Featured Speakers 

Professor May Dongmei Wang, Ph.D., is the Wallace H. Coulter Distinguished Faculty Fellow and Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University. She directs the Biomedical Big Data Initiative and is a Georgia Distinguished Cancer Scholar. Her research spans biomedical artificial intelligence, informatics, multimodal data analytics, GenAI, and Agentic AI, and trustworthy AI for predictive, personalized, and precision healthcare. Her work focuses on developing intelligent technologies that integrate complex biomedical information, support patient-clinician shared decision-making, and improve healthcare outcomes. Professor Wang earned her undergraduate degree from Tsinghua University and her master's and doctoral degrees from Georgia Tech. She is a Fellow of several professional organizations, including IEEE, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering (IAMBE), American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), and American College of Medical Informatics (ACMI). She is also an ELATES (Executive Leadership in Academic Technology, Engineering and Science) Fellow. She is currently ACM SIGBio chair, and Senior Editor of IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics. An internationally recognized researcher and educator, she has contributed extensively to interdisciplinary AI research and its applications in healthcare, advancing the development of intelligent technologies that address important societal challenges.

Professor Peter Brusilovsky, Ph.D. is Professor in the Department of Informatics and Networked Systems at the University of Pittsburgh and Director of the university’s Intelligent Systems Program. School of Computing and Information. His research spans adaptive information systems, intelligent tutoring systems, user modeling, personalized learning, e-learning, social computing, and human-computer interaction. His work has helped advance the design of adaptive and personalized technologies that respond to individual learners’ needs and support more effective access to information and learning resources. Professor Brusilovsky also leads the Personalized Adaptive Web Systems (PAWS) Research Lab at the University of Pittsburgh, where his team develops and evaluates innovative user- and group-adaptive technologies, personalization methods, and intelligent learning systems. His broader research interests include learning technologies, artificial intelligence, computer science education, adaptive e-learning, student and user modeling, and personalized and social information access.

Dr. Sophia Maggelakis is Provost and Executive Vice President at Wentworth Institute of Technology and the university’s chief academic officer. She oversees academic programs, research, experiential learning, and several key academic and administrative units. Before joining Wentworth in 2022, she served for thirteen years as Dean of the College of Science at Rochester Institute of Technology. An educator and researcher in mathematical biology, Dr. Maggelakis is recognized for her leadership in academic innovation, inclusive excellence, interdisciplinary education, and expanding opportunities for students and faculty.

Dr. Michael Farmer is Dean of the School of Computing and Data Science at Wentworth Institute of Technology. His research focuses on Artificial Intelligence, Computer Vision, and Evidential Reasoning. Before entering academia, he spent two decades in the aerospace and automotive industries, developing radar and camera-based safety technologies and earning more than 25 patents. He has also held academic leadership roles at Kettering University and the University of Michigan–Flint.

Panel 1 

Who Shapes AI? Equity, Agency, and the Future We Want

Dr. Soheyla Amirian is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Pace University's Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems and Director of the Applied Machine Intelligence Initiatives & Education (AMIIE) Laboratory. Her research focuses on artificial intelligence, machine learning, medical imaging, and trustworthy AI, with applications in healthcare, cancer research, and aging-related conditions. She investigates the reliability, interpretability, and responsible use of AI systems, including explainable deep learning and AI-assisted clinical reasoning. A recipient of the 2026 Pace University Kennan Award and the IEEE Atlanta Section Outstanding Educator Award, Dr. Amirian is committed to advancing interdisciplinary research, mentoring emerging researchers, and connecting AI innovation with meaningful societal impact. Her work emphasizes developing AI technologies that are scientifically rigorous, transparent, and beneficial to society.

Nirmal Jingar is a technology director and board member with 20 years of industry experience focused on enterprise AI. He is a TEDx speaker and a member of the Forbes Technology Council. He serves on the boards of Humanity + AI and Resilient Coders, and on the Saint Louis University Computer Science and Computer Engineering Advisory Board. Nirmal has authored books and IEEE publications on AI, large language models, and supply chain systems. An MIT alumnus, he speaks on production AI, agentic systems, and the future of supply chain decision-making.

Dr. Olushola S. Odusanya is the Director General/CEO of the National Centre for Technology Management (NACETEM), an agency under the Federal Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology. His work focuses on digitizing civil service operations, implementing public sector reforms, and advancing biotechnology applications in engineering, particularly in targeted drug delivery, bio-orthopedics, orthotics, and polymer processing. His research has contributed to the development of an indigenous drug candidate, prodigiosin, for targeted breast cancer treatment. He currently serves as the Regional Coordinator of the Math and Science for Sub-Saharan Africa (MS4SSA) initiative, promoting innovative science teaching in secondary schools across West Africa. He previously managed the SHESTCO–Princeton–AUST materials science collaboration funded by the World Bank under the STEP-B project. Dr. Odusanya serves on the International Scientific Advisory Board of the African Materials Research Society (AMRS) and is the Co-Center Leader/Director of the Pan African Materials Institute (PAMI), a World Bank Centre of Excellence at the African University of Science and Technology. He is also a Visiting Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering. He holds two U.S. patents, has multiple invention disclosures in theragnostic drug delivery, and has published widely in high-impact international journals.

John M. Willis is Founder and Chief Innovation Officer of Sustainable Future Tech, Inc., where he leads research on AI runtime governance, institutional interoperability, and trusted autonomous systems. He is the creator of Runtime Governance Engineering and the AI Governance Control Plane (AGCP), focused on preserving human and institutional authority as AI systems gain autonomy. Willis holds an M.Sc. with Merit in Sustainable Development from the University of Sussex and formerly served as an information security consultant to the World Bank Group. His public-interest experience includes earlier contract work supporting environmental matters at the U.S. Department of Justice. He currently serves on the Maryland Clean Energy Center Advisory Council and previously contributed to Montgomery County’s Climate, Energy and Air Quality Advisory Committee and the City of Gaithersburg Climate Action Plan Workgroup. His work emphasizes equity, accountability, contestability, sustainability, and human agency in emerging technology.

Micah Schuster is an Associate Professor of Computer Science in the School of Computing and Data Science at Wentworth Institute of Technology, where he has taught since 2017. He earned his Ph.D. in Computational Science from San Diego State University, where his research in ab initio nuclear structure theory took him to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to work with leadership-class supercomputers. He then went on to Oak Ridge National Laboratory as a Distinguished Postdoctoral Research Associate, preparing nuclear physics codes for the lab’s next-generation systems. At Wentworth, his work spans parallel computing, computational science, and game development, and he is currently leading the creation of a new Simulation, Games, and Extended Reality major. He has also published numerous case studies in IEEE Computing in Science & Engineering, where he serves as coeditor of the homework assignment department. 

Dr. Shaoyuan Wu is Founder and Research Lead of EPINOVA LLC and Director of its Global AI Governance and Policy Research Center. His research examines how artificial intelligence reshapes national power, technological interdependence, international security, and institutional agency. His work includes the Global Artificial Intelligence Development and Competitiveness Assessment Framework (GAID&CAF), which provides a multidimensional approach to assessing AI development and competitiveness, and The Global AI Power Order, a book project examining national capacity, boundary control, and systemic influence in the emerging AI order. His recent research explores how AI access becomes meaningful agency through public infrastructure, institutional conversion, technological autonomy, and accountable governance. Across these projects, he investigates how AI capabilities and governance structures shape the distribution of power, agency, and public value.

Dr. Bingyu Liu has been an Assistant Professor in the School of Computing & Data Science at Wentworth Institute of Technology since 2023.She previously worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at Northeastern University’s Institute for Experiential AI (EAI) and as a research assistant at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). She received her PhD in Computer Science from Illinois Institute of Technology in 2022. Her work focuses on research and education in security and privacy, emphasizing secure computation, applied cryptography, and differential privacy, while also exploring interdisciplinary connections such as trustworthy AI, health care and theoretical foundations.

Shawn Ogunseye, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Computer Information Systems at Bentley University, where he teaches AI governance in the STEM MBA program. His research examines how organizations govern AI and design the systems it depends on. He works directly with organizations to build and test these designs in practice, most recently on AI governance for care coordination with a community health organization serving more than 20,000 patients, and on an AI-supported pricing system with a medical manufacturer. His writing appears in several journals and proceedings including Communications of the ACM, PLOS One, and AI & Society. He also has extensive industry experience in software development and IT management.

Dr. Oyesola Moses Oluwafemi is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Information Technology at Eduvos, South Africa. He holds a Doctor of Engineering degree in Industrial Engineering, with an academic background in Electronic and Electrical Engineering. Before transitioning into academia, he gained industry experience in the oil and gas sector. His teaching and research interests span applied robotics, industrial automation (PLC - Programmable Logic Controller), embedded systems, intelligent control, and advanced industrial technologies. His current academic role has also stimulated a growing research interest in human–AI decision-making, particularly how intelligent systems can support human judgement while preserving meaningful human involvement. Drawing on experiences across industry and academia, he is interested in the practical integration of emerging technologies into engineering and industrial environments with attention to system reliability, responsible automation, and human-centred technological development.  

Professor Dr. Abdelnaser Omran is an academic lecturer in the field of Environmental Management and Engineering. He currently serves as Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at The Libyan Academy for Postgraduate Studies – Ajdabiya Branch, Libya, and he is also a faculty member in the School of Civil Engineering at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). Professor Dr. Omran earned his Ph.D. in Environmental Management and Engineering from Universiti Sains Malaysia in 2008. He has held several academic appointments, including positions as an academic scholar at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) and Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM). In addition to his academic roles, he served as Academic Attaché to Malaysia and Indonesia at the Libyan Embassies from 2018 to 2023. To date, Professor Dr. Omran has published over 250 refereed articles in reputable international journals and conference proceedings. His scholarly contributions also include 14 chapters in internationally recognized books and the authorship of 9 research books, underscoring his standing as a leading expert in environmental management and engineering. Beyond his publications, Professor Dr. Omran actively contributes to the global research community as a peer reviewer for more than 40 international journals. His continued commitment to research, education, and international academic collaboration plays a significant role in advancing the field of environmental management and engineering, sustainable development, and risk management

Robert F. Tilley Jr. is a technology entrepreneur, inventor, and founder and CEO of G-14, Inc., which develops external controls for autonomous AI. A programmer since childhood, he brings twenty-five years of experience founding and leading companies in information technology and occupational safety. He is the author of Nobody Said Yes: How AI Learned to Act Without Permission—and Who Answers When It Does and the ECL-1 specification. He serves internationally on Wenma’s Safety Advisory Board and has served as a master instructor for the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER) and on its Contren Core Curriculum textbook development team. His research examines who authorizes AI to act, how that authority is enforced, and how responsibility continues when a blocked action leaves a problem unresolved.

Abdulrahman Azab Mohamed is Subject Manager for Advanced Computing at Sigma2, part of Norwegian Research Infrastructure Services (NRIS), and Technical Coordinator of the Norwegian AI Factory. His responsibilities span research cloud services, integration with high-performance computing, secure processing of sensitive data, and access to quantum computing resources. He also serves as Activity Owner of the Nordic Tier-1 computing collaboration and a member of the EUDAT Executive Board. Alongside these roles, he teaches cybersecurity at Northern Illinois University. His work connects research infrastructure development with operational security and governance, with particular interest in how verification, access controls, and continuous assurance can support the responsible deployment of AI in sensitive and consequential environments.