Our Speakers
David A. Bader
Distinguished Professor,New Jersey Institute of Technology
David A. Bader
Distinguished Professor,New Jersey Institute of Technology
David A. Bader is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Computer Science and founder of the Department of Data Science and inaugural Director of the Institute for Data Science at New Jersey Institute of Technology. Prior to this, he served as founding Professor and Chair of the School of Computational Science and Engineering, College of Computing, at Georgia Institute of Technology.
Dr. Bader is a Fellow of the IEEE, AAAS, and SIAM, and a recipient of the IEEE Computer Society Sidney Fernbach Award. He advises the White House, most recently on the National Strategic Computing Initiative (NSCI) and Future Advanced Computing Ecosystem (FACE). Bader is a leading expert in solving global grand challenges in science, engineering, computing, and data science. His interests are at the intersection of high-performance computing and real-world applications, including cybersecurity, massive-scale analytics, and computational genomics, and he has co-authored over 300 scholarly papers and has best paper awards from ISC, IEEE HPEC, and IEEE/ACM SC. Dr. Bader has served as a lead scientist in several DARPA programs including High Productivity Computing Systems (HPCS) with IBM, Ubiquitous High Performance Computing (UHPC) with NVIDIA, Anomaly Detection at Multiple Scales (ADAMS), Power Efficiency Revolution For Embedded Computing Technologies (PERFECT), Hierarchical Identify Verify Exploit (HIVE), and Software-Defined Hardware (SDH). Recently, Bader received an NVIDIA AI Lab (NVAIL) award, and a Facebook Research AI Hardware/Software Co-Design award.
Dr. Bader is Editor-in-Chief of the ACM Transactions on Parallel Computing, and General Co-Chair of IPDPS 2021, and previously served as Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems. He serves on the leadership team of Northeast Big Data Innovation Hub as the inaugural chair of the Seed Fund Steering Committee. In 2021, ROI-NJ recognized Bader on its inaugural list of technology influencers, and in 2012, Bader was the inaugural recipient of University of Maryland’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award. In 2014, Bader received the Outstanding Senior Faculty Research Award from Georgia Tech. Bader has also served as Director of the Sony-Toshiba-IBM Center of Competence for the Cell Broadband Engine Processor and Director of an NVIDIA GPU Center of Excellence. In 1998, Bader built the first Linux supercomputer that led to a high-performance computing (HPC) revolution. He is a cofounder of the Graph500 List for benchmarking “Big Data” computing platforms. He is recognized as a “RockStar” of High Performance Computing by InsideHPC and as HPCwire’s People to Watch in 2012 and 2014.
Burak Kantarci
Associate Professor,University of Ottawa
Burak Kantarci
Associate Professor,University of Ottawa
Burak Kantarci is an Associate Professor and the Founding Director of the Next Generation Communications and Computing Networks (NEXTCON) Research Lab and the Smart Connected Vehicles Innovation Centre (SCVI) at the University of Ottawa. Dr. Kantarci holds a Ph.D in computer engineering; and he is a globally recognized researcher particularly in mobile cloud computing, mobile crowd-sensing and AI-driven solutions for secure and trustworthy cyberspace. Dr. Kantarci is the co-author of over 200 publications in established journals and conferences, and 13 book chapters. He is well known for his contributions to the quantification of data trustworthiness in mobile crowd-sensing (MCS) systems, and game theoretic incentives to promote user participation in MCS campaigns with high value data; as well as AI-backed access control, authentication and machine learning-backed intrusion detection solutions in sensing environments. Dr. Kantarci served as the Chair of IEEE Communications Systems Integration and Modeling Technical Committee, and has served as the Technical Program Co-Chair/ Symposium Co-chair of more than twenty international conferences/ symposia/ workshops including IEEE Global Communications Conference (GLOBECOM) – Communications Systems QoS, Reliability and Modeling (CQRM) symposium. An Editor of the IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorials, IEEE Internet of Things, Elsevier Vehicular Communications, an associate editor for IEEE Networking Letters, an area editor for IEEE Transactions on Green Communications and Networking, and an associate editor for IEEE Access. Dr. Kantarci a senior member of Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), and senior member of the IEEE, and an ACM Distinguished Speaker.
Rohit Adlakha
CXO,Independent Advisor
Rohit Adlakha
CXO,Independent Advisor
In this evolving realm of higher consciousness, Rohit believes that a true leader plays the infinite game driving wellness, development, engagement and outcomes of the people (s)he is responsible for, through inspired leadership by balancing culture and strategy.
Abhishek Bhattacharya
Co-founder, Whrrl & Blockchain Author
Abhishek Bhattacharya
Co-founder, Whrrl & Blockchain Author
Abhishek is a Co-founder at Whrrl - India's largest blockchain network. He's a 3-times Entrepreneur and Author. At Whrrl, he's bringing Blockchain to farmers to save their income, covering 1,400 warehouses & 5,500+ farmers across 5 states and US $2 Million in dispatched loans, supported by United Nations Development Programme, IIM Ahmedabad and MassChallenge USA. He's a Blockchain Educator and has taught 6,000+ faculty, PhDs, and students belonging to India and 6+ countries since 2020.
Nael Abu-Ghazaleh
Professor,University of California, Riverside
Nael Abu-Ghazaleh
Professor,University of California, Riverside
Nael Abu-Ghazaleh is a Professor in the Computer Science and Engineering as well as the Electrical and Computer Engineering Departments at the University of California, Riverside. He also serves as the chair of the Computer Engineering Program. His research is in architecture support for computer system security, high performance computing, and networked and distributed systems. He has published ocer 200 papers in these areas, several of which have been recognized with best paper awards or nominations. His hardware security research has resulted in the discovery of several new attacks on CPUs and GPUs that have been disclosed to companies including Intel, AMD, ARM, Apple, Microsoft, Google and Nvidia, and received wide coverage from technical news outlets. He is a member of the Micro Hall of Fame, an ACM distinguished member and an IEEE distinguished speaker.
Elvira Popescu
Professor,University of Craiova
Elvira Popescu
Professor,University of Craiova
Elvira Popescu is a full professor at the Computers and Information Technology Department, University of Craiova, Romania. She received the Ph.D. degree in information and systems technologies from the University of Technology of Compiègne, France, and the University of Craiova, Romania, in 2009. Her research interests include technology-enhanced learning, adaptation and personalization in Web-based systems, learner modeling, computer-supported collaborative learning, learning analytics, and intelligent and distributed computing. Dr. Popescu authored and co-authored over 100 publications, including two books, journal articles, book chapters, and conference papers; she also gave several keynote speeches and panel talks at various international conferences. In addition, she co-edited six journal special issues, as well as 17 international conference proceedings published by Springer and one published by IEEE. She participated in over 15 national and international research projects, three of which as a principal investigator (grant director). Prof. Popescu also serves as the Vice Chair for the IEEE Women in Engineering Romania Section Affinity Group and is a Board Member for the IEEE Technical Committee on Learning Technology and the International Association of Smart Learning Environments. She received several scholarships and awards, including five best paper distinctions. She is actively involved in the academic community by serving as an associate editor for IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies, member of six other journal editorial boards, organizing a series of international workshops in the area of social and personal computing for e-learning (SPeL 2008–2020), serving as a conference chair, program committee chair, and track chair for 18 conferences.
Aakash Bansal
Doctoral Researcher,Loughborough University
Aakash Bansal
Doctoral Researcher,Loughborough University
A doctoral researcher from Loughborough University, my work focuses on millimeter-wave beamsteering antenna array systems, dielectric lenses and metamaterial antennas for telecommunication and biomedical applications. I have collaborated on several industrial and government projects ranging from simple devices to defining standards. I am an award-wining STEM promoter and an active volunteer for several organisations such as IEEE, IET, STEM UK, etc. I believe, the inherent goal of engineering is to understand the day to day problems and building solutions to enable mankind to live better.
Subodh Gajare
Senior Architect - AI 5G Security IoT,CISCO
Subodh Gajare
Senior Architect - AI 5G Security IoT,CISCO
Lead Architect – Service Provider, Enterprise, IoT, DC, Security Location : Cisco R&D (Blore) Core experience (15 years at Cisco): - Platform Development, testing, designing, troubleshooting and developing solutions across technologies. Key responsibilities Designing and implementing programmable networks for global customers of Cisco Core domains SDN/NFV, IoT, Mobility (3G to 5G transformation), Security, Virtualization, DC automation, Cloud and AI/ML framework. Current research is on designing s/w Orchestration platforms for end-2-end management of SDN networks. Subodh contributes as Research Mentor for incubating Cisco AI, 5G and IoT industry solutions – in Digital Manufacturing, Smart Cities, Health care, Education, Energy and Transportation. He works as advisor for grooming future Technical leaders/Architects in Cisco. He represents Cisco at Cisco Live in Asia , Europe & US. He is a mentor for Cisco Start-up program (Launchpad) & contributes by incubating 5 start-ups every year (for past 3 years). He incubates a pipeline of 15 Technical leaders & Architects every year. He has coauthored 4 patents in areas of AI/ML IoT, Optical systems & SDN/NfV. Industry affiliations He is a regular contributor to MPLS/SDN/NFV Congress, IoT SWF, Mobile World Congress, Google Cloud Next, KubeCon/Cloud Native Con. He is highly engaged with SDO bodies (IEEE, IETF, TSDSI , Smart City Council, Ethernet Alliance Academia partnerships Subodh collaborates with academia (extensively in India, Singapore , Australia & US) for inserting industry impact courses around emerging trends for students and faculty. He is laser focussed to industrialize impactful innovation & augment the start-up ecosystem in India. He is a research mentor for various start-up ecosystems – NSRCEL (IIM Blore), IISc Canter of Excellence & Launchpad (Cisco). He is a humble contributor to numerous B-Schools & Engineering schools within India for shaping their curriculum, to align to industry needs (IIT – Mumbai, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Chennai, BHU, IIM-Calcutta, Blore, Lucknow and NIT’s)
Weizhi Meng
Associate Professor,Technical University of Denmark
Weizhi Meng
Associate Professor,Technical University of Denmark
Weizhi Meng is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Denmark. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in Computer Science from the City University of Hong Kong (CityU), Hong Kong. Prior to joining DTU, he worked as a research scientist in Institute for Infocomm Research, A*STAR, Singapore. He is currently directing the SPTAGE Lab at DTU Compute, DTU. He won the Outstanding Academic Performance Award during his doctoral study, and is a recipient of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE) Outstanding Paper Award for Young Engineers/Researchers in both 2014 and 2017. He also received the IEEE ComSoc Young Researcher Award for Europe, Middle East, & Africa Region (EMEA) in 2020. His primary research interests are cyber security and intelligent technology in security including intrusion detection, smartphone security, biometric authentication, trust management, malware detection, blockchain in security, and IoT security.
Mubashir Husain Rehmani
Assistant Lecturer,Munster Technological University (MTU), Ireland
Mubashir Husain Rehmani
Assistant Lecturer,Munster Technological University (MTU), Ireland
Mubashir Husain Rehmani (M’14-SM’15) received the B.Eng. degree in computer systems engineering from Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro, Pakistan, in 2004, the M.S. degree from the University of Paris XI, Paris, France, in 2008, and the Ph.D. degree from the University Pierre and Marie Curie, Paris, in 2011. He is currently working as Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Computer Science, Munster Technological University (MTU), Ireland. He has authored/edited a total eight books. Two books with Springer, two books published by IGI Global, USA, three books published by CRC Press – Taylor and Francis Group, UK, and one book with Wiley, U.K. He was ranked # 1 in all Engineering disciplines in 2017 from Pakistan Council for Science and Technology (PCST), Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of Pakistan. His Accumulative Impact Factor is 597, H-Index = 38, i-10 index = 84, Citations = 6043. He received several best paper awards. He is serving in the editorial board of several top ranked journals including NATURE Scientific Reports, IEEE Communication Surveys and Tutorials, IEEE Transactions on Green Communication and Networking and many others. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed publications in high impact journals/transactions/magazines. He has been selected for inclusion on the annual Highly Cited Researchers™ 2020 list from Clarivate. His performance in this context features in the top 1% in the field of Computer Science.
Nasir Uddin
Senior Cloud Security Architect,MICROSOFT CORP.
Nasir Uddin
Senior Cloud Security Architect,MICROSOFT CORP.
Nasir Uddin has spent close to 12 years working in the United States (Microsoft and Oracle) and Australian (Deakin University/Callista Software Services) industry in engineering and consulting roles. He started his career in Australia as a Software Engineer and currently working as an Advisor Cloud Security Architect for Microsoft USA. He is one of the serving Chairs (award committee) of the IEEE Computer Society MGA board and previous Chair and Secretary of the IEEE Computer Society, Victorian Section. At present he spends his free time as a mentor (Microsoft volunteering program) active-duty service members, veterans and reserves including those with clearance, creating short-term and long-term career goals and support them along the way in their career transition journey. He is also a regular reviewer of Security and Software Engineering academic Conferences.
Melissa Sassi
Chief Penguin, IBM Z - Student & Entrepreneur Experience
Melissa Sassi
Chief Penguin, IBM Z - Student & Entrepreneur Experience
As IBM Z’s Chief Penguin, Dr. Melissa Sassi created her own IBM job title, job description, and leads Student & Entrepreneur Experience worldwide within the IBM Z division of IBM. This role includes being the Founder & Global Head of IBM Hyper Protect Accelerator, an IBM program focused on empowering early-stage fintech, healthtech, and insurtech startups to build and scale via business and technical enablement. Dr. Sassi has 45 startups in her existing portfolio and is currently on a #RoadTo100 startups in 2021. Dr. Sassi is also a Call for Code Judge – a tech4good hackathon, startup competition, and coding camp rolled into one – focused on solving the world’s wickedest challenges such as climate action via tech innovation. Prior to IBM, Dr. Sassi was an energy and internet access impact investor at Microsoft and led Microsoft’s celebrity talent management, as well as creative agency management globally for Microsoft’s Global Advertising campaigns. As Founder & CEO of MentorNations, Dr. Sassi created a youth-led digital skills movement teaching tens of thousands of youth changemakers to code in twelve countries. She’s Chair of IEEE's Digital Skills & Readiness Working Group, and Founding Member of Coalition for Digital Intelligence with WEF, OECD, IEEE & DQ Institute. She holds several Board positions in digital inclusion nonprofits. Dr. Sassi’s doctoral research is on the digital inclusion of underserved and underrepresented communities and the tie that access, skills, and utilization of technology play to make meaningful use of the internet. She serves on a UN Round Table for the High-Level Panel for Digital Cooperation, chaired by Jack Ma and Melinda Gates with advisory leadership from Vint Cert – the Father of the Internet. Dr. Sassi is an avid speaker on digital skills and inclusion, tech entrepreneurship, tech4good, community building, youth empowerment, imposter syndrome & personal branding. You can find Dr. Sassi on Twitter at @mentorafrika.
