I-SENSE Distinguished Seminar Series - Reimagining Embedded Systems for Sustainability and Social Impact
Reimagining Embedded Systems for Sustainability and Social ImpactComputing has become embedded in our lives in many ways, yet, in so many instances, these systems fail to address pressing global challenges, from climate resilience to healthcare accessibility, electronic waste to education. This is due to both systems constraints– like battery lifetime, accuracy, or latency, as well as socio-technical challenges– including affordablility, connectivity, and stigma. In this talk, I will explore a number of examples of how social impact-guided design of computing systems can empower people and address societal needs. I will share about projects in this space, including soil-powered computers for environmental sensing, wearable and implantable devices for accessible healthcare, durable sensing platforms for natural resource management, and design tools for sustainable electronics. I will draw our defining threads and practices that make these projects successful and lay out shared hopes for a sustainable future of and enabled by computing.Josiah Hester is Associate Professor of Interactive Computing and Computer Science at Georgia Tech. He leads the newly formed Center for Advancing Responsible Computing at Georgia Tech’s College of Computing. Josiah works in sustainable computing broadly, specifically around low power and energy harvesting devices for large-scale sensing for conservation. His work also spans redesigning computing systems for lower ecological impact, rural healthcare technologies, and place-based computing / STEM for K-12. He was honored with a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) this January by the Biden administration for his work. He was named a Sloan Fellow in Computer Science in 2022 and was named one of Popular Science's Brilliant Ten in 2021. His work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Scientific American, BBC, Popular Science, Communications of the ACM, and the Guinness Book of World Records.Can't make it in person? Join on Zoom: https://fau-edu.zoom.us/j/81752123303?pwd=WQXFYBQ6voGZOyzHzG0aMl0NTNqEzN.1
