Developing the world’s most energy-efficient general-purpose processor for space systems applications at Efficient

Brandon Lucia is CEO and co-Founder of Efficient Computer (https://efficient.computer) and is the Kavcic-Moura Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department at Carnegie Mellon University. Lucia’s career has centered around computer architecture and systems, focusing on the intersection of resource-constrained applications and use cases, including ultra-energy-efficient processor architectures, batteryless energy-harvesting devices, space systems, and encrypted computing systems. At Efficient, Lucia leads the team in building and commercializing the world’s most energy-efficient general-purpose processor and the full software stack and compiler to make it useful for a wide range of applications. At CMU, Lucia is the director of the NSF CPS Frontier Center on Computational Nanosatellite Constellations, which is defining the next generation of in-space, constellation-scale cyber-physical systems platforms. His research lab has launched several systems to Earth’s orbit and has produced a number of silicon chip implementations with category-defining performance and efficiency for a range of domains, including space systems.

Dynamic Targeting for Earth Science

Dr. Steve Chien is a Technical Fellow, Senior Research Scientist, and (Co-) Head of the Artificial Intelligence Group at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology. He has played a key role in the deployment of AI software to a wide range of missions including: Autonomous Sciencecraft on EO-1, Earth Observing Sensorweb, WATCH on MER, IPEX, ESA’s Rosetta, ECOSTRESS, OCO-3, EMIT, and the M2020 Perseverance Rover (with Rosetta and M2020 being $B missions). Dr. Chien has received numerous awards for these efforts. He has been recognized four times in the NASA Software of the Year competition (1999, 1999, 2005, and 2011). He has received four NASA Medals for his work in AI for Space (1997, 2000, 2007, 2015). In 2011 He was awarded the inaugural AIAA Intelligent Systems Award, for his contributions to Spacecraft Autonomy. Dr. Chien holds a B.S. in Computer Science (Highest Honors) with concentrations in Economics and Mathematics, an M.S. in Computer Science, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science (Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning), all from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

AI Meets Earth: Advancing Environmental Insights through Intelligent Observation

Manik Bali is the Deputy Director of the GSICS Coordination Center at NOAA and Former Chair of the GSICS Data Working Group. He has been working in Meteorology for the last 17 years. During this time he has worked for C-DAC India, Max Planck Institute for Meteorology Hamburg Germany, EUMETSAT and European Space Agency and lead national and international projects. He has wide experience in Artificial intelligence, Remote Sensing; satellite calibration, weather forecasting, land-atmosphere interaction, satellite wind retrieval and validation of satellite-derived vegetation indices. Most recently he has been working on AVHRR re-calibration project at NOAA and developed techniques to use IASI and AIRS radiance to mimic pre-launch environment. He is a leading member of the Team that has received NOAA/STAR 2016 Award for outstanding service to WMO’s Global Satellite Inter Calibration System (GSICS) community and Leadership of the NOAA GSICS Coordination Center.

Manik holds a Masters degree in Machine Learning from the University of Maryland. He has served as an advisor to Look At Media. He has also served as an AI expert for Bank of America and KPMG.