of EcoCloud, an EC-sponsored industrial-academic consortium investigating sustainable information technology. He holds ACM and IEEE fellowships, a Sloan Research Fellowship, and has contributed to major projects like Optimus Prime (data transformation acceleration), AstriFlash (flash-based online service systems), and Midgard (virtual memory re-design). His work spans hardware-software co-design, memory systems, and security. Falsafi advises numerous PhD students and collaborates with industry partners such as Google and Cavium. Key achievements include pioneering scalable multiprocessor architectures, snoop filters in IBM BlueGene, and spatial memory streaming in ARM cores. His lab develops open-source tools like QFlex for server simulation. He frequently presents at top conferences (HPCA, ISCA, MICRO) and chairs workshops on post-Moore infrastructure. Teaching roles include leading courses in computer architecture and parallel systems across multiple EPFL departments (SIN, EDIC, SSC, SMA). His work addresses datacenter challenges like the 'data tax' and mitigating latency through specialized accelerators.
Alenda Y. Chang serves as an Assistant Professor in Film and Media Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. With a multidisciplinary background spanning biology, literature, and film, she integrates ecocritical theory with contemporary media analysis. Her scholarly work appears in journals including Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment , Qui Parle , and electronic book review , focusing on sustainable media practices and ecological frameworks for digital engagement. Her educational background includes: M.A. and Ph.D. in Rhetoric from the University of California, Berkeley M.A. in English Language and Literature from the University of Maryland Chang specializes in environmental media and game studies, developing theoretical frameworks for ecological game design. Her research examines how digital games model environmental systems and foster player engagement with climate change through concepts like "slow violence" and "rambunctious play." She advocates for sustainable design patterns that address gaming's carbon footprint while creating immersive ecological narratives. Analysis of her 15 most recent publications reveals a consistent trajectory from foundational ecological game theory (2013-2018) to current work on thermal contexts of play and sustainable infrastructure (2022-2024). Her scholarship increasingly bridges data-driven activism with critical game design, emphasizing multispecies entanglements and infrastructural play as tools for environmental awareness. As co-founder of Wireframe—a collaborative media studio at UCSB—Chang cultivates critical game design practices through initiatives like growinggames.net . The studio supports data-driven global media art, environmental activism, and experimental pedagogy, serving as a hub for translating ecological theory into tangible digital interventions that challenge anthropocentric perspectives in gaming.
Professor Winston Hsu is a distinguished faculty member in the Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering at National Taiwan University, where he has served as a full professor since 2015. He is the co-director of the Communications and Multimedia Laboratory (CMLab) and founder of the MiRA (Multimedia indexing, Retrieval, and Analysis) research group. Additionally, he serves as the Founding Director for NVIDIA AI Lab at NTU, the first such lab in Asia. Professor Hsu received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University in 2007 under the supervision of Professor Shih-Fu Chang. Prior to his academic career, he was a founding engineer and research manager at CyberLink Corp., now a public image/video software company. National Taiwan University (2007-Present): Professor (2015-Present), Assistant/Associate Professor (2007-2015) MobileDrive (2021-2024): CTO and Vice President (Joint Venture between Foxconn and Stellantis) IBM TJ Watson Research Center (2016-2017): Visiting Scientist Microsoft Research Redmond (2014): Visiting Researcher Columbia University (2007): Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering Professor Hsu's research focuses on machine learning, computer vision, large-scale image and video search and recognition, and embedded AI. His work spans from fundamental research in visual recognition to practical applications in automotive systems, medical imaging, and e-commerce. He has pioneered work in disguised face recognition, low-resolution face hallucination, 3D model search, and virtual try-on systems. His current research emphasizes Embodied AI, integrating perception, action, and learning technologies for applications in automotive and robotics domains. His research group has produced numerous influential publications, particularly in top computer vision and multimedia conferences like CVPR, where they won first place in the Disguised Face Recognition competition in 2018. Their work spans diverse application areas including security, medical diagnostics, automotive systems, and e-commerce solutions, demonstrating strong translation from academic research to real-world impact. IBM Research Pat Goldberg Memorial Best Paper Award (2018) First Place, IARPA Disguised Faces in the Wild Competition (CVPR 2018) Best Brave New Idea Paper Award, ACM Multimedia 2017 NVIDIA AI LAB Award (First in Asia, 2016) First Place, MSR-Bing Image Retrieval Challenge (2013) World's Top 2% Scientists (2023) Professor Hsu actively mentors students and researchers, with his group consistently recruiting PhD students, postdocs, and research assistants. He has successfully bridged academia and industry through multiple collaborations, including his role as CTO at MobileDrive (a joint venture between Foxconn and Stellantis) from 2021-2024. His research has been supported by significant industry partnerships with Microsoft, IBM, and NVIDIA, as well as government grants from Taiwan's Ministry of Science and Technology. His laboratory, the Communications and Multimedia Laboratory (CMLab), maintains strong industry connections and focuses on cutting-edge research in visual AI. The lab has produced numerous award-winning projects and maintains active collaborations with global technology companies, particularly in the automotive and consumer electronics sectors.
Joanne Lee is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Italian Studies at the University of Warwick. She holds a PhD from the University of Bristol and has taught at Cardiff University and Bristol University prior to joining Warwick in 2008. Her administrative roles include Head of Italian Studies until September 2024 and Co-head of the School of Modern Languages and Cultures (SMLC) starting January 2025. BA in Italian and Language Studies (Cardiff University, 1999) MA in Literature in European Cultures (Cardiff University, 2003) PhD (University of Bristol, 2008) Her research spans travel writing , Italian emigration/immigration , post-war women writers , and Italy's colonial memory . Recent work examines decolonizing urban spaces through Igiaba Scego's works and sustainable travel in Paolo Rumiz's pedestrian journeys. She explores ethical dimensions of travel writing, including sustainability and cosmopolitan ethics, with a focus on globalization's impact on migration narratives. Selected publications include analyses of Laura Pariani's migration novels, Soviet-Italian Cold War travel discourses, and postcolonial memory in Italian literature. She has collaborated on interdisciplinary projects addressing slow travel , virtual tourism , and post-pandemic tourism patterns. Awards include Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy and Fellowship of the Warwick International Higher Education Academy.
Dr. Heather Inwood serves as University Associate Professor in Modern Chinese Literature and Culture within the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Cambridge. She is also a Fellow and Director of Studies at Trinity Hall, maintaining dual institutional affiliations that support her teaching and research activities across undergraduate and postgraduate programs. Her educational background includes a BA in Chinese Studies from the University of Cambridge (Trinity Hall), followed by advanced studies at Tsinghua University and Peking University, culminating in a PhD in modern Chinese literature from SOAS, University of London in 2008. Prior academic appointments include Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University (2008-2013) and Lecturer in Chinese Cultural Studies at the University of Manchester before returning to Cambridge in 2016. Professor Inwood's research program investigates the dynamic interactions between digital media and literary production in contemporary China, with particular focus on poetry communities, genre fiction, and transmedia storytelling. Her work bridges traditional literary analysis with digital humanities approaches, examining how online platforms transform authorship, reception, and cultural value. She has pioneered scholarship on internet poetry scenes, demonstrating their vitality despite public perceptions of poetry's decline in modern China. Her publication trajectory reveals a clear evolution from early work on poetry communities ( Verse Going Viral: China's New Media Scenes , 2014) toward broader investigations of digital narrative forms, game studies, and Sinophone cyberspace. Recent publications increasingly engage with science fiction, transmedia storytelling, and the algorithmic structures shaping literary production, reflecting both the changing digital landscape and her expanding methodological toolkit. Professor Inwood actively supervises five PhD students working on diverse projects spanning Misty poetry, queer narratives, gender studies, and poetic animality, demonstrating her commitment to nurturing next-generation scholarship in Chinese literary studies. Her research has been supported by British Academy Small Grants and similar funding mechanisms that enable sustained fieldwork and publication. Her teaching responsibilities include undergraduate courses on East Asian media and popular culture, Modern Chinese texts, and Modern Chinese literature, connecting classroom instruction directly to her research expertise. She also maintains public engagement through Chinese-language columns for BBC China and other media outlets, bridging academic and public discourse on contemporary Chinese culture.
