Recorded on April 14th @ 11 am ET – Conference registrants can access the recording in the online conference program between June 26 and July 9.
In today’s world we are continuously faced with so many challenges that makes for our uncertain world. It has not been limited to the COVID pandemic but also to natural and man made disasters and political instability. That is where we as technologists, engineers, and scientists can transform our uncertain world by leveraging the intelligent and immersive technologies.
IEEE Future Directions serves as an incubator for these new initiatives. One of its focus areas, Digital Reality serves to explore and enable the coming Intelligent and Immersive Realities through collaboration among technologists, engineers, regulators, practitioners, and ethicists around the world. The Digital Transformation is fueled by advances in technology, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), applications using the copious amounts of continuously generated data, and the Realities of Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), Mixed Reality (MR), and more.
Format: Participate in a livestream discussion with a panel of industry experts from several distinct fields who will provide their perspectives, observations, and how we can apply these technologies in real life.
Nicholas Napp, Founder, XMark Labs. As a co-founder of Xmark Labs, Nicholas is focused on the role of Virtual & Augmented Reality and Blockchain technologies in enterprise digital transformation. He enjoys working at the intersection of strategy, technology and corporate narrative to accelerate business growth.Nicholas has been working with VR and AR systems since the 1990s when his team at Rainbow Studios pioneered the use of VR in 3D animation production. He has launched over 40 products across a wide range of consumer and enterprise markets.Nicholas is also Chairman of the Board at FabNewport, a non-profit provider of maker-centered learning programs and services for middle school and older students.
Jeewika Ranaweera is a principal hardware engineer working on high-speed microprocessors at Oracle. She received her Bachelor’s in CSE from ISPJAE in Havana, Cuba and her Master’s and PhD degrees in ECE from the University Of Toronto, Canada. She is an IEEE Senior Member and a steering committee member for IEEE Future Directions and Digital Reality Initiatives. Jeewika authored an eBook about her engineering journey for IEEE Women in Engineering to inspire others to follow STEM careers and illustrated the 1stchildren’s book published by IEEE. Recently she delivered a Keynote on “Successful Leadership Development in STEAM Careers,” at the IEEE LAEDC 2020, WIE/YP Networking session in Costa Rica. She is passionate about delivering talks on Quantum Computing, and the need to have a diverse environment to eliminate “Bias in AI” that discriminates minority. She also shared her unique insight via a podcast on areas where immersive technologies benefit humanity. She has been a speaker at the IEEE LAEDC, Drive World Conference, ChipChat, IEEE VTS, IEEE CCNC, AWE, IEEE TTM, Grace Hopper Conference, IEEE WIC Summit, and FB Developer Circle. She has also been a Track chair for the IEEE WIE ILC. She volunteers as a female technologist through the Oracle Education Foundation. As a Program Evaluator for ABET, she helps guide the content, quality and delivery of ECE degree programs around the world. She has authored and co-authored many papers published in technical journals, or presented at international conferences. Jeewika holds five US Patents.
Roberto Saracco fell in love with technology and its implications a long time ago. Roberto has led the EIT Digital Italian Node and head of the Industrial Doctoral School of EIT Digital. He is an independent consultant, senior IEEE member, co-chair of the IEEE Digital Reality Initiative, chair of the IEEE New Initiatives Committee, and past chair of the IEEE Future Directions Committee Industry Advisory Board.
May Wang is a Professor at the George Institute of Technology, Georgia Cancer Coalition Distinguished Cancer Scholar, the Director of Biocomputing and Bioinformatics Core, Emory-Georgia Tech Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence. She is the Director of Biomedical Big Data Initiative, a Kavli Fellow, a Georgia Cancer Coalition Distinguished Scholar, a Petit Institute Faculty Fellow, and AIMBE and IAMBE Fellows. She is in Board of Directors in American Board of AI in Medicine. She is also selected into Georgia Tech Provost’s Emerging Leader’s Program and elected into Executive Committee of IAMBE in 2021. Professor Wang received BEng from Tsinghua University China, and MS/PhD degrees from Georgia Institute of Technology. Her research is in Biomedical Big Data Analytics with a focus on Biomedical and Health Informatics (BHI) for predictive, personalized, and precision health (pHealth). Dr. Wang published over 250 peer-reviewed articles in referred journals and conference proceedings (12,000+ google scholar citations), and delivered over 240 invited and keynote lectures. She is a recipient of Georgia Tech Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award for Undergraduate Research and Emory University MilliPub Award (for a high-impact paper that is cited over 1,000 times).
Kathy Grise, Senior Program Director – IEEE Future Directions, supports new technology initiatives, is the IEEE staff program director for the Digital Reality Initiative, the IEEE Technology Navigator AI, Future Directions and Industry Advisory Board Committees, and manages the digital presence team for Future Directions. Previous initiatives included big data and cloud computing. Ms. Grise serves as the Technical Program Chair of the IEEE COMPSAC 2022 Symposium – Data Sciences, Analytics, & Technologies (DSAT).Prior to joining the IEEE staff, Ms. Grise held numerous positions at IBM, and most recently was a Senior Engineering Manager for Process Design Kit Enablement in the IBM Semiconductor Research and Development Center. Ms. Grise led the overall IT infrastructure implementation, and software development in support of semiconductor device modeling verification, packaging, and delivery; device measurement and characterization data collection and management, and automation for device modeling engineers. Ms. Grise is a graduate of Washington and Jefferson College, and an IEEE Senior member.
Louis Nisiotis is a Lecturer at the University of Central Lancashire, Cyprus Campus, specialising in Immersive Technologies, and their application in Cyber-Physical-Social Systems and in Education. He is interested in the use of VR/AR/MR technologies to support and foster the ongoing digital transformation of the industry and the society in general, to disrupt the way *we) humans interact with real and virtual environments, with our surroundings, and with each other. He is currently leading research in innovation and application of Immersive Technologies to support the digital transformation of a plethora of domains. His current research focuses on emerging a new type of Cyber-Physical-Social Eco-Society of systems that seamlessly blend the real with virtual worlds. He is also leading research focusing on the use of Immersive Technologies and Virtual Environments to support and enhance education. He is a member of the IEEE Digital Reality steering committee, and a member of the Immersive Learning Research Network. He is also a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy, and a member of IEEE.