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Learning eXchanges 

Times: 1:30 & 2:30 - Congdon Hall


Sessions - 1:30

Horrigan, Thomas

Decision Aiding, Autonomy, and Networked Collaborative Systems

Presenter: Thomas "Spike" Horrigan
Systems Engineer

Thomas will present viewpoints/insights on the intersection of Autonomous and Networked Collaborative Systems (NCS). Explore some of the latest technological innovative decision aiding tools such as AI & ML and their social impacts from historical, societal, and philosophical perspectives. Examples to be drawn from both relevant commercial and DoD development activities. Highlight the unique challenges that exist to utilize Modeling and Simulation (M&S) approaches to conduct "value added" analysis.

Thomas "Spike" Horrigan is a recently retired Senior Principal Systems Engineer whose 42+ years of professional service to the DoD industry consisted of working for Martin Marietta (now Lockheed Martin), Hughes Aircraft Systems, Raytheon, as well as a brief stint as a civil servant supporting U.S. Army PEO STRI. His most recent responsibility at Raytheon was acting as the Operations Analysis (OA) Cross Product Team (CPT) lead, responsible for the planning and execution of all Modeling & Simulation (M&S) efforts to support the Advanced Technologies (AT) Strategic Business Unit (SBU), Capabilities & Requirements business development efforts. His professional System Engineering interests reside in all things pertinent to Operations Research (OR), as well as activities to include but not limited to Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE), autonomy in complex systems, networked collaborative systems such as Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA), Analytics for DoD Decision Support (Enterprise/Campaign/Mission/Engagement level simulations), research in the Modeling, Simulation & Analysis (MS&A) of advanced systems such as effectors, sensors, & platforms, and engineering education. Mr. Horrigan holds a BS/EE in electrical engineering from the University of Florida, both MSE and MS degrees from the University of Central Florida, a MS/SE in system engineering from Johns Hopkins University, and is currently a PhD Candidate at Texas Tech University in the Industrial, Material, and Systems engineering department researching the impact of leveraging SysML artifacts to assist in assessing for a engineered system a Systems Readiness Level or SRL.

Lawhead, Susan Hall, Angela

Resourcing Analytics - Using Data to Manage a Multi-national Consulting Group

 

 

 

Presenter: Susan Lawhead
Test Engineer,SAS Professional Consulting
Presenter: Angela Hall
Sr. Director of Consulting Services, SAS Professional Consulting

When you have a team of over 500 consultants, plus use subcontractors, it is like a giant puzzle where the pieces keep changing. Using the available data can help ensure you have the right person, with the right skillset, available when the customer is ready for kickoff. This presentation will explore the area of resourcing analytics including: identifying the right questions to ask, working with available data (and pit falls that can arise!), and methods of presenting the data to stakeholders. Attendees will have the opportunity to “choose their own adventure” by guiding presenters from start to finish to see what can be developed.

Susan currently works as a Test Engineer in SAS Professional Consulting after spending time as a resource analyst for the group. After gaining experience in process/policy development, staffing, and budget management through a career in education, Susan returned to UNCW for her MSBA in 2020 to pivot her career to data/business analytics. During her time in the MSBA, she worked as a business intelligence developer providing insights to decision makers at a marketing/publishing firm. Susan also serves on the advisory board for UNCW Business Analytics programs.

Angela is a Sr Director of Consulting Services at SAS. Her team focuses on implementing SAS solutions for US State & Local Governments which includes completing technical and analytic tasks which encompass requirements & design, development & testing, and documentation. Prior experiences include warranty & defect analysis, quality process auditing, and sharing tips & tricks with anyone interested in using SAS software.

Owens, Wes

Underleveled: Landing Your First Job as a Game Artist

Presenter: Wes Owens
Art Director of Studio Wilmington, Grover Gaming

 

It can be an incredibly rewarding career path, but video game jobs, especially in the art disciplines, are fiercely competitive. It's overwhelming trying to get your foot in the door when it seems like the most entry level junior positions are asking for 3-5 years experience! In this talk Wes will share some of his personal experience from a hopeless applicant to his current role as Art Director and Hiring Manager for new artists in our Wilmington Studio. Sitting on the other side of the interview table has given Wes the perspective to better prepare students and art hopefuls to land that first job in their dream industry. Wes will cover how to get yourself out there, build a killer portfolio and resume and the best ways to make an impression during in person interviews.

A North Carolina native, Wes Owens has been Art Director for the past 9 years at Grover Gaming, a casino game software supplier headquartered in Greenville NC. A passion for both art and gaming led him into the field of indie game development where he was introduced to a variety of disciplines within the industry working with small development teams. He was an early adopter of the Unity3D game engine which he has used since its 2.0 launch in 2007. He currently leads a multidisciplinary group of 3D Artists and Animators at Grover Gaming's Wilmington based studio, creating high quality casino game experiences for a variety of markets.

Sessions - 2:30

Adam McCombs

How AI will Impact How We Perform Jobs from Project to Product Management

Presenter: Adam McCombs
Chief Product Officer, Vantaca

Over the next five years, AI will impact how we do many tasks relating to our jobs. We will explore the opportunities to leverage AI to our advantage.

A founder and executive with over 15 years of experience building and leading cross-functional product, design, and engineering teams to plan, build, and manage innovative SaaS platforms. After working at Cisco Systems, Inc. as a senior product manager, Adam founded a start-up called JumpForward in 2008. In 2016, JumpForward was successfully acquired by Vista Equity, LLC. He currently works at Vantaca as the Chief Product Officer (CPO). Adam has an undergraduate degree from the University of Minnesota – Carlson School of Management in Accounting and Management Information Systems (MIS) and an MBA from the University of Notre Dame – Mendoza School of Business.

Speirs, Andrew

Medical Technology: Opportunities to Improve Cyber Resilience in Healthcare

Presenter: Andrew Speirs
Founder and CEO, CyberWise Strategic Consulting, LLC

The healthcare ecosystem is brittle experiencing cyber-attacks affecting our community medical treatment facilities. What is the challenge, what is being done and where can you help?

Andrew "Andy" Speirs is a senior cleared executive with 25+ years of leadership and innovation experience, a multi-industry background, and particular expertise in cybersecurity. A former Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) with an extensive private sector career, Andy is also a decorated veteran, having served in Operations Desert Shield and Storm as a Naval Flight Officer and Mission Commander. Andy is known for a bringing a business mindset, diverse thinking, military discipline to his expertise in cyber through a combination of strategic planning, business-technology alignment, and team building that all serve to protect data and technology assets in an ever-evolving threat landscape while establishing a foundation for ongoing business growth.

Lovette, Thomas

Practical Applications of Large Language Models in Modern Software Engineering

Presenter: Thomas Lovette
Senior Engineering Manager, Vantaca

Explore how software development companies are adopting generative AI in their processes, workflows, and feature development. Differentiate real advancements from industry buzzwords and identify value that development teams are bringing to their businesses through the use of LLM technology. Learn about the rapidly-evolving toolchains available to developers for use in LLM-powered AI projects.

Thomas Lovette is a local software development professional who specializes in application architecture and engineering team management. Thomas graduated from UNCW's Computer Science department in 2012 and has worked in a variety of roles in the software development industry ranging from engineering to architecture to management. Thomas has recently taken an active role in shaping the evaluation and implementation of modern generative AI tooling in software applications, with a particular focus on retrieval augmented generation solutions that incorporate data from business sources and use them to power insights for users.