Speakers

Kathleen Kramer

2024 IEEE President-Elect  Kathleen A. Kramer is a Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of San Diego in California. She worked to develop new engineering programs as a founding member of the faculty and eventually became the chair of electrical engineering, and then serving as Director of Engineering (2004-2013), providing academic leadership for all [...]

Tom Coughlin

IEEE President-Elect Tom Coughlin, President, Coughlin Associates is a digital storage analyst and business and technology consultant. He has more than 40 years in the data storage industry with engineering and senior management positions at several companies. Dr. Coughlin has many publications and six patents. He is also the author of Digital Storage in Consumer [...]

Alberto Moreira

Panelist at the Welcome Celebration at the Georgia Aquarium and Recipient of the 2023 IEEE Dennis J. Picard Medal for Radar Technologies and Applications Alberto Moreira is a pioneer in the field of microwave systems, techniques, and technologies, with particular emphasis on spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) for Earth monitoring. The concepts and technologies he [...]

Luc Van den hove

Panelist on the Innovation Panel and 2023 IEEE Robert N. Noyce Medal Recipient Luc Van den hove has been with imec, a world-leading research and innovation hub in nanoelectronics and digital technologies since its founding in 1984 and has been president and CEO since 2009. In his time with imec, Van den hove has been [...]

Katie Hafner

Moderator for the Fireside Chat with the 2023 IEEE Medal of Honor Recipient, Vinton G. Cerf Katie Hafner is an author and long-time tech journalist who was on staff at The New York Times for more than a decade. She is the author of six non-fiction books, including Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet (with [...]

Melba Crawford

Panelist on the Innovation Panel and the 2023 IEEE Mildred Dresselhaus Medal Recipient Melba Crawford’s pioneering work in the development and application of algorithms to analyze remote sensing data has resulted in vital new capabilities to address urgent problems in agriculture, geotechnical engineering, and environmental mapping and monitoring. For example, her contributions are helping to [...]

Tim Gitau

Moderator on the Artificial Intelligence and ChatGPT Tim Gitau is a technologist and has been an IEEE member since 2011, volunteering in numerous roles within the United States and Africa, making him an IEEE senior member. He currently serves as the Treasurer of the IEEE Humanitarian Technologies Board and supports the Power and Energy Society [...]

Alessio Medda

Dessert Speaker Dr Alessio Medda is a Principal Research Engineer at the Aerospace, Transportation, and Advanced System Laboratory at the Georgia Tech Research Institute and he is Chief of the Biosensing and Signal Analytics Branch. Dr. Medda Alessio received his M.S. in Electronic Engineering in 1993 from the University of Cagliari, Italy, and his Ph.D. [...]

Theresa Brunasso

Dessert Speaker Theresa Brunasso, Founder of D&S Microwave, is a 30-year veteran in the field of Electrical Engineering. Prior to starting D&S Microwave, she spent more than 20 years at EMS Technologies. At EMS, Theresa served as Microwave Engineering Manager, Director of Technology Development, and provided innovative design and development expertise for numerous programs, including [...]

Lydia E. Kavraki

Panelist on the Artificial Intelligence and ChatGPT and 2023 IEEE Frances E. Allen Medal Recipient Lydia E. Kavraki revolutionized the field of algorithmic robotics and searching in continuous domains. Her contributions have had a broad impact in both robotic motion planning and computational biology. Twenty-five years ago, Lydia introduced the world to the simple yet [...]

Carlotta Berry

Panelist on the Artificial Intelligence and ChatGPT and 2023 IEEE Undergraduate Teaching Award Recipient Carlotta Berry has a passion for increasing diversity in engineering. She is utilizing robotics and engineering education, as well as human-robot interaction research to bring STEM to diverse populations. She has built several organizations that reach out to women and marginalized [...]

James J. Truchard

Panelist on the Innovation Panel and the 2023 IEEE James H. Mulligan Jr. Education Medal As an engineer, business owner, and global technical leader, James Truchard has always been driven by a vision to empower engineers to be more innovative and efficient—and his work to make that vision a reality has had enormous worldwide impact. [...]

Frank Thomson “Tom” Leighton

Panelist on the Innovation Panel 2023 IEEE John von Neumann Medal Recipient "for fundamental contributions to algorithm design and their application to content delivery networks". Tom Leighton is a computer scientist, entrepreneur, and technology leader—and extraordinarily successful in all those endeavors. Early in his career, as a computer scientist and algorithm designer at MIT, he [...]

Hope Merritt III

Moderator for Innovator's Panel Hope Merritt III serves as the Vice President and General Manager of Data Center Platform Application Engineering (DCPAE) within DCAI's Data Platforms Engineering and Architecture (DPEA) organization. Hope is a 26-year Intel veteran with extensive leadership and management experience ranging from traditional launch support to technology enabling across multiple business units and [...]

Nim Cheung

Opening Remarks at the Welcome Celebration at the Georgia Aquarium Dr. Nim Cheung is Chairman and CEO of AIphotonics Limited, a technology company he founded at the Hong Kong Science Park specializing in 3D photography, LIDAR and artificial intelligence. He is also the Director of several listed and start-up companies in Hong Kong and has [...]
Nirmala Ramanujam headshot.

Nirmala “Nimmi” Ramanujam

Panelist and 2023 IEEE Biomedical Engineering Award Recipient recognized for more globally accessible technology for women's health related to cancer screening, diagnosis, and treatment. Nimmi Ramanujam has made pioneering contributions to the development of innovative, patient-centered health technologies that have far-reaching impacts in the fight against cancer, particularly cervical cancer. She uses her knowledge of [...]

Sophia “Sophie” Muirhead

Opening Remarks at the Welcome Celebration at the Georgia Aquarium Sophia (“Sophie”) Muirhead became IEEE’s Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer (COO) in January 2023. She manages a US$500+ million business enterprise with a worldwide staff of over 1,100 employees. Prior to becoming the Executive Director and COO, Sophie was IEEE’s General Counsel and Chief [...]

Chris Coco

Panelist at the Welcome Celebration at the Georgia Aquarium Chris Coco is Senior Director for Aquatic Sustainability at Georgia Aquarium, Inc. (GAI).  He joined GAI in 2004 as a member of its pre-opening team.  During that phase, Coco helped to assemble one of the largest living collections at any aquarium, most notable was his role [...]

Rodney Brooks

Speaker and 2023 IEEE Founders Medal Recipient Rodney Brooks is a robotics visionary. Early on, he saw the future of robotics, then found ways to create that future and bring robots to everyday life. The impact of his work is found everywhere, from the research lab to the consumer market, from the living room to [...]

Alaa J. Mousa

Individual Speaker, "Building a Future-Ready Digital Ecosystem" Dr. Alaa J. Mousa, Deputy CEO at Earthlink Telecoms, has more than 23 years of experience in the ICT sector since he graduated as a Telecom Engineer in 1999 and holds MSC and Ph.D. in Telecommunications in 2002 and 2007 respectively. He was the chief technical officer (CTO) of many telecom operators. In [...]

Vinton G. Cerf

Fireside Chat with the 2023 IEEE Medal of Honor Recipient, Vinton G. Cerf Widely known as one of the “Fathers of the Internet,” Vinton (Vint) G. Cerf is the co-designer with Robert E. Kahn of the TCP/IP protocols and the architecture of the Internet. Cerf’s tireless commitment to the Internet’s evolution, improvement, oversight, and evangelism throughout [...]

Scott Frank

Featured Speaker, “Making the World a Better Place with Intellectual Property" The Global Intellectual Property Alliance (GLIPA) was launched in October 2022 with the World Intellectual Property Organization (created by the United Nations) which is a non-profit. GLIPA seeks to raise IP awareness/education, improve IP ecosystem collaboration, and increase IP diversity and inclusion for the [...]

Erwin Hochmair

Panelist and 2023 IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Co-Recipient, recognized for the research, development, and realization of multi-channel microelectronic cochlear implants. Biography Ingeborg and Erwin Hochmair The Cochlear Implant (CI) is the first replacement of a sensory organ, enabling deaf persons to hear via a (partially) implanted device. CI-users are able to communicate orally, and many [...]

Ingeborg J. Hochmair-Desoyer

Panelist and 2023 IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Co-Recipient, recognized for the research, development, and realization of multi-channel microelectronic cochlear implants. Ingeborg J. Hochmair holds Dipl.-Ing. and Dr.tech degrees in Electrical Engineering and a venia legendi in Biomedical Engineering from the Technical University of Vienna, where she, together with Erwin Hochmair, developed the very first microelectronic [...]

Anna Zakrzewska

Panelist and 2023 IEEE Theodore W. Hissey Outstanding Young Professional Award Recipient recognized for contributions in telecommunications research and innovation, leading to commercialization while inspiring tomorrow's young technology leaders through STEM volunteering work. Anna Zakrzewska is a senior principal engineer at the Telecom Co-Innovation Expert Centre at Dell Technologies in Dublin, Ireland. She leads company [...]

Tracy Daniels

Serving as Moderator - Women in Tech Panel Tracy Daniels is the Chief Data Officer for Truist Financial Corporation. She leads the team responsible for Truist’s enterprise data capabilities, including strategy, governance, data platform delivery, client, master & reference data, and the centers of excellence for business intelligence visualization and artificial intelligence & machine learning. [...]

Tom Coughlin

IEEE President-Elect Tom Coughlin, President, Coughlin Associates is a digital storage analyst and business and technology consultant. He has more than 40 years in the data storage industry with engineering and senior management positions at several companies. Dr. Coughlin has many publications and six patents. He is also the author of Digital Storage in Consumer [...]

John D. McDonald

Opening Remarks at the Welcome Celebration at the Georgia Aquarium John D. McDonald, P.E., is Smart Grid Business Development Leader for GE’s Grid Solutions business. John has 49 years of experience in the electric utility transmission and distribution industry. John received his B.S.E.E. and M.S.E.E. (Power Engineering) degrees from Purdue University, and an M.B.A. (Finance) [...]

Arijit Raychowdhury

Lunch Speaker Arijit Raychowdhury is the Steve W. Chaddick School Chair in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at Georgia Tech. He previously held the Motorola Solutions Foundation Professorship. He joined the ECE faculty as anassociate professor in January 2013 and held the ON Semiconductor Junior Professorship from 2015 to 2019. As the [...]

Jairo Garcia

Panelist at the Welcome Celebration at the Georgia Aquarium Dr. Jairo Garcia is an expert in urban sustainability and climate change. Dr. Garcia is the CEO of Urban Climate Nexus, the North America Curator for United Nations Habitat, a Sustainable Development Goals Educator Fellow, and long-term collaborator and lecturer at Johns Hopkins University and The [...]

Charles Neal

Master of Ceremonies Charles Neal serves on the Board of Directors as President for the National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC) Atlanta region. He sees his role within NAMIC as a platform for reaching and helping his corporate community. These endeavors are a direct connection to his purpose and his ‘why.’ Charles is currently [...]

Rahul Saxena

Lunch Speaker Rahul Saxena is the Interim Director for CREATE-X and the Associate Director for LAUNCH. Leading up to this role, Saxena had a career as a Venture Capitalist, startup CEO, entrepreneur, mechatronic design engineer, and published academic researcher. Saxena is a mechanical engineering Georgia Tech alumnus, earned his European Master’s degree in Fluid Mechanics [...]

Saifur Rahman

2023 IEEE President & CEO Moderator at the Welcome Celebration at the Georgia Aquarium; Opener at 2023 IEEE VIC Summit Saifur Rahman Professor Saifur Rahman is the founding director of the Advanced Research Institute at Virginia Tech, USA, where he is the Joseph R. Loring Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He also directs the [...]