IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference (GHTC)
Technology for the Benefit of Humanity // Villanova University, USA / October 23-26, 2024

GHTC 2020 Report

The 10th IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference (GHTC 2020) was held online on October 29- November 1 via Zoom. GHTC is an international flagship conference sharing practical technology enabled solutions addressing the needs of underserved populations and resource constrained environments around the world and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG). Specifically:

  • Agriculture & Food Security (UN SDG2)
  • Good Health and Well Being (SDG3)
  • Quality Education (SDG4)
  • Clean Water & Sanitation (SDG6)
  • Affordable & Clean Energy (SDG7)
  • Decent Work and Economic Growth (SDG8)
  • Connectivity & Communication in Support of Development
  • Disaster Mitigation, Preparedness, Response & Recovery
  • Other UN SDGs e.g. (9, 11, 12, 14)

Attendees:

There were 149 registered attendees from 22 countries. Additionally, there were participants during the conference from the Committee, workshop presenters, panelists, speakers, press and session chairs. The map below shows the worldwide distribution of attendees.

Registration breakdown:

  • Total Registrations: 149
  • Presenters: 117
  • 1st GHTC: 68.6%
  • IEEE Member: 61.9%
  • Students: 3%

The Plenary Program sessions only were offered free and open to all with 109 unique registrations received.

Program Highlights

The Conference program featured workshops, keynote sessions, panels and special events. We also held a Student Poster Competition on Thursday evening.

The technical program consisted of 24 paper sessions with 120 papers including 3 posters.

  • 3 sessions on Agriculture & Food Security (UN SDG2)
  • 5 sessions on Good Health and Well Being (SDG3)
  • 1 session on Quality Education (SDG4)
  • 2 sessions on Clean Water & Sanitation (SDG6)
  • 3 sessions on Affordable & Clean Energy (SDG7)
  • 4 sessions on Connectivity & Communication in Support of Development
  • 3 sessions on Disaster Mitigation, Preparedness, Response & Recovery
  • 3 sessions on Other UN SDGs

Thursday Oct. 29

  • Afternoon: Three parallel paper sessions
  • Opening session after paper sessions with remarks by IEEE President Toshio Fukuda and President-elect Susan (Kathy) Land
  • Evening (5-7pm) Student Poster Competition with attendee option to select the People’s Choice Award.
    • Judges Award ($750) AND People’s Choice Award ($250) went to the poster “Decreasing Water Usage and Increasing Income for Vietnam Small Farmers: Modeling Plant Stress with Handheld Infrared Thermometers” by Katie Pascavis of Arizona State University.
    • Technical Award ($500) went to the poster “A Review on Image-Based Wildfire Detection Systems” by Jordan Johnston of Sonoma State University.

Friday Oct. 30

  • Energy Panel session: “Technology-enabled climb up the demand-driven energy ladder: Interoperability, Growth, All-access”, organized by IEEE PELS and with “Empower a Billion Lives”
  • Three parallel tracks with paper presentations in morning and afternoon.
  • Special Interest Session: “EPICS in IEEE – empowering students solve local community problems”
  • Networking time: Kept the last presentation sessions Zoom open for 30 minutes or more to allow attendees an opportunity for discussion and networking

Saturday Oct. 31

Sunday Nov. 1

  • Three parallel tracks with paper presentations
  • Closing Session featuring a keynote with Melissa Sassi, IEEE Digital Intelligence Working Group on “DQ, a measure for determining one’s digital intelligence”

 

GHTC 2020 Student Poster Winners

 

Congratulations to the winners of the GHTC 2020 virtual Student Poster Competition held on Thursday, Oct. 29. Awards were presented on Nov.1 in the GHTC 2020 Closing Session.

Judges Award ($750) AND People’s Choice Award ($250) went to the poster “Decreasing Water Usage and Increasing Income for Vietnam Small Farmers: Modeling Plant Stress with Handheld Infrared Thermometers” by Katie Pascavis of Arizona State University.

Technical Award ($500) went to the poster “A Review on Image-Based Wildfire Detection Systems” by Jordan Johnston of Sonoma State University.

 

Decreasing Water Usage and Increasing Income for Vietnam Small Farmers: Modeling Plant Stress with Handheld Infrared Thermometers

A Review on Image-Based Wildfire Detection Systems

 

Special Sessions at GHTC 2020

 

GHTC 2020 features several sessions of special interest over the next few days:

 

  • Special Interest Session: “EPICS in IEEE – empowering students solve local community problems” (Friday Oct. 30 2:50-3:10 p.m. PT)

How to execute a community service project with IEEE’s support (through EPICS in IEEE).

How HAC/SIGHT responded to the COVID pandemic – vision and process improvements with examples of some funded projects and building collaboration opportunities.

GHTC 2020 celebrates the 10th anniversary for IEEE GHTC. The anniversary program will consist of some remarks and two panel discussions, one on the evolution of GHTC and the other on IEEE’s role in Humanitarian Technology.

  • Special Interest Session: Diversity and Inclusion in Engineering (Saturday Oct. 31 3:30-4:30 p.m.)

Interactive discussion led by Tom Coughlin, past President IEEE-USA
This talk discusses the IEEE response to institutional racism and the issues with diversity and inclusion in the engineering professions. It also gives several examples of what IEEE members have done to help improve diversity and inclusions and ends with a discussion with the attendees on what they can do to improve diversity and inclusion in the technical professions.

  • Closing Session and Keynote (Sunday Nov. 1 Noon-1 p.m. PST)

Closing remarks and presentation on Digital Literary with Melissa Sassi, “DQ, a measure for determining one’s digital intelligence”

 

Access to GHTC 2020 Plenary Sessions

 

The GHTC 2020 Organizing Committee is  pleased to announce

FREE ACCESS to GHTC 2020 PLENARY SESSIONS (Registration required)

The Global Humanitarian Technology Conference (GHTC) is the flagship IEEE forum for presenting and discussing humanitarian technology innovation and deployment. The technical focus of the Conference is complemented by an integrated understanding of broader contexts—economics, policy, culture, environment—that impact successful humanitarian technology implementation.

The 10th IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference (IEEE GHTC 2020) will share practical technology-enabled solutions addressing needs of underserved communities in resource constrained environments around the world in the context of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).

GHTC 2020 takes place from Thursday October 29 through mid-afternoon Sunday November 1. See the preliminary program schedule here. Note: Time Zone is PT (e.g. +3 ET, +8 GMT+1). Note time change from PDT to PST on November 1.

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Global Humanitarian Technology – What Is It?

 

Virtual Lunch Presentation
Date: Friday October 23, 2020; High Noon PT
Live Stream from Seattle Washington

Join us for a presentation on Global Humanitarian Technologies. Find out what global humanitarian technology is and how you can play a vital role in saving and improving thousands of lives, making healthier humans and providing services and help for people that do not have lighting when they go to bed or clean water to drink when they are thirsty.

We will discuss:
1. New and innovative technologies that are present today and being used throughout the globe to help save and improve thousands of lives
2. Clean water, electrification, communications Network, Emergency Response
3. Creation of technologies and deployment of systems to remote areas
4. Who is part of the team? How can you help? Who is being helped?
5. How simple devices can be deployed to improve the lives of many
6. IEEE Smart Cities will present a simple power grid technology & deployment
7. When is the next global humanitarian technology conference? Where is it?

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Registration Open for GHTC 2020

Registration for GHTC 2020 is now Open.

Early Registration Extended to 28-September

NEW – reduced attendees rates: $300 IEEE Member & $100 IEEE Student/LM

The 10th IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference (IEEE GHTC 2020) is an international flagship conference sharing practical technology enabled solutions addressing the needs of underserved populations and resource constrained environments around the world and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG).

GHTC 2020 will have an exciting and varied program of workshops, panels, keynotes and technical presentations.

GHTC 2020 takes place ONLINE (PT) from Thursday October 29 through mid-afternoon Sunday November 1. See the preliminary program schedule here.

Click button to go to registration page to view options and fees; special 10th Anniversary Discounts are courtesy of support from Financial Patrons, including IEEE HAC and IEEE Seattle Section.
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Preliminary Speaker Announcement

Toshio Fukuda

Toshio Fukuda
2020 IEEE President & CEO

Topic: “Advancing Technology for Humanity”

Toshio Fukuda is a professor of mechatronics engineering at Meijo University in Nagoya, Japan. He is also a professor at the Beijing Institute of Technology and professor emeritus at Nagoya University. His research focuses on intelligent robotic systems and micro-nano robotics. He has published more than 2,000 articles in scientific journals, conference proceedings, and reports.

An IEEE Fellow, Toshio was director of IEEE Region 10 in 2013 and 2014 and IEEE Division X director/delegate in 2001 and 2002, and 2017 and 2018. He was president of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society in 1988 and 1989 and general chair of the IEEE International Symposium on Micro-Nano Mechatronics from 1990 to 2012. He has served on several IEEE boards and committees.

He graduated from Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan and received the Master of Engineering degree and the Doctor of Engineering degree both from the University of Tokyo. He joined the National Mechanical Engineering Laboratory in Japan in 1977, the Science University of Tokyo in 1981, and then joined Department of Mechanical Engineering, Nagoya University, Japan in 1989.

Kathy Land

Susan (Kathy) Land
IEEE President-elect 2020

Topic: “IEEE’s Humanitarian Efforts”

As a Program Manager for a United States Federal Government agency. Ms. Land has served three terms on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Board of Directors. She served as a member of the IEEE-USA Board of Directors (2013, 2016), as a member of Region 3 Executive Committee (2016, 2017), was President of the IEEE Computer Society in 2009. She has more than 30 years of industry experience in the application of software engineering methodologies, the management of information systems, and leadership of software development teams.

Ms. Land is IEEE President-Elect, an IEEE Fellow, and is the author or co-author of a number of texts, papers, webinars all supporting sound software engineering principles and practical application of software process methodologies.

For additional information: www.susankathyland.com