Robert Cohen President, Digital, Robotics and Enabling Technologies, Stryker Corp.
New Era in Medical Device Design
Technology is contributing to healthcare innovation in amazing ways. This is a time like no other and patients will benefit with improved outcomes. Just think about the access today to computational power, the additive 3D printing manufacturing process, the potential of robotics, and digital science. So, much in the medical industry design space will evolve at a faster rate. One example showing the creative combination of all these technologies is in total joint replacement. Over a million people in the United States alone have a hip or knee replacement orthopedic procedure a year. A total knee patient is considered a success when the patient returns to full motion, can resume daily living activities, and has a high level of satisfaction. The newer total knee implants have utilized the technologies and clinical publications document an appreciable improvement of outcomes. Computer-derived total knee designs and simulated human walking models have generated new insights into shape configurations and articulating surfaces. 3D printing has allowed new geometries of bone fixation surfaces that were not possible with conventional manufacturing techniques, such as milling, drilling, or casting. And robotic assisted surgeon in the operating room helps the surgeon position an implant with a level of accuracy and precision not seen with manual instruments. The placement of the implant is digitally individualized to that person’s anatomy and functional needs. The robot helps restore that patient’s joint line for restoration of their ‘normal’ motion. It is the combination of technology and the innovators creative use that will unlock a new era in medical device design.
Julie Ancis, Ph.D. Professor of Informatics and Founding Director of Cyberpsychology, New Jersey Institute of Technology
The Post-Pandemic Future: Are We Ready?
The COVID-19 pandemic has turned our lives upside down. The physical, emotional, economic, and spiritual impacts are significant with long lasting implications. At the same time, the pandemic has accelerated new and innovative ways of engagement, transforming how people communicate. As we begin to return to our pre-pandemic lives, many wonder what that may look like. How will it be the same? And how will it be different? This presentation will provide predictions for a post-COVID world and the role of technology in addressing future challenges.
David A. Bader, Ph.D. Distinguished Professor, Computer Science and Director, Institute for Data Science, NJIT
Solving Global Grand Challenges with High Performance Data Analytics
Data science aims to solve grand global challenges such as: detecting and preventing disease in human populations; revealing community structure in large social networks; protecting our elections from cyber-threats, and improving the resilience of the electric power grid. Unlike traditional applications in computational science and engineering, solving these social problems at scale often raises new challenges because of the sparsity and lack of locality in the data, the need for research on scalable algorithms and architectures, and development of frameworks for solving these real-world problems on high performance computers, and for improved models that capture the noise and bias inherent in the torrential data streams. In this talk, Bader will discuss the opportunities and challenges in massive data science for applications in social sciences, physical sciences, and engineering.
Ken Davidian, Ph.D. Director of Research, FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation.
Commercial Space Today: A Resurgence – Yes – But of What Exactly?
Commercial space activities, including launch, satellite communications and remote sensing, on-orbit habitats, Earth-Moon transportation, lunar landers, etc., are increasing in number, intensity and diversity of participants. At first glance, we can respond to the question of whether commercial space is experiencing a resurgence with a resounding affirmative, but the story gets more complicated once we start unpacking the question. Firstly, what constitutes a commercial space activity? The word itself is polysemic, and the question has no answer and many answers, all at the same time. Secondly, assuming commercial space is experiencing a resurgence, but given that the definition of commercial space is highly nuanced, exactly what kind of resurgence is commercial space experiencing? Answers to these questions are offered from an organization theory perspective of evolution, and by defining commercial space as a market-level organization.
Dr. Sara Del Valle, Ph.D. Deputy Group Leader, Information Systems & Modeling Group, A-1, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Could we someday forecast diseases like we forecast the weather?
Mathematical models, such as those that forecast the spread of epidemics or predict the weather, must overcome the challenges of integrating incomplete and inaccurate data in computer simulations, estimating the probability of multiple possible scenarios, incorporating changes in human behavior and/or the pathogen, and environmental factors. In the past 3 decades, the weather forecasting community has made significant advances in data collection, assimilating heterogeneous data steams into models and communicating the uncertainty of their predictions to the general public. Epidemic modelers are struggling with these same issues in forecasting the spread of emerging diseases, such as Ebola and most recently COVID-19. In this presentation, I will describe how we can apply many of the approaches used for weather forecasting to forecast epidemics and how this capability has the potential to reduce global disease burden.
Bernel Hall President & Chief Executive Officer, Invest Newark
Urban Legend: Debunking the Myth of Equitable Economic Growth to “Finally” Achieve the Society that We’ve Been Promised
What Does Equitable Economic Growth mean anyway? It’s time to define the metrics versus the aspirations associated with impact investing. We can achieve both profitable financial returns and measurable socioeconomic benefits.
- Start with the “Who”, then with the “How”
– Identify who makes capital allocation decisions at all levels (private sector, public sector, nonprofits) and tie their KPI (key performance indicators) to “inclusive” investments.
– Identify who is suppose to benefit AND vigorously measure the benefits (beyond the press release)
- Subsidy, Standards, and Double Standards
– Big corporations lobby for big subsidies but rarely provide big socioeconomic benefits to urban communities.
– Cities can’t hold corporations and developers to high DEI standards if they refuse to hold their employees to high performance standards based on professionalism and meritocracy.
- The Community Development Confidence Index:
– Treating Urban America’s severe case of Imposter Syndrome through financial literacy, professional legitimacy, access to contracts, and access to capital
– F.U.B.U. (For Us by Us): Deconcentrating poverty via organic locally led middle class development.
James Barrood
How Immigrants Are Innovating To Save Our World
In the talk, I will be highlighting how important the work of immigrants has been to the remarkably fast development of the COVID-19 vaccines, particularly the novel mRNA models at Moderna and Pfizer. It will, in dramatic fashion, illustrate how brilliant and determined immigrants are helping to save the world from this horrifically deadly virus and resulting pandemic. The talk will allow the audience to reflect on and appreciate the incredibly important impact immigrants make to our innovation ecosystem and society at large. They will be even more vital to our state and nation’s resurgence as an epicenter of invention, entrepreneurship and progress.
Rachel Benyola, MS, MBA
The Hidden Cost of Entrepreneurship (and what to do about it)
I invented the first fully customizable and foldable helmet – a family friend Judy got into a bike crash and instantly became permanently blind in one eye – the doctor’s explained that a helmet may have prevented it had she worn one that day. Like Judy, many forego a helmet due to the inconvenience and unattractiveness of most helmets. So, I set out to revolutionize safety for biking and beyond that would reflect the modern rider, one that has diverse needs. Over 5 years, I built a foldable helmet and a fashion forward line of covers and chin straps to customize to the user’s look.
But I am not here to tell you about my startup’s grand successes.
I am going to tell you why I pulled the plug on this new company beyond finances and federal regulations. There was something dangerous lurking behind the scenes that needed to be reckoned with – it was the destruction of myself that began with what seemed to be a passionate single-mindedness toward working 15 hours a day/7 days a week and forgetting to change my clothes or pee. The harder I worked, the more my mental and physical state suffered – I struggled to climb one set of stairs or get out of bed for days on end. What needed to be innovated more than a helmet was my life as an entrepreneur and as a human being. I was crumbling on the edge because I learned to expertly blend my identity with my invention to the point that it was indistinguishable. The image of the entrepreneur and founder is what desperately needs to be re-defined in our modern world. Let me share my journey toward healing, discovery and turning the idea of who a founder is on its head for the better.
Yashwee Kothari New Jersey Institute of Technology
The Pain of the Silent
The summer before high school is such an exciting time. And so, I was excited to graduate 8th grade and move onto another chapter of my life. However, little did I know of what life had planned. 8 days before my 8th-grade graduation my mom underwent a hysterectomy. Everything seemed to be going well then all of a sudden 12 days post-surgery the complications began. Fast forward, 3 weeks and it was discovered that while conducting the surgery, the doctor had accidentally caused bladder trauma. I saw her take numerous ER trips and schedule endless appointments with different doctors just to find a solution to make this all end. Even though my mom put on a brave face, I could see her silently struggling through the pain and difficulties. As a 13-year-old, I couldn’t do anything to make any of this better or bring an end to her pain. I wanted to make a difference in the lives of traumatic brain injury patients. I found that a need existed for remote patient monitoring tools for many ‘silent’ injury/disease. These are diseases that cannot be seen by looking at someone or their vitals. I began seeing my mom’s story reflected in the lives of the TBI patients I talked to. I was helpless 7 years ago but today I stand in a position where I can help make a difference in people’s lives. Through remote patient monitoring, I aspire to help ease the pain of people who are battling these silent injuries/diseases.