Time:
Location:
Moderator: Mary Jean Blink
Chief Operating Officer, TutorGen, Inc.
Panelists: Kim Hunter, Kat Hollowel, Becky Blank
Each of the panelists works in the IT field, but also has a link to education. Panelist will provide a brief introduction of their career path and their link to education. There will be a short discussion of the importance of continuing education, especially in technology fields, and recommendations for recognizing opportunities and embracing technology shifts. Q&A by audience. Moderator will have some prepared questions for the panel.
Moderator: Pam Schmelz
Ivy Tech Community College
Panelists: John Knight, Dr. James Walden
This panel will give an overview of what it means to be a CAE2Y (Center of Academic Excellence for 2 Year Colleges). Some sample questions will be:
- Why would a school want to become a CAE2Y?
- What is the process to become a CAE2Y?
- What other communities do CAE2Y schools interact with (i.e. CyberWatch, NICE, etc)
Competitions will also be discussed. Four year universities realized that their students really didn’t know how to do anything, so the Collegiate Cyber-Defense competitions were created to give students the hands-on experience that industry wants to see of college graduates. The competition consists of a blue team and a red team. The blue team is made up of the college students who are tasked with hardening their networks and preventing the red team members from compromising servers and network devices. Smart Meters have been used in competitions, so it is not just limited to network and computing hardware. Along with CCDC, there is a competition called NetRiders that is specifically for Cisco Networking Academy students. This competition is open to all ages and tests Cisco networking configurations and knowledge.
Sara Miller
Global Marketing and Sales Leader, Cummins Inc.
My Career Journey, the ‘circuit’-ous route to embedded controls
A discussion of one career journey into computing. Sara Miller’s path from architectural engineering to embedded controls and ultimately management of electronics products is covered.
Students will be presenting their poster submissions at this time to a panel of judges and anyone else who is interested. Posters were submitted with the intention of sharing a research topic, internship experience, or other ideas about computer science and information technology. One undergraduate will be awarded the top prize.
Take a break and join us this afternoon for a light snack. Please make sure to visit the poster contest entries to see the exciting research that is happening in the tri-state area and encourage these women for all of their hard work.
Presented by: Pallavi Meharia
Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computing Systems at the University of Cincinnati
The Internet of Things is one the hottest buzzwords in the technology space right now, and is opening multiple application domains including and not limited to big data, smart cities, home automation, autonomous vehicles, smart-medical sensing, etc. While our world becomes more connected and more such devices find their way onto the Internet, we have to take a moment and evaluate its negative repercussions. This talk aims to do that. With this talk Pallavi will present her research and her findings in brief, while talking about the overall vulnerabilities presented in the wireless space. This talk will highlight upon the recent advances in the IoT world, and how such progress opens up new avenues for research and development.
Here, Pallavi hopes to touch upon the following topics:
- Explaining IoT and what that means for future connectivity
- Introducing security for wearable (medical) devices (on/inside body)
- Introducing biometric security solutions and real-time authentication based on physiological information collected from wearable devices
- Introducing security in home networks (personal area networks) and why we need it 5. Introducing security in connected and autonomous vehicles
- Introducing cloud storage security for enabling user information privacy
- Future of IoT and what that implies
Presented by: Mary Jean Blink
TutorGen, Inc.
TutorGen was awarded two National Science Foundation Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) and Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grants for our new software engine SCALE - Student Centered Adaptive Learning Engine. This new technology connects to new and existing computer-based training, providing automatic adaptive capabilities to improve learning outcomes by combining machine learning techniques including artificial intelligence algorithms and educational data mining. SCALE allows for the creation of intelligent tutoring systems in a cost-effective fashion in terms of time and effort by using existing data logs collected from educational systems to create the initial adaptivity and then improves over time as more data is collected and with the help of human input. SCALE will perform knowledge tracing and provide problem selection and just-in-time hint generation.
Moderator: Dr. Karen Davis
EECS faculty member /chapter advisor / founding advisor for UC ACM-W Chapter
Panelists: UC ACM-W Chapter Executive Board (2015 - 2016)
Developing an ACM-W student chapter has many obstacles; yet, the rewards exceed the many hurdles. In developing an ACM-W chapter at the University of Cincinnati (UC), the women in computing majors faced many challenges and successes. From proving that the organization was sustainable to the University’s Student Activities Board to facing obstacles with predominantly male engineering organizations, the women on this panel faced constant pressures to quit their dream of developing a ‘women in computing community’ at UC. Yet, through perseverance, they founded an ACM-W chapter at the University of Cincinnati, increased the women in CE/CS/EE percentage of enrollment for women and were also, able to help grow the philanthropy and community initiatives at the university, through collaborative partnerships.
During the panel discussion we will answer questions on the following topics through explaining our experiences in founding an award-winning ACM-W chapter:
- How to develop a foundation for a successful chapter
- Managing your university resources
- Overcoming challenges and obstacles
- Sustaining the ACM-W student chapter for future generations
Moderator: Brandi Neal
Northern Kentucky University
Panelists: Arching Iyer, Pallavi Mehari, Kirstin Yvonne Rozier, Cynthia Thomas
Have you considered graduate school? If yes or no, join us to hear from current graduate students and recent graduates about life in graduate school and their future career plans! As one friend called it, in tech it is the academic gravy train! It isn't just for academics!
Deb Agarwal
Senior Scientist, Berkeley Lab
Enabling Science Breakthroughs Using Computer Science
Understanding climate change, developing improved batteries, finding predicted particles, monitoring radioactivity in the aftermath of nuclear accidents, understanding genetic function, and saving endangered species are just a few of the areas where breakthroughs in computer science topics are enabling science breakthroughs. This talk will describe some of these science challenges and the role for computer science in helping to address these challenges. In a national laboratory environment, the focus is on team science and tackling challenges that require an integrated team of people from many disciplines. During my career at Lawrence Berkeley Lab, a US Department of Energy Laboratory, I have had the privilege of working on many science projects. In this talk I will describe some of the challenges we as computer scientists are helping to solve and some of the next challenges that need to be tackled.
Presented by: Bluegrass Community and Technical College
The NASA Kentucky Space Grant Consortium supports STEM education concentrating on areas of STEM which are of interest to NASA and Kentucky. The grant focuses on the recruitment and training of U.S. citizens, especially women, underrepresented groups, and persons with disabilities, for careers in aerospace science and technology. In the spring of 2015, NASA Kentucky expanded their reach to include community college students and Bluegrass Community and Technical College (BCTC) has had NASA Kentucky student teams since that time. One of the BCTC teams, a six-student NASA-KY Computer and Information Technologies (NASA-KY CIT) team, will share their experience in this session.
During the spring 2015 semester, the NASA-KY CIT team provided computing support for a NASA-KY weather satellite balloons team at BCTC and began work on a mobile app for all NASA-KY teams. During the fall 2015 semester, the NASA-KY CIT team continued work on the mobile app and researched drone technology. Six small inexpensive drones were purchased and students began clocking flight time as they learned more about pay loads and practical uses of drones in educational settings. For the current spring 2016 semester, a higher quality and more expensive drone will be purchased and students will learn to use advanced drone features, including infrared technology. This session will include a short demonstration of drones.
Moderator:
Andrea Kimberlin
Miss Kentucky International 2016
Panelists:
Gail Wells
Provost Emerita and Professor
Northern Kentucky University
Debbie Kramer
Sr. Director of Customer Insights
The Kroger Co.
Stacey Browning
Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer
Paycor
Lynne Miller
President of the Global Raytheon Women's Network
Raytheon
Join us for Geek Jewelry – Computer Key and Lego Earrings! Make your own!
CODE documentary exposes the dearth of female and minority software engineers and explores the reasons for this gender gap and digital divide. The film highlights breakthrough efforts that are producing more diverse programmers and shows how this critical gap can be closed. CODE asks: what would society gain from having more women and people of color code, and how do we get there?
Jennifer Marsman
Principal Developer Evangelist, Microsoft Corporation
Fun with Mind Reading: Using EEG and Azure Machine Learning to Perform Lie Detection
Today, we have the technology to “read minds” (well, EEG waves!). Using a headset from Emotiv, I’ve captured the big data stream of EEG coming out of our heads. In this session, I will show the detection of facial expressions and emotional state, and training a machine learning model to employ mental commands (making a virtual object move via thought). Then, I will walk through and share my results on a “lie detector” experiment comparing brain waves when telling the truth and lying. I have built classifiers based on the EEG data using Azure Machine Learning to predict whether a subject is telling the truth, which I will demonstrate. The effectiveness of multiple classifiers can be easily compared. This session will be a fun look inside your brain waves along with demonstrations of data processing, machine learning, and predictive analytics. Attendees will gain exposure to the Emotiv EPOC headset and Azure Machine Learning.
Moderator: Andrea Kimberlin
OBIA Technical Analyst, GE Appliance
Panelists: Suganthi Giridharan, Julie Hagan, Diana Tullio
Each panelist will provide a brief introduction of their current responsibilities. This panel will provide some different options for working with technology as well as various work environments. They may also provide some insights or suggestions for working in a predominantly male industry.
Presented by: Ambareen Siraj
Cybersecurity Education Research and Outreach Center, Tennessee Tech
Laptop will be required.
Presented by: Kelly Dolan
Ingage Partners
Kelly is a business executive for Ingage Partners (CEO/Owner), a company that delivers Management and Technology Consulting services to help clients successfully navigate business and technology change. Ingage aspires to bring a greater purpose to Consulting by crafting services that amaze our clients and passionate people who fuel positive change in our community. Our mission is to be a force of positive change - both in our business relationships and our community.
Kelly will talk about why they formed Ingage Partners as a B Corporation, explain what a B corporation is, and the Ingage approach to a purpose-driven business in the field of technology.
Kelly also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Pay It Forward Cincinnati, an organization that empowers people to use generosity, kindness, and love to bring positive change to Greater Cincinnati.
As another testament to Kelly and co-founder Michael Kroeger's commitment to using business as a force for good, they are launching a new business this spring. Thrive will use an Urban Impact Sourcing business model to change the socioeconomic trajectory of Cincinnati's most disadvantaged population.
Presented by: Pam Schmelz
Ivy Tech Community College
Security breaches are reported in the news every day. While those large breaches make headlines, the individual is just as responsible as businesses to keep personal data safe. In this presentation, you will learn about security industry trends, what the "bad guys" want from you, and how to protect yourself. This session is for everyone. We all have important data that needs to be kept safe.
Moderator: Priya Chawla
Panelists: Employees and leaders from Northrop Grumman Corporation
Corporate America consistently faces the challenge of overcoming the disappointing ratio of men to women in their software and hardware engineering organizations. According to the American Association of University Women, the percentage from entry into a computing major to professional employment decreased for women from 37% to 18% from 1985 to 2013.
As a company that fosters diversity, Northrop Grumman’s CEO, Wes Bush, recently addressed all the women of the SWE 2015 conference, “I can say that we are a better company due to the impact of the women engineers in our organization; including the women engineers who lead our business sectors, our programs and our key functions.” In order to increase this impact of advancing diversity in the workplace, Northrop Grumman has created many engineering resource groups (ERG’s) specific to employee interests. Among the many ERG’s are WINS and NGWE, two groups that enhance corporate communication between women in all fields of engineering. The main purpose of the two groups is to advance professionalism, networking and collaboration between women in the workplace and to build a sense of community for all employees.
In the panel, we plan to address the following questions and issues:
- How corporations and companies can start an Engineering Resource Group, while overcoming corporate barriers
- Planning networking events and meetings for NGWE/WINS members
- Enhancing collaboration between women and men in the workplace
- Serving the community and future generations of women in computing/engineering through NGWE/WINS activities
Chandra Krintz
Professor of Computer Science, University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB)
Co-founder and Chief Scientist, AppScale Systems, Inc.
Using IoT to turn Analytics into Farm Implements
The agriculture industry faces tremendous pressure to increase crop production and yields to meet future consumer demand for food. This problem is compounded by the population growth of the planet, severely limited natural resources (arable land and water), unpredictable weather patterns, the requirement of sustainability, and climate change, among other variables. In an effort to make farms more productive, growers are increasingly turning to environmental measurement and data analysis. Computing systems can automate this process to facilitate faster problem diagnosis, more accurate outcome prediction, and proactive decision making. Unfortunately, such systems to date have received little attention from the computer science research community and extant solutions are proprietary, complex, costly, or not widely available.
The goal of our work is to investigate a novel, unifying, and open approach to agriculture analytics and precision farming that leverages advances in the Internet of Things (IoT) as part of a holistic system called SmartFarm. SmartFarm integrates disparate environmental sensor technologies into an on-premise, private cloud software infrastructure that provides growers with a secure, easy to use, low-cost data analysis and visualization system. SmartFarm couples data from external sources (if/when available) with farm-local statistics, provides an interface into which custom analytics tools (from researchers, companies, or the growers themselves) can be easily and automatically deployed (think AppStore for precision farming apps), while ensuring that all data and analyses remain under the control of growers. SmartFarm enables growers to extract actionable insights from their data, to quantify the impact of their decisions and environmental changes, and to identify opportunities for increasing growers productivity.
Fri, Feb 19
Join in the fun, but don't forget to sign in first! Check in with our volunteers in the 2nd floor lobby to get more detailed information about this year's events.
Fri, Feb 19
Moderator: Mary Jean Blink
Chief Operating Officer, TutorGen, Inc.
Panelists: Kim Hunter, Kat Hollowel, Becky Blank
Each of the panelists works in the IT field, but also has a link to education. Panelist will provide a brief introduction of their career path and their link to education. There will be a short discussion of the importance of continuing education, especially in technology fields, and recommendations for recognizing opportunities and embracing technology shifts. Q&A by audience. Moderator will have some prepared questions for the panel.
Fri, Feb 19
Moderator: Pam Schmelz
Ivy Tech Community College
Panelists: John Knight, Dr. James Walden
This panel will give an overview of what it means to be a CAE2Y (Center of Academic Excellence for 2 Year Colleges). Some sample questions will be:
- Why would a school want to become a CAE2Y?
- What is the process to become a CAE2Y?
- What other communities do CAE2Y schools interact with (i.e. CyberWatch, NICE, etc)
Competitions will also be discussed. Four year universities realized that their students really didn’t know how to do anything, so the Collegiate Cyber-Defense competitions were created to give students the hands-on experience that industry wants to see of college graduates. The competition consists of a blue team and a red team. The blue team is made up of the college students who are tasked with hardening their networks and preventing the red team members from compromising servers and network devices. Smart Meters have been used in competitions, so it is not just limited to network and computing hardware. Along with CCDC, there is a competition called NetRiders that is specifically for Cisco Networking Academy students. This competition is open to all ages and tests Cisco networking configurations and knowledge.
Fri, Feb 19
Sara Miller
Global Marketing and Sales Leader, Cummins Inc.
My Career Journey, the ‘circuit’-ous route to embedded controls
A discussion of one career journey into computing. Sara Miller’s path from architectural engineering to embedded controls and ultimately management of electronics products is covered.
Fri, Feb 19
Fri, Feb 19
Take a break and join us this afternoon for a light snack. Please make sure to visit the poster contest entries to see the exciting research that is happening in the tri-state area and encourage these women for all of their hard work.
Fri, Feb 19
Presented by: Pallavi Meharia
Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computing Systems at the University of Cincinnati
The Internet of Things is one the hottest buzzwords in the technology space right now, and is opening multiple application domains including and not limited to big data, smart cities, home automation, autonomous vehicles, smart-medical sensing, etc. While our world becomes more connected and more such devices find their way onto the Internet, we have to take a moment and evaluate its negative repercussions. This talk aims to do that. With this talk Pallavi will present her research and her findings in brief, while talking about the overall vulnerabilities presented in the wireless space. This talk will highlight upon the recent advances in the IoT world, and how such progress opens up new avenues for research and development.
Here, Pallavi hopes to touch upon the following topics:
- Explaining IoT and what that means for future connectivity
- Introducing security for wearable (medical) devices (on/inside body)
- Introducing biometric security solutions and real-time authentication based on physiological information collected from wearable devices
- Introducing security in home networks (personal area networks) and why we need it 5. Introducing security in connected and autonomous vehicles
- Introducing cloud storage security for enabling user information privacy
- Future of IoT and what that implies
Fri, Feb 19
Presented by: Mary Jean Blink
TutorGen, Inc.
TutorGen was awarded two National Science Foundation Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) and Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grants for our new software engine SCALE - Student Centered Adaptive Learning Engine. This new technology connects to new and existing computer-based training, providing automatic adaptive capabilities to improve learning outcomes by combining machine learning techniques including artificial intelligence algorithms and educational data mining. SCALE allows for the creation of intelligent tutoring systems in a cost-effective fashion in terms of time and effort by using existing data logs collected from educational systems to create the initial adaptivity and then improves over time as more data is collected and with the help of human input. SCALE will perform knowledge tracing and provide problem selection and just-in-time hint generation.
Fri, Feb 19
Moderator: Dr. Karen Davis
EECS faculty member /chapter advisor / founding advisor for UC ACM-W Chapter
Panelists: UC ACM-W Chapter Executive Board (2015 - 2016)
Developing an ACM-W student chapter has many obstacles; yet, the rewards exceed the many hurdles. In developing an ACM-W chapter at the University of Cincinnati (UC), the women in computing majors faced many challenges and successes. From proving that the organization was sustainable to the University’s Student Activities Board to facing obstacles with predominantly male engineering organizations, the women on this panel faced constant pressures to quit their dream of developing a ‘women in computing community’ at UC. Yet, through perseverance, they founded an ACM-W chapter at the University of Cincinnati, increased the women in CE/CS/EE percentage of enrollment for women and were also, able to help grow the philanthropy and community initiatives at the university, through collaborative partnerships.
During the panel discussion we will answer questions on the following topics through explaining our experiences in founding an award-winning ACM-W chapter:
- How to develop a foundation for a successful chapter
- Managing your university resources
- Overcoming challenges and obstacles
- Sustaining the ACM-W student chapter for future generations
Fri, Feb 19
Moderator: Brandi Neal
Northern Kentucky University
Panelists: Arching Iyer, Pallavi Mehari, Kirstin Yvonne Rozier, Cynthia Thomas
Have you considered graduate school? If yes or no, join us to hear from current graduate students and recent graduates about life in graduate school and their future career plans! As one friend called it, in tech it is the academic gravy train! It isn't just for academics!
Fri, Feb 19
Deb Agarwal
Senior Scientist, Berkeley Lab
Enabling Science Breakthroughs Using Computer Science
Understanding climate change, developing improved batteries, finding predicted particles, monitoring radioactivity in the aftermath of nuclear accidents, understanding genetic function, and saving endangered species are just a few of the areas where breakthroughs in computer science topics are enabling science breakthroughs. This talk will describe some of these science challenges and the role for computer science in helping to address these challenges. In a national laboratory environment, the focus is on team science and tackling challenges that require an integrated team of people from many disciplines. During my career at Lawrence Berkeley Lab, a US Department of Energy Laboratory, I have had the privilege of working on many science projects. In this talk I will describe some of the challenges we as computer scientists are helping to solve and some of the next challenges that need to be tackled.
Fri, Feb 19
Presented by: Bluegrass Community and Technical College
The NASA Kentucky Space Grant Consortium supports STEM education concentrating on areas of STEM which are of interest to NASA and Kentucky. The grant focuses on the recruitment and training of U.S. citizens, especially women, underrepresented groups, and persons with disabilities, for careers in aerospace science and technology. In the spring of 2015, NASA Kentucky expanded their reach to include community college students and Bluegrass Community and Technical College (BCTC) has had NASA Kentucky student teams since that time. One of the BCTC teams, a six-student NASA-KY Computer and Information Technologies (NASA-KY CIT) team, will share their experience in this session.
During the spring 2015 semester, the NASA-KY CIT team provided computing support for a NASA-KY weather satellite balloons team at BCTC and began work on a mobile app for all NASA-KY teams. During the fall 2015 semester, the NASA-KY CIT team continued work on the mobile app and researched drone technology. Six small inexpensive drones were purchased and students began clocking flight time as they learned more about pay loads and practical uses of drones in educational settings. For the current spring 2016 semester, a higher quality and more expensive drone will be purchased and students will learn to use advanced drone features, including infrared technology. This session will include a short demonstration of drones.
Fri, Feb 19
Moderator:
Andrea Kimberlin
Miss Kentucky International 2016
Panelists:
Gail Wells
Provost Emerita and Professor
Northern Kentucky University
Debbie Kramer
Sr. Director of Customer Insights
The Kroger Co.
Stacey Browning
Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer
Paycor
Lynne Miller
President of the Global Raytheon Women's Network
Raytheon
Fri, Feb 19
Join us for Geek Jewelry – Computer Key and Lego Earrings! Make your own!
Fri, Feb 19
CODE documentary exposes the dearth of female and minority software engineers and explores the reasons for this gender gap and digital divide. The film highlights breakthrough efforts that are producing more diverse programmers and shows how this critical gap can be closed. CODE asks: what would society gain from having more women and people of color code, and how do we get there?
Sat, Feb 20
Jennifer Marsman
Principal Developer Evangelist, Microsoft Corporation
Fun with Mind Reading: Using EEG and Azure Machine Learning to Perform Lie Detection
Today, we have the technology to “read minds” (well, EEG waves!). Using a headset from Emotiv, I’ve captured the big data stream of EEG coming out of our heads. In this session, I will show the detection of facial expressions and emotional state, and training a machine learning model to employ mental commands (making a virtual object move via thought). Then, I will walk through and share my results on a “lie detector” experiment comparing brain waves when telling the truth and lying. I have built classifiers based on the EEG data using Azure Machine Learning to predict whether a subject is telling the truth, which I will demonstrate. The effectiveness of multiple classifiers can be easily compared. This session will be a fun look inside your brain waves along with demonstrations of data processing, machine learning, and predictive analytics. Attendees will gain exposure to the Emotiv EPOC headset and Azure Machine Learning.
Sat, Feb 20
Moderator: Andrea Kimberlin
OBIA Technical Analyst, GE Appliance
Panelists: Suganthi Giridharan, Julie Hagan, Diana Tullio
Each panelist will provide a brief introduction of their current responsibilities. This panel will provide some different options for working with technology as well as various work environments. They may also provide some insights or suggestions for working in a predominantly male industry.
Sat, Feb 20
Presented by: Ambareen Siraj
Cybersecurity Education Research and Outreach Center, Tennessee Tech
Laptop will be required.
Sat, Feb 20
Presented by: Kelly Dolan
Ingage Partners
Kelly is a business executive for Ingage Partners (CEO/Owner), a company that delivers Management and Technology Consulting services to help clients successfully navigate business and technology change. Ingage aspires to bring a greater purpose to Consulting by crafting services that amaze our clients and passionate people who fuel positive change in our community. Our mission is to be a force of positive change - both in our business relationships and our community.
Kelly will talk about why they formed Ingage Partners as a B Corporation, explain what a B corporation is, and the Ingage approach to a purpose-driven business in the field of technology.
Kelly also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Pay It Forward Cincinnati, an organization that empowers people to use generosity, kindness, and love to bring positive change to Greater Cincinnati.
As another testament to Kelly and co-founder Michael Kroeger's commitment to using business as a force for good, they are launching a new business this spring. Thrive will use an Urban Impact Sourcing business model to change the socioeconomic trajectory of Cincinnati's most disadvantaged population.
Sat, Feb 20
Presented by: Pam Schmelz
Ivy Tech Community College
Security breaches are reported in the news every day. While those large breaches make headlines, the individual is just as responsible as businesses to keep personal data safe. In this presentation, you will learn about security industry trends, what the "bad guys" want from you, and how to protect yourself. This session is for everyone. We all have important data that needs to be kept safe.
Sat, Feb 20
Moderator: Priya Chawla
Panelists: Employees and leaders from Northrop Grumman Corporation
Corporate America consistently faces the challenge of overcoming the disappointing ratio of men to women in their software and hardware engineering organizations. According to the American Association of University Women, the percentage from entry into a computing major to professional employment decreased for women from 37% to 18% from 1985 to 2013.
As a company that fosters diversity, Northrop Grumman’s CEO, Wes Bush, recently addressed all the women of the SWE 2015 conference, “I can say that we are a better company due to the impact of the women engineers in our organization; including the women engineers who lead our business sectors, our programs and our key functions.” In order to increase this impact of advancing diversity in the workplace, Northrop Grumman has created many engineering resource groups (ERG’s) specific to employee interests. Among the many ERG’s are WINS and NGWE, two groups that enhance corporate communication between women in all fields of engineering. The main purpose of the two groups is to advance professionalism, networking and collaboration between women in the workplace and to build a sense of community for all employees.
In the panel, we plan to address the following questions and issues:
- How corporations and companies can start an Engineering Resource Group, while overcoming corporate barriers
- Planning networking events and meetings for NGWE/WINS members
- Enhancing collaboration between women and men in the workplace
- Serving the community and future generations of women in computing/engineering through NGWE/WINS activities
Sat, Feb 20
Chandra Krintz
Professor of Computer Science, University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB)
Co-founder and Chief Scientist, AppScale Systems, Inc.
Using IoT to turn Analytics into Farm Implements
The agriculture industry faces tremendous pressure to increase crop production and yields to meet future consumer demand for food. This problem is compounded by the population growth of the planet, severely limited natural resources (arable land and water), unpredictable weather patterns, the requirement of sustainability, and climate change, among other variables. In an effort to make farms more productive, growers are increasingly turning to environmental measurement and data analysis. Computing systems can automate this process to facilitate faster problem diagnosis, more accurate outcome prediction, and proactive decision making. Unfortunately, such systems to date have received little attention from the computer science research community and extant solutions are proprietary, complex, costly, or not widely available.
The goal of our work is to investigate a novel, unifying, and open approach to agriculture analytics and precision farming that leverages advances in the Internet of Things (IoT) as part of a holistic system called SmartFarm. SmartFarm integrates disparate environmental sensor technologies into an on-premise, private cloud software infrastructure that provides growers with a secure, easy to use, low-cost data analysis and visualization system. SmartFarm couples data from external sources (if/when available) with farm-local statistics, provides an interface into which custom analytics tools (from researchers, companies, or the growers themselves) can be easily and automatically deployed (think AppStore for precision farming apps), while ensuring that all data and analyses remain under the control of growers. SmartFarm enables growers to extract actionable insights from their data, to quantify the impact of their decisions and environmental changes, and to identify opportunities for increasing growers productivity.