AIRi@UTCN welcomes Fulbright U.S. Scholar Prof. Mihai Surdeanu
AIRi@UTCN is pleased to welcome Prof. Mihai Surdeanu, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Arizona, who is joining the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca as a Fulbright U.S. Scholar during the September-December 2026.
Prof. Surdeanu’s Fulbright visit will combine research collaboration and teaching. During his time in Cluj-Napoca, he will work with researchers from the Computer Science Department and AIRi@UTCN on the development of new large language models capable of understanding and meaningfully participating in complex debates. This line of research has the potential to strengthen AI-supported decision-making in critical domains such as healthcare and public policy.
As part of his academic activities at UTCN, Prof. Surdeanu will also teach the Natural Language Processing master's course for students in the Data Science and Artificial Intelligence and Vision study tracks at the Computer Science Department.
Prof. Surdeanu is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Arizona, with additional academic affiliations in Cognitive Science and the BIO5 Institute. His research focuses on natural language processing, artificial intelligence, machine reasoning and interpretable AI, with particular interest in developing computational systems that can extract and reason over meaning expressed in natural language.
Before joining the University of Arizona, he was a research scientist in the Natural Language Processing group at Stanford University and Chief Scientist at Lex Machina. His research has been supported by major U.S. government agencies, including DARPA, NIH and NSF, as well as private research organizations and foundations.
In 2026, Prof. Surdeanu was selected as a Fulbright U.S. Scholar for Romania for the 2026–2027 academic year, with the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca as his host university. The Fulbright award supports international academic exchange through research and teaching and provides an important framework for expanding research collaboration between UTCN, AIRi@UTCN and the University of Arizona.
AIRi@UTCN warmly welcomes Prof. Mihai Surdeanu to its research community and looks forward to the collaborations and exchanges generated during his Fulbright semester in Cluj-Napoca.