Keynote Speaker
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Shyam Gollakota is an an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington. There, he leads the Networks and Mobile Systems Lab. His research is driven by curiosity to ask questions that push the boundaries of what is possible across various topics including computer networks, user interfaces, mobile health and ubiquitous computing. Dr. Gollakota’s research has been covered by mainstream media outlets incl. Scientific America, Economist, CNN, New York Times, Forbes, etc. He has received numerous awards including the ACM SIGMOBILE Rockstar Award; the Forbes 30 under 30 All-Star Award; the Popular Science Brilliant Ten Award; the National Science Foundation Career Award; the Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship Award; The Technology Review TR35 Award; and CNN’s Visionaries 2020 Award.
Dr. Gollakota earned his Master of Science and Ph.D. degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his Bachelor of Technology degree from Indian Institute of Technology Madras, India. He received the George M. Sprowls Award for Best Dissertation in Computer Science at MIT and the prestigious ACM SIGCOMM Doctoral Dissertation Award in 2012. He is also the President of Jeeva Wireless. |
Special Guest
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King County Councilmember Claudia Balducci is a mom, transportation leader and former public safety official. She represents King County District 6, which encompasses all or part of Bellevue, Bothell, Clyde Hill, Hunts Point, Kirkland, Medina, Mercer Island, Redmond, Woodinville and Yarrow Point, Beaux Arts Village and the Sammamish Valley. Previously she served on the Bellevue City Council for 12 years, including two years as Deputy Mayor and two years as Mayor. A lawyer by training, Claudia worked in the King County jail system for over 16 years prior to being elected to the County Council, serving as the Director of the Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention from 2010-2014. Claudia has been a passionate supporter of good transportation options.She currently serves on the Sound Transit Board of Directors and is proud to have played an instrumental role in extending light rail from Seattle to Bellevue and the eastside of Lake Washington.
Claudia is a graduate of Providence College and the Columbia University School of Law. She lives in Bellevue with her husband Jim, son Victor and former King County shelter cats Sabrina and Lucy. |
Guest Speakers
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Jacqueline Russell is the Principal Program Manager for Microsoft MakeCode. Jacqueline has worked at Microsoft since 2005 in various groups focused on technology in education. She is passionate about using technology to enable innovative learning experiences and bring increased creativity to teaching and learning. She has worked in the tech industry for 20 years as a developer, IT Consultant and Product Manager.
Jacqueline invites all students to join her for a fun hands-on computing education session with Microsoft MakeCode. Students will learn how to program a physical computing device – like a micro:bit or Circuit Playground Express. No previous experience required! |
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Nick Berry has had a notable career in the technology industry. After receiving a Master’s in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering, he launched a software company with friends that eventually sold to Microsoft (after earning an award from none other than the Queen of England herself). He worked for Microsoft after the sale for 14 years, 10 of which were spent in the company’s gaming division. He went on to work as GM of Analytics for GameHouse at Real Networks, and eventually landed in his current role as a Data Scientist at Facebook.
Nick is an active blogger about analytics, data-mining, science, and other miscellaneous geekery.he is a regular speaker at conferences about data science, gaming, and privacy. He is proud of the fact that on April 2, 2015, GeekWire named him the “Geek of the week”. He is passionate about gaming, technology, and online privacy. He is also a great friend of CFA has served as a volunteerevery year since its inception. |
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Hema Natarajan is an entrepreneur with over 15 years of experience in designing and developing innovative products and advanced solutions in the technology, e-Learning, banking and retail industries. She is passionate about helping the next generation of students adopt and personalize learning to be ready for a technology-defined future. Hema holds an Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from CIT and an MBA degree from the University of Washington, Seattle. She is the founder of Botzify Labs, a education technology startup focused on creating a blended learning platform for Internet of Things (IoT), Arduino, Wearable Electronics and 3D printing.
Hema invites all students to join her for a demo titled “Introduction to 3D printing”. She will show how 3D printing works with a printer in action. 3D printing is a process of making a three-dimensional solid object of virtually any shape from a digital model. 3D printing gives us freedom to bring our experimental designs into real world at a rapid pace. |