PROFESSOR OF COMPUTER SCIENTIST & ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF AI FOR SOCIAL IMPACT,

VIRGINIA TECH & SANGHANI CENTER FOR AI AND DATA ANALYTICS

Sanmay Das is Professor of Computer Science and Associate Director of AI for Social Impact at the Sanghani Center for AI and Data Analytics at Virginia Tech’s Innovation Campus. He is chair of the ACM Special Interest Group on Artificial Intelligence, a member of DARPA’s ISAT Study Group, and an emeritus member of the board of directors of the International Foundation for Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems. He serves as an associate editor for the ACM Transactions on Economics and Computation, the Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research, and Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems, and also as an arXiv moderator. He has served as program co-chair of AAMAS and of the AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society, and as Associate Program Chair for IJCAI. He has been recognized with awards for research, teaching, and service, including an NSF CAREER Award, several best paper awards, the Department Chair Award for Outstanding Teaching at Washington University, and the Outstanding Service Award from Computer Science at George Mason University. Dr. Das received his Ph.D. from MIT and a Bachelor’s degree from Harvard, both in Computer Science.

PROFESSOR,

COCKRELL SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING

Luis Sentis is a Professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at The University of Texas at Austin. He is also a General Dynamics Endowed Faculty Fellow, and a member of UT Austin's Good Systems. He received his Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. He was a La Caixa Foundation Fellow while at Stanford. He holds a B.S. degree in Telecommunications and Electronics Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. Before Stanford, he worked in Silicon Valley as a Control Systems Engineer for clean room automation.

In Austin, he leads the Human Centered Robotics Laboratory, a laboratory focusing on control, task and motion planning, human factors, and experimentation with humanoid robots, mobile manipulation robots, exoskeletons and autonomous systems. He is also a founding member of the UT Robotics Portfolio Program and the UT Ethics of AI Portfolio Program. He was the UT Austin's Lead for DARPA's Robotics Challenge with NASA Johnson Space Center where he helped to design and test the Valkyrie humanoid robot. His research has been funded by ONR, NASA, NSF, ARL, AFC, DARPA and private companies.

He has been awarded the NASA Elite Team Award for his contributions to NASA’s Johnson Space Center Software Robotics and Simulation Division. He is also a founding member and innovation advisor for Apptronik Systems, a company focusing on human-centered robotic products.

PROFESSOR EMERITA OF NEW MEDIA AND THE INTERNET,

THE LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE

Robin Mansell (PhD 1984, Simon Fraser University Canada) is Professor Emerita, Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics and Political Science, and Scientific Director, Observatory on Information & Democracy, Paris. She is Fellow, British Academy, Academia Europaea, and CITI (Columbia Institute for Tele-Information). Past-President of International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR), she is Advisory Board member of the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG) and LIRNEAsia, Sri Lanka. Professor of Information and Communication Technology Policy at Science Policy Research Unit, (1988-2000), she holds a Doctorate Honoris Causa University of Fribourg and is recipient of the International Communication Association (ICA) C. Edwin Baker award. Her research focuses on media and communications regulation and policy, digital platform governance, privacy and surveillance, and the political economy of innovation in digital technologies. She is author of more than 120 papers. Her 23 books include Handbook of Media and Communication Governance (2024 Edward Elgar, co-edited), Reflections on the International Association for Media and Communications Research: One Forum, Many Voices (Palgrave 2023, co-edited), Advanced Introduction to Platform Economics (2020, Edward Elgar, co-authored) and Imagining the Internet: Communication, Innovation and Governance (2012 Oxford University Press).

VICE PRESIDENT, HEAD OF AI FOUNDATIONS TEAM,

WAYMO

Drago leads the Waymo AI Foundations team, which focuses on pushing the state of the art in autonomous driving using ML/AI, and helping deploy the advances to Waymo's systems.

Before Waymo, Drago led the 3D Perception team at Zoox and prior to that, he spent eight years at Google. During his Google tenure, he worked on 3D vision and pose estimation for StreetView and later led an applied research team developing and deploying neural network models for annotating Google Photos. The team also invented popular methods such as the Inception neural network architecture, and the SSD detector, which helped win the Imagenet 2014 Classification and Detection challenges. 

PH.D. CANDIDATE,

MOODY COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION

Azza El Masri is a Ph.D. candidate at the School of Journalism and Media, a graduate research assistant at the Technology & Information Policy Institute, and a graduate research fellow at the Center for Media Engagement.
Her research and work are informed by a commitment to advocating for ethical tech practices and design using participatory and ethnographic research. At TIPI, Azza is primarily involved in the Good Systems Being Watched project, which scrutinizes city regulation and ethical applications of AI-enabled smart city technologies in the United States.
Broadly, her academic endeavors at UT align with a mission to scrutinize the implications of technology–including smart city technologies, social media platforms, and encrypted messaging apps–on vulnerable users in fraught socio-political environments. Her academic work has been published in New Media & Society, Information, Communication, and Society, and the Harvard Kennedy School’s Misinformation Review. She is a Fulbright Program alumna and a graduate affiliate with the Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life (CITAP) at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW,

MOODY COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION

Brad Limov is a postdoctoral research fellow in media, AI, and ethics at the Technology and Information Policy Institute (TIPI). His work examines how social movements and emerging technologies like generative AI influence media practices and industry norms. This research has focused on communities of practice and how they interact within spaces online and offline at events.  
Brad’s efforts at TIPI primarily fall under the Good Systems Being Watched project, for which he explores similar ethical questions as they pertain to public institutions and the adoption of AI and surveillance technologies. 

 PH.D. STUDENT, SCHOOL OF INFORMATION

FOUNDER, DIGI.CITY

Chelsea McCullough (Collier) is a Ph.D. student in the School of Information at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research centers on resident engagement and urban decision-making. She is a graduate research assistant (GRA) for the Smart Hand Tool Project for Good Systems (an interdisciplinary core research program) with a research focus on ethical AI and skilled trade workers. She is also an NSF Research Traineeship Fellow in Ethical AI. Chelsea returns to UT Austin following a career in the private sector which includes founding Digi.City, a forum for social impact and smart(er) cities and serving as a Strategic Advisor for Smart Cities Connect. She is a University of Manchester (UK) Fellow (2019), a Marshall Memorial Fellow (2018) and an Eisenhower Fellow (2016). Her previous experience in government, economic development, social enterprise and tech entrepreneurship informs her cross-sector approach. Her graduate and undergraduate degrees are from the College of Communication at the University of Texas at Austin.

JOE J. KING ENDOWED CHAIR PROFESSOR IN ENGINEERING,

COCKRELL SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING

Dr. Chandra R. Bhat is the Joe J. King Chair in Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin, where he teaches courses in transportation systems analysis and transportation planning.  He also served as the Director of the Data-Supported Transportation Operations and Planning (D-STOP) Tier 1 USDOT University Transportation Center, the Associate Chairman of the Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, and the Director of the Center for Transportation Research.

Dr. Bhat is recognized nationally and internationally as a leading expert in the area of travel demand modeling and travel behavior analysis.  His substantive research interests include land-use and travel demand modeling, activity-based travel modeling, policy evaluation of the effect of transportation control and congestion pricing measures on traffic congestion and mobile-source emissions, marketing research of competitive positioning strategies for transportation services, use of non-motorized modes of travel, and physical health and transportation. His methodological research interests and expertise are in the areas of econometric and mathematical modeling of consumer behavior, including discrete choice analysis, discrete-continuous econometric systems, and hazard duration models. His methodological works are widely referenced in the economics, marketing, geography, statistics, and transportation fields, and have been included in econometric textbooks and software packages. Many of these works, published as refereed journal papers, have been listed in journals as highly cited papers, and two of his papers were included in a book compilation of the 46 most influential and innovative scholarly papers in the choice modeling field in the past 60 years (the book title is Choice Modelling: Foundational Contributions, 2011, Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd). He also has authored several book chapters focusing on improved methods for choice modeling in general and land use-travel demand modeling in particular. The number of times his work has been cited, as per the Thomson Reuters Web of Science database, is over the 14,200 mark with an h-index of 65. This citation index places him among the top of transportation professors in citations. The number of his citations in the Google Scholar database is over 34,750, with an h-index of 98. Dr. Bhat's research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Institute of Statistical Sciences, State Departments of Transportation, including TxDOT, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, and the U.S. Department of Transportation.

PHILIP G. WARNER REGENTS PROFESSOR IN COMMUNICATION,

MOODY COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION

Dr. Strover is the Philip G. Warner Regents Professor in Communication and former Chair of the Radio-TV-Film Department at the University of Texas, where she teaches communications and telecommunications courses and co-directs the Technology and Information Policy Institute. Some of her current research projects examine local and statewide networks and broadband services; the digital divide; rural broadband deployment; telecommunications infrastructure deployment and economic development in rural regions; and Artificial Intelligence issues including social media-based disinformation as well as publicly-deployed technologies. Her most recent publications examine disinformation strategies associated with Russian Facebook ads; local broadband deployment strategies around the world; and the role of broadband in rural regions. Her current undergraduate and graduate teaching addresses communication law and policy, the relationship between technology and culture, and the ethics of artificial intelligence. She has had visiting appointments at several universities around the world including the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Westminster University, Stockholm University, the New University of Lisbon, Aarhus University, among others. Her research has been supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service, the U.S. Federal Communication Commission, the government of Portugal, the Center for Rural Strategies, the European Union, The Appalachian Regional Commission, several State of Texas Commissions and departments, the Institute for Museum and Library Services, Facebook, Google and others.

TRUCHARD FOUNDATION CHAIR IN COMPUTER SCIENCE,

COLLEGE OF NATURAL SCIENCES

Dr. Peter Stone holds the Truchard Foundation Chair in Computer Science at the University of Texas at Austin. He is Associate Chair of the Computer Science Department, as well as Director of Texas Robotics. In 2013 he was awarded the University of Texas System Regents' Outstanding Teaching Award and in 2014 he was inducted into the UT Austin Academy of Distinguished Teachers, earning him the title of University Distinguished Teaching Professor. Professor Stone's research interests in Artificial Intelligence include machine learning (especially reinforcement learning), multiagent systems, and robotics. Professor Stone received his Ph.D in Computer Science in 1998 from Carnegie Mellon University. From 1999 to 2002 he was a Senior Technical Staff Member in the Artificial Intelligence Principles Research Department at AT&T Labs - Research. He is an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow, Guggenheim Fellow, AAAI Fellow, IEEE Fellow, AAAS Fellow, ACM Fellow, Fulbright Scholar, and 2004 ONR Young Investigator. In 2007 he received the prestigious IJCAI Computers and Thought Award, given biannually to the top AI researcher under the age of 35, and in 2016 he was awarded the ACM/SIGAI Autonomous Agents Research Award. Professor Stone co-founded Cogitai, Inc., a startup company focused on continual learning, in 2015, and currently serves as Executive Director of Sony AI America.

BUSINESS PROCESS CONSULTANT,
CITY OF AUSTIN 

Kristin Bray is a Business Process Consultant with the Transportation and Public Works Department in the City of Austin. She supports the Autonomous Vehicle Safety Working Group, an interdepartmental group focused on safe autonomous vehicle deployments. She has been with the City for 11 years, working for Austin Fire, Law Department, and Financial Services Department. Prior to coming to the city, she worked for a non-profit. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in International Studies with a focus on International Politics and Diplomacy.

PROFESSOR & WILLIAM STAMPS FARISH CHAIR, JACKSON SCHOOL OF GEOSCIENCES

PROFESSOR, COCKRELL SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING

Dev Nioygi is a professor and William Stamps Farish Chair in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences, and Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, Cockrell School of Engineering, Affiliate Faculty: Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences, and UT Center for Space Research. His research focuses on understanding the earth system, specifically the urban environment and agricultural landscapes, and translating the scientific work into decision tools to create more sustainable climate-ready/resilient coastal, cities, and agricultural systems. Prof. Niyogi has coauthored over 200 peer-reviewed papers for international journals, 18 book chapters, and over 150 conference proceedings or abstracts for professional conferences. 

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR,

SCHOOL OF INFORMATION

Min Kyung Lee is an assistant professor in the School of Information at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Lee has conducted some of the first studies that empirically examine the social implications of algorithms' emerging roles in management and governance in society, looking at the impacts of algorithmic management on workers as well as public perceptions of algorithmic fairness. She has proposed a participatory framework that empowers community members to design matching algorithms for their own communities. Her current research on human-centered AI is inspired by and complements her previous work on social robots for long-term interaction, seamless human-robot handovers, and telepresence robots. Dr. Lee is a Siebel Scholar and has received the Allen Newell Award for Research Excellence, research grants from NSF and Uptake, and five best paper awards or honorable mentions in venues such as CHI, CSCW, DIS and HRI. She is an associate editor of the ACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction. Her work has been featured in media outlets such as the New York Times, New Scientist, Washington Post, MIT Technology Review and CBS. She received a PhD in Human-Computer Interaction and an MDes in Interaction Design from Carnegie Mellon University.

PH.D. STUDENT,

MOODY COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION

Emily is a third-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research lies at the intersection of Organizational Communication, Human Robot Interaction, and Team Science. She is currently a Graduate Research Assistant for Living and Working with Robots – Ethical AI at UT Austin, and will begin her dissertation research this semester. Formerly, she served as an Interdisciplinary Robotics Team Lead on an NSF Growing Convergence Research grant, where she collected data related to transdisciplinary teaming and perceived safety in human robot encounters. She hopes to highlight the importance of both the technical and social aspects of teams performing robotics research, using qualitative research methods and analysis.

 PH.D. CANDIDATE,

COCKRELL SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING

Angela Haddad is a Ph.D. candidate in Transportation Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. Her multidisciplinary research integrates engineering, data science, and social justice principles. She leverages virtual reality and AI to analyze pedestrian behavior and safety, providing insights for infrastructure planning and policy recommendations. Angela's work explores the relationship between neighborhood characteristics and pedestrian safety outcomes, revealing disparities in crash frequencies across communities. She studies automated pedestrian detection technologies and intelligent transportation systems to improve safety for all road users, while examining consumer choice behaviors and transportation access in diverse communities. With publications in top-tier journals, her interdisciplinary approach connects technical solutions with practical applications for transportation planning and urban mobility.

DEPUTY VICE PRESIDENT FOR RESEARCH,

OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT FOR RESEARCH, SCHOLARSHIP AND CREATIVE ENDEAVORS

Jennifer Lyon Gardner, Ph.D., is UT’s Deputy Vice President for Research and has led research capacity-building efforts at the university since 2008. She designs and implements programming that promotes collaborative research, such as UT’s campus-wide research grand challenge program, Bridging Barriers, and Associate Professor Experimental (APX), a three-day networking and proposal-writing retreat for newly tenured faculty. She also leads the Research Development group, which provides competitive intelligence and proposal development guidance to research teams pursuing major external funding.

Dr. Gardner received her undergraduate degree from Penn State University in chemistry with a minor in English, and she received her Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from The University of Texas at Austin. She was a research-track faculty member at the UT Health Science Center in Houston before returning to UT Austin in 2008 to work in research development.

Before joining the Office of the Vice President for Research, Scholarship, and Creative Endeavors, Dr. Gardner founded the College of Natural Sciences’ Strategic Research Initiatives team and served as its director. She also has served on the Board of Directors for the National Organization of Research Development Professionals (NORDP) and was an inaugural recipient of the organization’s Rising Star Award.

PH.D. STUDENT,

SCHOOL OF INFORMATION

Whitney Nelson is a PhD student at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in Human-AI Interaction. Her research explores how AI can support human decision-making, community engagement, and equitable technology design. She is particularly interested in the intersection of AI, policy, and social impact, focusing on ways to bridge technical systems with real-world human needs.

PHILIP G. WARNER REGENTS PROFESSOR IN COMMUNICATION,

SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND MEDIA

Dr. Strover is the Philip G. Warner Regents Professor in Communication and former Chair of the Radio-TV-Film Department at the University of Texas, where she teaches communications and telecommunications courses and co-directs the Technology and Information Policy Institute. Some of her current research projects examine local and statewide networks and broadband services; the digital divide; rural broadband deployment; telecommunications infrastructure deployment and economic development in rural regions; and Artificial Intelligence issues including social media-based disinformation as well as publicly-deployed technologies. Her most recent publications examine disinformation strategies associated with Russian Facebook ads; local broadband deployment strategies around the world; and the role of broadband in rural regions. Her current undergraduate and graduate teaching addresses communication law and policy, the relationship between technology and culture, and the ethics of artificial intelligence. She has had visiting appointments at several universities around the world including the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Westminster University, Stockholm University, the New University of Lisbon, Aarhus University, among others. Her research has been supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service, the U.S. Federal Communication Commission, the government of Portugal, the Center for Rural Strategies, the European Union, The Appalachian Regional Commission, several State of Texas Commissions and departments, the Institute for Museum and Library Services, Facebook, Google and others.