Matheus Kunzler Maldaner
M.S. Student (AI Systems + HCI)
I am a first-year master's student at the University of Florida in the M.S. AI Systems Program originally from Brazil. I am passionate about Neurosymbolic AI and Human-Computer Interaction. My research spans Differentiable Logic Gate Networks at the Florida Institute for National Security, Auditing Text-to-Image Model Outputs at Carnegie Mellon University and Designing Longer Running Agentic Systems with the Microsoft Research AI Frontiers group.
Florida Institute for National Security
Carnegie Mellon University
Microsoft Research AI Frontiers groupEducation
Aug. 2025 — Present
M.S. in AI Systems
University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
GPA: 4.0/4.0
UF Early Career HiPerGator Award
UF Graduate Student Mentoring Award
Aug. 2021 — May. 2025
B.S. in Data Science
University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
Thesis: Applications of Differentiable Logic Gate Networks
GPA: 3.9/4.0, Summa Cum Laude
UF Hall of Fame
UF Outstanding Scholars and Leaders Award
Aug. 2017 — May. 2021
Research Experience
May 2026 — Present
FuguUX, Pittsburgh, PA
Research Intern
Mentor:
Dr. Jason Hong
Building UXScore, an AI-judged UX benchmarking platform, across the capture, consensus-judging, and live-scoring pipeline.
Summer 2025 — Apr. 2026
Microsoft Research, Redmond, WA
Research Intern, AI Frontier Group
Worked on enabling Agentic Systems to perform longer running tasks, and on the development on SentinelBench.
Summer 2024 — May 2025
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
Research Intern, Human Computer Interaction Institute
Developing tools to audit text-to-image models.
Fall 2023 — Present
University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
Research Assistant, Florida Institute for National Security
Working on the application and optimization of Differentiable Logic Gate Networks.
Leadership Experience
Fall 2023 — May 2026
UF Data Science and Informatics, Gainesville, FL
President
Oversaw an executive board of 30 students. Partnered with NVIDIA and 8 UF departments. Secured $20K+ in funding. Hosted workshops reaching 1,000+ students. Funded 168 students to hackathons. Grew Discord from 300 to 2,100 members. Awarded UF Organization of the Year.
Fall 2024 — Present
IEEE Signal Processing Society at UF, Gainesville, FL
Co-Founder & Vice-President
Co-founded the UF chapter of the IEEE Signal Processing Society.
Fall 2024 — May 2026
Fall 2023 — Spring 2024
UF American Statistical Association (ASA) Chapter, Gainesville, FL
Vice President
Created a mentorship program to pair 60 students to mentors.
2018 — 2021
Marjory's Garden, Parkland, FL
President
Led Marjory's Garden organization during high school achieving 1000+ volunteering hours.
2020 — 2021
National Honor Society, Parkland, FL
President
Served as President of the National Honor Society chapter and delivered the Pledge of Allegiance.
2020 — 2021
Mu Alpha Theta Calculus Team, Parkland, FL
Captain
Led the Mu Alpha Theta Calculus competition team and hosted practice sessions.
Honors and Awards
2026
Awarded the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, providing three years of funding ($37,000 annual stipend plus tuition) for graduate research. Currently on reserve while applying to PhD programs; activates upon PhD enrollment.
2026
Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting
Selected to join the 600-student cohort attending the 75th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings in Germany. Also chosen as 1 of 25 students for the preparatory Lindau Spring Meeting at Texas A&M.
2026
For excellence in mentoring dozens of students through roles as President of DSI, VP of IEEE Signal Processing Society, and Co-Director of Research at UF AI Club.
2025
As the only Master's student recipient for my work on optimizing Differentiable Logic Gate Networks.
2025
1 of 200 young researchers selected to attend the annual Heidelberg Laureate Forum with Nobel Laureates and Fields Medalists.
2025
ITNG Best Student Paper Award
For my work with Stephen Wormald on ExpLogic, focusing on the explainability of Differentiable Logic Gate Networks
2025
UF CLAS Excellence Award Finalist
1 of 12 finalists for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Excellence Award.
2025
UF Outstanding Leader Award
1 of 7 graduating seniors for my leadership as President of the Data Science and Informatics Student Organization.
2025
Awarded to the Data Science and Informatics (DSI) Student Organization during my time as President among 1000+ UF Organizations
2025
Awarded to the Data Science and Informatics (DSI) Student Organization during my time as President for outstanding career development initiatives.
2025
UF REPU Scholar
Research Excellence Program for Undergraduates recognizing my research contributions in AI.
2025
1 of 25 students inducted into the University of Florida Hall of Fame for outstanding academic and leadership achievements.
2025
UF Summa Cum Laude Honors Thesis
Completed honors thesis with distinction, unanimously approved with no revisions.
2024
UF William G. Cross Award Finalist
As 1 of 3 students recognized for excellence in scholarship, leadership, and service to the University of Florida.
2021 — 2025
UF Dean's Honor List
For achieving a semester GPA of 3.75 or higher on all semesters during my undergraduate degree
Publications
9
Microsoft Research AI Frontiers (arXiv preprint) (arXiv). 2026.
C8
AAAI MAKE 2026 (AAAI MAKE). 2026.
7
arXiv preprint (arXiv). 2026.
6
Microsoft Research AI Frontiers (arXiv preprint) (arXiv). 2025.
C5
ACM CI. 2025.
C4
ITNG. 2025.
C3
HCOMP. 2024.
J2
Springer AI. 2024.
1
Undergraduate Thesis, University of Florida (UF Thesis). 2025.
Selected Projects [Full list]Full list at matheus.wiki
2026
Anki on My Wrist
· Personal
System to review Anki flashcards on a Garmin watch, a desktop overlay, and a ChatGPT integration, all from a single self-hosted API bridge.
2025
MIRAGE
· Research
· CI'25 & HCOMP'24
Multi-model Interface for Reviewing & Auditing Generative Text-to-Image AI — a platform enabling side-by-side comparison of T2I models to study how comparative auditing changes bias detection strategies.
2025
Plato's Cave
· UF Gator Hack IV
· 1st Place Overall
AI-powered research verification tool that verifies paper claims using AI agents and knowledge graphs.
2025
Magentic-UI
· Work
· 10k+ GitHub Stars
Human-in-the-loop agentic system for web automation that enables users to co-plan, co-task, and maintain control over AI agents through action guards and transparent execution.
Hackathons and Competitions
2026
UF SwampHacks XI
— FortBox
Best Use of MongoDB
Competitive 1v1 Fortnite-style building game on Roblox with ELO matchmaking and AI coaching.
2026
NASA GeoEMERGE
— Mosquito Tracker
Best App Improvement Track
Ultra-light, low-bandwidth citizen science app for GLOBE Observer mosquito habitat protocols, designed for areas with slow or no internet connectivity.
2026
SHPE Code for Change 2026
— DashBlox
AI game production dashboard combining mesh generation, SFX creation, project management, and documentation.
2026
NexHacks
— TheLearningCompany
AI-powered learning platform that monitors study sessions and generates quizzes and flashcards.
2025
UF Gator Create 2025
— Digital Art Competition
Won 3 of 7 Tracks
2025
Microsoft Intern Puzzle Day
— Puzzle Hunt
Fastest Solver
2025
UF Gator Hack IV
— Plato's Cave
1st Place Overall
AI-powered research verification tool that verifies paper claims using AI agents and knowledge graphs.
2025
UF SwampHacks X
— DiffLogic Visualizer
Best AI Hack
Interactive tool for visualizing Differentiable Logic Gate Networks and their decision paths.
2025
UF DataFest 2025
— ASA DataFest
Best Visualization
Weekend-long data analysis competition analyzing real-world datasets.
2024
UF Gator Create 2024
— Digital Art Competition
2nd Place Overall
2024
USCLAP 2024
— Data Analysis Presentation
2nd Place Overall
2024
UF Gator Hack III
— EcoLogic
Most Popular
Implemented Differentiable Logic Gate Networks on FPGAs for increased inference speeds and reduction in power consumption.
2024
ShellHacks 2024
— DinoJourney
Most Popular
Mobile mental health companion app that pairs users with a supportive dinosaur pet, promoting well-being without guilt.
2024
UF DataFest 2024
— ASA DataFest
1st Place Overall
Data analysis presentation using CourseKata data for UF's largest Data Science competition.
2024
OSC MiniHack
— DinoDetect
2nd Place Overall and Best AI Hack
Discord bot using sentiment analysis to detect toxicity in server communications.
2023
UF Gator Hack II
— AdapTree
AI-powered educational platform that creates personalized learning pathways.
Press
Jun 2026
"EEd's Maldaner wins an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship," UF Department of Engineering Education
Mar 2026
"UF Data Science & Informatics Competed at Hacklytics," UF Department of Statistics
Apr 2026
Apr 2026
"How the University of Florida Prepares Students for the Age of AI," The New York Times
Jan 2026
"'On the right track': Student AI researcher wins HiPerGator Award," UF Electrical & Computer Engineering
Oct 2025
"Matheus Kunzler Maldaner Wins HiPerGator Early Career Award," University of Florida AI² Center
Oct 2025
"UF's Maldaner mixes and mingles with global AI experts," UF Department of Engineering Education
Oct 2025
"FINS Team Wins 1st Place @ UF AI Days," Florida Institute for National Security
Jun 2025
"UF AI Scholar Matheus Kunzler Maldaner," University of Florida AI² Center
May 2025
"Matheus Kunzler Maldaner Biography," UF Center for Undergraduate Research
Jun 2025
"Knowledge Should Be Accessible To All," UF Research Computing
Mar 2025
"Parkland's Matheus Kunzler Maldaner Named to UF Hall of Fame," Parkland Talk
Apr 2025
"DSI Wins Org of the Year," UF Artificial Intelligence and Informatics Research Institute
Mar 2025
"Maldaner inducted in the UF Hall of Fame," UF Artificial Intelligence and Informatics Research Institute
Sep 2024
"What has UF been doing with AI so far?," The Independent Florida Alligator
Apr 2025
"Third annual DataFest brings together students from across UF," UF Public Health & Health Professions
Nov 2024
"HCOMP 2024 - HCII coverage," CMU Human Computer Interaction Institute
Apr 2024
"A whirlwind of big data - DataFest 2024 recap," UF Public Health & Health Professions
Mentoring
2024 — Present
UF Undergraduate Student, Information Systems and Operations Management
I met Maryam through the SHPE mentorship program back when she was still a DS major.
2025 — Present
UF Undergraduate Student, Data Science
I met Jaime during my time as President of DSI, where Jaime now serves as the technology coordinator.
2025 — Present
UF Undergraduate Student, Computer Science
I met Ethan during the 2025 OSC MiniHack where he and his team won 2nd place for PosturePal.
2025 — Present
UF Undergraduate Student, Biomedical Engineering
I met Luana 19 years ago when my parents decided they wanted another child, and we have stayed close.
2025 — Present
Georgia Tech Undergraduate Student, Computer Science
I met Aamogh in the DSI Discord server when he was planned to transfer to UF from UCF. He ended up going to Georgia Tech...
2025 — Present
UF Undergraduate Student, Computer Science and Anthropology
I met Raúl through LinkedIn when talking about the CMU REU. He just gifted me a (much needed) laptop stand to help my posture.
2025 — Present
UF Undergraduate Student, Data Science
I met Anh at DSI study hours and he now serves as one of our Workshop Coordinators!
2026 — Present
UF Computer Science Graduate
I met Jhonathan when he and his team won the Best AI Project award at SASEHacks 2026, which I volunteered to judge as President of DSI.
2025 — Present
UF Undergraduate Student, Computer Science and Mathematics
I met Pranav through hackathons, where we have teamed up at SwampHacks X and NexHacks, and he co-authored Plato's Cave with me at AAAI MAKE 2026.
Service
Organizer
UF AI2 Summit
(AI2 Summit) at University of Florida
2025
Reviewer
ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
(CHI) at ACM SIGCHI
2025
SEA Workshop @ NeurIPS
(SEA) at NeurIPS
2025
AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society
(AIES-25) at AAAI & ACM
2025
Institutional
UF SASE — SASEHacks 2026 (Judge), March 2026
IEEE EMBS at UF — Cancer/Mental Health Awareness Design-a-thon (Judge), October 2025
Member
2025 — Present
Association for Computer Machinery (ACM)
2024 — Present
IEEE Signal Processing Society (IEEE SPS)
2024 — Present
Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
2024 — Present
ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (SIGCHI)
2024 — Present
Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI)
2024 — Present
National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE)
2023 — Present
Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE)
2023 — 2024
American Statistical Association (ASA)
Grants and Funding
2026
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (GRFP)
— $111,000
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship providing three years of stipend support ($37,000/year) plus tuition. Currently on reserve pending PhD enrollment.
2021 — 2025
Florida Bright Futures Scholarship
— $25,600
Merit-based scholarship covering full tuition for Florida residents.
2024
Hispanic Scholarship Fund
— $1,000
Selected as a scholar for the Hispanic Scholarship Fund.
2024
UF Joe Glover Data Science Scholarship
— $1,000
Awarded annually to one Data Science major demonstrating excellence.
2024
UF AI Scholar
— $1,750
Stipend and opportunity to collaborate in AI research.
2024
UF University Scholar
— $1,750
Recognized as a University Scholar for academic excellence, a superset of the UF AI Scholar program.
2024
FGLSAMP Scholar
— $1,500
Financial support and research opportunities for underrepresented minority students in STEM.
2024
Apple Pathways Alliance Fellow
Selected for Apple's inaugural program for students pursuing higher education.
2025
NSF Travel Award
— $1,200
To present first-author demo paper at HCOMP 2024.
2025
FGLSA Travel Support
— $1,000
To present work on Differentiable Logic Gate Networks at ITNG 2025.
2025
ITIAS Hack Space Con Scholarship
— $750
Scholarship to attend Hack Space Con and tour Kennedy Space Center.
2024
FURC Travel Award
— $250
To present first poster on Neurosymbolic AI at Florida Undergraduate Research Conference.
References
Dr. Damon L. Woodard, Professor; Director, Florida Institute for National Security
Florida Institute for National Security (FINS), ECE
University of Florida
Dr. Jason I. Hong, Professor Emeritus
Human-Computer Interaction Institute
Carnegie Mellon University
Dr. Adam Fourney, Senior Principal Researcher
AI Frontiers
Microsoft Research
Dr. Cátia Silva, Instructional Associate Professor
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering
University of Florida
Dr. Elizabeth Johnson, Associate Instructional Professor
Department of Statistics
University of Florida