PeopleOutgoing PhDs and Postdocs
People
Outgoing Ph.D. Students
Advisor(s): Fabian E. Bustamante
Research Area(s): Computer Networks and Internet Measurements
Thesis Topic: Measuring Internet Centralization on the Web (DNS, CDNs, CAs) and the Underlying Infrastructure
Planned PhD Defense Date: Summer 2024
Advisor(s): Professor Ken Forbus
Research Area(s): Event representation and learning, machine learning, knowledge graphs, video game AI, narrative intelligence, computational creativity
Thesis Topic: Qualitative Spatiotemporal Episodic Memory
Planned PhD Defense Date: December 2024
Advisor(s): Professor Kristian Hammond
Research Area(s): Natural Language Processing (NLP), Legal NLP, Legal AI, Machine Learning
Thesis Topic: Large Language Models as Legal Reasoners
Planned PhD Defense Date: Winter 2025
Advisor(s): Professors Haoqi Zhang and Nell O'Rourke
Research Area(s): CS Education
Thesis Topic: Process Management for Learning from Professional Source Code
Planned PhD Defense Date: Fall 2024
Employment Preference: Currently Engineering Consultant and Founder at LD Talent
Advisor(s): Professor Marcelo Worsley
Research Area(s): Human Computer Interaction
Thesis Topic: Designing Empowering Learning Experiences for Youth in Puerto Rico
Planned PhD Defense Date: Spring 2025
Employment Preference:
For Industry: Data Science, Design Research, or Prototyping.
For Academia: Postdocs in topics related to designing tools (data tools, wearables, communication interfaces) for teamwork &/or climate. Broader topics: HCI, or Data Science.
Advisor(s): Professor Matt Kay
Research Area(s): Data visualization, HCI
Thesis Topic: Data visualization literacy
Planned PhD Defense Date: Spring 2025
Employment Preference: Teaching-focused positions
Advisor(s): Professor Ken Forbus
Research Area(s): AI, AI ethics, Cognitive Science
Thesis Topic: Formal Theories of Moral Learning and Reasoning
Planned PhD Defense Date: Spring 2025
Employment Preference: Academia and Industry
Advisor(s): Professors Matt Kay and Jessica Hullman
Research Area(s): Human-Computer Interaction, Visualisation
Thesis Topic: Communicating Uncertainty in Data Analysis
Planned PhD Defense Date: Spring 2025
Employment Preference: Academia
Advisor(s): Professor Nabil Alshurafa
Research Area(s): Machine Learning, Wearable Devices
Thesis Topic: Vision Language Models for Human Activity Recognition
Planned PhD Defense Date: Spring 2025
Employment Preference: Industry and Academia
Advisor(s): Professor Uri Wilensky
Research Area(s): HCI, Learning Science, Applied AI
Thesis Topic: Constructionist Learning Design for Agent-based Modeling and Programming: Increasing Access, Building Scaffolds, and Cultivating Communities
Planned PhD Defense Date: July 2025
Employment Preference: Tenure-track Faculty
Advisor(s): Professor Aleksander Kuzmanovic
Research Area(s): Computer Networks and Systems
Thesis Topic: Cross-Layer Network Optimization Targeting Endusers
Planned PhD Defense Date: Summer 2025
Employment Preference: Industry
Advisor(s): Professor Matthew Kay
Research Area(s): Human-Computer Interaction, Data Visualization, Data Science
Thesis Topic: Adaptive, Scalable, and Quality-Oriented Technology for Data Visualization
Planned PhD Defense Date: April 15, 2026
Employment Preference: Academia and Industry
Postdocs Currently on the Job Market
Northwestern Advisor(s): Fabian Bustamante
PhD Institution & Advisor(s): J. Ignacio Alvarez-Hamelin (UBA) and Amogh Dhamdhere (UC San Diego), University of Buenos Aires (UBA), Buenos Aires
Research Area(s): Computer Science, Systems, Internet measurements
Thesis Topic: Internet critical infrastructures
Employment Preference: Academia
Northwestern Advisor(s): Konstantin Makarychev
PhD Institution & Advisor(s): Indiana University, Grigory Yaroslavtsev (Currently George Mason University)
Research Area(s): Continuous Optimization, Machine Learning, Algorithms
Thesis Topic: New Directions in Distributed and Constrained Non-Convex Optimization
Employment Preference: Academia or Industry
Northwestern Advisor(s): Professor Jessica Hullman
PhD Institution & Advisor(s): Northwestern University
Research Area(s): Human-Computer Interaction, Data Visualization
Thesis Topic: Interactive Systems for Data Visualization for Multiple User Contexts
Employment Preference: Academia and Industry
Northwestern Advisor(s): V.S. Subrahmanian
PhD Institution & Advisor(s): Northwestern University
Research Area(s): Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Global Security
Thesis Topic: Deepfake detection, Securing AI models, Analysis of AI-generated phishing messages, Analysis of Social Movements, Drone Defense
Employment Preference: Academia