University of Central Florida

Ivan I. Garibay

Artificial Intelligence · Complex Systems · Research Translation

Google ScholarORCIDNCTICASL LabM.S. Data AnalyticsUCF Profile
Portrait of Ivan I. Garibay
129+
Peer-reviewed publications
3,019+
Citations (Google Scholar)
27
h-index
$36.8M
Research funding (PI/Co-PI)
240
M.S. Data Analytics graduates
16
Doctoral students advised

About

Ivan Garibay is a Professor of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems at the University of Central Florida and a national leader in technology commercialization and research translation. He directs the Complex Adaptive Systems Laboratory and is Principal Investigator of the $20M NSF National Commercialization and Translation Institute (NCTI) and the $6M NSF Accelerating Research Translation (ART) award. His research applies artificial intelligence across the cure and eradication of disease (biomolecular foundation models and AI co-scientists), inverse generative social science, trustworthy AI, and innovation ecosystems. He was recently elected to the Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine of Florida and named a 2026 UCF Luminary.

Research

Inverse Generative Social Science

Inferring the cognitive and behavioral mechanisms behind social phenomena directly from large-scale human data, by letting evolutionary search and agent-based models discover theories rather than hand-specifying them. Named in the 2026 ASEMFL election.

AI for the Cure of Disease

Foundation models for DNA, RNA, mRNA, and proteins, including a genetic-code-equivariant mRNA encoding, plus machine learning for gene regulation and molecular binding. Translated to practice through DeepBio Scientific.

AI for Social Resilience

Computational models of how information and disinformation spread, amplify, and polarize online, and countermeasures tested against them. Built under DARPA SocialSim and featured on NBC's Tonight Show, the LA Times, and IEEE Spectrum.

Innovation Ecosystems and Research Translation

Scholarship on how innovation ecosystems form and how research becomes economic impact, the foundation for leading UCF I-Corps, the $6M NSF ART award, and the $20M NSF NCTI.

Human-Centered and Trustworthy AI

Defining and operationalizing fair, interpretable, and trustworthy AI for high-stakes settings, from the field-defining Six HCAI Grand Challenges agenda to methods that balance fairness with accuracy and steer trained policies without retraining.

Highlights

  • Principal Investigator, $20M NSF National Commercialization and Translation Institute (NCTI)
  • Elected to the Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine of Florida (ASEMFL), 2026
  • 2026 UCF Luminary Award
  • Principal Investigator, $6M NSF Accelerating Research Translation (ART)
  • Founder & CEO, DeepBio Scientific, Inc.
  • Founding Director, M.S. in Data Analytics (240 alumni; $1.2M/yr)
  • Invited U.S. Congressional testimony on AI, the economy and jobs
  • Research featured on NBC's Tonight Show, the LA Times, and IEEE Spectrum

Selected publications

All 170 publications →
2026
Jayalath, Chathura, Rand, William, Garibay, Ivan. Measuring Equifinality: Conformal Rule Identification in Agent-Based Models. Proceedings of the Conference of the Computational Social Science Society of the Americas (CSSSA), Santa Fe, NM
2023
Gunaratne, Chathika, Hatna, Erez, Epstein, Joshua M., Garibay, Ivan. Generating Mixed Patterns of Residential Segregation: An Evolutionary Approach. Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation
2026
Yazdani-Jahromi, Mehdi, Garibay, Ozlem Ozmen, Khodabandeh Yalabadi, Ali, Garibay, Ivan. Protein Translation Equivariant Encoding for mRNA Language Models. U.S. Non-Provisional Patent Application No. 19/727,645
2026
Mishra, Siddhi Kanta, Rahimimovassagh, Maryam, Yousefi, Niloofar, Garibay, Ivan. From Edge Detection to Regulatory Logic Discovery: Residual Set Models for Exact Regulator Recovery in Gene Regulatory Networks. Machine Learning for Genomics Explorations (MLGenX) Workshop, ICLR 2026
2019
Garibay, Ivan, Mantzaris, Alexander, Rajabi, Amirarsalan, Taylor, Cameron E.. Polarization in social media assists influencers to become more influential: analysis and two inoculation strategies. Scientific Reports
2020
Rajabi, Amirarsalan, Gunaratne, Chathika, Mantzaris, Alexander V., Garibay,. Modeling Disinformation and the Effort to Counter It: A Cautionary Tale of When the Treatment Can Be Worse Than the Disease. Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Autonomous Agents and MultiAgent Systems
2016
Lasrado, Vernet, Sivo, Stephen, Ford, Cameron, O’Neal, Thomas, Garibay, Ivan. Do graduated university incubator firms benefit from their relationship with university incubators?. Journal of Technology Transfer
2024
Hanin Alhaddad, Seyyedmilad Talebzadehhosseini, Ivan Garibay. Accelerating green growth: The effect of technological innovation on production capabilities spillovers in developing economies. Journal of Cleaner Production
2023
Ozlem Ozmen Garibay, Brent Winslow, Salvatore Andolina, Margherita Antona, Anja Bodenschatz, Constantinos Coursaris, Gregory Falco, Stephen M. Fiore, Garibay, Ivan, Keri Grieman, John C. Havens, Marina Jirotka, Hernisa Kacorri, Waldemar Karwowski, Joe Kider, Joseph Konstan, Sean Koon, Monica Lopez-Gonzalez, Iliana Maifeld-Carucci, Sean McGregor, Gavriel Salvendy, Ben Shneiderman, Constantine Stephanidis, Christina Strobel, Carolyn Ten Holter, Wei Xu. Six Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence Grand Challenges. International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction
2024
Yazdani-Jahromi, Mehdi, Yalabadi, Ali Khodabandeh, Rajabi, AmirArsalan, Tayebi, Aida, Garibay, Ivan, Garibay, Ozlem Ozmen. Fair Bilevel Neural Network (FairBiNN): On Balancing fairness and accuracy via Stackelberg Equilibrium. Part of Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS 2024)

Honors & recognition

  • 2026Elected Associate Member, Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine of Florida (ASEMFL)
  • 2026UCF Luminary Award
  • 2026UCF Teaching Incentive Program (TIP) Award
  • 2025Outstanding Educator Award, IEOM Society International
  • 2023Outstanding Professor Award, IEOM Society International
  • 2022Research Incentive Award, University of Central Florida
  • 2019Best Paper Award, Computational Social Science Society of the Americas
  • 2017Invited Congressional Testimony, U.S. Congress (AI Opportunities and Challenges Forum)