AI4OPT researchers Changkun Guan and Thomas Bruys were selected to serve as judges for the HerWILL and University of Asia Pacific Datathon Research Expo 2.0, an international competition challenging students to develop AI and natural language processing solutions using real-world social media data.

Guan, whose research focuses on operations research, optimization, and mathematical modeling, and Bruys, whose expertise includes machine learning, generative AI, natural language processing, and optimization, evaluated student projects and shared their expertise with participants. As judges, they helped assess emerging AI solutions developed by students from around the world, demonstrating how AI4OPT researchers are contributing not only to breakthrough research, but also to developing the next generation of leaders in artificial intelligence.