2017 Past IEEE President

Keynote Speaker Monday May 8th: Barry Shoop

Title: Disruptive Innovations

Abstract: Clayton M. Christensen first coined the term disruptive technology in his 1995 article "Disruptive Technologies: Catching the Wave" in which he described disruptive technology as a new technology that unexpectedly displaces an established technology. Later, in his classic text The Innovator's Dilemma, he asks the question "Why do well-managed companies fail? He concludes that they often fail because the very management practices that have allowed them to become industry leaders also make it extremely difficult for them to recognize and develop the disruptive technologies that ultimately capture their markets. Well-managed companies are excellent at developing sustaining technologies, those technologies that improve the performance of their products in ways that satisfy their customers. Disruptive technologies, however, are distinctly different and are typically cheaper, smaller, simpler and frequently more convenient to use. Disruptive technologies fundamentally change the value proposition in a market according to a distinct pathology. There are numerous disruptive technologies throughout history that have changed the very fabric of society including but not limited to the printing press, electricity, the personal computer, and more recently, the cellular telephone. While a retrospective analysis of a specific technology can identify that technology as disruptive, the desire is to develop both a culture and organizational structure that allow for a continuous survey of the technology horizon to identify and subsequently develop disruptive technologies. In addition to understanding disruptive innovations, we have found that it is equally important to understand how social, cultural, and religious factors impact the acceptance or rejection of technological innovation. To develop this framework we include insights from three classic texts including The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas S. Kuhn, The Discoverers by Daniel J. Boorstin, and The Two Cultures by C. P. Snow. Iconic examples of the consequences of not understanding disruptive innovations are Blackberry, Nokia, Blockbuster, Borders, Kodak, and others - companies that missed opportunities to leapfrog to the next big thing.

Bio: Barry L. Shoop is Professor of Electrical Engineering and Head of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. During his 20 years at West Point he has served in a number of key leadership positions including Director of the Photonics Research Center and Director of the Electrical Engineering Program. Currently as Professor and Head he is responsible for an undergraduate academic department with over 79 faculty and staff supporting ABET accredited programs in electrical engineering, computer science, and information technology. The department engages over 1800 students each year and has 4 affiliated research centers including the Cyber Research Center, Network Science Center, Photonics Research Center and a burgeoning Robotics Program. Dr. Shoop holds 1 patent and has authored or co-authored 8 books and book chapters, and over 146 publications. He received a B.S. from the Pennsylvania State University in 1980 and Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1992, both in electrical engineering. His research interests include optical information processing, neural networks, image processing, disruptive innovations and educational pedagogy. He is a Fellow of the IEEE, OSA and SPIE, and a member of Phi Kappa Phi, Eta Kappa Nu, and Sigma Xi. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Taken from http://www.barryshoop.net/biography.html

Keynote Speaker Tuesday May 9th: Sanil Maulik

Title: Utilizing Behvioral Neuroscience to Design Safer Products

Abstract:  The Internet of Things is transforming how we interact with the physical world in the same way that the Internet transformed our interactions in the virtual world. This presents both opportunities and challenges for developing safer products. Unfortunately, many products elicit adverse events or even fail when they are launched, because they are not designed to encourage safe habits. In this talk I will address human factors, subconscious biases, and habit-forming methodologies designed to elicit safe behavior in a variety of products.

Bio:  

Sunil Maulik has over twenty-five years of experience in Silicon Valley. He teaches workshops on product design for long-term behavior change in the technology and healthcare industries. He has given keynote speeches at Triple Ring Technologies, Product Realization Group, Genentech, Perkins-Coie, Alterra, Roche, Health2.0 and numerous other organizations. He has been a mentor and advisor to over 50 startups. Sunil helped start five companies (two IPOs (OXMOL; TRPS), two acquisitions (Moneta, 500Friends), one spectacular failure (Pangea Systems!) He co-founded and ran GeneEd, the first e-learning company focused on long-term behavior change for providers and patients. (Acquired by InVentiv Health in 2008.) Sunil is an advisor at The Innovation Center Denmark, a Danish government-funded design and innovation agency with offices in eight countries. He has guest-lectured at the Stanford d-school, U.C. Berkeley, and at the University of Amsterdam (THNQ.) Sunil has held management positions at Pangea Systems, Tripos (NASDAQ:TRPS), Hoffmann-La Roche (NYSE: ROCHE), Oxford Molecular (LSE: OXMOL), and IntelliGenetics.

Sunil’s thesis research on mathematical methods for 3-D image reconstruction of biological assemblies was published on the cover of the scientific journal Nature. His book “Molecular Biotechnology” (J. Wiley & Sons) sold over 4000 copies and was used in four university courses. He holds patents in fields as diverse as gene sequence pattern-matching, e-learning and e-mail analytics. Sunil worked with the Nobel-prize winners Maurice Wilkins and Aaron Klug as an undergraduate, and Sir Tom Blundell and Donald Caspar as a graduate student. He holds degrees in Physics

(B.Sc.), Biology (B.Sc.), X-ray Crystallography (M.Sc.) and Biophysics (Ph.D.) After graduate school, he participated in AI research at Bionet™ with Drs. Peter Friedland, Doug Brutlag, Russ Altman and Ed Feigenbaum of Stanford. Sunil participates in several non-profit ventures dedicated to health and wellness in sustainable communities, including the Pacific AIDS Education Center and Project Ahimsa. He is enthralled by the opportunity to help extend wellness across the globe by bringing the power of informatics to everyday users.