WISC Symposium - Technical Program

Conference code: WIS
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Tues 9/7, 1:00 - 2:20 am UTC Time WIS 1 - Opening Session Session Chairs: Lorraine Herger, IBM Research; Jing Fan, Zhejiang University of Technology; Mari Abe, IBM Cloud & Cognitive Software; Chen Wang, IBM Research Opening Welcome from the General Chair Presentation & Acceptance Speech of the 2021 TCSVC WISC Awardee: Dr. Kaoutar El Maghraoui, Principal Research Staff Member, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center Dr. Kaoutar El Maghraoui is a principal research scientist at the IBM T.J Watson Research Center where she is focusing on innovations at the intersection of systems and artificial intelligence (AI). She leads the research agenda of End-Use experimental AI testbed of the IBM Research AI Hardware Center, a global research hub focusing on enabling next-generation accelerators and systems for AI workloads. She co-led IBM’s Global Technology Outlook in 2017 where she contributed to creating IBM’s vision for the future of IT across global labs and business units focusing on IBM’s AI leadership. Kaoutar has co-authored several patents, conference, and journal publications in the areas of systems research, distributed systems, high performance computing, and AI. Kaoutar holds a PhD. degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, USA. She received several awards including the Robert McNaughton Award for best thesis in computer science, Best of IBM award, IBM’s Eminence and Excellence award for leadership in increasing Women’s presence in science and technology, and several IBM outstanding technical accomplishments. Kaoutar is global vice-chair of the Arab Women in Computing organization and avid supporter and volunteer of several women in science and technology initiatives. Announcement of WISC Scholarship Winners

(1:20 - 1:40 UTC) Keynote 1: Yutong Lu, Professor, School of Computer Science, Sun Yet-san University, China; Director, National Supercomputing Center in Guangzhou, China A Capable Platform for Covergence of HPC and AI Abstract: Supercomputing technology has been developing very fast, impacting both science and society, deeply and broadly. Compute-driven and Bigdata-driven scientific discovery has become a necessary research approach in global environmental research, life science, nanomaterials, high energy physics and other fields. Furthermore, the rapidly increasing compute requirements from both the economic and social spheres also call for the power of next generation supercomputing systems. Currently, the development of computer science, data science and intelligent science has brought new changes and challenges in systems, technology, and application of HPC. The usage mode and delivery mode of cloud computing also attracts supercomputer users. The future supercomputing system design faces many challenges, such as architecture, system software, application environment, etc., to accommodate the many demands of various computing approaches. This talk will analyze HPC, Big Data and AI application use cases and usage models in current Supercomputing Centers, then discuss the design of a platform capable of converging the requirements of HPC, Big Data and AI on a future supercomputing system. Biography: Yutong Lu is a Professor at Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU), and Director of the National Supercomputing Center in Guangzhou, China. She is a member of the Chinese National Key R&D project, the HPC special expert committee, and Leader of the Innovation Team of the Zhujiang Talent Program, Guangdong Province. Professor Lu is an ISC Fellow, and Chair for ISC19. Her extensive research and development experience has spanned several generations of domestic supercomputers in China; she was deputy chief designer of the Tianhe-2 system, the only system that held the #1 position six times on the Top500. She has won the special prize and the first prize from the National Science and Technology Progress Awards in 2014 and 2009, published more than 100 papers and 30 patents. Her continuing research interests include parallel operating systems, high speed communications, global file systems, and advanced programming environments. She is also working on several National Key R&D projects and major projects of the NSFC on HPC and Big Data. At present, she is devoted to the research and implementation of system and application platforms for the convergence of HPC, Big Data and AI in a supercomputing center.

(1:40 - 2:00 UTC) Keynote 2: Bhavani Thuraisingham, University of Texas at Dallas Fellow of the ACM, IEEE, AAAS, NAI; Founders Chair Professor of Computer Science; Founding Executive Director of the Cyber Security Research and Education Institute (CSI); Co-Director of the Centers for Women in Cyber Security (WiCyS) and Women in Data Science (WiDS); Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science Integrating Cyber Security and Data Science for Cloud-based Information Sharing Services + The Role of Mentoring to Support Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in Cyber Security and Data Science Abstract: Data Science and Cyber Security are being integrated to solve many of the security and privacy challenges. For example, machine learning techniques are being applied to solve security problems such as insider threat detection. Furthermore, the machine learning techniques are being adapted to handle adversarial attacks. In addition, privacy of the individuals is also being violated through these machine learning techniques as it is now possible to gather and analyze vast amounts of data. The first part of the presentation will examine the developments on applying Data Science techniques for detecting cyber security problems such as insider threat detection as well as the advances in adversarial machine learning. In addition, it will discuss the developments on securing the cloud and discuss how the techniques for integrating cyber security and data science could be applied for cloud-based information sharing services. The second part of the presentation will focus on the Role of Mentoring to Support Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). We are living in a complex world that is rapidly evolving due to technology. While there are numerous career opportunities in Computer Science in general and Cyber Security, Artificial Intelligence/Data Science and Cloud/Services Computing in particular, the competition is also extremely intense around the globe. It is almost impossible for a person to succeed in his/her career without the advice and mentorship of the senior researchers, developers and technologists. I will discuss the importance of mentoring to support DEI and give examples of my personal story on how lack of mentoring was initially tough on my career and how I chose mentors who have then supported me and helped me to thrive in my career. Biography: Dr. Bhavani Thuraisingham is the Founders Chair Professor of Computer Science and the Executive Director of the Cyber Security Research and Education Institute at the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD). She is an elected Fellow of the ACM, IEEE, the AAAS, and the NAI. Her research interests are on integrating cyber security and artificial intelligence/data science for the past 35 years. She has received several awards including the IEEE CS 1997 Technical Achievement Award, ACM SIGSAC 2010 Outstanding Contributions Award, the IEEE Comsoc Communications and Information Security 2019 Technical Recognition Award, the IEEE CS Services Computing 2017 Research Innovation Award, and the ACM CODASPY 2017 Lasting Research Award. She co-chaired the Women in Cyber Security Conference (WiCyS) in 2016 and delivered several keynote/featured addresses including at the 2018 Women in Data Science (WiDS) at Stanford University, Cyber-W, iMentor, SWE, WITI, and WICE. She received the Women in Technology Award from the Dallas Business Journal in 2017 and is the recipient of IEEE Cyber Security and Cloud’s 2021 Special Recognition Award for her tireless work on promoting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion among women and underrepresented minority communities.

2:00 - 2:20 UTC) Keynote 3: Maja Vukovic, IBM Fellow, IBM Research AI for Code: Transforming Application Modernization Abstract: Enterprises that want to take advantage of the Cloud are looking to modernize their legacy, yet mission critical applications. In this talk, I will introduce the application modernization process, and focus on several key areas where AI applied to Code, can play a significant role in simplifying and accelerating it. The talk will address how AI can transform the application portfolio assessments and automate recommendations for application modernization to automatic refactoring of the monolithic to microservices. Furthermore, I will discuss several areas where AI for Code can further play a role in transforming software engineering. Biography: Maja Vuković is an IBM Fellow, responsible for technical and research strategy for AI driven Application Modernization. Maja's research interests are in applying AI to IT processes, enterprise crowdsourcing and AI planning. Maja is a member of IBM Academy of Technology and an IBM Master Inventor, with over 145 patents granted. Maja is the author of over 100 publications. She is a Senior Member of IEEE, and was awarded Women in Services Computing Award by IEEE Services. Maja received her Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge, for her work on context-aware service composition using AI planning. Maja's research interests are in applying AI to IT processes, enterprise crowdsourcing and AI planning.

Tues 9/7, 2:20 - 3:50 am UTC Time WIS 2 - Professional & Organizational Talks Session Chairs: Kaoutar El Maghaouri, IBM Research; Shubhi Asthana, IBM Research (2:30 - 2:50 UTC) Professional Talk: From Digitization to Digital Transformation - Are We There Yet? Houda Chakiri, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, Akhawayn University Ifrane, Morocco Abstract: In this talk Houda will share her 15+ experience in overseeing digitization of local government in her country. She will discuss various challenges and successes while explaining that technology is not ‘one fits all’ and should be adapted to the socio-cultural environment where it is deployed and utilized. Houda will also explain how agility and agile principles helped in her work. She will explain how the partnership among academia, government and the private sector leads to success stories. Bio: Houda Chakiri is currently an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the School of Science and Engineering of Al Akhawayn University. She founded and has been the CEO of Enhanced Technologies since 2005. Enhanced Technologies is an IT company specializing in providing e-Government solutions running in more than 130 Moroccan municipalities and provinces. Dr Houda Chakiri was selected among the top ten finalists of the Sawaed contest (UAE 2009), named among the 100 best social entrepreneurs in GK3 (Malaysia 2007), selected for the TechWomen program (USA 2012) and received the WSTEM award (2015) from the Meera Kaul Foundation. As a Board member of AfChix, an African NGO registered in Kenya, Chair of the IEEE Women in Engineering affinity group in Morocco, Vice-Chair of Arab Women in Computing, Morocco chapter, and the General Secretary of the Jbel Ayachi Association, a public utility NGO based in Midelt province in Morocco, she has been advocating for diversity and female empowerment in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) field for the entirety of her career. Dr Houda Chakiri received her PhD in Computer Science from Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University in Fez, Morocco in 2020, a Master of Science in Computer Networks from Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco in 2003, a Master of Science in Atomic Physics from Hassan IIUniversity in Casablanca, Morocco in 1999, and a Bachelor in Physics from Mohammed V University in Rabat, Morocco in 1997.She has worked for more than 15 years overseeing digital transformation projects and the change that the introduction of ICT brings at the organizational, political, and social levels in local public administrations in Morocco

(2:50 - 3:10 UTC) Organizational Talk: WORM (Women in OR/MS)-An INFORMS (Institute for Operations Research and Management Science) Forum Banafesheh Behzad, California State University - Long Beach Abstract:In this presentation, Banafsheh will give an overview of INFORMS, its vision and its subdivisions. Furthermore, she will talk about WORMS, its history, and its current activities. Biography: Dr. Banafsheh Behzad is an Associate Professor of Information Systems at the College of Business-California State University, Long Beach. She received her Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2014. Her research interests include game theory and its application in public health and social networks. She has more than 10 publications in prestigious scholarly journals. She has been an INFORMS and WORMS member since 2010. She currently is the President Elect of WORMS and the chair of the Membership Committee of INFORMS.

(3:10 - 3:30 UTC) Organizational Talk: Santa Clara Valley Society of Women Engineers Allison Wright, SCV SWE President, Engineer at Lawrence Livermore National Lab Abstract:In this speech, Allison will share the focus and activities of the Santa Clara Valley Society of Women Engineers organization. This will include SWE Santa Clara’s outreach and professional development activities, opportunities for leadership development, and information about the parent organization, Society of Women Engineers. Biography: Allison is a Nondestructive Inspection Engineer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Allison has been a member of Society of Women Engineers (SWE) since she was a student at Iowa State University where she received her degree in Aerospace Engineering. She has held several leadership positions the section, region, and Society levels of SWE. Currently serving as Santa Clara Valley SWE’s President. Allison received the SWE Distinguished New Engineer Award in 2016. She lives with her partner, Alex, an Electrical Engineer, their six-year-old son, and varying numbers of foster kitties!

(3:30 - 3:50 UTC) Acceptance Speech of WISC Scholarship Awardees Session Chair: Shubhi Asthana, IBM Research WISC Awardees