The QTS Experience

Dr. Lisa Walsh; Episode 134

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."

Dr. James Garvin; Episode 133

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

Dan Kokotov; Episode 131

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."

Maggie Grout; Episode 130

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

Courtney Munroe; Episode #126

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.

Nicholas Guise; Episode 125

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.

Our Virtual World with Annie Eaton

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.

The Citizen Astronaut with Shawna Pandya

I recently heard Dr. Shawna Pandya start a conversation by saying “I am an absolute disgrace" - a remarkable claim since she is a trained Neurosurgeon, Silicon Valley Entrepreneur, Martial Arts expert and citizen Astronaut. She joins me this week to talk about success, failure, shame, and resilience on the next QTS Experience.

About Our Guest

Dr. Shawna Pandya is a Canadian physician, scientist-astronaut candidate program graduate with the International Institute for Astronautical Sciences (IIAS), aquanaut, speaker, martial artist, advanced diver, skydiver, pilot-in-training, VP Immersive Medicine with Luxsonic Technologies, Associate Fellow of the Aerospace Medicine Association, and Fellow of the Explorers’ Club. She is also Director of the IIAS Space Medicine Group, Chief Instructor of the IIAS Operational Space Medicine course, Director of Medical Research at Orbital Assembly Corporation, clinical lecturer, podcast host with the World Extreme Medicine’s WEMCast series, Primary Investigator (PI) for the Shad Canada-Blue Origin student microgravity competition, appointed member of the ASCEND Guiding Coalition, Life Sciences Team Lead for the Association of Spaceflight Professionals, and sessional lecturer for the “Technology and the Future of Medicine,” course at the University of Alberta. She serves as medical advisor to several space, medical and technology companies, including Astreas, as well as the Jasper Dark Sky Festival Advisory Committee. Dr. Pandya holds degrees in neuroscience (BSc Hons. Neuroscience, University of Alberta), space (MSc Space Studies, International Space University), and medicine (MD, University of Alberta), and a certification in entrepreneurship (Graduate Studies Program, Singularity University).

Dr. Pandya was part of the first crew to test a commercial spacesuit in zero-gravity in 2015. Dr. Pandya earned her aquanaut designation during the 2019 NEPTUNE (Nautical Experiments in Physiology, Technology and Underwater Exploration) mission. She has also completed centrifuge studies, emergency spacecraft egress and sea survival training, and wilderness medicine training. She previously served as Commander during a 2020 tour at the Mars Desert Research Station. Her expeditions were captured in the Land Rover short, released with the Apollo 11: First Steps film. She previously interned at ESA’s European Astronaut Center and NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Her publications include book chapters on space technologies that have benefitted terrestrial medicine, psychological resilience in long-duration spaceflight, and reproduction and sexuality in long-duration spaceflight.

Dr. Pandya is a seasoned speaker and has given keynotes all around the world, including TEDxEdmonton 2010, TEDxUAlberta 2016 on Success, Failure, Resilience and Pushing the Limits, TEDxISU 2019 at the International Space University on “Discovering Exploration,” and in former Canadian Prime Minister Rt Hon. Kim Campbell’s Peter Lougheed Leadership College Leadership Lecture Series on Emotional Intelligence. She has served in numerous mentorship and guidance capacities, including with the Women in Aerospace Medicine group, the University of Alberta’s Technology and the Future of Medicine Class, Shad Canada, the Women’s Executive Network, the Space Prize Challenge, SEDS Canada, the PoSSUM13 and more.

The Science of Gratitude with Nancy Davis Kho

I’ve become enamored with the science of Gratitude. In my quest to learn more I was introduced to author Nancy Davis Kho, who turned being enamored into a project and then wrote about it. While it’s based in science and big data, the result can heal our hearts – join us for the conversation on the next QTS Experience.
About Our Guest
Nancy Davis Kho is a speaker, author, and podcaster whose work has appeared in the Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, and NPR affiliate KQED. Nancy’s book THE THANK-YOU PROJECT: Cultivating Happiness One Letter of Gratitude at a Time was published by Running Press in December 2019. Nancy covers “the years between being hip and breaking one” at MidlifeMixtape.com and on the Midlife Mixtape Podcast, available on all major podcast platforms. The Midlife Mixtape Podcast won a 2020 Iris Award as Podcast of the Year and was included in Wall Street Journal’s list of 8 Podcasts for Anyone Nervously Facing Retirement. Nancy has been both champion and judge in the acclaimed international comedy-lit improv show, Literary Death Match.
Nancy is from upstate New York and now lives with her husband and two daughters in Oakland, California.

The CIO Life with Vish Narendra, Joe Marroquin, & Elizabeth Hoemeke

This week I’m joined by Vish Narendra, Joe Marroquin, and Elizabeth Hoemeke all technology executives tackling the challenges of displaced workers, cyber threats, and relocating employees caught in the current Russian/Ukraine conflict. Join us for the conversations on the next QTS Experience.

About Our Guests
Vish Narendra
Vish Narendra is an experienced technology and business executive with global experience in IT, business strategy, acquisition integration and digital business transformation with domain experience in consulting, software development, manufacturing and supply chain.

Joe Marroquin
High-Energy multi-dimensional C Level Executive and board advisor who blends deep technical & business skills into secure and innovative business offerings for some of the world’s largest companies. Drives security and compliance across-organizational collaboration to protect the enterprise and provide competitive differentiators. Builds cohesive and motivated global teams focused on security and compliance while delivering consistent business results.

Elizabeth Hoemeke
As Chief Information Officer of One Inc, Elizabeth oversees the implementation of the company’s global IT roadmap, the development of overall strategic planning, our transformation and innovation initiatives, and the security of technology solutions in support of our insurance partners and customers.