AIRES Faculty Committee

Dr. Yutao He

Dr. Edward Parson

Alex Alben, J.D.

UCLA Law

Alex Alben is a law professor, technology executive and privacy expert, who served as Washington State’s first Chief Privacy Officer from 2015 to 2019. In that capacity, he worked on consumer privacy legislation and coordinated privacy and data policy for state and local government. As one of only five Chief Privacy Officers in the country, Alex initiated statewide programs for enhanced privacy training, consumer education and legal compliance. In March of 2017, Gov Tech Magazine named him one of the country’s top “Doers, Dreamers and Drivers” in state government. As a technology executive for over 20 years in the Seattle area, Alex worked for start-ups founded by Paul Allen and Bill Gates. He currently serves as part-time faculty at the UCLA School of Law, teaching “Privacy, Data and Technology.”

Dr. Phebe Vayanos

USC Center for Artificial Intelligence in Society

Dr. Phebe Vayanos is an Assistant Professor of Industrial & Systems Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Southern California, and Associate Director of the CAIS Center for Artificial Intelligence in Society. Prior to joining USC, she was a lecturer in the Operations Research and Statistics Group at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and a postdoctoral research associate in the Operations Research Center at MIT. Dr. Vayanos holds a PhD degree in Operations Research and an MEng degree in Electrical & Electronic Engineering, both from Imperial College London. Her research aims to address fundamental questions in data-driven optimization (a.k.a. prescriptive analytics) with aim to tackle real-world decision- and policy-making problems in uncertain and adversarial environments.

JPL/NASA

UCLA Law

Dr. Yutao He is a Senior Research Technologist and explorer at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory leading technology development in innovative avionics systems for future space exploration. Dr. He has worked on a variety of projects with increased responsibilities as a hardware and software designer, a system analyst and architect, and a technical project manager. He has won numerous NASA/JPL awards, including NASA Group Achievement Award, NASA New Technology Awards, and JPL institutional awards. Dr. He is also a faculty member at UCLA and Cal State LA and has been an inspirational mentor to many.

Dr. Edward Parson is a Faculty Co-Director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment as well as the AIPULSE program at the UCLA school of law. Dr. Parson studies international environmental law and policy, the role of science and technology in policy-making, and the political economy of regulation. Dr. Parson has worked and consulted for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and his book Protecting the Ozone Layer: Science and Strategy has won the 2004 Sprout Award of the International Studies Association and is widely recognized as the authority on the development of international cooperation to protect the ozone layer.

Dr. Ryan Rosario

Google

Dr. Ryan Rosario is a Data Scientist at Google researching and improving the user search experience. He earned his Ph.D. in Statistics, an M.S. in Computer Science and a B.S. in Mathematics, all from UCLA. His research interests include machine learning, natural language processing, psychometrics and data management. Prior to his current role, he worked as a Software Engineer in Machine Learning at Facebook where he implemented sentiment analysis systems for enterprise clients using the platform. Dr. Rosario is also a lecturer at UCLA and enjoys working with students and integrating his industry experience with core course content.

Dr. Ifeoma Ajunwa

Cornell University ILR/Cornell Law

Dr. Ifeoma Ajunwa is currently working as an Assistant Professor at Cornell University’s Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR) School, and as an Associated Faculty Member at Cornell Law School. She is an Affiliate of the Center for the Study of Inequality at Cornell University. Her research focuses on the overlap between law and technology with an emphasis on the ethical development and governance of workplace technologies.
Dr. Ajunwa earned her Ph.D. in Sociology at Columbia University (emphasis on Organizational Theory and Law and Society). She also holds a law degree and has been admitted to practice in the states of New York and California.

Pamela Hieronymi

UCLA Philosophy Department

Professor Pamela Hieronymi is currently a professor at UCLA Department of Philosophy. Her current research focuses on the intersection of ethics, philosophies of both action and mind, as well as moral responsibility and free will. She has particular interest in the agency held over beliefs and intentions.

She is also currently serving as the philosophy consultant for the hit NBC show The Good Place.

Hieronymi received a Ph.D in Philosophy from Harvard University and has produced numerous publications over the course of years on the aforementioned topics.