Keynote Speakers

 

Professor Luis Kun

Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies at National Defense University, USA
IEEE Life Fellow

Global Multidimensional Threats in the Information Age and the Social Implications of Science and Technology

Abstract: Natural disasters can have a devastating effect on Society, regardless of if you live in a developed or developing nation, i.e., Katrina (USA, 2005), earthquake / cholera outbreaks (Haiti, 2010), earthquake / tsunami / nuclear reactor explosion (Fukoshima, 2011). The effects of climate change create additional strains and challenges to our systems. Droughts, fires, (e.g., Australia 2019, California every year), and floods worldwide, not only affect agriculture and food production, but the accelerated melting of existing glaciers has an impact on the availability of drinking water in critical and overpopulated areas around the world. Currently for example, the massive lava streams from the La Palma volcano eruption, are destroying all the critical infrastructures they find on their way to the sea. Resilience and sustainability concepts need to be incorporated with emergency planning. Contemporary emergency and disaster management requires environmental planning as well as urban development in major areas of the world. From Kathi Brown’s “Critical Path” Foreword: … “in the process of advancing our national capacity and economic strength, a greater interdependence on these technologies has created hidden interdependencies making us more vulnerable during both natural and man-made disaster.”

Bio: Dr. Luis Kun is the 2022 IEEE President Elect for the Society for Social Implications of Technology. He graduated from the Merchant Marine Academy in Uruguay and holds a BSEE, MSEE, and PhD degree in BME, all from UCLA. He is an IEEE Life Fellow and a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and of the International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering. He is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of National Security Affairs (CHDS) and was a Professor of Homeland Security at the National Defense University. He is the co-founding Editor in Chief of Springer's Journal of Health and Technology 2010-2020. He spent 14 years at IBM and was the Director of Medical Systems Technology at Cedars Sinai Medical Center. As Senior IT Advisor to AHCPR, he formulated the IT vision and was the lead staff for High Performance Computers and Communications program and Telehealth. In July 1997, he was an invited speaker to the White House and was largely responsible for the first Telemedicine Homecare Legislation signed by President Clinton in August 1997. He represented the DHHS Secretary at a Forum of Healthcare Ministers on Telecommunications and the Healthcare Industry in Mexico. As a Distinguished Fellow at the CDC and an Acting Chief IT Officer for the National Immunization Program, he formulated their IT vision on 10/2000. Dr. Kun received many awards including: AIMBE's first-ever Fellow Advocate Award in 2009; IEEE-USA Citation of Honor Award with a citation, "For exemplary contributions in the inception and implementation of a health care IT vision in the US," and 2011 Golden Core Award by the IEEE CS. In 2009, he was named "Profesor Honoris Causa" by Favaloro University, (Argentina) and "Distinguished Visitor" by City of Puebla, Mexico in 2013. He served as the IEEE Distinguished Visitor for the CS and as a Distinguished Lecturer (DL) for the Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS) and SSIT where he chairs the DL Program since 2016. Since 2014, he serves as an Honorary Professor of the Electrical Engineering Department at the School of Engineering of the University (UDELAR) in Montevideo, Uruguay. He received the Medal of Merit on October, 2016 in Mexico by the National Unit of Engineering Associations and was named Visiting Professor by the National Technological University of Buenos Aires, Argentina in October 2017.