Are you an intrinsically happy person or do you wrestle with sadness and melancholy? Subjective well-being or happiness is complicated. It seems to be easy for some people and much more difficult for others. We all know people like this, it may even be ourselves. They have advantage of resources, opportunity or physical health, and yet they still struggle to find joy or happiness on a regular basis. My guest this week is Dr. Lisa Walsh, a data driven investigator researching how our emotions, personal technology and our culture impact our lives, and in particular our well-being. I hope you enjoy this timely and very important conversation, this week on the QTS Experience. About Our Guest https://lisacwalsh.com "My research focuses broadly on the who, what, where, when, why and how of happiness. I investigate the architecture of subjective well-being, including its outcomes (e.g., positive emotions, life satisfaction), mechanisms (e.g., social connection), moderators (e.g., gender, personality), and downstream consequences (e.g., career success, physical health). To test my research questions, I often employ positive activity interventions designed to enhance well-being, such as expressing gratitude, performing acts of kindness, and engaging in flow activities. I completed my Ph.D. at the University of California, Riverside with Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky. I am currently working as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the UCLA Marriage and Close Relationships Lab, which is directed by Dr. Benjamin Karney and Dr. Thomas Bradbury. Working with Research Scientist Dr. Victor Kaufman, I am currently examining how close relationships with friends, family, and romantic partners influence subjective well-being. Some of my recent research explores: - How smartphones and social media impact well-being​ - The effects of positive emotions on career success - How satisfaction with different types of close relationships (with partners, friends, and family) predict well-being - Gratitude exchanges within a social context (examining the roles of actors, targets, and witnesses)​ - Whether gratitude can motivate self-improvement - Engaging in flow activities (e.g., playing Tetris) - The effects of doing kind acts on physical health (e.g., gene expression, telomeres) I currently live in Mar Vista, California with my husband Tim Yeo."

This week I'm joined by Dr. James Garvin, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Chief Scientist. Dr. Garvin thinks we might have been 50 years ahead of our time in going to the moon. He's also the Principal Investigator on The DAVINCI+ Mission to Venus. And we discuss how the climate and atmosphere on Venus is helping us to better understand our own atmosphere and how we can search the universe to find more planets like ours. This is just the tip of the iceberg, so please enjoy the conversation on this week's episode of The QTS Experience.About Our Guest Dr. James Garvin https://nasa.gov/goddard Dr. James B. Garvin is the NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Chief Scientist. He provides strategic advice and analysis on the scientific priorities and directions to the Center Director and senior leadership, as well as to NASA Headquarters. As a veteran Earth and planetary scientist within NASA in a career that has spanned more than 37 years, Dr. Garvin brings his experience with interdisciplinary science and instrumentation in helping to direct the scientific trajectory of the Center. Prior to coming to Goddard, Garvin served as the NASA Chief Scientist, advising three separate Administrators on issues ranging from science strategies associated with the Vision for Space Exploration to those involved in rebalancing the NASA science portfolio. In addition, Dr. Garvin served as the chief scientist for Mars exploration from 2000 until 2004 and spearheaded the development of the scientific strategy that led NASA to select such missions as the Mars Exploration Rovers, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the Phoenix polar lander, and the Mars Science Laboratory (Curiosity rover). He received two NASA Outstanding Leadership Medals for his work with the science behind the Mars Exploration Program. He is also the recipient of three Presidential Rank Awards for his contributions to science at NASA spanning his career. Dr. Garvin earned his Ph.D in the Geological Sciences from Brown University in 1984 under the mentorship of Professors J. W. Head III and T. A. Mutch. He also received an MS from Stanford University in Computer Sciences and a second MS from Brown in Planetary Geosciences. He graduated with highest honors from Brown University in 1978 and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. In 2005, he was awarded the prestigious William Rogers award recipient (Brown University) for his contributions to society as a graduate of Brown. Dr. Garvin has frequently appeared on television in association with space exploration and he was a guest on "Late Night with David Letterman" in January 2004, as well as on the Discovery Channel's "Alien Planet". He lives with his wife Cindy and their two children in Columbia, MD, where he enjoys walking in the woods with his family and dog. According to his family, he was "hooked on space at birth" and has been collecting rocks and space data ever since. As a career NASA scientist, he longs for the time when he can wander across the wilderness of Iceland (or Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai) with his family searching for Mars or Venus on Earth. To read his full biography, please visit: https://science.gsfc.nasa.gov/sed/bio/james.b.garvin

Cars are in at least their second major innovation; the technology involved in electric vehicles is incredible. The potential within autonomous vehicles is staggering, especially when you think about their impact on safety, reliability, efficiency, the environment, etc. We as a society are talking about those things. However, you know what we're not talking about very much? The roads. Those pieces of asphalt and cement we drive on. We have almost 4 million miles of roads in the United States, and we almost never talk about innovation within our roads and where it needs to go. But, it's happening now, and believe it or not, it is an incredibly compelling discussion. It's just not very sexy. Well, that's about to change because my guest this week is Allie Kelly. Allie is the Executive Director at The Ray, the only nonprofit organization in the world running a living laboratory on a public highway. The ideas that Allie brings to the table are invigorating, and when you are talking about Allie herself, well, you'll see; she is a force of nature. You won't want to miss this interesting, timely and compelling conversation on this week's episode of The QTS Experience.   About Our Guest: https://theray.org Allie Kelly is Executive Director at The Ray, which has developed an 18-mile stretch of interstate in Georgia, where they’re using renewable materials; building clean energy for clean transport; testing road connectivity, improved lighting and signage; and collecting traffic, weather, and collision data to make the roads of the future. Working with Georgia DOT and FHWA, Allie has guided more than a dozen projects from concept to construction on The Ray Highway. The nonprofit organization is now working with more than 24 agencies in 15 states, scaling innovations from the I-85 testbed across the country. Following in the legacy of Ray Anderson, The Ray believes that the technologies exist to make transportation Zero Deaths, Zero Carbon and Zero Waste. Previously, Allie held senior roles at the Georgia Conservancy, and as a Founder and Executive Director at Georgia Watch. Allie serves on the boards of the Fulton Technology and Energy Enhancement Authority as chairman, as chairman of the ASPIRE Center Executive Advisory Board, and as a board member for HUB404.

Rev AI is the most powerful artificial intelligence tool that I know of that converts speech to text. My guest this week is Dan Kokotov, the co-founder at Rev and currently vice president of engineering. Verbal communication is the most efficient form of communication we humans use, but it isn't easy. Sometimes we cause confusion or even conflict when we accidentally use a word or phrase incorrectly, and that's just within our own language. Now ask a machine to accomplish this very same task. Seems to me to be extremely difficult. What if we tried to do that between languages? As you can imagine, it gets exponentially more complicated. Well, Dan helps us to understand how the A.I. tool works and the fascinating possibilities in this space. It's an amazing conversation. So join us on this week's episode of The QTS Experience.    About Rev AI https://rev.com "In 2010, five MIT classmates shared a dream: to build a marketplace where skilled freelancers could connect with customers in need of fast, affordable services no matter where either were located. On our mission to bring this vision to life, we tried offering every service from certified translations to math homework help. Eventually, we discovered our home in the world of speech-to-text.  Staying true to our mission to create great, work-anywhere jobs, Rev has climbed to become the #1 speech-to-text service in the world. By combining our network of 72,000+ (and growing) amazing freelancers with the world’s most accurate speech recognition AI, we’re able to deliver our services at an unprecedented scale—while creating more jobs every day.   It’s that combination of AI and people that makes Rev’s speech-to-text offerings both exceptionally distinct and absolutely unbeatable in terms of quality and scale. When businesses and individuals need the most reliable captions, subtitles, or transcripts at lightning speed, they count on Rev."

This week I am joined by Maggie Grout, CEO of Thinking Huts. Thinking Huts builds classrooms around the world by 3D printing them, an idea that came together when she was 15. Join us for an incredible conversation on the next QTS Experience. About Our Guest Maggie Grout https://thinkinghuts.com Maggie Grout was adopted from China when she was a baby, and attributes her success to her parents and the opportunities she achieved through education. She founded Thinking Huts when only 15 years old after becoming fascinated with the potential of technology to create architectural solutions for a world of good. Her goal is to find a solution that increases global access to education as she believes it is at the root of empowering people to lift themselves out of poverty. Maggie plans to utilize 3D printing to tackle SDGs 4 & 9 — Quality Education and Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure. Join Maggie and her team on their journey to catalyze positive change and increase educational opportunities. It all starts with providing students with a place where they can learn in comfort and safety. Thinking Huts combines technology with humanitarian-driven goals to support quality education. They adapt their designs based on community feedback as their organization continues to grow. Education is the universal solvent that has the power to prevent health epidemics, lift economies, tackle environmental issues, and empower communities. You can find out more by visiting their website at https://thinkinghuts.com

Don’t you love it when your imagination is captured by something that is a unique way to solve a problem and you didn’t see it coming. This week I’m hosting Steve and Beth McDaniel who are pioneers in an area of materials science that mixes manmade coatings with algae to essential eat carbon. The idea is elegant, the science is amazing, and the discussion is eye opening  – join us for the conversation on the next QTS Experience.   About Our Guests https://reactivesurfaces.com In 2001, following the 911 attacks on the World Trade Center buildings, our founder, Steve McDaniel contemplated whether an enzyme capable of detoxifying organophosphorous pesticides could actually detoxify organophosphorous nerve weapons. He discovered that once it was entrained and stabilized in a coating system, that indeed the enzyme was functional against nerve weapons and remained functional for periods of time. Thus arose our first product…a bioengineered additive capable of constantly and consistently decontaminating and/or remediating chemical and biological threat agents. Today, Reactive Surfaces is developing enzyme- and peptide-based additives for self-cleaning surfaces, biocidal surfaces, mold-inhibiting surfaces, deodorizing surfaces, textiles with reactive coatings, self-healing coatings and catalytic column coatings for liquid and gaseous waste-stream decontamination. Known in the industry as an innovation machine using cutting-edge bio-engineering to dynamically functionalize paints and coatings, Reactive Surfaces serves markets worldwide with an environmentally green enzyme and peptide technology. Reactive Surfaces develops these products from the proof-of-concept phase all the way to the shelf for its clients; products that will provide a healthier and better lifestyle for millions of people all around the globe. Visit The QTS Experience YouTube Channel for video versions of all the podcasts, and be sure to Like, Comment, and Subscribe! For more information, go to www.QTSDataCenters.com Learn More about QTS Data Centers on the QTS YouTube Channel. Think you have a great topic for a podcast or would like to schedule an interview with Dave? Send in your requests here.

The promise of the Metaverse is a wholly immersive, virtual experience. One where we use an avatar to present ourselves to the world in a way that we believe best represents who we are. Whether this is a good thing or not is a philosophical conversation for another day. Today we are focusing on the technology needed to deliver on this promise, in particular the bandwidth. Courtney Munroe is Vice President Research for Worldwide Telecommunications for IDC. He joins me today to help us understand this conversation – so join us – on the next QTS Experience Courtney Munroe Research Vice President, Worldwide Telecommunications Research Courtney Munroe is responsible for supporting IDC’s continuous research on global Telecommunications trends. The core research includes the evolution of WAN networking to Software Defined Hybrid Wide Area Networking, and the impact of Digital Transformation on the WAN architecture. His research focus also includes consumer and Enterprise networking requirements and analysis the Communications Service Provider strategies as they transform to implement new business models. BACKGROUND Mr. Munroe was formerly Vice President at Probe Research, where he established and directed Probe's Telecom Services programs. Prior to joining Probe, Mr. Munroe was Associate Director of Global Telecom Service Markets at Northern Business Information. He has also worked at DRI/McGraw-Hill, an economic forecasting company. EDUCATION/INDUSTRY ACCOMPLISHMENTS · B.A. in Economics from Columbia University · Attended the University of Wisconsin · Frequent speaker, presenter and moderator at industry conferences as well as participating in numerous consulting projects and providing analysis for multiple media outlets. Visit The QTS Experience YouTube Channel for video versions of all the podcasts, and be sure to Like, Comment, and Subscribe! For more information, go to www.QTSDataCenters.com Learn More about QTS Data Centers on the QTS YouTube Channel. Think you have a great topic for a podcast or would like to schedule an interview with Dave? Send in your requests here.

We are drowning in data. Every app and device we use is creating data. Short of just deleting it – we’ve struggled to find a long term solution. Nick Guise at the GA Tech Research Institute says the solution – may be DNA. About Our Guest Dr. Nicholas Guise is a Principal Research Scientist and Associate Chief of the Quantum Systems Division at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI). He has led research programs in secure quantum communications, scalable quantum computing with microfabricated ion traps, and molecular information storage. He currently serves as principal investigator for the Scalable Molecular Archival Software and Hardware (SMASH) program, an interdisciplinary IARPA-funded effort to develop technologies for large-scale DNA data read/write operations. The SMASH team, including partners from the biotech industry, is currently producing nanofabricated “DNA microchips” for massively parallel synthesis of DNA, combining new techniques from synthetic biology with the proven manufacturability and scalability of CMOS control electronics. Visit The QTS Experience YouTube Channel for video versions of all the podcasts, and be sure to Like, Comment, and Subscribe! For more information, go to www.QTSDataCenters.com Learn More about QTS Data Centers on the QTS YouTube Channel. Think you have a great topic for a podcast or would like to schedule an interview with Dave? Send in your requests here.

This week I’m joined by Podcast host and keynote speaker Beth Mund. Beth and I discuss her experiences as an Analog Astronaut and as a NASA Spokesperson. It’s an excellent conversation into an area most us have no experience in – Please join us, on the next QTS Experience. About Our Guest https://bethmund.com Beth Mund is an Analog Astronaut, Keynote Speaker, and Space Communicator. While working at NASA as a public affairs officer for the Johnson Space Center, and later as a communication officer for the International Space Station, she reported the many scientific innovations that enhanced and sometimes saved people’s lives, only to see these stories fall to the wayside, undiscovered. Beth became a fiercely passionate advocate for the people and their stories of science and space exploration. She shares their stories on stage, in workshops, on her podcast, in her blog…any opportunity that showcases people who are making tomorrow’s innovations happen today. About a year ago, Mund created Casual Space, a podcast that provides intimate conversations each week with astronauts, engineers, authors, educators, architects and many more guests looking to share their love for space while helping to inspire the next generation of difference makers. Thousands of listeners continue to grow our casual community of space enthusiasts and advocates. Beth serves on the Space Camp Alumni Board, and as a Space Drinks board member. She became an Analog Astronaut in November at the HI-SEAS research facility on a Mars simulation mission with a crew of 5 other incredible women.   Visit The QTS Experience YouTube Channel for video versions of all the podcasts, and be sure to Like, Comment, and Subscribe! For more information, go to www.QTSDataCenters.com Learn More about QTS Data Centers on the QTS YouTube Channel. Think you have a great topic for a podcast or would like to schedule an interview with Dave? Send in your requests here.

As you may know I am fascinated with the opportunities for each of us in the worlds of Augmented and Virtual reality. But these opportunities aren’t risk free. Annie Eaton an AR/VR expert joins us this week to help us unpack the risks and rewards – on the next QTS Experience. About Our Guest https://futurus.com https://amebouslabs.com/ Annie Eaton is an immersive content producer, specializing in engaging and interactive virtual reality and augmented reality experiences. She currently serves as the CEO of Futurus, an Atlanta-based software development company, and Executive Producer of Amebous Labs, a virtual reality-focused game studio. As a Georgia Tech graduate, she stays involved in the Atlanta technology community, managing XR Atlanta, a community organization which now boasts over 1,500 members. Annie is also involved with Women in XR Atlanta, Women in Technology (WIT) and Young Entrepreneurs Council. She has been recognized by various organizations for her work in tech, including Women in IT (Rising Star Award), Women in Technology (Woman of the Year Award), and Technology Association of Georgia (Young Professionals’ Technologist of the Year Award). Annie has vast public speaking experience, having been invited as a speaker for conferences, podcasts, educational institutions and corporate events to share her love and knowledge of immersive technology. Visit The QTS Experience YouTube Channel for video versions of all the podcasts, and be sure to Like, Comment, and Subscribe! For more information, go to www.QTSDataCenters.com Learn More about QTS Data Centers on the QTS YouTube Channel. Think you have a great topic for a podcast or would like to schedule an interview with Dave? Send in your requests here.