S. Carl Zanon
Chair Life Member Affinity Group
IEEE Vancouver Section

Presentation of IEEE Vancouver Life Member Affinity Group

Time & Date: 5 PM, Monday, March 16th, 2020
Location: E103, Okanagan College, Kelowna BC
Registration: https://meetings.vtools.ieee.org/event/register/226066

Talk Abstract: Carl will talk about the IEEE Vancouver Life Members Affinity Group (LMAG). The invited IEEE Okanagan Subsection Life Members are to introduce themselves and state their primary areas in their careers. The difference between the Senior Member and Life Member will be described.

IEEE recognizes four groups of members that have common interests and need an opportunity to get together at the local level; Consultants Network, Life Members, Women in Engineering and Young professionals.

Upcoming LMAG events will be described, and potential LMAG events will be discussed.

Speakers Biography: In November 2019 Carl Zanon joined the Vancouver Section as its new Life Member Affinity Group Chair. Carl graduated from UBC’s EE class of 1959.  He has an extensive background in electrical engineering, consulting, and senior management. Over the course of his career, Carl held positions in five provinces and worked abroad in Massachusetts. His leadership experience makes him well-suited for his new role in the IEEE Vancouver Section.

In 1990 he co-authored a book “Advancing Production Management with Standard Cost and Operational Analysis. After Carl’s retirement in 2001 from Western Star Trucks, he entered the consulting field with the Business Development Bank of Canada and instructed the Situational Leadership© Series at the Okanagan College; 2002 to 2016.

He attended the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in June 1953 representing BC (Nelson) in the 12 Sea Cadet Contingent. The young cadets sailed from Halifax on carrier HMCS Magnificent. He enrolled in the UNTD navy program at UBC; commissioned in 1958.

Carl and his wife Carol are active in the City of West Kelowna.

For further information please contact: Youry Khmelevsky (email: youry at ieee.org)
Refreshments  will be provided

Alex Goodhew
Community Manager, Accelerate Okanagan
#201-460 Doyle Avenue, Kelowna

OKGNtech Ecosystem & Supports

Time & Date: 5 PM, Tuesday, December 3rd, 2019
Location: E103, Okanagan College, Kelowna BC
Registration: https://meetings.vtools.ieee.org/m/212563

Talk Abstract: The OKGNtech community is growing at a rapid rate with 15% economic growth year over year and over 12,000 people working at 700+ tech companies. To support this ecosystem growth, there are a range of resources, mentorship programs and funding to help entrepreneurs and their teams. Alex will be introducing the following:

• What’s happening in tech on a broad scale
• The OKGNtech landscape
• Who is AO?
• Resources for entrepreneurs
• Funding incentives and support services for founders and their teams

Speakers Biography: Alex is the Community Manager at Accelerate Okanagan, a not-for-profit technology accelerator that supports the growth of the Okanagan innovation community. Her role involves supporting community alignment opportunities with Okanagan tech companies and supporters. The AO team also develops events, programs and initiatives geared towards supporting the growing OKGN tech community by engaging the willing, coaching the leaders and unlocking the capital. 

For further information please contact: Youry Khmelevsky (email: youry at ieee.org)
Refreshments  will be provided

Daniel Rozek, Jesse Ayers, Jack Humphrey,  Aubrey Nickerson, Chris Mazur and Helder Necker

Computer Science Department, Okanagan College, Kelowna

IEEE Okanagan College Student Branch & IEEE Okanagan Subsection Present (co-sponsored by NSERC ARD L2 GPerf2 research project)

Machine Learning and Neural Networks with R and Tensorflow Workshop

Time & Date: 2 PM – 5 PM, Friday, November 8th, 2019
Location: E103, Okanagan College, Kelowna BC
Registration: https://meetings.vtools.ieee.org/event/register/209774

Talk Abstract: We will be providing a data analysis workshop looking to introduce concepts of Machine Learning and Neural Networks using R and Tensorflow. Our presentation will go over the basic concept of Machine Learning and Neural Networks, then begin gathering and preparing data for use by different algorithms. We will look at the different methods of analysis, as well as the effect of displaying the data in different graphical formats. Finally, we will compare different tools and algorithms in terms of performance and generalizability.

This will be a “bring your own computer” event. Participants will be guided through installing R Studio and Tensorflow, downloading and preparing a data set for analysis, performing visualizations on the data, and running machine learning to create predictions using the data as training.

The main presentation link:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1uuhbbsznmn6M7C5RE82NgKSaRooEmI_GcBou7C1IqnI/edit?usp=sharing
The Github used for R:
https://github.com/humbleguidant/RWorkshop/blob/master/RExercise.R
The Github used for Tensorflow:
https://github.com/jackrbhumphrey/TensorFlowInstallation/

R Programming Language PowerPoint Presentation.

Speakers Biography:
Daniel Rozek is a BCIS 5th-year student working part-time for the NSERC GPerf2 project.  He is interested in SQL, Databases and creating apps with Java and XML.
Jesse Ayers is a fourth-year BCIS student working as a part-time research assistant for the NSERC GPerf2 project. He has a great interest in software development and enjoys adding new technologies to his toolset to complete a project. With what little free time he has, he enjoys game development as a hobby.
Jack Humphrey is a third-year BCIS Student working as a Research Student for the NSERC GPerf2 project. Working in an industry that focuses on lifelong learning, he enjoys working on personal projects in his spare time and has recently directed his focus toward Machine Learning and Data Visualization, where he hopes to find new and intuitive ways to display information.
Aubrey Nickerson is a BCIS student working part-time as a research assistant for the NSERC GPerf2 project. He is studying in the Software Development option and enjoys creating databases, web design, and programming data structures. He is currently investigating machine learning.
Chris Mazur is a BCIS student working part-time as a research assistant for the NSERC GPerf2 project. He enjoys project management and algorithms and is investigating machine learning.
Helder Necker is a 2nd-year student and an NSERC GPERF2 research assistant, who is interested in Software Development, Artificial Intelligence and Data Analysis.

For further information please contact: Youry Khmelevsky (email: youry at ieee.org)
Refreshments and Pizza will be provided

Jack Humphrey, Chris Mazur and Aubrey Nickerson

Computer Science Department, Okanagan College, Kelowna

IEEE Okanagan College Student Branch & IEEE Okanagan Subsection Present (co-sponsored by NSERC ARD L2 GPerf2 research project)

Jira, Confluence and Bitbucket: A Beginner’s Approach to SW Project Management

Time & Date: 2 PM – 3:30 PM, Friday, October 25th, 2019
Location: B112, Okanagan College, Kelowna BC
Registration: http://meetings.vtools.ieee.org/meeting_registration/register/208110

Talk Abstract: We will be providing a workshop environment to present on Atlassian’s cloud-based Project Management environment, Jira Cloud. Included in this workshop will be aspects of version control in the form of Bitbucket, as well as document management through Confluence. Together, Jira, Confluence, and Bitbucket allow teams to implement an AGILE approach to project management.

This will be a “bring your own computer” event Participants will be guided through Jira and Bitbucket account creation, linking their Atlassian products, analyzing a problem to create a backlog, starting a sprint, self-assigning tasks from the backlog, utilizing Bitbucket for version control as they work together on a single file, closing their sprint, and performing a retrospective including analysis of burn-down charts and comparison of estimates to reality.

Speakers Biography:
Jack Humphrey is a third-year BCIS Student working as a Research Student for the NSERC GPerf2 project. Working in an industry that focuses on lifelong learning, he enjoys working on personal projects in his spare time and has recently directed his focus toward Machine Learning and Data Visualization, where he hopes to find new and intuitive ways to display information.
Aubrey Nickerson is a BCIS student working part-time as a research assistant for the NSERC GPerf2 project. He is studying in the Software Development option and enjoys creating databases, web design, and programming data structures. He is currently investigating machine learning.
Chris Mazur is a BCIS student working part-time as a research assistant for the NSERC GPerf2 project. He enjoys project management and algorithms and is investigating machine learning.

For further information please contact: Youry Khmelevsky (email: youry at ieee.org)
Refreshments will be provided

Jack Humphrey, Chris Mazur and Aubrey Nickerson

Computer Science Department, Okanagan College, Kelowna

IEEE Okanagan College Student Branch & IEEE Okanagan Subsection Present (co-sponsored by NSERC ARD L2 GPerf2 research project)

Getting Started with LaTeX Workshop

Time & Date: 2 PM – 3:30 PM, Tuesday, October 22nd, 2019
Location: B112, Okanagan College, Kelowna BC
Registration: https://meetings.vtools.ieee.org/event/register/208035

Talk Abstract: We will be providing a workshop environment to present the document preparation tool, LaTeX, including what exactly a LaTeX document is, and why one would want to use LaTeX. Developed by the LaTeX Project and distributed for free under the LaTeX Project Public License, LaTeX uses markup tagging to define the structure of a document and was created for the production of technical and scientific documentation.

This will be a “bring your own computer” interactive workshop, where the participants will follow the presenter in order to create an IEEE-standard formatted document, including Images, Tables, References, Lists, and Sections.

Speakers Biography:
Jack Humphrey is a third-year BCIS Student working as a Research Student for the NSERC GPerf2 project. Working in an industry that focuses on lifelong learning, he enjoys working on personal projects in his spare time and has recently directed his focus toward Machine Learning and Data Visualization, where he hopes to find new and intuitive ways to display information.
Aubrey Nickerson is a BCIS student working part-time as a research assistant for the NSERC GPerf2 project. He is studying in the Software Development option and enjoys creating databases, web design, and programming data structures. He is currently investigating machine learning.
Chris Mazur is a BCIS student working part-time as a research assistant for the NSERC GPerf2 project. He enjoys project management and algorithms and is investigating machine learning.

For further information please contact: Youry Khmelevsky (email: youry at ieee.org)
Refreshments will be provided

Ty Sutherland
COO, WTFast, Kelowna BC

New Challenges and Solutions to ISPs in Online Multiplayer Gaming

Time & Date: 6:00–7:00 pm, Wednesday, October 2, 2019
Location: E103, 1000 KLO Rd., Okanagan College, Kelowna, BC
Registration: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/event/register/205700

Talk Abstract: Online multiplayer gaming popularity is growing rapidly. With e-sports prize purses reaching into millions there is ever-growing desire to play popular games at a competitive level.  This presents new challenges to ISPs who struggle to keep up with growing demands on their network. Network demand can cause latency on the users’ connection which results in poor game experience and ultimately losing a match. WTFast helps to alleviate the pain for users by offering optimized latency-sensitive routing via their GPN, the game player’s network.

The WTFast GPN consists of hundreds of proxy nodes around the world which users connect to using the WTFast client. WTFast subscribers’ game traffic traverses the GPN and terminates near the game servers, often in the same data centers. WTFast has been working with the Okanagan College Computer Science department and NSERC to research new ways to further optimize the service. This talk will be beneficial to anyone interested in joining the NSERC project team or who is interested in online game networks.

Speaker Biography:  Ty Sutherland is COO at WTFast located in Kelowna BC.
WTFast provides network acceleration as a service to online gamers around the world. Ty has been involved in IT service management for over 20 years and has earned CCNA, PMP, ITIL and other certifications. Ty’s a lifelong learner and finds it very rewarding to help others unlock talents and build careers.

For further information please contact: Youry Khmelevsky (email: youry at ieee.org)
Refreshments and Pizza will be provided

Youry Khmelevsky
Computer Science Department
Okanagan College, Kelowna, BC, Canada

Towards Formal Methods and Software Engineering for Deep Learning: Security, Safety, and Productivity for DL Systems Development
(co-sponsored by IEEE Okanagan Subsection)

Time & Date: 7:00–8:30 pm, Monday, September 16, 2019
Location: Lecture Theatre, (PL 107), Ashnola Building, Okanagan College Penticton Campus, 583 Duncan Avenue, Penticton, BC
Note: Admission is by donation. Funds will be used to help students in need (https://ocspeakersseries.weebly.com)

Abstract:

Deep Learning (DL) techniques are now widespread and being integrated into many important systems. Their classification and recognition abilities ensure their relevance for multiple application domains far beyond pure signal processing. As a machine-learning technique that relies on training instead of explicit algorithm programming, they offer a high degree of productivity. But recent research has shown that they can be vulnerable to attacks and the verification of their correctness is only just emerging as a scientific and engineering possibility. Moreover, DL tools are not integrated into classical software engineering so software tools to specify, modify and verify them would make them even more mainstream as software-hardware systems. This talk will survey recent work and propose research directions and methodologies for this purpose.

Speaker Bio:

Youry Khmelevsky received his Ph.D. degree in computer science from the Institute of Simulation Problems in Power Industry, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. His current research interests include software engineering; cloud and high-performance computing; large Web-based information systems (Oracle, DB2, Sybase, MS SQL); no programming paradigm and source code generation from UML models and software specifications; interdisciplinary applied computer science research. Dr. Khmelevsky had served as postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University; was a Visiting Scientist in the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); was an Invited Researcher at LIP6, Sorbonne University, Paris, France; held engineering and R&D positions in Industry in Europe and North America for about 15 years, including at Alberta Energy, Government of Alberta, Canada.

For further information please contact: Youry Khmelevsky (email: Youry at IEEE.org)
Registration is opened now: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/tego_/event/manage/204797