NAAI Announces Distinguished Artificial Intelligence Scholar Award Laureates (2026)
The National Academy of Artificial Intelligence (NAAI) is pleased to announce the NAAI Distinguished Artificial Intelligence Scholar Award.
This prestigious award recognizes internationally renowned scholars whose research has made significant and sustained contributions to the advancement of artificial intelligence, including foundational theory, intelligent systems, robotics, machine learning, natural language processing, and interdisciplinary AI innovation.
The award honors individuals whose work has shaped the scientific foundations, technological development, and global impact of artificial intelligence.
The laureates will be formally recognized at the NAAI Annual Conference, to be held in Singapore from May 3–5, 2026, where award recipients will be invited to participate in the ceremony and deliver academic presentations.
The National Academy of Artificial Intelligence congratulates the following distinguished scholars for their outstanding contributions to the global AI research community.
Global Laureates 2026 (Final List)
| No. | Name | Institution | Country / Region |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Albert Zomaya | The University of Sydney | Australia |
| 2 | Franck Leprevost | University of Luxembourg | Luxembourg |
| 3 | Sun Fuchun | Tsinghua University | China |
| 4 | Ashish Ghosh | Indian Statistical Institute | India |
| 5 | Elad Hazan | Princeton University | USA |
| 6 | Michael N. Katehakis | Rutgers University | USA |
| 7 | Piotr Sankowski | University of Warsaw | Poland |
| 8 | Chenguang (Charlie) Yang | The Hong Kong Polytechnic University | Hong Kong, China |
| 9 | Sohail Nadeem | Quaid-i-Azam University | Pakistan |
| 10 | Chai Yang | The Hong Kong Polytechnic University | Hong Kong, China |
| 11 | Wen-Jung Li | City University of Hong Kong | Hong Kong, China |
| 12 | Mausam | Indian Institute of Technology Delhi | India |
| 13 | Fausto Giunchiglia | University of Trento | Italy |
| 14 | Mona Diab | Carnegie Mellon University | USA |
| 15 | Vassilis S. Kouikoglou | Technical University of Crete | Greece |
| 16 | Witold Pedrycz | University of Alberta | Canada |
| 17 | Bidyut B. Chaudhuri | Indian Statistical Institute | India |
| 18 | Bhargab B. Bhattacharya | Indian Statistical Institute | India |
| 19 | Benjamin Kuipers | University of Michigan | USA |
| 20 | Endre Pap | University of Novi Sad | Serbia |
| 21 | Bidyadhar Subudhi | Indian Institute of Technology Goa | India |
| 22 | Christoph Meinel | German University of Digital Science | Germany |
| 23 | Yves Demazeau | Université Grenoble Alpes | France |
| 24 | Joel J. P. C. Rodrigues | Federal University of Piauí | Brazil |
| 25 | Dorin Comaniciu | Siemens Healthineers | USA |
| 26 | Venkata Dinavahi | University of Alberta | Canada |
| 27 | Richa Singh | Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur | India |
| 28 | Valentine P. Ananikov | Russian Academy of Sciences | Russia |
| 29 | Neil Siegel | Northrop Grumman | USA |
| 30 | Marwan A. Simaan | University of Pittsburgh | USA |
| 31 | Thomas Zimmermann | University of California, Irvine | USA |
| 32 | Santokh S. Badesha | Purdue University | USA |
| 33 | Satoshi Nakamura | Nara Institute of Science and Technology | Japan |
| 34 | Nouh Alhindawi | Applied AI Researcher | Jordan |
| 35 | Premkumar T. Devanbu | University of California, Davis | USA |
| 36 | Timothy M. Pinkston | University of Southern California | USA |
| 37 | Song Guo | The University of Hong Kong | Hong Kong, China |
| 38 | Tanja Schultz | University of Bremen | Germany |
| 39 | Steven Pinker | Harvard University | USA |
| 40 | Wan Choi | Seoul National University | South Korea |
| 41 | Steven A. Sloman | Brown University | USA |
| 42 | Rajiv Ranjan | Newcastle University | United Kingdom |
About NAAI
The National Academy of Artificial Intelligence (NAAI) is an international academic organization dedicated to advancing the science and responsible development of artificial intelligence. Through global collaboration, academic recognition, and interdisciplinary research initiatives, NAAI promotes innovation, knowledge exchange, and the responsible deployment of AI technologies worldwide.
（Due to a staffing error, one person was missing, but it has now been supplemented）