Jacobs: If/When

Paul Reed Smith is a guitar maker, musician, founder, and Managing General Partner of Paul Reed Smith Guitars and has held that position for over 30 years. PRS Guitars is the third largest US manufacturer of electric guitars. Additionally, Paul is a founder and manager of a new start-up, Digital Harmonic. The fundamental technology of Digital Harmonic was developed by Paul and his father, Jack W. Smith, an applied mathematician who developed and implemented math models and engineering solutions for the Navy and Air Force. Both companies combined hold over 100 registered trademarks and nearly three dozen patents that Paul developed and/or directed.As Chief Technology Officer, Mason Baron leads the technology department at Digital Harmonic with 18 years of software development, artificial intelligence, machine learning, surveillance reconnaissance systems design, imagery, signal, and radar processing experience. Most recently, Mason served as Minotaur Chief Naval Architect at Alion Science and Technology. Before Alion, Mason was Chief Engineer of Battle Force Projects at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory where he was a principal designer, lead developer and lead engineer.During her tenure at Jacobs, Dr. Lisa Vanderbloemen managed the International Space Station’s Earth Science and Remote Sensing (ESRS) group at NASA Johnson Space Center. The ESRS group provides operations and science team functions for handheld camera crew photography of Earth from the ISS, coordinates ISS remote sensing response to natural disasters and other dynamic events, and builds regional remote sensing capability in support of climate change science. Lisa’s technical expertise includes database management, temporal/spatial analysis of oceanographic and hydrographic data, and algorithm development. Her distinguished career involves a variety of academic positions in the fields of oceanography and environmental science, as well as serving for nearly 30 years as a US Navy Reserve Commander.   Sarah Deitrick is a Lunar Exploration Geoscientist in the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) Division at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. She uses remote sensing and lunar sample data to understand lunar surface properties and the resource potential of the Moon. Sarah also studies the development of planetary surface simulants for engineering systems and helps with advanced mission planning such as identifying safe landing sites for the Artemis missions that will return humans to the surface of the Moon by 2024. 

Kevin Slack brings more than three decades of transportation experience, ranging from project development and planning to design, design-build and program management. He began his career as a transportation engineer and gained extensive experience conducting highway safety research for the Federal Highway Administration and the National Cooperative Highway Safety Research Program, including serving as the Co-Principal Investigator for the development of Guidance for implementation of AASHTO’s Strategic Highway Safety Plan. Andrew Gibson has 30 years of experience in the design, construction and planning of airport infrastructure both as a client and a consultant, undertaking projects in the UK, Europe, India, Latin America and Africa. During his 17-year career with BAA (the former UK British Airports Authority), Andrew served in a range of planning and engineering roles including aerodrome safeguarding, airfield maintenance and terminal engineering. He was involved in the design and planning of facilities at airports across the BAA group, including Heathrow Terminal 5.

Mark Newsome assists health providers in matters of strategy, clinical and service reviews, leadership development, performance improvement and management, health planning and business case development. A Registered Nurse and a Master of Public Health, Mark’s dissertation focused on pandemic planning, and over his career, he has held a variety of emergency preparedness leadership positions, dealing with crises ranging from the SARS outbreak in Australasia, the 2009 Swine Flu outbreak in New Zealand, and the Canterbury and Kaikoura earthquakes.Matthew Holmes is a chartered UK and French Registered architect who leads Jacobs’ Global Healthcare solutions business. After completing the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Clermont-Ferrand in France, he relocated to Australia in 2011 where he has been instrumental in leading the Jacobs healthcare advisory and design services teams across a wide range of project typologies. His more recent projects support the delivery of healthcare services in rural locations across Australia, New Zealand, and Kiribati through to the planning of major tertiary facilities. His current work and research are focused on the sustainable delivery of healthcare services and acknowledging the levers of policy setting, while challenging the how, what and where as key components in the delivery of sustainable healthcare system. 

Michael Keith, Director at Oxford's COMPAS, and Brian Burkhard, Global Technology Leader at Jacobs, dive into the future of urban transformation and mobility. They discuss the intricacies of designing cities that balance local needs with broader goals while addressing migration impacts. The conversation also explores the realistic prospects of autonomous vehicles and how technology like AI can shape urban planning. They highlight the importance of data transparency in public safety and the challenges of integrating tech with community resilience.

In his role at Innoplexus, Stratos Davlos is charged with developing an Innoplexus Research Lab in Silicon Valley to accelerate its AI development for the firm’s Drug Discovery and Development program. Just prior to this role, Stratos was the vice president of Watson, AI & Engineering at IBM, where he led a team of cognitive technologists to create industrial strength AI Watson products by combining IBM’s extensive research and engineering capabilities. Prior to joining IBM, Stratos was the CTO and Sr. Vice President of Platform Engineering and Data Science at Reliance Jio. His AI-focused career spans many years of executive technology management and development at Apple, Kaidara, eGain, Inference Corporation and National Energy Services.Reuben Maher brings over 20 years of experience providing visionary, strategic C-level direction to government and commercial clients. He is the Global Director and Data Analytics Lead for the Jacobs Connected Enterprise digital innovation and transformation team across the Aerospace, Technology, and Nuclear (ATN) line of business. Reuben is also the planning lead for Jacobs' enterprise-wide BlueSpark Predictive Analytics initiative to stand up a global Innovation Hub incorporating leading edge artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) capabilities to facilitate rapid idea generation and agile solutioning. He is both an innovator and data strategist, as well as an evangelist for smart data sharing while maintaining strong cybersecurity controls.

A multiple award-winning technology leader whose 30-year career has spanned both the private and public sectors, Dr. Jonathan Reichental was named a top 100 chief information officer (CIO) in the world in 2017, and in 2016 he was named one of the top 20 most influential CIO’s in the United States. He is recognized as a global thought leader on a number of emerging trends including the fourth industrial revolution, urban innovation, the future of cities, and blockchain technology. In 2013 he was recognized as one of the 25 doers, dreamers, and drivers in government in America, and his innovative work in government has also been recognized by the White House.In his role as the global director for Digital Solutions and the Jacobs Connected Enterprise, Dr. Raja Kadiyala is focused on smart infrastructure and digital offerings. He is responsible for technology leadership, service/solution offerings, and marketing across a multitude of digital practice areas including artificial intelligence, digital twins, IoT/smart sensors, data analytics, simulation and optimization, IT integration, real-time networking, control systems, smart metering and security (physical and cybersecurity).