Bodossaki Distinguished Young Scientist Awards 2025
Applied Science: Artificial Intelligence
“It is a great honour to receive the Bodossaki Distinguished Young Scientist Award, a unique recognition of my research contribution from my homeland. I remember that when my classmates and I at the National Technical University of Athens were still dreaming about our admission to doctoral programs and the prospect of becoming researchers in cutting-edge fields, we saw the Bodossaki Foundation laureates as role models for the career we would like to pursue. I am particularly happy that this personal cycle is now complete and I hope that the Bodossaki Foundation awards will continue to create role models for young scientists in our country.”
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Ioannis Gkioulekas is an Associate Professor at the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University.
His laboratory’s research focuses on computer graphics and computer vision, with an emphasis on computational imaging: This field studies the combination and integration of optical, electronic, and computational techniques to create imaging systems with unprecedented capabilities. Some examples include: systems that ‘see’ around corners in navigation and surveillance applications, systems for non-invasive imaging of blood vessels or brain cells in medical applications, and optical tomography systems for fire and other disaster monitoring and response applications.
Mr. Gkioulekas was born on 27 September 1986 in Lagkada, Thessaloniki. He completed his secondary education at the Lagkada Unified Lyceum and began his tertiary studies in 2004 at the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens. He received his degree in 2009, after completing his thesis on computational attention under the supervision of Professor Petros Maragkos.He continued his studies at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University. He received his Master’s degree in 2014 and his PhD in 2016. His doctoral thesis, completed under the supervision of Professor Todd Zickler, introduced computational algorithms for reversing light scattering—a fundamental problem in applied mathematics and applied physics, with applications in medical imaging, materials science, and remote sensing. Since 2017, he has been a member of the teaching and research staff at Carnegie Mellon University, initially as an assistant professor and, since 2023, as an Professor.
For his research, he has received honours including a research fellowship from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the CAREER Award from the US National Science Foundation, three best paper awards at leading conferences on computer vision (CVPR 2019 and 2024, one of the two leading conferences on artificial intelligence) and computer graphics (SIGGRAPH 2024). His research has also been recognised by publications from the American DARPA and awards from companies such as Sony, Google, NVIDIA, and Lockheed Martin. He is an active member of the organizing committees of leading conferences on computer vision and computer graphics (CVPR, ICCV, SIGGRAPH, SIGGRAPH Asia), and was the organizer of ICCP 2022, the leading conference on computational imaging. Alongside his research, he teaches courses on computer imaging and computational modelling of light to undergraduate and graduate students, and organises introductory courses in photography and imaging for children in American primary and secondary schools.
He lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with his partner.