People of ACM - Bulletin Archive

Xin Luna Dong is Principal Research Scientist at Meta Reality Labs, where she is leading the machine learning efforts to build an intelligent personal assistant. Developing an intelligent personal assistant includes work in contextual AI, multimodal conversation, search, and question answering, as well as recommendation and personalization. Her research interests include databases, data mining, natural language processing (NLP), and machine learning. In her interview, she discusses knowledge graphs and applications, virtual assistants for wearable devices, personal information management and personalization, and more.

Virginia Dignum is a Professor at Umea University focusing on Responsible Artificial Intelligence and Director of the university’s AI Policy Lab in Umeå, Sweden. Her research focuses on complex interactions and interdependencies between people, organizations, and technology. Dignum’s publications include the book, Responsible Artificial Intelligence. In her interview, she discusses what led to a career in responsible artificial intelligence, the use of a social contract between an autonomous agent and its societal role, her vision for ACM's Technology Policy Council, and more.

Yuki Koyama is a Senior Researcher at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Japan. His research interests include computer graphics and human-computer interaction. He is especially interested in supporting designers by using computational techniques such as mathematical optimization. In addition to his role at AIST, he also works at Graphinica, a Japanese animation studio. In his interview, he discusses his interest computer graphics and HCI, fostering advances with mathematical optimization, developing tools to support and enhance the creative process, and more.

Luciano Baresi is a Professor at Politecnico di Milano. He has published papers in a variety of topics in software engineering. Earlier in his career, he worked in formal approaches for modeling and specification languages, Unified Modeling Language (UML), and the design of web applications. Currently, he is interested in distributed systems, service-based applications, and the different aspects of mobile, self-adaptive, and pervasive software systems. In his interview, he discusses the constraints of cloud infrastructure, the need for software engineering to keep pace with mobile computing, why ACM PACMSE is needed, and more.

Meenakshi D’ Souza is a Professor at the International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) in Bangalore, India. Her research interests include formal methods, software testing, model-based development, and automata theory, as well as design and architectures for embedded software. She was elected President of the ACM India Council for a term that runs from July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2026. In her interview, she discusses working towards gender diversity in computing, improving software estimation models, her goals as President of the ACM India Council, and more.

Odest Chadwicke “Chad” Jenkins is a Professor of Robotics and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan. He directs the Laboratory for Progress (Perceptive Robotics and Grounded Reasoning Systems), where he aims to discover methods for computational reasoning and perception that will enable robots to effectively assist people in common human environments. In his interview, Jenkins discusses his path to becoming a roboticist, humanoid robotics and its impact on society, his time as EiC for ACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction, and more.

Ramón Cáceres is a computer science researcher and software engineer who most recently built large-scale privacy infrastructure at Google. Earlier in his career, he held positions at Bell Labs, IBM Research, and AT&T Labs. His areas of focus have included systems and networks, mobile and edge computing, mobility modeling, security, and privacy. In his interview, Cáceres discusses working on Google's global authorization system Zanzibar, receiving the 2022 ACM SIGMOBILE Test of Time Award, the union of mobile computing, artificial intelligence, and privacy preservation, widening participation in computing, and more.

Elizabeth K. “Beth” Hawthorne is a Full Professor and Graduate Program Director of Cybersecurity at Northeastern University's Arlington, Virginia campus. Previously, she spent 26 years at Union College in Cranford, New Jersey—retiring as Senior Professor Emerita of Computer Science and Cybersecurity. She has been active with ACM’s education initiatives for decades. In her interview, Hawthorne discusses what sparked her interest in cybersecurity, the role of community colleges in computing education, the significance of AI in CS2023, her work on Rendering History: The Women of ACM-W, and more.

Nivedita Arora is Breed Assistant Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Department at Northwestern University. Her research aims to transform everyday materials to have computational capabilities, yet operate by harvesting energy from the environment and be responsibly composted or recycled. Arora received the ACM Doctoral Dissertation Award for her dissertation which demonstrated wireless and batteryless sensor nodes using novel materials and radio backscatter. In her interview, Arora discusses sustainable computational materials, innovation in batteryless devices, changing societal perceptions of technology, and more.

Fedor V. Fomin is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Bergen. Within the broad discipline of theoretical computer science, his research interests include graph algorithms, parameterized complexity, algorithmic fairness, algorithmic foundations of machine learning, and combinatorial games. He was recently named an ACM Fellow for contributions to the development of parameterized complexity and exact exponential algorithms. In his interview, Fomin discusses receiving the Nerode Prize, bidimensional problems, the algorithmic foundations of machine learning, and more.

Shaundra Daily is the Cue Family Professor of the Practice in Electrical and Computer Engineering & Computer Science at Duke University. Her research focuses on designing, implementing, and evaluating technologies, programs, and curricula to support inclusive excellence in STEM fields. She was recently named a Co-Recipient (along with Nicki Washington) of the ACM Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award. In her interview, she discusses barriers to DEI, the Alliance for Identity Inclusive Education Program, its key policy goals, and more.

Torsten Hoefler is a Professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, where he serves as Director of the Scalable Parallel Computing Laboratory. He is also the Chief Architect for Machine Learning at the Swiss National Computing Center and a long-term consultant to Microsoft in areas including large-scale AI and networking. In his interview, he discusses ETH Zurich's Scalable Parallel Computing Laboratory, the exascale computer Frontier, MPI and high performance computing, and more.

Xing Xie is a Partner Research Manager at Microsoft Research Asia. His research interests include data mining, social computing, and responsible AI. He is a Fellow of the China Computing Federation and was recently named an ACM Fellow for contributions to spatial data mining and recommendation systems. In his interview, he discusses Microsoft Research's Societal AI initiative, how AI is transforming recommendation systems, and more.

Nesime Tatbul is a Senior Research Scientist at Intel’s Parallel Computing Lab (PCL) and MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL). Her research interests are broadly in large-scale data management systems and modern data-intensive applications, with a recent focus on learned data systems, time series analytics, and observability data management. In her interview, she discusses large-scale data management systems, stream processing, working in both industry and academia, and more.

Zvi Galil is the Frederick G. Storey Chair and Executive Advisor to Online Programs at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). His earlier positions have included Dean of Georgia Tech’s College of Computing, President of Tel Aviv University, Chair of Columbia University’s Computer Science Department, and Dean of Columbia University’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. In his interview, he discusses his key accomplishments as the Dean of the Columbia School of Engineering, his innovative Online Master of Science Degree in Computer Science program, and more.