Prof. Pietro Cipresso, FPsyS, CStat, CSci, PhD, Director of the School, Assistant Professor in Psychometrics at Catholic University of Milan. Cipresso, has coordinated and coinvestigated several National, European and International Projects and has been Visiting Researcher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA, USA, and at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. He is the unit team leader of an EU Project (BodyPass: API-ecosystem for cross-sectorial exchange of 3D personal data) and Principal Investigator of PIT project [ITALY-ISRAEL 2019 cooperation Project] funded by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, about the use of computational and psychophysiological measures on PTSD. Cipresso is the Chief Editor for Frontiers in Quantitative Psychology and Measurement (for both Frontiers in Psychology and Frontiers in Applied Mathematics and Statistics). IF: 2.463, Q1. In this role (jointly with Prof. Immekus), he is managing a Board of 300 Editors. Graduated in Economics (Bocconi University), Psychology (Padua University), and Statistics (Bocconi University, titled GradStat of the Royal Statistical Society) and with a PhD in Communication and new technologies, major in Psychology (IULM University). Granted the prestigious status of Chartered Statistician (CStat) by the Royal Statistical Society, awarded Chartered Scientist (CSci) by Science Council; elected Fellow of the Psychonomic Society (FPsyS); Elected member of the Steering Committee (2018–20) of the Society for Computers in Psychology; Nominated Italian Delegate at NATO for three Panel: Leveraging Technology in Military Mental Health, Biomedical Bases of Mental Fatigue and Military Fatigue Countermeasures and Cognitive Neuroenhancement: Techniques and Technology. Author in the last four years of more than 100 scientific publications and books like "Emerging Trends in Computational Psychometrics," (forthcoming) "Modeling Emotions at the Edge of Chaos," "Computing Paradigms for Mental Health," "The Psychology of Social Networking," and "Virtual Reality: Technologies, Medical Applications and Challenges." In September 2012, Cipresso was awarded with the Canada Research Chair in Clinical Cyberpsychology New Investigator Award, sponsored by the Université du Québec, Outaouais, Canada and in 2015 Intel has awarded his project (NeuroActivity project) in the top 50 projects among 8.000 from 37 Countries in the World. Cipresso is also one of the most active Reviewers in the world (source: Publons). Cipresso is ranked 8th worldwide for number of publication in the field of Virtual Reality in the last five years (source: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02086).
Dr. Alina Von Davier, ACT, Inc, ACT Senior Vice President and ACT Next Leader
ACT Senior Vice President, Alina von Davier, PhD., leads ACTNext, a multidisciplinary innovation unit founded in 2016 by ACT CEO Marten Roorda. Her team is comprised of experts in fields ranging from psychometrics and learning sciences to software development, and artificial intelligence (AI) & machine learning (ML). Von Davier and her team operate at the forefront of Computational Psychometrics, an emerging interdisciplinary field concerned with the application of theoretical and data-driven computational methods and statistical modeling of multimodal, large scale/high dimensional learning and assessment data. This unique approach allows von Davier and her colleagues at ACTNext to not only develop innovative solutions to challenging problems, but to change the very ways in which assessment is traditionally thought of. Her current research interests involve developing and adapting methodologies in support of learning in virtual environments that allow for collaboration using techniques incorporating machine learning, data mining, Bayesian inference methods, and stochastic processes.
Two publications, a co-edited volume on Computerized Multistage Testing (2014) and an edited volume on test equating, Statistical Models for Test Equating, Scaling, and Linking (2011) were selected as the winners of the Division D Significant Contribution to Educational Measurement and Research Methodology award at American Educational Research Association (AERA).? Additionally, she has written and/or co-edited five other books and volumes on statistic and psychometric topics. She has received significant grants and contracts as a Principal Investigator; funding sources have included the National Science Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the US Army Medical Research, and the Army Research Institute.
Prior to leading ACTNext, von Davier was a senior research director at Educational Testing Service (ETS) where she led the Computational Psychometrics Research Center. Previously, she led the Center for Psychometrics for International Tests, where she was responsible for both the psychometrics in support of international tests, TOEFL® and TOEIC®, and the scores reported to millions of test takers annually.
Von Davier is currently an adjunct professor at Fordham University and the vice president of the International Association of Computerized Adaptive Testing (IACAT). She currently serves on the board of directors for the Association of Test Publishers (ATP), and she is also a member of the board of directors for Smart Sparrow and of the advisory board for Duolingo.
She earned her doctorate in mathematics from Otto von Guericke University of Magdeburg, Germany, and her master of science degree in mathematics from the University of Bucharest, Romania.
Prof. Marco Innamorati, Università Europea di Roma, Associate Professor in Psychometrics
Prof. Elisa Pedroli, eCampus University, Associate Professor in Psychometrics
