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Volunteers
Jay Aronson co-teaches the "Technology and Global Development" course with Joe Mertz
and Rahul Tongia. He is an assistant professor of science, technology, and society in the
History Department at Carnegie Mellon. His research focuses on the development and
implementation of complex technological systems in a variety of social contexts.
His first book, Genetic Witness: Science, Law, and Controversy in the Development of DNA
Profiling, was published in Fall 2007. Jay received his Ph.D. in history of science and
technology from the University of Minnesota, and was both a pre- and post-doctoral fellow
at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.
Brett Browning, Volunteer Advisor on Course Development, is a faculty
member in the Robotics Institute
at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science. He has
research experience in robot autonomy and control, vision-based
perception, multi-robot coordination, and mixed-initiative teams.
In particular, Dr. Browning has long contributed to RoboCup robot
soccer, an international initiative aimed at advancing robotics
research via a standard domain that involves researchers from all
over the world. His interest in TBW stems from his belief that human
society progresses and benefits from the creativity of individuals.
While creative people are born to all nationalities, in this digitally
connected age, the access and availability of technology has a profound
impact on realizing one's creative potential. Dr. Browning is attracted
to TBW as it offers a unique and potentially profound framework
to help overcome these barriers of entry.
Karen (Lujie) Chen, Volunteer Liaison with partners in China, is a research analyst
at the Auton Lab in the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. Her primary
interest is in computer technology and its applications. She works to facilitate the
establishment and fostering of collaborative relations between TBW and Chinese partners.
She graduated from the Masters of Information Systems Program at Carnegie Mellon with
over eight years in data driven analytical roles in business/financial, information
system and data mining research. Karen is our first official TechBridgeWorld volunteer.
M. Beatrice Dias is a Ph.D. student in the
Engineering and Public Policy Department at Carnegie Mellon University who
volunteers with TechBridgeWorld to assist with marketing, events, fundraising,
and strategic planning. She earned her undergraduate degree from Hamilton College
in Clinton NY, with concentrations in Mathematics and Physics. Her current research
involves measuring the impact of the USAPATRIOT Act and the Bioterrorism Preparedness
Act on Microbiological Research in the U.S., and she is advised by Dr. Elizabeth
Casman and Dr. Francisco Veloso. Beatrice is a native of Sri Lanka and hopes to
pursue a career in policy evaluation.
Juan Pablo Gonzalez is a Ph.D. Student at the
Robotics Institute
at Carnegie Mellon University who has volunteered
significant time participating with TechBridgeWorld public events
and developing future project opportunities. He received a bachelor's
degree in Electrical Engineering in 1996 from Universidad Javeriana
in Bogota, Colombia and a master's degree in Electrical Engineering
from Ohio State University. His areas of interest range from path
planning and machine learning to computer vision and image processing.
At General Dynamics Robotics Systems he helped develop the Basic
Unexploded Ordnance Gathering System (BUGS), a team of small robots
for ordnance clearing and disposal. As part of the BUGS project
he developed stereo vision, path planning, and autonomous command
and control algorithms that allowed the robots to safely navigate
in outdoor environments while performing their task. At Carnegie
Mellon he was a Technical Advisor for the Red Team and he is currently
working with Dr. Anthony Stentz on applications path planning with
uncertainty in position, as part of the Collaborative Technology
Alliance.
Khaled Harras is an Assistant Teaching Professor
of in the School of Computer Science at CMU. His research interests
spans different thrusts within computer networks including mobile
ad-hoc, wireless, sensor, and vehicular networks. He is particularly
interested in the design and analysis of architectures and protocols
for different forms of challenged, delay, and disruption tolerant
networks. He is also interested in developing technological solutions
for developing and rural areas. Harras received his M.S. and Ph.D. in
Computer Science from the University of California in Santa Barbara.
Alex Hills, Volunteer TCinGC Program Representative, is a
Distinguished Service Professor of
Engineering & Public Policy and
Electrical & Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon.
He conceived, founded and directed Carnegie Mellons well known Wireless
Andrew project, and he was also Founding Director of the Information
Networking Institute and Vice Provost and Chief Information Officer of
the university. Professor Hills holds a part-time appointment as Profesor
Extraordinario at the Universidad Austral de Chile. Before joining
Carnegie Mellon, he played a key role in developing the first
telecommunications systems in the remote villages of Alaska and served
in the administration of Alaska Governor Jay Hammond. He has lived and
worked in a number of foreign countries, including: Korea, Russia,
Costa Rica, Chile, Singapore, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.
His international work has helped him to understand the very important
role that technology plays in developing nations. Professor Hills
arranged for two student volunteers to work on a project in Chile
during the summer of 2006. He accompanied the students to Chile,
helped them begin their assignment there, and maintained contact with
them during their 10-week stay.
Dr. Nidhi Kalra is currently a policy researcher at the RAND Corporation,
and her work focuses on a wide range of technology policy issues. Nidhi began
and led the Braille Writing Tutor Project in 2005 while she was a Ph.D. candidate
at the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. Her thesis area of research
was in multirobot coordination and she was advised by Dr. Anthony Stentz. Nidhi is a
native of India.
Tom Lauwers is a Ph.D. student at the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University
who has worked on the Braille writing tutor project as the Primary Hardware Researcher. He
has a long-standing interest in educational robotics, as both a student and later as a
designer of educational technology. He is currently studying curriculum development and
evaluation and hopes that his study of the educational sciences will help him design
better and more useful educational technologies. Tom received a bachelor's degree in
Electrical Engineering and Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University.
Joseph S. Mertz, jr. is an Associate Teaching Professor in the
School of Computer Science and in the H. John Heinz III School of
Public Policy & Management at Carnegie Mellon University. He created and directs
the local Technology Consulting in the Community course as well as the international
Technology Consulting in the Global Community summer program which sends university
students abroad as technology consultants with government ministries and non-profit
organizations in developing communities. He also co-teaches the Technology for Global
Development course for undergraduate students.
Aaron Steinfeld, is a volunteer as a faculty advisor for student projects,
especially on Internal Review Board issues. He is a faculty member in the
Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon
University and a member of the
Quality of Life Technologies Engineering Research Center. Dr. Steinfeld
advised the BlindAid student project and serves as a resource for experiments
involving human subjects and human-robot interaction. His research activities
center on design and evaluation of operator assistance technologies, especially
in real-time scenarios. His projects include driver assistance systems, evaluation
of human-in-the-loop machine learning software, mobile robotics, and assistance
systems for people with disabilities. Dr. Steinfeld likes TBW due to the fact
that student activities promote deep understanding of end-user needs and
requirements. This teaches students how to apply technologies to make a real
difference in society.
Tom Stepleton is a Ph.D. student at Carnegie Mellon University's
Robotics Institute. His main area of interest
is object recognition and model learning in computational and biological vision
systems, which he pursues in the lab of Dr. Tai Sing Lee. For his thesis, Tom is
developing a system which performs unsupervised learning of object models from
video data. Additionally, because he intends to teach after graduation, Tom is
volunteering extra time to collaborate with Daniel Dewey on extending Nidhi Kalra
and Tom Lauwers's Adaptive Braille Writing Tutor Project to multiuser settings through
TechBridgeWorld. He views this effort as a prototype for a variety of socially
aware, single-student research projects that he hopes to offer undergraduates
in his future career. Tom was born in St. Louis, MO and attended Swarthmore
College, graduating in 2002 with a major in computer science and a minor in
philosophy. He is also a private pilot who flies powered airplanes and sailplanes.
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