As Data Gets Bigger and Tech Gets Smarter, How Will You Prepare for the Digital Transformation? The Stakes Are High.
By Lori Cameron
By Lori Cameron on
Over the next five years, the global increase in big data—driven by artificial intelligence and machine learning—will be unprecedented. Business and government leaders face extraordinary challenges in maximizing advances in big data-related technologies to support their strategic and tactical decision making.
Enterprise recognizes that the next big developments in business growth will begin with big data. Developers are increasingly leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning—among the next big tech trends—to position their organization in advance of this bonanza.
But the vast amounts of data pose major challenges to developers because they will be asked to learn and execute tasks never before accomplished. The mandate for industry is to adapt to these rapid changes while ensuring the privacy and security of data, increasing the accuracy of AI predictions, and preventing the malicious use of such intelligence. At stake are the enormous fortunes to be made when the big data market tops 200 billion by next year.
COMPSAC 2019: Data-Driven Intelligence for a Smarter World
This July, the IEEE Computer Society's signature Conference on Computers, Software and Applications (COMPSAC 2019) will convene in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on 15-19 July 2019 and will focus much of its discussions, and research and panel presentations on how big data is driving massive change in technology. The theme to this year's gathering is "Data-Driven Intelligence for a Smarter World." Leading figures in the field will also discuss latest research results, advancements and emerging trends in computer and software technologies and applications.
COMPSAC 2019, the foremost international forum for computing, offers plenary and specialized panels that will address the technical challenges facing technologists who are developing and deploying these data-driven intelligent systems. Its keynote speakers are a diverse group of thought leaders in smart technology and its effects globally, ethically, and economically:
K. J. Ray Liu of University of Maryland and IEEE Vice President of Technical Activities, is also the founder of Origin Wireless, Inc., a high-tech start-up developing smart radios for smart life. His keynote “Wireless AI: Smart Radios for Smart Life” examines what smart impact future 5G and IoT will bring to our lives.
Laura Specker Sullivan, assistant professor of philosophy at the College of Charleston, is a specialist in interdisciplinary and cross-cultural ethics in technology and medicine. Her keynote seeks to answer the question “Is a Smarter World a Better World? Key Questions at the Intersection of Technology, Intelligence, and Ethics.”
Simon Y. Liu is the associate administrator of Agricultural Research Service, a research agency with 2,000+ research scientists. His keynote titled “Digital Agriculture – Application, Adoption & Transformation” examines how rapid population growth, shrinking farm land, depleting natural resources, erratic climate changes, and shifting market demands are pushing agricultural systems out of their traditional limits.
Wendy Nilsen is a program director for the Smart and Connected Health Program in the Directorate for Computer & Information Science & Engineering at the National Science Foundation. Her work focuses on the intersection of technology and health. Nilsen's keynote speech will be delivered Friday, July 19, the final day of the conference.
Topics of COMPSAC 2019
COMPSAC 2019 also offers a strong lineup of symposia, each of which will focus on technical aspects related to the “intelligence” theme of the conference:
- ASYS: Autonomous Systems
- CAP: Computer Architecture & Platforms
- CELT: Computing Education & Learning Technologies
- DSAT: Data Sciences, Analytics & Technologies
- EATA: Emerging Advances in Technology & Applications
- HCSC: Human Computing & Social Computing
- ITiP: IT in Practice
- MOWU: Mobile, Wearable & Ubiquitous Computing
- NCIW: Networks, Communications, Internet & Web Technologies
- SCH: Smart & Connected Health
- SEPT: Security, Privacy & Trust in Computing
- SETA: Software Engineering Technologies & Applications
- SISA: Smart IoT Systems & Applications
The conference will be a unique networking opportunity for business leaders who want to glean insight from the finest minds in tech. Among our attendees will be eight former IEEE Computer Society presidents. Our current and future presidents will also be in attendance:
- Stephen S. Yau - 1974
- Carl K. Chang - 2004
- Sorel Reisman - 2011
- Jon Walz - 2012
- Dejan S. Milojicic - 2014
- Roger Fujii - 2016
- Jean-Luc Gaudiot - 2017
- Hironori Kasahara - 2018
- Cecilia Metra - 2019 (current)
- Leila De Floriani - 2020 (future)
The COMPSAC 2019 Computer Society Awards Banquet, to be held on Wednesday, July 17, at the Harley Davidson Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, will celebrate the achievements of several outstanding volunteers, scholars, researchers, and innovators.
About Registration
Registration is now open. Option and fee information is available on the COMPSAC 2019 website. The conference will be held at Marquette University, a 93-acre campus near downtown Milwaukee. All conference plenary and breakout sessions will be scheduled in the Alumni Memorial Union.
Social Media Highlights from COMPSAC
Below are some highlights from COMPSAC 2018:
Bjarne Stroustrup (center), Managing Director in the technology division of Morgan Stanley, New York City, and visiting professor at Columbia University, received the IEEE Computer Society’s 2018 Computer Pioneer Award.
Stroustrup is the designer and original implementer of C++, one of the most widely used programming languages in the world, with heavy-duty industry applications in communications, computer graphics, virtual reality, embedded systems, finance, medical systems, and high-level scientific computation.
Morgan Stanley even took to Twitter to celebrate the accomplishments of one of their own.
The Computer Pioneer Award was established in 1981 by the IEEE Computer Society Board of Governors to recognize and honor the vision of those whose efforts resulted in the creation and continued vitality of the computer industry. The award is presented to outstanding individuals whose main contribution to the concepts and development of the computer field was made at least 15 years earlier.
Past recipients of the award include Frances Allen, Grady Booch, Edgar Codd, Douglas Engelbart, Edward Feigenbaum, Tony Hoare, Robert Kahn, Jack Kilby, Dennis Ritchie, and David Wheeler.
Computer Society 2018 President Hironori Kasahara, 2019 President Cecilia Metra, 2012 President John Walz, 2014 President Dejan Milojicic, and 2016 President Roger Fujii were among those congratulating a member of the IEEE Young Professionals in Tokyo.
Gail Murphy, professor in the Department of Computer Science and vice-president of research and innovation at the University of British Columbia, received the IEEE Computer Society’s 2018 Harlan D. Mills Award.
A Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a Fellow of the ACM, Murphy's outstanding research on software-development practices and tools has greatly improved the productivity of software developers.
Murphy’s research interests are in improving the productivity of software developers and knowledge workers by giving them tools to identify, manage and coordinate the information that really matters for their work. The part of being a faculty member she enjoys the most is “working with fabulous students.”
More on COMPSAC 2018
Read the review of COMPSAC 2018 "Staying Smarter in a Smartening World" by Sorel Reisman, managing director of MERLOT at the California State University Office of the Chancellor; a professor of information systems at California State University, Fullerton; the COMPSAC standing chair; and the 2011 president of the IEEE Computer Society.
