The Gaetano Borriello ‘Feet on the Ground’ Humanitarian Symposium
The Gaetano Borriello Feet on the Ground Humanitarian Symposium is on Saturday, October 10, 2015 from 1:30 to 6:00 pm at the DoubleTree by Hilton Seattle Airport. The symposium, will feature talks by researchers and humanitarian leaders who are applying technology solutions to real-world problems. The Symposium is open to members of the public in addition to GHTC 2015 conference registrants.
Date: Saturday, October 10, 2015
Time: 1:30 pm – 6:00 pm
Plenary Session: 1:30-3:30pm
Symposium Session: 4:00-6:00pm
Agenda
Location: Grand 2 Ballroom (Lobby level)
Webpage: http://www.cs.washington.edu/gbs/
Reservations: RSVP in advance at http://tinyurl.com/BorrielloSymposium.
Our friend and colleague, Professor Gaetano Borriello, passed away earlier this year. He was a Fellow of the IEEE and a recognized leader in the fields of Mobile and Ubiquitous Computing who devoted a significant portion of his career to developing computing technologies aimed at improving conditions in low-resource settings. He led the development of a suite of open-source mobile data collection tools, known as the Open Data Kit (ODK), that are used by humanitarian programs worldwide to advance public health, human rights, political participation and environmental stewardship. Listen to his closing keynote at Ubicomp 2014.
Dr. Borriello demonstrated how research can impact the lives of people around the globe.
The symposium will honor his contributions by bringing together experts in developing and applying technologies to address humanitarian challenges.
Jim Jefferies, President of the IEEE USA, will join the symposium to deliver a special announcement, which will be followed by a series of keynote presentations and technical talks by experts in developing and applying technologies to address humanitarian challenges.
Featured speakers include:
- John Bennett, Associate Vice Chancellor for Innovation Initiatives, University of Colorado, Denver and past president, Engineers Without Borders
- Eric Brewer, Professor, Computer Science Division, University of California, Berkeley
- Kiersten Israel-Ballard, Technical Officer, Maternal and Child Health/Nutrition, PATH
- David Thau, Manager of Developer Relations, Google Earth Engine & Google Earth Outreach
- Heather Underwood, Associate Director, Inworks and Assistant Professor, University of Colorado, Denver
- Lorenzo Violante Ruiz, Learning & Innovation Coordinator, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
- Roy Want, Research Scientist, Google
Open Data Kit Panel:
In addition, a panel of researchers who worked with Dr. Borriello on the Open Data Kit will offer their perspectives on its role in aiding development and humanitarian work around the globe, featuring Waylon Brunette, Ph.D. Candidate, Computer Science & Engineering, University of Washington; Nicola Dell, Assistant Professor, Computing & Information Sciences, Cornell University; Carl Hartung, Co-founder & CTO, Nafundi; and Sam Sudar, Ph.D. candidate in Computer Science & Engineering, University of Washington.
Professor Ed Lazowska, Bill & Melinda Gates Chair in Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington, will open proceedings with a tribute to Dr. Borriello’s life and work. The symposium is co-chaired by Professor Richard Anderson, Department of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington, and Dr. Sheree Wen, U.S. national commissioner to UNESCO, chair of IEEE Seattle and vice chair of GHTC 2015.
In addition to honoring the life and contributions of Dr. Borriello, we will also celebrate the 70th anniversary of UNESCO, the United Nations Education Science and Culture Organization. Since 1945, UNESCO has united people in 197 countries, endeavoring through education, science and culture to improve lives through peaceful collaborations.
Attendance at the Gaetano Borriello Feet on the Ground Humanitarian Symposium is open to members of the public in addition to GHTC15 conference registrants. Because space is limited, individuals who plan to attend the symposium are encouraged to RSVP in advance at http://tinyurl.com/BorrielloSymposium. See Symposium webpage at http://www.cs.washington.edu/gbs/.
Organized by IEEE, the world’s largest technical professional society with over 400,000 members in over 160 countries, the cross-disciplinary Global Humanitarian Technology Conference focuses on advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. More than 300 people from 30 countries are expected at GHTC 2015. Learn more and register to attend the entire GHTC 2015 conference at http://www.ieeeghtc.org.
Updated 25-Sept-2015
Symposium Agenda
| Plenary Session | |
| 1:30 pm | Welcome & Tribute to Gaetano Borriello |
| Ed Lazowska, University of Washington | |
| 1:40 pm | Overview of Session |
| Sheree Wen, IEEE Seattle | |
| 1:45 pm | Honoring the Life & Work of Gaetano Borriello |
| Jim Jefferies, President, IEEE USA | |
| 2:00 pm | Keynote: Computer Science and Global Development |
| Eric Brewer, University of California, Berkeley | |
| 2:40 pm | Panel: Perspectives on Open Data Kit |
| Richard Anderson, University of Washington (moderator) | |
| Waylon Brunette, University of Washington | |
| Nicola Dell, Cornell University | |
| Carl Hartung, Nafundi | |
| Sam Sudar, University of Washington | |
| 3:10 pm | Humans Are More Important Than Technology (and a Few Other Things I Learned From Gaetano) |
| John Bennett, University of Colorado, Denver | |
| 3:30 pm | Break |
| Symposium Session | |
| 4:00 pm | Overview of Session |
| Richard Anderson, University of Washington | |
| 4:10 pm | ODK: From UW Lab to Improving the Dignity of Affected Communities Receiving Humanitarian Assistance |
| Lorenzo Violante Ruiz, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies | |
| 4:30 pm | Strengthening Human Milk Banking through Innovative Partnerships |
| Kiersten Israel-Ballard, PATH | |
| 4:50 pm | The Physical Web |
| Roy Want, Google | |
| 5:10 pm | From MultiLearn to PartoPen: ‘These are not the droids you’re looking for’ |
| Heather Underwood, University of Colorado, Denver | |
| 5:30 pm | Google Earth Outreach: Helping Others Help the World with Help from Gaetano Borriello |
| David Thau, Google Earth | |
| 5:50 pm | Closing Remarks |
| Sheree Wen, IEEE Seattle | |
| 6:00 pm | Adjourn |
Symposium Speakers:
Richard Anderson
Professor, Computer Science & Engineering
University of Washington
Richard Anderson is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington. He graduated with a B.A. in Mathematics from Reed College in 1981, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Stanford University in 1985. He joined the University of Washington in 1986, after a one-year Postdoc at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkeley, CA.
In 1987 Anderson received an NSF Presidential Young Investigator award. He spent the 1993-1994 academic year as a visiting professor at the Indian Institute of Science, in Bangalore, India, and the 2001-2002 academic year a visiting researcher in the Learning Sciences and Technology group at Microsoft Research. While at Microsoft, he led the development of Classroom Presenter, a tool for delivering presentations from the TabletPC. He was the 2007 recipient of the UW College of Engineering Faculty Innovator for Teaching Award. He was the department’s associate chair for educational programs from 2004 through 2009.
Anderson spent 2009 to 2011 on an extended sabbatical, working at PATH, a Seattle based NGO working on health technologies for low resource environments. He continues to work with the Digital Health Solutions group at PATH on a range projects Projecting Health, a project that is pioneering the use of Community Led Video Education for behavior change communication.
John K. Bennett
Associate Vice Chancellor for Innovation Initiatives
Professor of Computer Science & Engineering
University of Colorado Denver | Anschutz Medical Campus
John Bennett is the Associate Vice Chancellor for Innovation Initiatives at the University of Colorado Denver | Anschutz Medical Campus. He is the co-founder (with Heather Underwood), of Inworks, a new initiative that draws together faculty, staff and students from across the two campuses, as well as entrepreneurs and leaders from industry, government, education and the community, to address problems of importance to human society. Inworks seeks to create innovative solutions to some of the world’s most challenging problems, while in the process creating life-long innovators. Bennett is also the Archuleta Professor of Computer Science at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he holds a joint appointment in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Prior to Inworks, Bennett directed the ATLAS Institute, a campus-wide CU Boulder initiative that explores ways in which information and communication technology (ICT) can benefit human society, and serves as the home to the first graduate program in North America in ICT for Development. Prior to directing ATLAS, Bennett was the Associate Dean of Engineering for Education in the College of Engineering and Applied Science. He joined the CU Boulder faculty in 2000, after serving on the faculty of Rice University for 11 years. Bennett holds MS and PhD degrees in Computer Science from the University of Washington Seattle, and BSEE and MEE degrees from Rice University. His research interests are broadly focused in the areas of Technology and Development, STEM education, and Distributed Computing. Thirteen Ph.D. students and six Master’s students have completed degrees working with him. Bennett is the past president of the national Governing Board of Engineers Without Borders USA, and has received several teaching awards, including the W.M. Keck Foundation National Award for Engineering Teaching Excellence. He is a past recipient of the University of Washington CSE Alumni Achievement Award. Prior to his academic career, Bennett founded and led two successful technology start-ups, and was an Officer in the US Navy.
Eric Brewer
Professor, Computer Science Division, University of California, Berkeley
VP Infrastructure, Google, Inc.
Eric Brewer is a Professor at UC Berkeley and VP Infrastructure at Google. He pioneered the use of clusters for Internet services, developed the CAP Theorem, and spent much of the past decade on technology for developing regions, including work in telemedicine in India, energy in Kenya and India, and communications in many places. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and winner of the ACM Infosys Foundation award for his work on large-scale services.
Kiersten Israel-Ballard, DrPH, MPH
Technical Officer, Maternal and Child Health/Nutrition, PATH
Kiersten Israel-Ballard, DrPH, MPH, is a technical officer with PATH’s Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition Program. She has 14 years of experience in international health, specifically focusing on innovative approaches to improve maternal and newborn health.
Dr. Israel-Ballard leads implementation and research projects to guide integration of sustainable interventions into health systems. This has included evaluating novel peer-level support systems for HIV prevention, establishing capacity-building programs for community health workers, curriculum development, enhancing reporting and surveillance systems, monitoring and evaluation, and supportive supervision. She led advocacy efforts for strengthening human milk banking as a global cost-effective strategy for reducing neonatal mortality and morbidity. Dr. Israel-Ballard focuses on innovative approaches to improve infant health through identifying and assessing the feasibility of novel technologies. This has included assessment of a nipple shield for prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV; introduction of mobile phone devices for supporting home-based perinatal care by midwives; and development, implementation, and scale-up of a safety monitoring system for low-tech human milk banks in South Africa.
Dr. Israel-Ballard also established the Projecting Health model at PATH, establishing project teams and core partnerships, and leading pilot and evaluation efforts in India. She has considerable international experience, working at all health levels in Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Brazil, Burundi, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and India. Dr. Israel-Ballard has a DrPH degree from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health, and a BA degree in molecular, cellular, and developmental biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Ed Lazowska
Bill & Melinda Gates Chair in Computer Science & Engineering
University of Washington
Ed Lazowska holds the Bill & Melinda Gates Chair in Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington, where he also serves as the Director of the University of Washington eScience Institute.
Lazowska received his A.B. from Brown University in 1972 and his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto in 1977, when he joined the University of Washington faculty. His research and teaching concern the design, implementation, and analysis of high performance computing and communication systems, and, more recently, the techniques and technologies of data-intensive discovery. He is a Member of the National Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and a Fellow of ACM, IEEE, and AAAS. He is a recipient of the Vollum Award for Distinguished Accomplishment in Science and Technology from Reed College, as well as the University of Washington Computer Science & Engineering Undergraduate Teaching Award.
Lazowska has been active in public policy issues, ranging from STEM education to Federal strategies for research and innovation. Among his many activities, he served as Founding Chair of the Computing Community Consortium, whose goal is to catalyze the computing research community and enable the pursuit of innovative, high-impact research aligned with pressing national and global challenges. In recognition of his national leadership, Lazowska has received the Computing Research Association Distinguished Service Award, the ACM Presidential Award, and the ACM Distinguished Service Award.
A long-time advocate for increasing participation in the field, Lazowska serves on the Executive Advisory Council of the National Center for Women & Information Technology, and on the National Research Council’s Committee on Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine. He received the University of Washington Outstanding Public Service Award for his K-12 outreach activities, and the University of Washington David B. Thorud Leadership Award. He serves as a board member or technical advisor for a number of high-tech companies, venture firms, and technology-oriented civic organizations.
David Thau
Manager of Developer Relations, Google Earth Engine & Google Earth Outreach
Dave Thau manages developer relations for Google Earth Engine and Google Earth Outreach. He joined Google in 2010, bringing with him 20 years of industry experience developing Internet-based applications. Dave has created and managed software development for Webby Award winning websites, launched successful startups, written a best-selling computer science textbook that has been translated into seven languages and published scholarly papers in the field of data management. His work has been mentioned in Newsweek, Science, Nature, USA Today, The Economist, Rolling Stone and Wired.
Over the past fifteen years, Dave has worked with image databases and geospatial systems, focusing on the fields of ecology and biodiversity. He currently works with scientists and NGOs developing software and algorithms that run on Google’s highly parallelized cloud computing image processing framework.
Dave holds degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles, the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a doctorate in computer science from the University of California, Davis.
Heather Underwood
Associate Director, Inworks
Assistant Professor, University of Colorado, Denver
Assistant Professor, University of Colorado Denver | Anschutz Medical Campus
Heather Underwood is an Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado Denver | Anschutz Medical Campus, and the Associate Director of a new interdisciplinary initiative at UC Denver known as “Inworks”. Inworks draws together faculty, staff and students from across the two campuses, as well as entrepreneurs and leaders from industry, government, education, healthcare and the community, to address problems of importance to human society. In this role, Heather is exploring the potential of interdisciplinary education and effective collaboration to solve complex global issues.
Heather received her undergraduate degree in computer science from the University of Washington, where her interest and research in the field of ICTD was fueled by the passion and enthusiasm of Gaetano Borriello. She completed her PhD in technology, media, and society from ATLAS at the University of Colorado Boulder by developing the PartoPen system for midwives in Kenya. Gaetano remained an integral part of Heather’s ICTD work as one of her doctoral committee members, a mentor, and a friend. Heather’s current research remains at the intersection of health and technology, and continues to be inspired by Gaetano’s exemplary work in this field. This talk is dedicated to him.
Lorenzo Violante Ruiz
Learning & Innovation Coordinator, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
Lorenzo Violante works as Learning and Innovation Coordinator since October 2014, based in Panama. As coordinator, Mr Violante leads a team of experts on learning and innovation which includes also four regional reference centres. The unit provides technical support and guidance and facilitates knowledge management and sharing to all Red Cross National Societies in America.
Since 2000 and before joining the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement, Lorenzo worked with several international NGOs and UN agencies in complex emergencies such the Former Yugoslavia, the Caucasus (Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan) and Philippines. In 2004 he joined the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement working for Spanish Red Cross and the International Committee of the Red Cross in Darfur, Sudan. In 2005 he started his career with International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) serving as Recovery specialist and Emergency Operations Coordinator in Niger, Maldives (Tsunami), Uganda, Ghana and Ethiopia. In 2009 he joined the IFRC Americas Zone Office working as Humanitarian Pandemic Preparedness Coordinator, later as Haiti Operation Programme Advisor and eventually served as Haiti Support Team Coordinator, providing technical assistance, quality control and financial management to one of the largest operations in IFRC recent history.
Mr. Violante studied Economics at University of Leeds (UK) and University of Cantabria (Spain). He also holds a Post-graduate course on Development Economics from the University of Cantabria and a Masters on Development and International Cooperation from the University of Basque Country (Spain). Born in Torrelavega, Spain, he speaks Spanish and English.
Roy Want
Research Scientist, Google Inc.
Roy Want received his doctorate from Cambridge University, England in 1988, and is currently a Research Scientist at Google. His research interests include mobile and ubiquitous computing. To date, he has authored or co-authored more than 75 publications, with 90 issued patents in this area; and holds the grade of ACM and IEEE Fellow. For more information about Dr. Want’s academic and industrial achievements see http://www.roywant.com/cs/.
Dr. Sheree Wen
U.S. national commissioner to UNESCO
Chair, IEEE Seattle Section
Vice Chair, GHTC 2015
After earning her Ph.D. from UC Berkeley in Science and Engineering, Sheree joined IBM where she made vital contributions to the breakthrough of first main frame computers. Sheree went on to found Wen Technology and WENLAB USA, which developed, manufactured, and distributed pace-setting electronic products worldwide.
Sheree has remained committed to improving quality of life and serve communities locally, nationally, and internationally. Some of that work is detailed here.
- United States National Commissioner to UNESCO; the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural organizations
- Chair of Advisory Council, UNESCO International Center for Women Artists
- President, the UNESCO Washington State Center
- Chairperson, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Seattle (IEEE)
- Vice Chair, IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference, 2015 in Seattle
- Board Member, Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB)
- Board Member, Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF)
- Board Member, University of Washington Library
- Advisory Councils: Pacific Science Center, NY Hall of Science, Downtown Music, and Westchester Children’s Association
- Former Board Member: Great Minds 2 Young Minds Foundation, Cardinal McCluskey Services, My Sister’s Place, White Plains Performing Art Center, Washington First Robotics, and ACT Theater
Awards and recognition:
- Young Scientist of the Year; the Robert Hardy Lansing Gold Medal, AIME
- IBM Invention Achievement Awards and two IBM Invention awards
- Top Women Supplier – NASA
- United States Small Business Administrator’s Award of Excellence
- Outstanding Women Owned Supplier – Unisys Corporation
- Top three women owned business in NY – NY Times
- 20th Century Asian professional women – Japan Asahi News
- Over 20 US and worldwide patents
ODK Panelists
Waylon Brunette
Ph.D. Candidate, Computer Science & Engineering, University of Washington
Nicola Dell
Assistant Professor, Computing & Information Sciences, Cornell University New York City
(c) Noah Berger / 2014
Nicola Dell is an Assistant Professor of Information Science at Cornell Tech in New York City. Her research interests are in information and communication technologies for development (ICTD), human-computer interaction (HCI), and mobile computing with a focus on designing and evaluating systems that improve the lives of underserved populations in low-income regions. Nicki recently completed her Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington in Seattle where she was advised by Gaetano Borriello. At UW CSE she was a member of the Open Data Kit (ODK) research team and she also ran the Change group from 2011-2015.
Carl Hartung
Co-founder & CTO, Nafundi
Carl is one of the designers and developers of Open Data Kit (ODK), and has helped organizations deploy ODK all around the world. He is currently CTO of Nafundi, a software consulting company he co-founded that is dedicated to creating technologies that improve the lives of the underserved. Carl has a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Washington.
Sam Sudar
Ph.D. student, Computer Science & Engineering, University of Washington
Sam Sudar is a Ph.D. student in computer science at the University of Washington. His work focuses on harnessing the web to build mobile systems in developing regions. Sam is a Gates Cambridge Scholar. At Cambridge he studied neuroscience and was a member of St John’s College. In his spare time, Sam likes to bird watch.