Guest Speaker Bios

dr.kent_losdatos.pngDr. Kal Clark 
Cofounder of the University of Texas AI Consortium for Medical Diagnostics and Cofounder of Zauron Labs

Kal Clark is a cofounder of the University of Texas AI Consortium for Medical Diagnostics, an initiative that facilitates the coordination of AI engineering and clinical projects across Texas institutions, focusing on critical areas such as data access, model safety, and clinical delivery. He is also the cofounder of Zauron Labs, a pioneering medical AI company that has developed the first AI-powered peer learning software for radiologists and is currently working on building the most comprehensive AI safety net for patients. In addition to his entrepreneurial ventures, Kal serves as an emergency radiologist at the University of Texas Health San Antonio, where he also holds the position of vice chair of radiology informatics. 

dr.dhang_losdatos.pngDharanidhar Dang, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at the University of Texas, San Antonio

Prof. Dharanidhar Dang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at the University of Texas, San Antonio. He leads the LUCENT lab where his research is centered around silicon photonics, computer architecture, deep learning accelerator, neuromorphic computing, novel memory, bioinformatics. Prior to joining UTSA, Dr. Dang was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California at San Diego, after earning a PhD at Texas A&M University. He has won several prestigious awards and fellowships that include AAI Intersect Fellowship, Texas A&M Teaching Fellowship, Gold medalist at the Intel Embedded Challenge, Winner of the Intel Youth Enterprise, and finalist at the EDA outstanding Dissertation award. Dr. Dang has published more than 35 papers in reputed venues such as Nature, DAC, GLSVLSI, TPDS, etc. He serves on the editorial board of the Frontiers journal in Photonics and on the program committee of DAC, ICCAD, NOCS, and iSES. 

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Mitra Bokaei Hosseini, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of Texas at San Antonio

Mitra Bokaei Hosseini, P.h.D., is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). She received her Ph.D. in May 2019 from the Department of Computer Science at UTSA. 

Hosseini has four years of experience in the industry as an Information Security auditor, where she evaluated information systems and security controls in accordance with ISO/IEC 27001:2005. 

Her research spans the areas of software engineering, requirements engineering, privacy, and natural language processing. Her goal is to ensure software systems' verifiability, traceability, and trustworthiness by developing artifacts and tools that support the early stages of the software development life cycle. She mainly focuses on collaborative software development environments that include stakeholders with diverse backgrounds (e.g., users, lawyers, requirement engineers, software programmers, etc.) and reusable software designs to ensure that a given requirement corresponds to the end-users’ desires. 

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Brandon Lwowski, Ph.D.

Zillow

With a PhD in Information Technology specializing in AI from UTSA, Brandon Lwowski led cutting-edge research in Real Estate Data, Analytics and AI at HouseCanary. More recently he took on a role at Zillow to continue to push the boundaries in Generative AI in the domain of real estate. Recognized as an IMN Rising Star Under 35, HousingWire Rising Star, and a National Association of Realtors Innovator of the Year nominee ,Brandon Lwowski is dedicated to driving innovation and providing strategic insights in the fast-evolving field of real estate technology. With a strong emphasis on safe, responsible AI and a particular focus on Generative AI, he brings a wealth of experience from both startups and large financial institutions. An accomplished public speaker, Brandon is passionate about sharing expertise and insights with industry professionals. 

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Joe Marshall, Ph.D.
U.S. Census Bureau

 Joey Marshall is a data scientist at the U.S. Census Bureau where his work focuses on the resilience of communities to disasters. Joey completed his PhD at Purdue and joined the Census Bureau in 2020. His work involves producing data products that assist the public and emergency managers in preparing for and responding to disasters. In recent months, Joey’s team has produced updated estimates of community resilience for every neighborhood in the 50 states, D.C. and Puerto Rico. They also released the Census Bureau’s new Community Resilience Estimates for Heat, which include machine learning-based predictions about whether US households have air conditioning. Finally, the team has adopted new capabilities for transportation analysis, which they employed in rapid-response research following the March 2024 collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge. On these sensitive topics, the team aims to produce statistically precise and reliable estimates using careful and transparent methods. 

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Aaron Mckee

Vice President, FEDITC

Aaron McKee is the COO/Senior Vice President of FEDITC LLC, a San Antonio based company with over 500 employees supporting military and intelligence clients around the world. Mr. McKee joined the company as employee number 5 and has been instrumental in its growth.  As COO he oversees programs critical to US national security including support to the US Army, Air Force, Navy, Special Operations, Department of Homeland Security, Defense Health Agency, and President of the United States.   FEDITC services include Cybersecurity, Software Development, Network Engineering, Data Analytics/Management, Energy Efficiency, Environmental Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering in 25 states and 12 countries.    

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Peyman Najafirad (Paul Rad), Ph.D.

Associate Director of Research at the School of Data Science and Associate Professor with joint appointments in Computer Science, Information Systems, and Cyber Security

Dr. Peyman Najafirad (Paul Rad) is the Associate Director of Research at the School of Data Science and an Associate Professor with joint appointments in the Computer Science, Information Systems, and Cyber Security departments at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). As a senior member of the National Academy of Inventors, Dr. Rad is a leading authority on trustworthy artificial intelligence and reasoning for decision-making under uncertainty. His research focuses on developing safe and secure AI systems, with particular emphasis on large language models, the use of generative AI to enhance digital content integrity, and physics-informed AI for digital twins. Dr. Rad is also the Founder and Chair of Safe AI, a startup dedicated to advancing secure and safe AI solutions for enterprises. His pioneering work has led to numerous patents, top-tier publications, and significant contributions to shaping national AI standards through his collaboration with NIST. 

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Anthony Rios, Ph.D.

Department of Information Systems and Cyber Security at the University of Texas at San Antonio

Anthony Rios is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Information Systems and Cyber Security at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Dr. Rios received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Kentucky in 2018 and his B.S. in Computer Science from Georgetown College in 2011. His broad multidisciplinary research interests include biomedical and social applications of machine learning and natural language processing (NLP). He has published numerous refereed technical papers in prestigious venues in NLP and biomedical informatics, including AAAI, EMNLP, NAACL, AMIA, JAMIA, and Bioinformatics. Dr. Rios also received the NSF CRII and CAREER awards, a distinguished poster finalist award at AMIA 2014, and a best paper finalist award in the best technical paper category at ICHI 2015.

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Jonathan D. Stallings, Ph.D.

Chief Data Scientist at Joint Trauma System

Jonathan D. Stallings is the Chief Data Scientist at the Joint Trauma System, where he leads efforts in data analysis and the application of advanced statistical methods to improve trauma care. He has a particular interest in leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) for medical devices and navigating the regulatory approval process. He recently played a significant role in the FDA-clearance of the DOD’s first AI medical device. His research also explores the use of generative AI for enhancing data extraction and the review of medical records, and routine epidemiological studies.  

Dr. Stallings retired from the U.S. Army as a Lieutenant Colonel, having served in various key roles that spanned 22 years of research, regulatory affairs, and operational medicine, which includes deploying as a theater biochemist in the Middle East and a Fellowship at the FDA. Dr. Stallings continues to expand his expertise in biostatistics, applied statistics, data science, machine learning, and clinical trial analysis, with over 70 peer-reviewed publications. His military education includes Officer Basic Leadership Course, Medical Management of Chemical and Biological Causalities Course, Captain’s Career Course, Intermediate Medical Acquisitions Course, and Intermediate Level Education. He has obtained Level III Science & Technology Manager and Level II Program Management certification.  

He is recognized for his contributions with multiple military awards, including the Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal (3rd Award), Army Commendation Medal (3rd Award), Army Achievement Medal (4th Award), Joint Meritorious Unit Award, and the United Nations Medal. He was awarded the Brigadier General Michael A. Dunn “Press-On Energy” award, Order of Military Medical Merit, 8X-acqusitions and 9A-professional designations, and the German Armed Forces Proficiency badge (Silver). He is married to Alexandra of Long Island, NY, and they reside in Converse, TX. 

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Ke Yang, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio and Matrix AI Consortium

Dr. Ke Yang is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science and a core faculty member in the School of Data Science and Matrix AI Consortium at the University of Texas at San Antonio. She founded the Cohort for AI REsponsibility (CAREAI) at UTSA. Her research focuses on responsibility in data management and AI, with an emphasis on algorithmic fairness, model explanation, and the social implications of AI and machine learning.  Prior to joining UTSA, she was a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the College of Information and Computer Sciences, at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.  Dr. Yang received her Ph.D. degree from New York University. She has received a Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Center for Data Science at UMass and a Pearl Brownstein Doctoral Research Award from the Tandon School of Engineering at NYU.