20 September 2015

The Performance Engineering Lab is excited to invite you to three talks by Ross Smith, Director of Engineering, Microsoft Skype and Sarah Hubbard and Hannah Misenar, students at the University of Washington and interns at Microsoft and NASA.

Where and when?: UCD CSI B1.09, Monday 21st September from 3 - 5pm

Session 1: Design Matters

Speaker

Ross Smith, Director of Engineering, Microsoft Skype Customer Feedback and Data Insights

Abstract

Ross will give a talk on machine intelligence and design. Full details to follow.

Biography

Ross is a Fellow and blogger for the Royal Society of the Arts. Author of The Practical Guide to Defect Prevention and holds six patents. Member of the Leadership Council for the Anita Borg Institute, co-chair for Grace Hopper D&I Track. Part of “male ally” panel discussions at the IEEE Women in Technology and National Center for Women in Technology (NCWIT) Summit and TechCrunch. Work with iUrbanTeen and Native Americans at Microsoft. Developed 42projects to promote cultural change, and he works with Skype in the Classroom program. He was invited to the White House for discussion on women in STEM. Keynote speaker for the ARTBA’s Transovation 2014. The work of his teams have been mentioned in Forbes, The Economist, the Wall Street Journal, PSFK, the American Journal of Play, Harvard Business Review, and the London School of Business. He is a blogger for SHRM and has worked on Skype Translator.

Session 2: Talks from US Undergraduates Interning at Microsoft and NASA

Speaker 1

Sarah Hubbard (Microsoft Intern)

Abstract

Hackathons have recently become a trend amongst many large universities, redefining what it means to be a “hacker” and bringing computer science education to students outside of the classroom. In a span of 24 hours, groups of students from hundreds of universities team up to learn new technologies and build projects with the goal of creating solutions to real-world problems. The modern collegiate hackathon gives innovative students a platform for turning ideas into realities and pursuing entrepreneurial ventures. As the modern workforce demands a greater amount of technical literacy, computer science education is essential in building an innovative future. Hands-on learning, through hackathons and entrepreneurship, gives students a unique exposure to technology - helping to fill the deficit of technical talent required for the 21st century.

Biography

Sarah Hubbard is currently completing her undergraduate degree in Informatics and Data Science at the University of Washington in Seattle. She spent last fall at the White House in Washington D.C. working for the Office of Science and Technology Policy focusing on a range of current issues such as creating the White House Women in STEM website, launching the Climate Literacy and Education Initiative, and organizing the national Computer Science Education Week. She has previous industry experience working as a software engineer for both Microsoft and NASA. During her time at NASA, she assisted in analyzing satellite data in order to make recommendations for the ICESat-2 satellite set to launch at the end of 2015. Sarah has spent the last few months working for the Skype division at Microsoft on a variety of projects with Skype in the Classroom, including forging partnerships to host a Microsoft STEM Exploration Summit. On campus, she is active in the Seattle entrepreneurship community as the Co-President of the Foster School of Business Lavin Entrepreneurship Program, a consultant for Montlake Consulting Group, and a participant in various business competitions.

Speaker 2

Hannah Misenar (NASA Intern)

Abstract

Using public funds for the purposes of research and development has always been a topic of hot debate--especially in the United States, where the budget of their National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is under constant scrutiny. When real socioeconomic problems such as poverty and hunger are everyday experiences of people across the world, it becomes difficult to justify the billions of dollars spent on putting humans in outer space, sending satellites into orbit, or doing anything that isn't directly working to solve these very real problems. In 1976, NASA began publishing a book titled "Spinoffs", in an effort to bridge this gap between the reaches of R&D and the public's perception of its importance. Upon a quick glance through this text, it becomes very clear that space exploration research reaps surprisingly far-reaching benefits. Though funding space exploration seems to invest in the future at the blatant expense of the present, we find that the implications of its existence create profound and undeniable improvements to life here on Earth today.

Biography

Hannah Misenar is a student at the University of Washington pursuing a degree in Informatics with a focus on Human-Computer Interaction. She has spent the past two summers interning with NASA--first in the Systems Integration and Test Branch at NASA Langley Research Center, and second in the Advanced Concepts Lab at NASA Kennedy Space Center. During her time at NASA, Hannah developed software tools and interfaces for the thermal vacuum labs and ESD clean rooms, prototyped an augmented reality device for engineers and astronauts, developed both internal and public-facing software applications to be launched on mobile, desktop, and virtual reality platforms, and assisted with future planning of commercial spaceports as humans prepare for their journey to Mars. She has also performed research on projects in two university labs, one based on Mobile Security in the Computing and Software Systems Department, and the other on Human-Centered Robotics in the Computer Engineering Department. Hannah is also heavily involved in the entrepreneurship community; she serves as Co-President of the Foster School of Business Lavin Entrepreneurship Program, and spent several months working in Hardware Integration at PebbleBee--a local technology startup. Upon completion of her education, Hannah intends to run her own technology company--with ambitions to narrow the gap between futuristic technologies and the everyday individual.