The QTS Experience

Matteo Pietrobelli; Episode 137

I'm joined by Matteo Jean Pietrobelli, a structural and systems engineer at Oceanix. Today, he is helping to create a floating city in Busan, South Korea. In and of itself, an interesting topic, but to call Matteo an "engineer" is like calling Tom Hanks a "storytelling guy". Matteo is a master engineer and he has a wide range of experience in 3D printing, The Hyperloop, complex systems, and so much more. He truly is a Renaissance man, and since he's from Rome, he wears the title well. This episode, he and I are going to dive into the sciences, engineering, even the philosophies of these topics and more. I'm sure you'll find the conversation as interesting as I did. Please enjoy the conversation. And now the Matteo Pietrobelli on this week's episode of The QTS Experience.

About Our Guest

Highly driven Structural, Civil and Systems Engineer with a strong track record executing complex multi-billion dollar construction projects, spanning transportation, marine, and highrise (residential and commercial) structures. Led the design, engineering and integration of systems in high-speed train railway-line, multi-building complex and award winning bridge/infrastructure projects, Hyperloop Transportation Systems, and Floating cities and Infrastructures in Asia, Africa, Europe and USA. Experienced in integration of digital and physical infrastructures for the purpose of risk assessment and optimization of system resiliency and performance, such as Structural Health Monitoring Systems, he is able to seamlessly move between disciplines and solve problems related to structural and systems engineering.

I am passionate about exponential technologies and their potential to solve big global challenges.

3X founder of cutting-edge companies focused on concrete 3D printing and advanced structural modelling (Nomogram), and aeroponic and hydroponic fresh produce vertical farming (Agripublica). His skill-set includes R&D, taking products from research to commercialization, interfacing between clients and consultants/contractors developing and protecting IP assets. Proficient in manipulating geometries and wireframes, while utilizing commercial and advanced software.

Currently working as the Chief Engineer and CTO of Oceanix City, a cutting edge Climate/Blue Technologies development and integration company for floating infrastructures, he is leading the design and engineering of the physical and digital systems, with a specific trend towards the development of Smart Floating Cities and Infrastructures integrated through digital twins and Metaverse for multi-tiered environmental, Resilient and Sustainable development.

He has a global perspective and spent more than half of his life working and residing in different countries, including Switzerland, China, Algeria, Togo, Madagascar, Nigeria, India, France, Austria, Slovenia, Italy and USA.

He is fluent in Italian, French (native) and English and speaks a bit of Russian and Chinese.

Jeff Smith; Episode 136

If you and I were to strike up a conversation about autonomous vehicles or even robots, I presume we would primarily be talking about Tesla or something similar or maybe some of the cool new and let's face it, kind of scary modern robots. So when I met Jeff Smith, I assumed that's where our conversation was going to go. It turns out Jeff built crafts for Saab (submarines, research vessels, drone ships) and they're deployed in the oceans of the world . Jeff's vehicles can be deployed in the harshest environments on Earth, and their capability will blow your mind like it did mine. Join us for an excellent conversation on this episode of the QTS Experience.

About Our Guest
My experience includes over twenty five years of working in advanced technology industries leading multifunctional teams in concept generation, research, design, product development and new business capture. I have assembled large corporate teams to capture major programs of record for the U.S. Navy, as well as cutting edge R&D projects within DARPA and ONR.

About Saab
https://saab.com
Saab serves the global market with world-leading products, services and solutions from military defense in all domains to civil security. Saab’s market offering is broad and consists of complex systems involving extensive research and development as well as services with a high degree of repetition. With operations on every continent, Saab continuously develops, adapts and improves new technology to meet customers’ changing needs.

Dr. Eric Hinterman; Episode 135

I recently learned that we have a tool that converts carbon to oxygen. Think about that. It seems like every conversation around energy is also at some level about carbon. Dr. Eric Hinterman helped build and manage a tool called Moxie, which is a device that pulls carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and converts it to oxygen.
Eric recently joined Space X and before that he was at MIT and Blue Origin and other places where smart people congregate. Moxie is intended to be used in space travel, in space colonization, where there is an abundance of carbon and little, if any, oxygen. Today, the power required to convert carbon dioxide to oxygen on earth would be counterproductive, to say the least.
But we're on the path, and I'm optimistic that tools like this will lead to human flourishing. Please enjoy this conversation with Dr. Eric Hinterman on the next cuts experience.

About Our Guest
https://erichinterman.wixsite.com/eric
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/spacec...
Eric Hinterman holds a PhD from MIT in Aeronautics and Astronautics and works with NASA on MOXIE, an instrument on the Perseverance rover that produces oxygen on Mars. He attended the University of Notre Dame for his undergraduate studies, where he received a degree in Chemical Engineering. After working in the chemical industry for several years, Eric returned to school to pursue graduate degrees in Aeronautics and Astronautics. He is passionate about human spaceflight and plans to spend his career pushing the boundaries to enable human exploration of Mars and beyond.

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

Allie Kelly; Episode 132

Cars are in at least their second major innovation; the technology involved in electric vehicles is incredible. The potential within autonomous vehicles is staggering, especially when you think about their impact on safety, reliability, efficiency, the environment, etc. We as a society are talking about those things. However, you know what we're not talking about very much? The roads. Those pieces of asphalt and cement we drive on. We have almost 4 million miles of roads in the United States, and we almost never talk about innovation within our roads and where it needs to go. But, it's happening now, and believe it or not, it is an incredibly compelling discussion. It's just not very sexy. Well, that's about to change because my guest this week is Allie Kelly. Allie is the Executive Director at The Ray, the only nonprofit organization in the world running a living laboratory on a public highway. The ideas that Allie brings to the table are invigorating, and when you are talking about Allie herself, well, you'll see; she is a force of nature. You won't want to miss this interesting, timely and compelling conversation on this week's episode of The QTS Experience.

 

About Our Guest:

https://theray.org

Allie Kelly is Executive Director at The Ray, which has developed an 18-mile stretch of interstate in Georgia, where they’re using renewable materials; building clean energy for clean transport; testing road connectivity, improved lighting and signage; and collecting traffic, weather, and collision data to make the roads of the future. Working with Georgia DOT and FHWA, Allie has guided more than a dozen projects from concept to construction on The Ray Highway. The nonprofit organization is now working with more than 24 agencies in 15 states, scaling innovations from the I-85 testbed across the country. Following in the legacy of Ray Anderson, The Ray believes that the technologies exist to make transportation Zero Deaths, Zero Carbon and Zero Waste. Previously, Allie held senior roles at the Georgia Conservancy, and as a Founder and Executive Director at Georgia Watch. Allie serves on the boards of the Fulton Technology and Energy Enhancement Authority as chairman, as chairman of the ASPIRE Center Executive Advisory Board, and as a board member for HUB404.

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

Steve & Beth McDaniel; Episode 127

Don’t you love it when your imagination is captured by something that is a unique way to solve a problem and you didn’t see it coming. This week I’m hosting Steve and Beth McDaniel who are pioneers in an area of materials science that mixes manmade coatings with algae to essential eat carbon. The idea is elegant, the science is amazing, and the discussion is eye opening  – join us for the conversation on the next QTS Experience.

 

About Our Guests

https://reactivesurfaces.com

In 2001, following the 911 attacks on the World Trade Center buildings, our founder, Steve McDaniel contemplated whether an enzyme capable of detoxifying organophosphorous pesticides could actually detoxify organophosphorous nerve weapons. He discovered that once it was entrained and stabilized in a coating system, that indeed the enzyme was functional against nerve weapons and remained functional for periods of time. Thus arose our first product…a bioengineered additive capable of constantly and consistently decontaminating and/or remediating chemical and biological threat agents.

Today, Reactive Surfaces is developing enzyme- and peptide-based additives for self-cleaning surfaces, biocidal surfaces, mold-inhibiting surfaces, deodorizing surfaces, textiles with reactive coatings, self-healing coatings and catalytic column coatings for liquid and gaseous waste-stream decontamination.

Known in the industry as an innovation machine using cutting-edge bio-engineering to dynamically functionalize paints and coatings, Reactive Surfaces serves markets worldwide with an environmentally green enzyme and peptide technology. Reactive Surfaces develops these products from the proof-of-concept phase all the way to the shelf for its clients; products that will provide a healthier and better lifestyle for millions of people all around the globe.

Visit The QTS Experience YouTube Channel for video versions of all the podcasts, and be sure to Like, Comment, and Subscribe!

For more information, go to www.QTSDataCenters.com

Learn More about QTS Data Centers on the QTS YouTube Channel.

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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.

Visit The QTS Experience YouTube Channel for video versions of all the podcasts, and be sure to Like, Comment, and Subscribe!

For more information, go to www.QTSDataCenters.com

Learn More about QTS Data Centers on the QTS YouTube Channel.

Think you have a great topic for a podcast or would like to schedule an interview with Dave? Send in your requests here.