CRASA

Research Team

Principal Investigator

Ryan Kennedy

UH Political Science

Ryan Kennedy

UH Political Science
Ryan Kennedy, PhD, is an Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA. Dr. Kennedy is an associate professor and the Senator Don Henderson Chair in the department of political science at the University of Houston, founding associate director of analytics for the Initiative for Sustainable Energy Policy, director of the Machine-Assisted Human Decision-making (MAHD) Lab, and a research associate at the Hobby Center for Public Policy. His research spans a number of areas in comparative politics, international relations and American politics, including: democratization, computational social science, deliberation, energy and environment, post-Communist politics, and prediction models. My publications have appeared in outlets like Science, The American Political Science Review, The Journal of Politics, and International Studies Quarterly among others. His work has generated over 3,000 citations (i10-index of 20 over the past 5 years).

Co-PIs

Ioannis A. Kakadiaris

UH Computer Science

Ioannis A. Kakadiaris

UH Computer Science
Professor Ioannis A. Kakadiaris, PhD is a Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen University Professor of Computer Science, Electrical & Computer Engineering, and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA. He joined UH in August 1997 after a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. He earned his BSc in Physics at the University of Athens in Greece, his MSc in Computer Science from Northeastern University and his PhD at the University of Pennsylvania. He is also the founder and director of the Computational Biomedicine Lab. His research interests include biometrics, computer vision, and pattern recognition, biomedical image analysis and cardiovascular informatics. Prof. Kakadiaris is the co-founder of the Pumps and Pipes initiative which examines the cross-domain innovation in the domains of medicine, oil industry and aerospace. He has more than 300 publications in international journals and conferences in biometrics, computer vision, pattern recognition, and biomedical computing. He holds twelve US patents. His articles have more than 6,000 citations according to Google Scholar and his H-number (as of June 2017) is 38. He has successfully advised and co-advised more than 50 doctoral and postdoctoral researchers and more than 50 undergraduate and graduate students. Dr. Kakadiaris is an international expert in biometrics, data / video analytics, and biomedical computing. His team has made contributions in the areas of 3D face (and ear) recognition, 3D-aided 2D Face Recognition, 2D-2D Face Recognition, and profile-based face recognition. CBL’s 3D-3D face recognition software ranked first in the 3D-shape section of the 2007 Face Recognition Vendor Test (FRVT) organized by NIST, while CBL’s 3D-2D method outperforms the state of the art 2D face recognition methods. Currently, CBL researchers are addressing critical challenges including low resolution data, indoor/outdoor illumination, accurate landmark and pose estimation, cross-resolution matching, and score normalization. In addition to twice winning the UH Computer Science Research Excellence Award, Ioannis has been recognized for his work with several distinguished honors, including the NSF Early Career Development Award, the Schlumberger Technical Foundation Award, the UH Enron Teaching Excellence Award, and the James Muller Vulnerable Plaque Young Investigator Prize. His research has been featured on Discovery Channel, National Public Radio, KPRC NBC News, KTRH ABC News, and KHOU CBS News.

Andrew C. Michaels

UH Law School

Andrew C. Michaels

UH Law School
<div class="w3-margin-top uhslate w3-container"> <div class="w3-row"> <div class="w3-threequarter"> Andrew C. Michaels, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA. Andrew Michaels teaches in the areas of intellectual property and statutory regulation, and his scholarship has focused in the areas of patent law and jurisprudence. Professor Michaels received his J.D. from New York University School of Law, and subsequently clerked for Judge Pauline Newman at the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit before practicing as a patent litigator for a number of years. Professor Michaels’ work has appeared in Brooklyn Law Review, Arkansas Law Review, Cincinnati Law Review, and New Mexico Law Review, and he also regularly publishes shorter more practice-oriented pieces in forums such as Law360, IPWatchdog, and Patently-O. Prior to joining the Law Center, Professor Michaels was a Visiting Associate Professor and the Frank H. Marks Intellectual Property Fellow at the George Washington University Law School.   </div> </div> </div> <div class="w3-container w3-uhslate"> <div class="w3-row-padding"> <div class="w3-quarter w3-center"></div> </div> </div>

Lydia B. Tiede

UH Political Science

Lydia B. Tiede

UH Political Science
Lydia B. Tiede, PhD, is an Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA. <p class="CDt4Ke zfr3Q" dir="ltr">Her research focuses on comparative judicial politics, constitutional courts, judicial independence, and the rule of law; legal systems and judiciaries in the United States, Latin America, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, and England and Wales. Her teaching areas are comparative judicial studies, human rights, judicial behavior and process, and law and society</p>

Post-Doctoral Fellow

Haileleol Tibebu

UH COMPUTER SCIENCE

Haileleol Tibebu

UH COMPUTER SCIENCE
Dr. Haileleol Tibebu is a scholar with a BEng degree in Aerospace Engineering from Brunel University. His then joined Loughborough University London, where he obtained a double major M.Sc. in Cybersecurity and Data Science, followed by a Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence. Dr Haileleol has been a lecturer and researcher at Loughborough University London before he joins the Computational Biomedicine Lab in 2023. Dr. Haileleol's research interests lie at the crossroads of autonomous systems and trustworthy AI frameworks. His role in the academic community included serving as a session chair for the high-level Responsible AI in Military Domain (REAIM) conference held at The Hague, Netherlands. Dr Haileleol received a Certificate of Honor from the president of IEEE Industry Applications Society (IAS) in May 2023 for his role at the IAS conference.

Graduate Students

Amanda Austin

PHD CANDIDATE , UH POLITICAL SCIENCE

Amanda Austin

PHD CANDIDATE , UH POLITICAL SCIENCE
PhD candidate, political science

Kenzy Ismael

PHD CANDIDATE , UH POLITICAL SCIENCE

Kenzy Ismael

PHD CANDIDATE , UH POLITICAL SCIENCE
PhD candidate, political science

Bonhoon Koo

PHD CANDIDATE , UH POLITICAL SCIENCE

Bonhoon Koo

PHD CANDIDATE , UH POLITICAL SCIENCE
PhD candidate political science

Community Advisory Board

Michael O. Adams

Texas Southern University

Michael O. Adams

Texas Southern University
Dr. Michael O. Adams is a professor of political science, a political consultant and the Founding Director of the Executive Master of Public Administration Program at Texas Southern University. As a political scientist, Dr. Adams is an experienced lecturer and researcher. He specializes in electoral politics, campaign management, and redistricting and has lent his expertise as a speaker, panelist and community advocate for over 30 years.

Katherine A. Franco

Blank Rome LLP

Katherine A. Franco

Blank Rome LLP
Katherine Franco is a partner and registered patent attorney in the Houston office of Blank Rome LLP. She concentrates her practice in the protection of innovation related to software and electronics. Katherine holds a B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a JD from the University of Houston Law Center.

Sharon A. Israel

Shook, Hardy & Bacon

Sharon A. Israel

Shook, Hardy & Bacon
Sharon Israel is a partner in the Houston office of Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P., specializing in intellectual property law with an emphasis in patent litigation. Sharon received her JD and MBA degrees from Emory University and her S.B. degree in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Sharon serves in leadership roles in numerous organizations, including having served as President of the American Intellectual Property Law Association, Chair of the State Bar of Texas Intellectual Property Law Section, President of the Houston Intellectual Property Law Association, President of The Honorable Nancy F. Atlas Intellectual Property American Inn of Court, and currently serving as Membership Officer for the ABA's Section of Intellectual Property Law.

Jay Jenkins

Harris County

Jay Jenkins

Harris County
Jay Jenkins is the Harris County Project Attorney at the Texas Center for Justice and Equity. Since joining TCJE in 2014, he has promoted broad youth and adult justice reforms in Houston and the surrounding areas. Jay received his Juris Doctor from Northwestern University School of Law, graduating magna cum laude in 2009. At TCJE, Jay has researched and pursued reforms related to over-policing and prosecution, while also reimagining the local bail system and supporting indigent defense, and he was instrumental in the development of a first-of-its-kind data dashboard that visualizes more than one million criminal case outcomes in Harris, Dallas, Bexar, and Travis Counties. Jay additionally serves as co-founder and President of the Convict Leasing and Labor Project, which launched in 2018 to expose the history of the convict leasing system and its connection to modern prison slavery.

James Marcella

Axis Communications

James Marcella

Axis Communications
<p class="xmsonormal">With over 20 years of experience in the Security Industry, Marcella oversees industry associations for North American operations, including ASIS International and the Security Industry Association (SIA). He currently serves as a Community Vice President for three ASIS communities; School Safety and Security, Healthcare, and Commercial Real Estate. He also serves on the advisory board for the Partner Alliance for Safer Schools (PASS).</p>

Paula C. Pineda

City of Houston

Paula C. Pineda

City of Houston
Dr. Pineda is currently designing and leading the City of Houston’s new Economic Development Division (ECON). Under her leadership, the City of Houston will pursue a small business development strategy prioritizing access to capital. ECON is committed to providing economic opportunity for all Houstonians as a means to empower disenfranchised communities and address inequality.

Jani Maselli Wood

Harris County Public Defender’s Office

Jani Maselli Wood

Harris County Public Defender’s Office
Jani Maselli Wood is board certified in criminal appellate law, a former staff attorney at the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, and author of O’Connor’s Texas Criminal Offenses and Defenses.

Anonymous Members

Anonymous members from industry and government.

CRASA Alumni

Eugenia Artabe

PhD Candidate, UH Political Science

Eugenia Artabe

PhD Candidate, UH Political Science
Eugenia Artabe is a graduate student in the Department of Political Science. She holds a bachelor degree in law, and a master degree in Constitutional Law and Human Rights. Her research interests focus on courts, judicial behavior, human rights, and institutions.

Furkan Gürsoy

UH Computer Science

Furkan Gürsoy

UH Computer Science
<span class="text-base-md-lh">Dr. Gürsoy is currently a Post-doctoral Fellow at the University of Houston and working on accountability, transparency, and fairness of artificial intelligence systems. </span><span class="text-base-md-lh"> He formerly held a visiting researcher position at IMT Atlantique and taught courses at Boğaziçi University, Abdullah Gül University, and Sabancı University. He has several years of industry experience.</span> <span class="text-base-md-lh">He received BSc and PhD in Management Information Systems from Bogazici University, Turkey and MSc in Data Science from Istanbul Şehir University, Turkey. He received the PhD Thesis Award at Bogazici University.</span> <span class="text-base-md-lh">Dr. Gürsoy is an internationally published researcher with publications in peer-reviewed journals published by Oxford University Press, IEEE, and Elsevier. His research interests include complex systems, network science, and machine learning and simulation.</span>

Lucia Lopez

PhD Student, UH Political Science

Lucia Lopez

PhD Student, UH Political Science
Lucia Lopez is an attorney and PhD Student in the Department of Political Science at the University of Houston. Previously, she earned her Juris Doctor degree from Cleveland State University, magna cum laude. She is interested in studying state courts and state policy. While at the University of Houston, Lucia has served as a Research Assistant for Dr. Ryan Kennedy and Dr. Lydia Tiede and earned APSA's Spring Diversity Fellowship.

Myriam Shiran

PhD Candidate, UH Political Science

Myriam Shiran

PhD Candidate, UH Political Science
Myriam Shiran is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Political Science and a member of the Machine-Assisted Human Decision-making (MAHD) Lab at the University of Houston.