Sessions

• Date: April 5, 2022 (Rescheduled from April 4)
• Time: 3:30-4:30 p.m.
• Talk Title: "Machine Learning and the National Laboratory Perspective: Alumni and Industry"

Ian Cummings ’16 ’17 ’20 (BS, MS, PhD, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering), holds a joint appointment as a Postdoc in the Space & Remote Sensing Group and the Engineering Institute at Los Alamos National Laboratory. He earned his B.S. and M.S. in Computer Engineering and his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Michigan Technological University in Houghton, MI. He was awarded the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship for his graduate studies, during which he collaborated with the RF Technology Group at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. There he worked with the staff to develop adaptive digital beamforming and digital self-interference cancellation techniques designed to enable simultaneous transmit and receive in a single frequency band on a phased array.

Hanieh Deilamsalehy ’15 ’17 (MS, PhD, Electrical Engineering), is a Machine Learning Researcher at Adobe. Her research interest, broadly, is developing novel tools and machine learning techniques for software applications. In recent years, she has been primarily focusing on applied research in natural language processing, and she is currently leading the NLP effort with her team at Adobe research. 
Hanieh earned her Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Michigan Tech in 2017. Prior to her work at Adobe, she was a machine learning scientist at Microsoft, where she developed machine learning methods for media intelligence.

• Date: April 5, 2022
• Time: 9-10:10 a.m.
• Talk Title: "Health Information and Infrastructure/Financial Tech Systems and Modeling"
• Watch a video of the session.

Dr. Tim Pletcher is the Executive Director of the Michigan Health Information Network Shared Services (MiHIN), a public and private nonprofit collaboration dedicated to improving the healthcare experience, improving quality, and decreasing cost for Michigan’s people by making valuable data available at the point of care through statewide health information sharing. Dr. Pletcher is also an Adjunct Research Investigator of Learning Health Sciences at the University of Michigan Medical School. Plechter frequently presents both regionally and nationally on topics such as Health Informatics, Advanced Analytics, Data Science, and the requirements for creating a Learning Health System. He received a Doctorate of Health Administration and a master’s degree in Health Administration from Central Michigan University, and he received his Bachelor of Science from the University of Michigan.

Paul Stinson '84 (Bus. Admin.) is a Managing Partner at Telos Associates. With over 35 years of senior executive experience in product management, sales, and marketing, Paul is the founder and managing director of Telos Associates. Known as a boutique consulting group, Telos Associates focuses on helping small to mid-size companies establish long-term growth focused product strategies and the organizational muscle to dominate health information technology markets. In addition, Telos helps organizations integrate product strategies and product teams before, during, and after M&A transactions.

Paul is an accomplished, seasoned executive in the field of healthcare information technology and population health management. He has successfully served as a Chief Growth Officer and Chief Product and Marketing Officer, as well as other senior level product strategy positions. His teams have delivered hundreds of global products and services to the healthcare community from conception to commercialization, in both the acute and ambulatory care environment. Paul has demonstrated expertise in initiating and successfully completing large-scale, complex projects, such as the delivery of an industry-leading electronic health record system at WebMD, an integrated population health management platform at Staywell, and enterprise-wide laboratory information systems at Sunquest. Skilled as a top-level leader defining portfolio growth strategies and business opportunities, implementing operational efficiencies, and defining marketing strategies to increase company competitiveness and address market demand.

Paul also serves as the President of T21 Enterprises, a small food services firm whose profits support programs for children and adults with special needs.  He also serves on the Dean's Advisory Council of Michigan Technological University’s College of Business.

Thomas Verhagen, Senior Associate of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, has more than 15 years of experience in commercial banking, multi-sector innovation processes, and sustainability issues. He is a freely established researcher, strategy consultant, and project booster. Previously, he was at CISL’s Centre for Sustainable Finance as a Senior Programme Manager responsible for the banking sector and digital innovation for sustainability. Before CISL he worked for ten years at ABN AMRO bank, where he held responsibility for client coverage, credit portfolio management, financial restructuring, and business model innovation. He holds a B.Sc. and a M.Sc. in International Business from Tilburg University, the Netherlands.

• Date: April 5, 2022
• Time: 10:15-11:15 a.m.
• Talk Title: "Data Science in the Defense Sector"

Rajeev Agarwalis Deputy Director-Cyber-AI, C5ISREW, OUSD (R&E) at the U.S. of Defense.

• Date: April 5, 2022
• Time: 1:45-3:30 p.m.
• Talk Title: "Software Engineering and the User Experience: Alumni Experience"
• Watch a video of the session.

Adam Jones, Detroit Domestic Representative at National Counterterrorism Center, has served in analytical, operational, and policy support roles across the Intelligence Community. Prior to his current assignment, he served as Chief of Staff to the Acting Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence. He previously served as Chief of Staff and Senior Policy Advisor to the President’s Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Advisor at the White House, and supported a presidential transition as an IC analytical representative. Earlier in his career, he served on the staff of the President’s Daily Brief, the National Intelligence Council, the National Counterproliferation Center, the US Commission on the Prevention of WMD Proliferation and Terrorism, and as a targeter in the CIA’s Directorate of Operations. He began his career in the IC as speechwriter to the Director and Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence. Adam received his bachelors from Georgetown University, Masters from the National Defense Intelligence College, and was a Recanati-Kaplan Intelligence Fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

Mary McInnis, ’92 (BS, ME-EM), UX Researcher, Bold Insight, has a rich background in automotive and healthcare. She spent 10 years as a mechanical engineer in the auto industry, with roles in design, manufacturing, and quality-all originating from her BS in Mechanical Engineering at Michigan Tech. Her entry point to human-centered work began in automotive design validation testing, branching to varied roles involving wellness, teaching, and project management. Recently, Mary was able to combine all her experience at Bold Insight, an innovative research consultancy. She conducts human factors and UX research primarily within healthcare involving attentional, perceptual, cognitive load, and cognitive bias considerations. She has tested everything from gaming platforms to on-body medical devices. Mary has an M.S. in Engineering Management from the University of Detroit-Mercy, and an M.S. in Human Factors Psychology from the University of Idaho.

Adam Shirey, ’04 (BS, Computer Science), Senior Software Engineer/Data Engineer, Microsoft, graduated from Michigan Tech in 2004 with a bachelor's degree in Computer Science. He has spent most of his career working in large-scale, distributed data processing and data engineering, partnering with data scientists at LexisNexis, Amazon, and Microsoft.

Andrew Spina, ’05 (BS, Electrical Engineering), Software Engineer, Amazon, graduated from MTU in 2005 with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering. At MTU he was active with Mu Beta Psi, the Ridge Roamers, Dance Troupe, Capoeira, and the Swing Club. He switched to software development late in the game. He worked on the ground systems of the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb. Currently he writes software to help sellers and vendors on Amazon.com improve their business operations and sell to a wider set of customers. He’s got three kids, a very big dog, and they live in Grosse Pointe, Mich. He enjoys stroking his goatee.

• Date: April 6, 2022
• Time: 12-1 p.m.
• Talk Title: "The Computing and Information Science and Engineering Landscape: A Look Forward"

Jeremy Epstein is lead program officer for the NSF Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace (SaTC) program, NSF’s flagship multi-disciplinary cybersecurity & privacy program. He also leads the CISE Research Initiation Initiative (CRII), a program targeting junior faculty at under resourced institutions. Prior to these roles, he was Deputy Division Director of CISE/CNS, where he was responsible for research in a range of computer science programs, including cybersecurity, cyber physical systems, smart and connected communities, computer systems, networking, computer science education, technology transition, and other assorted topics. He spent most of his career in industry, including at SRI International and webMethods. His areas of interest are in cybersecurity, particularly elections and voting security. Jeremy is also chair of the Association for Computing Machinery US Technology Policy Committee, founder/director of ACSA Scholarships for Women Studying Information Security (SWSIS), and former associate editor-in-chief of IEEE Security and Privacy Magazine.

Margaret Martonosi is the US National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Assistant Director for Computer and information Science and Engineering (CISE). With an annual budget of more than $1B, the CISE directorate at NSF has the mission to uphold the Nation’s leadership in scientific discovery and engineering innovation through its support of fundamental research and education in computer and information science and engineering as well as transformative advances in research cyberinfrastructure. While at NSF, Dr. Martonosi is on leave from Princeton University where she is the Hugh Trumbull Adams '35 Professor of Computer Science. Dr. Martonosi's research interests are in computer architecture and hardware-software interface issues in both classical and quantum computing systems. Dr. Martonosi is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

• Date: April 6, 2022
• Time: 2-3 p.m.
• Talk Title: "NSF Division of Graduate Education Virtual Presentation"

The speaker will discuss two STEM graduate education programs, namely, NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) program and Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) program. The goal of the NRT program is to encourage the development and implementation of bold, new, and potentially transformative models for STEM graduate education training. The key elements of the NRT program include convergent research and training, inclusive workforce development, and institutional transformation. The IGE program is dedicated to: (i) piloting, testing, and validating innovative approaches to graduate education, and (ii) generating the knowledge required for the customization and implementation of the most successful, transformative approaches. The speaker will also briefly discuss the programs in the Division of Graduate Education that support the CAREER program at the Foundation. 

Dr. Vinod K. Lohani is a Program Director in the Division of Graduate Education at the National Science Foundation, assigned to the NSF Research Traineeship (NRT), Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE), and CAREER programs. He is on leave from Virginia Tech (VT), where he is a Professor of Engineering Education; he held the W.S. “Pete” White Chair for Innovation in Engineering Education during 2018-20. He served as the Director of Education and Global Initiatives at VT’s premier Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science (ICTAS) during 2016-19, led ICTAS’ interdisciplinary doctoral scholar program, among other things. He received his undergraduate engineering degree in India, M.S. at the Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand, and Ph.D. in civil engineering from VT. His research interests are in the areas of computer-supported research and learning systems, STEM graduate education, engineering education, hydrology, and international collaboration. He has participated in 30 (~$8.5M) interdisciplinary research and curriculum development projects supported by the National Science Foundation, and has authored/co-authored about 100 peer-reviewed publications. Virginia Tech nominated him for the 2019 Outstanding Faculty Award of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. He has advised 9 PhD, 12 MS, and 40+ undergraduate research students.