Speakers' Biographies
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Vice President, Information Technology Infrastructure,
Amazon.com |
| Mr. Charles Bell is responsible for Amazon.com’s
platforms and technology infrastructure. Prior to joining Amazon.com, Mr.
Bell was CEO and co-founder of Server Technologies Group, a builder of
Internet commerce transaction software. In 1998, Server Technologies became
a part of Amazon.com. Previously, Charlie was with Oracle, where for seven
years, he wrote C-language Oracle applications and managed numerous transactional
systems projects. Charlie began his career as a developer of mini-computer
software used in engineering of space shuttle payload mixes. In 1984, he
took a hiatus from software development and moved into project engineering
of integrated space shuttle cargos. In this capacity, Charlie was responsible
for the payload complement for space shuttle Atlantis and worked a console
in Johnson Space Center for the Thanksgiving 1985 mission less than two
months before the ill-fated Challenger disaster. He also led the Hubble
Space Telescope deployment mission. |
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Chief Executive Officer & Founder, Ambient Corporation |
| Mr. Michael Callahan is a graduate student
in the University of Illinois’ Systems and Entrepreneurial Engineering
program where he to develop the Audeo system, a new communication device
capable of producing speech from intercepted neurological signals sent
from the brain. The Audeo device uses advanced signal processing techniques
to create an interface capable of circumventing the communicative barrier
imposed by physical disability. In February of 2007, Mr. Callahan was named
winner of the first-ever $30,000 Lemelson-Illinois Student Prize. For two
consecutive years, Michael and his team won the V. Dale Cozad Business
Plan Competition at the University of Illinois, earning $11,000 to aid
in the development of the Audeo. In addition to leading this venture, he
has been instrumental in instituting the Student Entrepreneur Learning
Lab in the Technology Entrepreneur Center at the University of Illinois. The
lab is designed for students to pursue their product and innovation ideas. |
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Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, MycyberTwin.com |
| Ms. Liesl Capper leads global strategy and
operations for MyCyberTwin.com, including the company’s growth and
partnering opportunities. Ms. Capper also maintains an active role in the
company’s technical development and direction. MyCyberTwin.com allows
organizations and individuals to create an artificial intelligence “clone” of
themselves, which can talk to clients on their behalf, 24/7. MyCyberTwin
lives on social networks, normal corporate web sites, and inside virtual
worlds like Second Life. Liesl has been managing growth businesses for
over 15 years, and was the founder of Mooter, a publicly-listed consumer
search engine and leader in marketing personalization. While leading Mooter,
she raised venture capital, developed patents and defensible technology,
managed the expansion into U.S. and Asian markets, secured deals with major
clients including Yahoo! and Fairfax, and prepared the company to go public.
Prior to Mooter, Liesl built a multi-national education franchise with
38 branches in four countries. For her groundbreaking efforts in IT, she
was recently awarded Australian Women in Technology’s Outstanding
Achievement Award. |
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Professor of Physics, Catholic University |
| Dr. Pamela Clark is part of NASA’s Goddard
Space Flight Center. She is a geochemist with experience in developing
simulations, experiments, and data analysis methodology for autonomous
planetary exploration. Dr. Clark’s work has involved the development
and design of missions and experiments as diverse as asteroid and Mercury
exploration, analysis of diversely formatted deep space data, automated
spectral data analysis packages using intelligent software agents, and
interactive models of X-ray production for deep space targets. In addition
to her current position on the research faculty at Catholic University,
Pamela is involved with the NASA Planetary Astronomy review panel; Near
Earth Asteroid Rendezvous XGRS working group; Planetary Instrument Definition
and Development program; NASA Space Physics Mercury Orbiter study team;
Goldstone Solar System Radar Experimenters team, Mercury Coordinator; and
Lunar Remote Sensing and Mercury research consortiums. Previously, she
was an assistant professor of chemistry at Albright College, a member of
the technical staff at NASA/JPL, and assistant professor of geosciences
at Murray State University. Pamela has planned and taught science courses
which emphasize hands-on, interactive, cross-disciplinary approaches to
problem-solving. |
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Research Director, Autonomous Systems Laboratory
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization ICT Centre
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| Dr. Peter Corke leads the Autonomous Systems
Laboratory to develop technologies that generate intelligent, goal-directed
behavior by gathering information, then using that information to learn
and adapt. His time is focused between industry and pure research projects
and administration. Over the years, Dr. Corke has been involved with many
aspects of computer vision, including high-speed architectures for computer
vision, laser scanner technology, stereo vision, color vision, and panoramic
imaging. In addition, Peter’s research focuses on classical kinematics
and dynamics, numerical and symbolic tools for analysis and design, ground-based
and flying mobile robots, force control, and control architectures and
implementation. His work has included the SafeTCam traffic monitoring system
installed in New South Wales, the automation of large mining excavators,
autonomous underground ore-haulage machines, automated explosive loading,
high-performance stabilizers for airborne geophysics instruments, and flying
robots for civil applications. Peter is the author of Visual Control
of Robots. |
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Executive Director, Eyebeam |
| Ms. Amanda McDonald Crowley is an arts producer,
facilitator, researcher, and curator. Prior to joining Eyebeam, Ms. Crowley
served as the executive producer of the 2004 International Symposium on
Electronic Art, developed the event from concept to conferences, exhibitions,
performances, concerts, and site specific installations on a ferry in the
Baltic Sea and locations in Estonia and Finland. Eyebeam, a not-for-profit
arts and technology center, seeks to support artists and innovative creative
practice through a variety of initiatives, including residencies, commissions,
fellowships, and teaching positions. In 2002-03, Amanda was an arts worker
in residency at Sarai, the new media initiative in Delhi, India, and was
associate director for Adelaide Festival 2002. Previously, she was director
of the Australian Network for Art and Technology, an organization that
fosters links among the arts, sciences, and new technology. |
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CEO, Perpetuum, Ltd.
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| Mr. Roy Freeland has extensive international
experience in developing and running high technology businesses. At Perpetuum,
Mr. Freeland is responsible for leading product development to meet market
requirements and making major innovation contributions with three patents
filed. Perpetuum is a spin-out from Southampton University, and is the
world’s leading supplier of vibration energy harvesters. Previously,
Roy was Meggitt Electronics’ first managing director and built a
$100 million business in microprocessor-based products for transportation,
industrial, and consumer markets. He was roup general manager at Spirent
Plc, where he ran a number of high technology business sectors in aerospace,
sensors, electronic controls, data acquisition, and environmental monitoring.
Roy has also served as CEO of United Industries Plc and president and CEO
of E.M.E.A. of Encoda. |
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Principal Professional Staff Member, Johns Hopkins
University Applied Physics Laboratory |
| Mr. Stuart Harshbarger is the program manager
and system integrator for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
(DARPA)-sponsored Revolutionizing Prosthetics 2009 program. In prior positions
and in recent assignments, Mr. Harshbarger led a range of multi-disciplinary
system integration efforts, including avionics subsystem developments,
autonomous remote sensing and distributed networking applications, and
medical monitoring systems. Stuart’s primary research focuses
on collaborative transdisciplinary challenges at the intersection of engineering,
science, and medicine. He is also a part-time instructor at the Johns Hopkins
University Whiting School of Engineering graduate program for engineering
professionals. There, he teaches neural prosthetics and digital telephony
for the Electrical and Computer Engineering and Applied Biomedical Engineering
programs. Stuart and his project teams have been recognized with several
awards and sponsor commendations for their efforts, including a 2007 Popular
Mechanics Breakthrough Award, nomination for the DARPATech 2007 award for
Significant Technical Achievement, and nomination for a 2007 Johns Hopkins
University Diversity Awareness Award. |
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Vice President, Chumby Industries |
| Dr. Andrew Huang is a nocturnal hacker and
vice president of hardware for Chumby Industries, as well as a consultant
through bunnie studios, LLC. His responsibilities include the architecture,
design, and off-shore production of Chumby’s electronics, as well
as some Linux kernel hacking. Dr. Huang has jousted with several major
projects, ranging from hacking the Xbox (and writing the eponymous book),
to designing the world’s first fully-integrated photonic-silicon
chips running at 10 Gbps (with Luxtera, Inc.), to building some of the
first prototype hardware for silicon nanowire device research (with Caltech).
bunnie has also participated in the design of 802.11b/Bluetooth transceivers
(with Mobilian), graphics chips (with SGI), digital cinema CODECs (with
Qualcomm), and autonomous robotic submarines (with MIT ORCA/AUVSI). He
is also responsible for the un-design of many security systems, and has
an appetite for the challenge of digesting silicon-based hardware security.
bunnie is also a contributing writer for MAKE magazine, and a member of
their technical advisory board. |
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CEO, Simudyne |
| Mr. Justin Lyon is an experienced technologist
and business strategist who specializes in the development of business
simulations to improve the performance of firms in the future. Mr. Lyon's
current venture, Simudyne, helps organizations solve complex problems through the
application of simulation technologies in strategic planning, optimizing
key processes, managing people, and helping leadership teams manage
performance. Previously, Justin spent a number of years as a sales
agent at organizations focused on organizational performance such as
Global Strategy Dynamics, Finn Jackson, HVR Consulting Services, and
SDS. He is also the co-founder of Autoconstructive Technologies in
Boston. He started an Internet technology firm in 1994 and sold it four
years later for 15 times his original capital investment. Justin then
helped grow two companies, one going public on NASDAQ. |
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Co-founder and CTO, Vlingo |
| Mr. Mike Phillips began his career as a researcher, first
at Carnegie Mellon University and then at the Spoken Language Systems group
at MIT, working on core technology for automatic speech recognition. He
has been active in speech technology for over 20 years. In 1994, Mr. Phillips
founded SpeechWorks, based on technology that he and others developed at
MIT. After SpeechWorks was acquired by ScanSoft, Mike became CTO at ScanSoft,
where he oversaw technology integration and development across product
groups. Mike served for a time as visiting scientist at MIT before starting
vlingo in 2006. vlingo is a voice-powered user interface that unlocks access
to mobile phone wireless data services and allows users to speak or type
into any vlingo-enabled text box and get accurate and consistent access
to information made possible through today’s mobile applications. |
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Co-director, Center for Advanced Surgical &
Interventional Technology (CASIT), UCLA |
| Dr. Peter Schulam serves as vice chair of
the Department of Urology, chief of the Division of Endourology and Minimally
Invasive Surgery, associate professor of Urology, and co-director of CASIT
at UCLA. CASIT is a UCLA-designated research facility, which includes the
Gonda Robotic Center, a wet research laboratory, a telecommunications center,
a computer simulations facility, an integrated operating room suite, and
administrative offices. The facility maintains a da Vinci surgical robotic
surgery system, a human patient simulator, and laparoscopic surgical simulators
and tools. Dr. Schulam has a longstanding clinical interest in minimally
invasive surgery and laparscopic techniques, including developing novel
biological sensors, instruments, and surgical techniques to be employed
in minimally invasive surgery. He also studies the effects minimally invasive
surgery has on a patient’s immunological status and quality of life.
Prior to UCLA, Pete was deputy director of the Minimally Invasive Surgery
Center and assistant professor and director of Endourology and Genitourinary
Laparoscopy, both at the Baylor College of Medicine, and assistant chief
of service at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He also served as general surgical
intern and junior assistant resident at Johns Hopkins Medical Center. Pete
is certified by the American Board of Urology, and has numerous presentations
and publications to his credit. He is a member of the American Urological
Association, the Endourological Society, and the American Association of
Clinical Uroloists. |
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CEO, TVU Networks |
Mr. Paul Shen is an expert in the digital
video area and a successful serial entrepreneur. As CEO of TVU networks,
Mr. Shen oversees the company's ability to allow any size broadcaster to
effectively monetize their content through a live Internet TV platform
which reaches the entire world, has unlimited channel capacity, and allows
for very low
broadcasting costs. Mr. Shen was the founder and CEO of Imedia Corporation,
a leader in digital video communication that was acquired by Terayon. Imedia
Corporation delivered the first statistical re-multiplexer, CherryPicker,
which played a central role in digital television distribution in cable
and satellite TV services. Previously, Paul defined the hardware architecture
for General Instrument's first all-digital television system and the first
digital high definition television system. He served as a General Instrument
representative to the MPEG Committee, where he chaired the MPEG4 Syntax
Group and led the effort to define a new object-oriented descriptive language.
Paul holds 10 patents. Paul was also co-founder and CEO of Open Harbor,
a provider of web-based services for international trade facilitation. |
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Chief Technology Officer, SAP |
| Dr. Vishal Sikka’s experience includes
research in automatic programming, information and application integration,
and artificial intelligence. At
SAP, Dr. Sikka is responsible for driving SAP’s technology and architecture
strategy across its product portfolio. Vishal leads the company’s
efforts around emerging technologies and is responsible for mapping SAP’s
next-generation architecture. Prior to his role as CTO, he was the senior
vice president of architecture and chief software architect at SAP, in
charge of the roadmap and direction of the architecture of SAP’s
products and infrastructure. He also headed the advanced technology group.
Before joining SAP, Vishal served as area vice president for platform technologies
at Peregrine Systems (Remedy), which he joined following the acquisition
of Bodha, Inc., where he served as founder and chairman/CEO. |
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Technical Fellow, Microsoft |
| Mr. Burton Smith is a computer industry leader
who focuses his work on expanding Microsoft’s efforts in parallel
and high-performance computing. Mr. Smith is recognized as an international
leader in high-performance computer architecture and programming languages
for parallel computers. Before joining Microsoft, Burton was chief scientist
at Cray, Inc., formerly Tera Computer Co. Before founding Tera Computer,
he spent six years with Denelcor, Inc. and three years with the Institute
for Defense Analyses. Previously, Burton taught at the University of Colorado
at Denver and MIT. In 2003, he was honored with the Seymour Cray Computer
Science and Engineering Award from the IEEE Computer Society, and was elected
to the National Academy of Engineering. In 1991, Burton received the Eckert-Mauchly
Award, given jointly by the IEEE and the Association for Computing Machinery.
He is a fellow in both organizations. In addition, Burton is on the review
committee for the Los Alamos National Laboratory Computer and Computational
Sciences division, and on the advisory committee for the Pacific Northwest
National Laboratory Computational Science and Engineering division. |
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Director, Micromaching Laboratory, Caltech |
| Dr. Yu-Chong Tai’s research interests
include MEMS technology, microsensors, microactuators, microstructure,
MEMS systems, and MEMS science. At the Caltech Micromachining Laboratory,
Dr. Tai’s teams have successfully developed MEMS devices, including
pressure sensors, shear-stress sensors, hot-wire anemometers, magnetic
actuators, microphones, microvalves, and micromotors. Their system-level
MEMS research projects include integrated microelectronics, microsensors,
and microactuators drag-reduction smart surfaces, flexible smart skin for
the control unmanned aerial vehicles, and micro fluid delivery systems.
Y.C. leads an extensive and collaborative research program with the USC
Medical School on retinal implants, including MEMS devices for eye applications.
He is also a professor of electrical engineering, mechanical engineering,
and bioengineering at Caltech. Y.C. has garnered numerous awards, including
the ASCIT Teaching Award at Caltech, and is a fellow of both the IEEE and
the Institute of Physics. |
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Chief Executive Officer and President , fix8.com |
| Mr. Linh Tang is a senior executive with a
record of accomplishment in world-wide operations. Mr. Tang’s vast
experience in technology, operations, and management make him the ideal
fit to lead fix8 on its mission to revolutionize virtual communication
and expression. Fix8 is an interactive communication application that allows
people to customize their on-screen virtual appearance in real time using
avatar technology and creative accessories. Fix8 integrates human expression
analysis and rendering capabilities, avatar/facial sculpting and animation
technology, voice manipulation, and one click 3D facemaker design capabilities.
Linh is a veteran of several startups with more than 15 of experience in
the IT and consumer goods industries. |
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General Manager, Robotics Group, Microsoft |
| Mr. Tandy Trower has a 25-year history with
new products and technology initiatives at Microsoft, having brought to
market new products as diverse as Microsoft Flight Simulator and Microsoft
Windows. Most recently, Mr. Trower took the wraps off his latest exploratory
project: Microsoft Robotics Studio, a software developer’s kit that
enables users to learn how to program robots and transport those programs
across a variety of robot types and vendors. As a strong proponent of the
importance of design in human-computer interaction, Tandy has contributed
to Microsoft’s investment in improving its user interfaces, founding
the company’s first usability labs, and product design roles. He
was instrumental in building the Media Center version of Windows, and helped
launch the first two versions of Microsoft Windows. Tandy also managed
some of the first BASIC products, including GW-BASIC. |
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Founding Director, UCLA Institute of the Environment |
| Dr. Richard Turco is professor and past chair
of the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at UCLA, and a member
of the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics. Dr. Turco’s
work includes research on the stratospheric ozone layer and the ozone “hole,” the
causes of global climate change, regional air pollution, and the environmental
effects of aerosols. Rich developed the first comprehensive model describing
the “microphysics” and climatic impacts of airborne particles
generated by volcanic eruptions as well as aircraft and rocket activity.
He and his co-workers were the first to show that polar stratospheric clouds
associated with severe ozone depletion over Antarctica (the ozone hole)
are composed of nitric acid ices. In 1983, working with a team of colleagues,
Rich developed the theory of “nuclear winter,” a climatic state
characterized by sudden cooling of land surfaces beneath widespread clouds
of smoke and dust produced by nuclear explosions. With Carl Sagan, he authored
A Path Where No Man Thought: Nuclear Winter and the End of the Arms Race.
More recently, he has investigated the current status of the world’s
nuclear arsenals, the threats posed by nuclear proliferation and terrorism,
and the potential global environmental consequences of “small” regional
nuclear conflicts between emerging nuclear states. Rich has been president
of the Atmospheric Sciences section of the American Geophysical Union,
and served as an associate editor of the Journal of Geophysical Research.
His honors include a MacArthur Fellowship and the Leo Szilard Prize for
Physics in the Public Interest, awarded by the American Physical Society.
His publications include more than 240 scientific papers and reports, including
contributions to 23 books, and 80 other technical notes and articles. |
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Chief, Atomic Physics Division
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) |
| Dr. Carl Williams coordinates the NIST Quantum Information
program and is co-director of the Joint Quantum Institute. His research
activities include ultracold atomic collisions, Bose-Einstein condensation,
many-body physics, and quantum information science. Dr. Williams’ primary
focus within the quantum information arena is on high-speed quantum cryptography
and neutral atom quantum computing, including quantum gates, generalized
quantum architectures, and quantum simulations. Carl joined NIST in 1998,
and prior to his current position, served as coordinator of the NIST Quantum
Information Program. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society, was
awarded the Department of Commerce Silver Medal in 2003 for his leadership
of the NIST Quantum Information program, and received the Arthur S. Flemming
Award for Scientific Excellence in Government Service for his contributions
to quantum physics. In addition, Carl is the author of over 80 technical
publications. |
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