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Connect. Collaborate. Contribute.™
food tech 2018 | Austin Forum
How Technology Companies & Techies Can Create Even More Social Good!
December 1st, 2020 | ZOOM CONFERENCE | 6:15pm
REGISTER
ASK THE SPEAKER
30
with
Jessica Sager
Austin Forum

Dr Steve Kramer
KUNGFU.AI

Justin Murrill
AMD

Nehemiah Pitts III
City of Austin

Ryan-Alexander Thomas 
Umanity
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6:00pm Log In
6:15pm -7:15pm
​Presentation
7:30-8:00pm
Q&A

We know that technology has greatly enhanced society in almost everything we use, need, and do: from housing and transportation to healthcare and education, in business and in government, and in our personal and professional lives. The tech sector has created wealth and jobs, raised standards of living, and made us more productive, safer, and healthier.

​Certainly, there has been growing 'techlash' in the past few years--concerns over fakes news and social media, screen-time addiction, disparities in income and concerns about inclusion, use of personal data and security of private data, and more--the benefits of tech are overwhelming.

We cover the many benefits as well as concerns in our programming, but as we end the year we want shine on light on how many tech companies, organizations and people are directly contributing their expertise and resources to social good.

Join us for this special event as Jessica Sager and AI experts, entrepreneurs, techies, and innovators share examples, suggestions, and even a checklist for how you and your tech company/organization can easily give back for increased social impact in society. 
We welcome your participation! Please email us with your questions, answers and prognostications in advance. 

Admission to the Austin Forum is always free. 
​
The Austin Forum accepts donations of used smart phones, tablets, and computers at all our events. Since the events are no online, please let us know via the ‘chat’ window during the event if you have devices to donate. All devices will have a factory reset and be set up as new by the team at Austin Pathways’ nationally-recognized “Unlocking the Connection” initiative, which will connect every public housing resident with a digital device, digital literacy, and a free or very low-cost internet connection. Your donated devices can change lives and help close Austin’s digital divide, thanks to Austin Pathways.

speaker

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Jessica Sager
Austin Forum
Jessica Sager is the Managing Director of the Austin Forum on Technology & Society. With a background as a small business and nonprofit strategist, she has worked to help grow the leaders and organizations that are committed to doing good. With a unique combination of communication, strategic thinking, and execution skills, she loves helping ideas take form and take flight. A local Austinite and an avid traveler, Jessica is passionate about making the world--and Austin--a smaller place through connecting people, ideas, and opportunities. Jessica is dedicated community volunteer- currently sitting on Boards and Committees for a variety of amazing Austin nonprofits, including the Austin Symphony Orchestra BATS,  Dream Come True Foundation, and Women's Fund of Central Texas. Hosting the annual Tech and Social Good Austin Forum is one of Jessica's favorite parts of the year.


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Dr Steve Kramer
Chief Scientist
KUNGFU.AI
Dr. Steve Kramer is a computational physicist and data science entrepreneur with 27+ years of post-PhD experience in data science, research, software, and business management. He earned in Ph.D. in physics in the Center for Nonlinear Dynamics at The University of Texas at Austin. Steve has extensive research experience spanning data mining, machine learning, anomaly detection, bot/cyborg detection, clustering, network graph analysis, deep learning, spatiotemporal forecasting, predictive analytics, social media analytics, and pattern discovery/recognition. In 2014, he patented a robust method for dynamic anomaly detection based on chaos theory. Steve spoke at Data Day Texas in 2014 and 2018 and at Data Day Seattle in 2016. Since 2011, he has served as a program committee member and reviewer for the ACM KDD and IEEE Security and Intelligence Informatics conferences. He is currently serving as the Principal Investigator on a subcontract to Uncharted Software under DARPA's D3M (Data-Driven Discovery of Models) program and on a separate subcontract to the Department of Defense.


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Justin Murrill
​Direct of Corporate Responsibility
AMD
​Justin Murrill is the Director of Corporate Responsibility (CR) at AMD, a Fortune 500 company recognized among the Best 100 Corporate Citizens in 2020. Justin oversees global CR initiatives, stakeholder engagement and reporting for the company. He serves on the Environmental and Sustainability Advisory Group for the Information Technology Industry Council, and on the Joint Committee for the NSF Electronic Products Sustainability Standard – Corporate Common Criteria.
 
Prior to AMD, Justin trained thousands of people from hundreds of institutions on sustainable development strategies. Justin is a former “Top 50 Environmental Leader” publication honoree (2017) for the US private sector, a published author on corporate climate strategies, and a graduate from St Edwards University with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and a master’s degree in Organizational Leadership & Ethics.

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Nehemiah Pitts III
Commission Chair of the Community Technology & Telecommunications Commission City of Austin
Nehemiah Pitts III is the Commission Chair of the Community Technology & Telecommunications Commission for the City of Austin. Serving on the Commission since 2016 by virtue of two separate Councilmember appointments, Nehemiah proudly advises Austin City Council, city departments, and staff on best-practice solutions for the City of Austin related to community technology, telecommunications, infrastructure, innovation, information or data stewardship, digital inclusion, civic engagement, and strategic tech/telecommunications policy impact.

A central Texas native, Nehemiah graduated from Southwestern University in Georgetown, TX in 1996 before forging a dynamic career in technology, management consulting, and community engagement with a focus on Austin. Noteworthy successes include frontline digital technology evangelism and major account management driving the Apple Inc. comeback, as well as strategic development efforts to propel both award-winning local nonprofits and global SaaS industry leaders alike.  Nehemiah is also the Principal Consultant and Executive Producer of Shining Light Consulting.

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Ryan-Alexander Thomas
CEO
Umanity
Before Ryan-Alexander was a self-taught programmer for MIT, he was a music teacher and band director in Houston, TX. Within two years of working for MIT, he was offered a position at a data analytics startup in Columbus, OH where he studied Computer Science & Engineering. During his tenure at Super-H Analytics, where he met his co-founder, Alec, he saw how data science could revolutionize an industry and quickly realized how the philanthropic sector could be transformed with actionable insights and real-time data. Therefore, Umanity was launched months ahead of schedule to respond to the overwhelming demand for connecting COVID-19 needs to resources in Houston and beyond. Umanity enables organizers to coordinate and crowdsource community building, supply chains, and resource networks via their unique Social Marketplace platform. Ryan serves as Umanity Inc.’s President/CEO.

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