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Professor Vana Kalogeraki Athens University, Greece Rethinking Middleware for Distributed AI |
Time & Venue
9:00 - 10:00, 18 December 2026 (Friday)
Forum Room
Abstract
The technology ecosystem is undergoing a profound transformation. Innovations in cloud, Internet of Things (IoT), and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are enabling groundbreaking applications that enhance quality of life and empower smarter decision-making. As these technologies continue to evolve, they open up new opportunities while placing increasing demands on the underlying computing infrastructure. In this talk, we will explore recent developments and emerging research challenges in designing middleware for distributed AI.
We will discuss how advances in middleware can address the growing demands of AI applications, focusing on resource management, adaptability, scalability, efficiency, and reliability across heterogeneous computing environments. Finally, we will outline open challenges and research opportunities that will shape the next generation of middleware systems.
Biography
Dr. Vana Kalogeraki is the Dean of the School of Information Sciences and Technology, a Professor at the Department of Informatics and a Director of the Computer Systems and Communications Laboratory at Athens University of Economics and Business. Previously she has held positions as an Associate and Assistant Professor at the Department of Computer Science at the University of California, Riverside and as a Research Scientist at Hewlett-Packard Labs in Palo Alto, CA. She received her PhD from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her research focuses on distributed and real-time systems, cloud and edge computing, big data, human-centric systems, resource management and fault-tolerance. She has over 30 years of research experience and has authored more than 200 publications in international journals and conferences. Prof. Kalogeraki has been invited to give keynote talks and serve in leadership roles at major international conferences, including General co-Chair of EuroSys 2024 and MDM 2021 and Program co-Chair of MDM 2025, Middleware 2019 and ACM DEBS 2016, among others. She was awarded an ERC Starting Independent Researcher Grant, a Marie Curie Fellowship, best paper awards (DEBS 2017, IPDPS 2009, SAINT 2008), a best technical paper award (PETRA 2018), a best student paper award (SAINT 2011), best poster awards (MDM 2026, EuroSys 2024), a research award from AUEB, a UC Regents Fellowship Award, UC Academic Senate Research Awards, a research award from HP Labs and awards for excellence in teaching (2018-2019). Her research has been supported by the European Union, joint EU/Greek "Aristeia" grant, a joint EU/Greek "Thalis" grant, NSF and gifts from SUN and Nokia.