Dr. Karimi
Dr. Karimi received a PhD in Combinatorics and Optimization from the University of Waterloo (2017) and a PhD in Electrical Engineering from Sharif University (2010). His research interests are optimization, machine learning, creating software packages, quantum computing, and data-driven methods for complex engineering systems. He was awarded a two-year NSF grant (2024) to design data-driven methods for the operations of modern power systems, focusing on integrating renewable energy sources. Dr. Karimi created the optimization software package Domain-Driven Solver (DDS) for convex optimization problems. He has several publications in top engineering, optimization, and computing journals.
Dr. Maochao Xu
Dr. Maochao Xu is a Full Professor in the Department of Mathematics at Illinois State University. Alongside his academic role, he serves as a Co-founder and Director of Machine Learning at Rankiteo LTD. Dr. Xu’s research expertise lies at the intersection of deep learning, predictive modeling, and cyber risk analysis. His scholarly endeavors have secured funding from multiple agencies and his research has been published in leading mainstream journals such as The Annals of Applied Statistics, Technometrics, European Journal of Operational Research, Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, North American Actuarial Journal, and IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security.
Dr. Sissokho
Dr. Sissokho is a full professor of Mathematics at Illinois State who specializes in discrete mathematics. His research areas include combinatorial problems in finite vector spaces and discrete geometry.
Dr. Xiaotian Dai
Dr. Xiaotian Dai is an assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics at Illinois State University. His research interests are mainly in developing new statistical methods for high-throughput and complex genomic, transcriptomic, and epidemiologic data. He is also broadly interested in statistical computing, cloud computing, and applications of machine learning methods. Dr. Dai has published in major biostatistics journals such as Statistics in Medicine and Statistical Methods in Medical Research. Prior to joining Illinois State University, Dr. Dai was a Data Scientist at a leading semiconductor manufacturer.
Dr. Yamskulna
Dr. Yamskulna earned her bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Chulalongkorn University, Thailand, in 1996 and her Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), in 2001. During her studies, she received prestigious fellowships from the Development and Promotion of Science and Talents Projects in Thailand and a Graduate Fellowship from the Fields Institute. Before joining the ISU mathematical sciences faculty in 2004, she was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkeley and a Visiting Assistant Professor at the State University of New York at Binghamton. Dr. Yamskulna is a full professor with research interests focused on the representation theory of (super) vertex algebras, particularly in N-grade vertex algebras.